Posts by Rebecca Simmons

posted on April 15, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

CSA farm visits, now and then

Our vegetable CSA had a open house farm tour last weekend and we went, bringing home excitement and readiness for spring veggies to began.

I’ve written about “Farmer Megan” lots before – like here when the girls’ brownie troop visited the farm on a hot early summer day. And here after our first drop in 2012 – including tips on storage for spring greens. She’s a household name for us. She’s a friend and now I’m volunteering every Friday on the farm.

Last week we transplanted all these flats of kale, broccoli and lettuce!

The children, mine and other member’s families, always enjoy visiting the farm and seeing what’s growing. This time, the baby goat was the biggest hit.

All the children tried to get close. Those most determined, and patient, got their chance.
These roosters were left here after being pinned with hens, to make eggs that are now being incubated and waiting to hatch. There is big chicken talk at our house lately. I’ll tell you more later, after this weekend when I hopefully have some photos to share of our plan in action.
The children listen to Farmer Megan talk about how these tiny veggies get their start. Then one day this summer I’ll remind them when our veggies come to our house that they started right here. I FULLY believe kids eat healthier when they really know where their food comes from.
There are 60 chickens they get rotated around the farm living on one acre plots of land as they turn the soil by pecking it, and fertilize the soil with their waste. I can not wait untill we can watch chickens in our own back yard…. I can barely keep my own secret. The kids from our neighborhood visited the farm together, and then they’ll gather in our yard every Wednesday for our weekly CSA delivery. It starts up later this month and I’m SO ready for fresh produce that I don’t have to buy at the store. Farms just bring good, muddy, peace in the sun fun. While this girl got a piggy back ride around the farm…. I couldn’t help but think back to the days during her first visit to the farm, as a babe on my back. And how much all these kids, mostly our neighbors (and some school friends) have grow, together, and what they have learned since the first visit four years ago.

We might not live on a farm and my kids are not growing up on a farm. But they sure will KNOW about farms and how hard Farmer Megan works to grow our food. It’s becoming part of their childhood. And each season, they DO actually eat more vegetables.

posted on April 14, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Spring gardening and backyard shananagans

It’s been so long since I’ve blogged, I ran into someone this weekend who thought something was wrong with her Facebook feed because she wasn’t getting my blog updates anymore. I’m so sorry about that! Thank you to those faithful readers for sticking with me while I go through bouts of needing to write and bouts of needing to be silent. And bouts of wondering how much is too much to share here. It’s SUCH a tricky balance. All the while our children are watching….while we try to set examples of doing life with limited screen time.

Natural play is easy to do this time of the year. Outside is the only place we want to be right now – when I’m not sneezing from the 24 dogwood trees blooming at our house! We’ve been doing so much outdoor creating, digging, planting, and finding joy in our own backyard that it makes me want to share here, along with some stories I want to document and remember for my own mothering files. So I’m now in one of the bouts where blogging feels natural, and inspiration comes like a spring rain shower.

So that just might be how it works here from now on – a blog here or there and in spurts of when it feels right to spend time on the computer and when it feels right to abandon technology and just live in real time with my family. Being 100 percent, absolutely present for them and trying to keep everything else running in tiptop shape around here. Which sometimes just means putting all my energy into slowing down and keeping our little world on a peaceful axis.

Here’s a few snapshots of how we’ve been playing outside this spring, while we abandon some of life’s indoor to-do piles until fall.

These are my greens I planted last month. They are much bigger now. I’ll be cutting into them to make a salad very soon.

Planting greens inspired a trip to our local herb farm where fairy garden supplies were 50 percent off. Which inspired this… which keeps inspiring more and more play. Mostly by my oldest girl, as all the old fairy play items get dug out of the basement to be seen in a different the light – literally. The “bonfire” is a candle dug into the ground. So much of this stuff is a pleasant reminder that keeping old stuff sometimes pays off.

This is my new herb garden. Lots of herbs didn’t make it back from our unusually cold winter this year and new landscaping displaced some of my old herbs from our backdoor garden. So across from the fairy garden, is my herb garden.

I’m volunteering at our CSA farm now and a stop by the local farmer’s co-op led to us planting beets, carrots, onions and potatoes. Gardening requires tiaras here. And gardening usually means digging for more worms than gardening, while wearing the tiara. And like always, this attracts neighbors in tutus who want to squish their toes in the dirt too. One of my best gardening tricks for seed planting is using a knife sharpener to poke holes in the ground. I joke – this is what a vegetarian does with a set of steak knives that was a wedding present almost FIFTEEN years ago. But it’s SO true. Those knives cut a lot of vegetable and no steaks. And the sharpener has planted a lot of vegetable seeds.

