Category Archives: Simple Living
Sweet Sadness
A blurry picture can mean so much. This picture is of day that I will always the cherish the memories of. It’s me, my two boys and my nephew Gavin. This is the summer before he died. I can’t believe … Continue reading
Handmade Log Round Candle Holders
“Quick, Kyler! I need some candle holders! Can you go make me something to put the candles in!” I hollered to my oldest son about 3 hours before Thanksgiving dinner. This is what he came up with. I was so … Continue reading
Homeschooling Teenage Boys!
I think all boys should have the benefit of a homeschooled life! It just seems so unnatural for boys (girls, too, but this post is about teenage boys because that’s what I have!) of all ages to be cooped up … Continue reading
A Beautiful Thanksgiving!
My house was full yesterday. 24 people filled the rooms. We have a big family and it was so awesome to host Thanksgiving this year. I had aunties and uncles, cousins, my parents, brother and family friends here. My son … Continue reading
Ch Ch Ch Ch CHIA!!!
The miracle drink! Isaac has been doing this for a really long time but I have been pretty late in the game to get it on it. Actually, over the last few years I’ve had it as part of my … Continue reading
Running!
My sister, Linae @ http://linaesdays.wordpress.com/ are getting set to train for our first half