When my oldest girl decided she’s not a dirt gal and gardening is not her thing, I found just the perfect job for her mapping out the vegetable beds and recording what we are planting where. She took it very seriously! Every seed is documented on her hand drawn graph paper as we wait for those 15 rows of carrots to grow.

We started a few more planting jobs this past weekend. And it just so happened my youngest was wearing the same favorite outfit. I love it too! You might notice her hair is much shorter here. But more on that later…. 🙁 A bittersweet story.

These hanging planters were something the girls painted a few years back and I sell love them SO much. They make me smile.

We converted our play dome to a big play tent this weekend. The cat likes it best. Oh that cat – Fruit Punch!

This will be part of a next sewing project. But you’ll have to wait for that too. For now it makes a lovely photo.

posted on March 20, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Spring break is cold, but we have a new BIG sandbox

We are spring breaking this week, so to speak. Spring break comes so early for us that my girls can’t even bare to wear shorts yet. They try, they freeze and I say I told you so.

Then they beg for a campfire. Partly because it means eating smores. Partly because it’s a favorite thing to do at my parents house where we are staying this week. It’s too cold for the beach still, so Atlanta (or the suburbs) we went.

Before I left with the girls (leaving husband and dog behind – sorry guys) we kicked off the spring break week with impromptu fun in our backyard, with 10 kids, and one big “wing it” dinner alongside our new sandbox. It’s 10×10 feet and holds 40 bags of play sand. I had our landscapers build it earlier this month while they were working on a few other projects we put off last year, which were originally designed to coincide with our home renovations.

The girls quickly made the sandbox into “a beach” with blankets and umbrellas. And then their friends joined in, naturally. The kids on bikes and scooters just kept showing up – as you can see in the photo below that includes our new garage parking pad.

To show you how we roll in real life – this was the scene of the dinner that two families threw together for 10 kids and five adults. Just as I was thinking about making dinner that evening, my neighbors swooped in with arms of food took over my kitchen/patio. Suddenly we had a fish fry happening, with a big salad and scallops, corn on the cob, wedges of cheese, cantaloupe, raw carrot sticks and a bucket of olives (literally). When we ran out of food someone threw hotdogs on the grill. And that’s just the way we like it. Crazy chaos, and a home full of life inside and out.

The three boys went to another area in the yard to eat, in boy peace. However tables full of girls is usually the scene here.

My observer child is the one with the camera above. It suits her personality and learning style perfectly. I like her eye for detail and how she captures kid life. She took the following two photos.

The sandbox happily kept 10 kids busy while the adults enjoyed time on the patio. The zip line in our backyard and bounce house going helped too. But I LOVE a good classic sandbox, lots of kids, girls, boys, young and old – mixing it up. It’s attracting the neighbors over like I would imagine a backyard pool would do. A sandbox – so classic, so simple and so fun!

One more picture my middle girl is proud of..

We are looking around the corner to spring. Because March 22 is really around the corner! I’m most excited to get some greens in the ground in our newly created four raised vegetable beds that were part of the landscaping project.

I didn’t grab a picture of the new garden beds yet but I will soon, as we plan what to plant and share more about our plans. Basically it’s taking the space of what was our little back door garden, and expanding on the concept.

The vegetable beds are made from the same stone as the sandbox and sit in my side yard right next to out sidewalk. Which makes it feel like urban gardening. The garden placement on our property was solely determined by it being the only place we get enough sun to have a garden.

My little urban garden reminds me of living on 10^th Street in Midtown Atlanta where I had tomatoes growing in our front yard and the homeless people ate them, sitting on the retaining wall bordering the sidewalk where my black ally cat perused the perimeter. Neither the cat nor me cared. I figured they needed those tomatoes more than I did and she got a little attention from the deal.

We still have the cat. And yesterday I drove by that old house during a spring break trip to the city, and my old stomping grounds. It looked very different but seeing my old Midtown friend was just the same. We laughed, talked, and lunched, and shared the same sandwich we did while pregnant together 10 years ago. Which seems like forever ago, when I could never have imagined being surrounded by SO many kids all the time.

Now my girls are getting older and they will each have their own vegetable bed to grow, and cook the food they harvest. All of this will produce more chaos and parties to come. I’m sure of it. Just the way I like it.

And while they are getting older, we still have the matching sand box to keep the little kid days going. And a BIG baby pool in the backyard to come, as soon spring gets here for real.

posted on March 10, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Weekends and a few words on change

All the days come and go. It’s guaranteed to happen. Monday comes, it’s back to school and back to tackling things that need to be done. Because it’s a another day and that’s what we do.

Thankfully we have spring to look forward too, and the time of the year when moms can just say, “Go play outside.” And things can be that simple. Kids play, bike, stroll and are creative in ways only kids can dream up. They are free. They are together with impromptu gatherings with neighborhood friends of all ages. I love to see children from age 3 to middle school mixing it up all together, digging holes in the dirt for fun. I can not make this stuff up!

No one wanted school to come today. I didn’t want the dread of making lunches, or school pick up lines. And so it starts…. we are looking forward to summer, a blissful time of no schedules and leisurely trips to the beach.We all love a good classic summer here.

But for now we are gearing up for spring. Sprucing up and cleaning out strawberry patches, vegetable beds and having new stone put in so we can enjoy more outdoor dining without the mud.

This weekend I didn’t take any pictures. We were too busy juggling the work, the kids, the bikes, and playing tag with other parents taking constant head counts to make sure they were all accounted for or seen in the recent past. So I’m posting a few pictures from last weekend, with same classic old school fun of how my girls spend the weekends.

Sometimes I have to say, as the parent I feel a bit unaccomplished, spending the day counting kids and getting bandages, doling out snacks and refereeing all the toys on wheels. And yelling, “CAR!” We are not in the country. This is urban outdoor play with a twist of Mayberry. But I’m thankful my girls are growing up like this. Where weekends mean running over to a friend’s house to see who is playing in the backyard and end with grown ups sharing drinks on a porch.

Eventually things get done. Monday always comes, the laundry always gets backed up, the floors are left muddy, the homemade popsicle supply is gone from the freezer, there are ballet bags to pack, after school snacks, black beans to soak before dinner, piano to practice and a peaceful bed time to plan for.

And then it will be Tuesday. Then summer will pass. And one day my girls will be grown and I’ll be at home in a quiet house, with a stocked fridge, clean floors and no need to keep a to do list because everything gets accomplished.

It’s a tug and pull these days as we appreciate the now times, being pulled into the future with kids who roam further and now take the dog for a walk while I make dinner. I still long for the days where we sit on a blanket and play with a baby in the sun, all in one spot with no need for head counts. I don’t want to think about the quiet times in my house and a fridge that stays full. But my mind goes there, as they get bigger, go further and get faster.

At the same time I try to enjoy these weekends…. where we are at right now. With growing kids, savoring the days and appreciating the classic weekends in Mayberry.

Under her “peace tree” with her cat Fruit Punch.

Her pinecone collection, aka “shopping for pinecones.” I love her young spirt and I hope it never leaves her!

Riding home from the park barefoot. Because she accidentally peed on her shoes being one with nature (there is no bathroom at the park). She refused to wear them home and I refused to carry her and push her bike.

Experimenting with no training wheels. Getting SO big.

The girl who hides behind a book, and a window.

The watch dog.

Where we started the Saturday morning, taking the little girl and a friend to a local radio show to see kid music. I fought back tears half the time I stood there, at the thought of not having anymore littles to take to a kids radio show.

I love my growing kids, but moving past the baby days and accepting these changes is hard too.

posted on February 27, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Displaying kid art in the kitchen without the clutter

Back in the day we had 1950’s metal cabinets and they were covered in art work – all the time. When I got a new kitchen I welcomed a clean, clutter free space that I designed and claimed it as mine. I know the kitchen belongs to everyone. But I’m the one working in the kitchen for what feels like my whole life sometime, feeding all these people healthy meals. And I like it neat. It makes me think more clearly and feel more peaceful. When everyone dumps their things on the counter, it tips my rocker.

However I missed all the girls’ art work around me to go with the constant flurry of life these little loves bring into our home. Slowly I started taping things back to the walls around me, in small orderly doses. The same plaster walls I watched contractors painstakingly sand, scrape, paint and make so beautiful I never wanted to cover them again. Over Christmas I hung up a temporary chain with hooks to display Christmas cards and well – it stuck. It’s staying. And now it has become my place to hang art installations by my children.

Today I cleared out the last of winter, the paper snowflakes, the valentine art and put up new art, grouping their styles of work together. Which is possible because our kitchen art mostly comes from school art class where projects are similar in scope for all my girls. The basement art is a totally different scene.

These ideas and this post is SO simple it’s almost silly, but for now – this kid art in the my kitchen is making me smile. Because it doesn’t require framing, or a great expense or having a fridge covered in what soon feels like clutter to me. It’s just clipped and taped (with double sided tape on oil-based paint).

So I guess what I’m saying is, today, do something small that makes you happy. It worked for me!

posted on February 17, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Passing the time of no school days

There was a burst of warm weather here today and the girls made every point to spend time outside. It was as a good thing, because there was no school today and tomorrow is a teacher work day. Totaling the time spent having snow days and traveling and Presidents day, my kids will have had four straight weeks where no one went to school for a full five days. Needless to say, I’m ready for a routine again.

But instead, today there was leisurely waffles and hot chocolate for breakfast followed by rollerskating, scooters, bikes, pogo sticks and even ME on rollerblades – reliving a bit of my youth. It was a pleasant discovery when every girl had a pair of skates that fit- a combo of hand-me-down roller skates and inline skates that have been down the gauntlet of fun here. Sitting nearby in the garage from a recent basement clean out were my rollerblades I bought shortly after we got married, around year 2000! So when I say I was reliving my youth, I really mean it!

I used to zoom through Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta on those things, with my dog. And I even commuted to work via rollerblades during the year I served as an Americorps volunteer. It wasn’t that exciting today. But the girls did convince me to go around the block a few times as I chased behind them on bikes. Or pushed!

Those recent skiing days came in handy while the rollerblades felt like ski boots as I traversed up hill pushing my four-year-old on her bike. Sorry there was no one around to take a photo. Maybe next time!

The hours rolled on and no one wanted to go inside to get ready for dance class, which was still being held despite the holiday. And given our hit or miss attendance the last four weeks, we needed to show up.

Tomorrow we still have those pesky dentist appointments I scheduled six months ago not realizing there was no school. Good thing I was thinking ahead to book the three appointments during after school hours.

It’s raining tonight. And the pitter patter of it on the house sounds strange after we have gotten more used to the silence of snow. But it says spring is coming. Even though I’m sure we’ll be tricked and could still get more snow. Winter does that and I can remember it snowing on Easter here. The catalogues of spring clothes are arriving, and I find my mind looking forward to the beach this summer.

As for tomorrow, there will be more hot chocolate by the fire, new puzzles for the morning (a surprise that will hopefully keep the TV turned off) the dentist, and the chore of getting four weeks of laundry put away that will have the girls begging to go back to school.

If I can only find the lunch boxes…because it seems like’s it been forever!

posted on February 13, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Homemade Valentine’s Day

I’m a sucker for Valentine’s Day. I really am. I don’t love all the comercializaion of it. But it’s a fun a way to break up the doldrums of February – a hard, cold month with not much excitement going for it otherwise. Unless you count snow of course.

Once you have children, Valentine’s Day if for the kids. I never expect anything romantic about it and I surely don’t want to set those expectations for my daughters. It’s just a fun excuse to decorate with doily hearts, make banners, treats and get a little sewing in.

Speaking of sewing….this is what my girls will be wearing to school tomorrow. The first two skirts were made from a bundle of fat quarter fabrics, cut equally and sewing together with an elastic waist. The fringe decoration was extra fabric I had, cut in a one inch strip and basted through the middle to form a ruffle affect – then sewn to the skirt. To make them more Valentine’s like, I did a matching appliqué heart on old shirts we had at home.

My oldest daughter has been taking a sewing class from a local textile artist on Saturdays, to feed her desire for fashion designing. She made the below skirt in class, designed from her own sketches. I did the quick appliqué shirt to match.

And yes – while most of the area is out of school still due to snow – my kids will go to school tomorrow. THANK GOD! We have had a lot of snow this year and the wussy, cancel school for a little bit of slush or the threat of a snow flake is well…..I really shouldn’t go there. I’m just thankful my girls go to school where a little snow never scares anyone away. So off the school they will go, where Valentine’s Day is the best day of the year.

Valentine’s Day at school is at the annual bake sale and the children are over joyed by the excitement of getting to have sweets at school (which otherwise never happens).

Also at the bake sale are homemade gift items. My Eucalyptus Bath Salts are such a huge hit here (literally one of my most popular posts) it gave me the idea to make lavender bath salts (by just switching out the essential oils). Doesn’t Lavender Bath salts for Valentine’s Day sound lovely?

Here’s the full display I took to the sale.

The big box store affect on Valentine’s Day can be nauseating, but with a little creativity, a home made Valentine’s Day is really fun. I had wanted to do a post on all my favorite nature inspired and homemade Valentine pins on Pinterest, but with all the snow and travels we’ve had lately it just didn’t happen. However, if you looking to do a little perusing for ideas for next year – and cute banners (oh my!) here’s my Valentine’s Day Pinterest board. So check it out! Even if you don’t acually make anything!

And have a lovely Valentine’s Day.

posted on February 13, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Winter Adventures

It seems the snow just keeps coming here, and has been dictating our days for weeks. We like that – we really do! And that’s where I’ve been, playing in the snow with my family. And by that I mean skiing in Colorado with my brother, sister-in-law and niece. But before we left we had three snow days at home. Then we got snowed in there and had an extended stay totalling nine nights. Then we brought the snow home with us – literally the same storm that snowed on Colorado made it here yesterday – dumping six inches of snow on us at home.

So no mater where we’ve been we’ve had days full of winter adventures – big and small. Skiing with my girls and brother’s family was a big and amazing adventure. I was so proud of my girls, loving to ski and not making a single complaint about being cold or unconformable in bulky snow boots and gear that is somewhat foreign to them. Even my four year-old loved it and begged to take her skis home with us on the last day when she refused to take them off and stop skiing when the mountain was closing and the moon was rising.

Yesterday was my birthday and as the snow fell, it was peacefully perfect, in a small wonderful way. I took two night walks, had cake with my family, drinks with friends and ended the day at midnight alone in the park with my dog and snow falling everywhere.

There are so many ideas in my head everyday I would love to write and do and share here. But in the end, moments with my family and time off the computer seem to trump what we do. These days, creating time for adventures, making memories, spending time together, enjoying the squeals of children sledding, and just taking in a peaceful snowy walk are the important things.

When I see my girls follow my lead and find the joy in those things too, it makes my heart smile.

Right now they are on the third round of drying, thawing it and heading back out for play. As it melts I am watching out the window, then I must feed them, and help dry, and get ready to do it all over again. Even after being in three feet of Colorado snow, they are still up for more winter adventures big and small.

Here’s a few shots from our big Colorado adventure, and skiing at Snowmass. Thank you SO much to my brother, sister-in-law and niece who host us, borrow cars for our big family, help cart our 10 skis and boots around, find lift ticket deals for us, teach us how to build igloos and SO much more. Without the local hook up and family hospitality this trip (which we have done before) would never be possible.

The making of the BIG Igloo…. It was so big that we all fit inside it! It was built by using coolers to make blocks of snow, and stacking them up. It took about three hours to make.

My midnight snowy birthday walk, filled with peace and love in more ways than I can say for more reasons than I want to explain (something to do with this).

And then I woke up to these guys being so thrilled about more snow…again! Including more days filled with outside play, chili and hot chocolate. Who could get too much of that?

posted on January 24, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Update on dinners, recipes and baking in the kitchen

The kitchen has been a busy place this January. After the holidays, it’s the time for a detox of things extravagant and out-of-the-ordary treats. It’s been a time to get back to baking, and making no processed foods a priority. As much as we can at least. In the later part of last year, I was lured too often by the convenience of crackers, snack bars, boxes (and boxes) of mac-and-cheese, frozen pizza and too many chicken nuggets for the kids. It’s time to get back on the bandwagon of real food.

I’ve jumped full throttle into getting my kitchen back to normal this month. The urge to get cooking again was jump-strarted by holiday cooking, and yummy black-eyed peas and collards on New Year’s Day. Since then I’ve been trying to cook a more variety of beans, and expose my children to better vegetarian foods.

On this night (where we finally lit the last of those beeswax candles) we had red split lentils, roasted cauliflower, broiled asparagus, sweet potato fries, fried okra and a pork loin for the meat eaters that was baked with apple sauce we canned this fall.

Soup season also fuels my urge to cook – because I LOVE soup in these cold months. There has been a lot “soup recycling,” as my husband calls it. The leftover red split lentils and cauliflower went into a broth and water combo the next day with kale, red peppers, mushrooms, garlic and spices (cumin, colander, parsley and dill). I wasn’t sure about it at first – but it made a tasty soup when my husband made a surprise visit home for lunch.

I got a new cookbook that I am loving. It’s Simply in Season and I’ve made nearly half the winter section already. One night was an apple, sweet potato lentil salad, which got made into a soup for lunch the next day with a helping of greens, onions and spices.

Last night was curry carrot soup – to make: sauté onions, curry, garlic, salt and pepper in olive oil. Chop two pounds of carrots and add to mix. Add two cups of broth and heat on high till carrots are soft. Add water to amounts depending how much broth cooked down. And puree either in blender ( I have an immersion blender).

On soup night we also have grill cheese, or bread with sides of cheese, another vegetable like green beans and sometimes a side of meat.

On my radar from the Simply in Season cookbook for this weekend is a sweet potato soup and stuffed beets.

The sweet potato crescent rolls in the cookbook have been a hit with everyone here and good for school lunches. We’ve made them twice, with a double batch the second time so I could freeze half – which is two dozen.

Another stand by snack here is these pumpkin muffins. The recipe is tried and true as you can see. It came from the famous “Mrs. Linda” who does story time at our downtown library. When my oldest was still an only child, we were regulars. It was before “Mrs. Linda” became a local celebrity with kids and the turn out was small. One day she baked pumpkin bread and handed out slices to the children along with copies of her handwritten recipe for the moms. I still keep it in my pantry next to my flour. Because it’s an all time favorite (along with those memories of story time days).

Instead of two loafs of bread we make muffins. Which are perfect for snacks and lunches.

Mrs. Linda’s Pumpkin Bread Recipe

1 cup of sugar

1 cup oil (I use olive oil)

2 cups cooked pumpkin or a 16 oz can

3 1/2 cups flour (I use half white half whole wheat)

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2/3 cup water

Combine sugar, oil, eggs and bit till light. Stir in pumpkin. Combine dry ingredients and stir into pumpkin mix, adding water as needed. Add nuts if desired. We add mini carob chips for a treat. Grease two loaf pans and bake at 350 for 65-70 minutes. Or Grease muffin pans and bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes. Less if you use mini muffins.

A new thing happening in our kitchen is older children wanting to bake by themselves – with their friends!!!! I really love this. It happened with one friend who found interest in pursuing my shelf of cookbooks. And again with a older family friend who seemed a little bored after dinner at our house. I knew he really enjoyed the cooking classes he had in school last year (while living in Norway) so I suggested they make desert together. It was perfect and a great lesson for me – when pre-teen kids are bored – let them bake.

With the first friend they wanted to make a cake. But we were missing ingredients. They settled on making “Animal Snackers,” a recipe from the March/April issue of American Girl magazine. They made letters instead of animals. Since I couldn’t find it online and it’s become a tried and true kid recipe here – I’ll share.

Animal Snackers

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon dried milk (we substitute real milk)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 1/2 cups flour

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, milk and salt. Add the vanilla, egg and half the flour. Stir until combined. Add remaining flour and mix again. You may need to mix the dough with clean hands. Roll out dough and use mini cookie cutters for shapes or letters. Place the shapes on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 fro 8-10 minutes.

They made this, for the new year. Which is perfect for my quest for better eating in the new year.

posted on January 22, 2014 by Rebecca Simmons

Kid-made basement spa beats the fancy resort

Just when I was getting a bit envious of a friend posting her winter break pictures at a beautiful spa designation resort with friends, my daughter created a spontaneous spa day. My mom soul was pampered and it was one of those moments where you feel the ultimate love and spirt of your child. Because nothing in the world replaces a free spa day in the basement, that is totally kid created.

The background music was Teen Beach Movie soundtrack and my feet were placed in a COLD Orbeez luxury spa. (Orbeez are little science experiment-like balls that expand when in water. Here’s a link if the product is foreign to you.) The basement was decorated and there was a sign saying the spa was opened.

I love that this is how they play inside, creating little businesses and making things beautiful with pipe cleaner flower arrangements when there was none avilaible for picking outside.

There were homemade t-shirts for the spa “managers” which was my oldest daughter and her friend. I received a pedicure with pink polish by my daughter wearing a vintage Christmas apron and a hot pink fedora she bought with her own money. They provided a stress relieving session with a box of moon dough leftover from my 4 year- old’s birthday party.

It was all followed by a dance party with the girls wearing my old old prom dresses, to One Direction playing the Best Song Ever. And instead I thought, yep this is the best life ever.

A beautiful spa in San Jose would have be nice. But this life is good. It is lovely in every way.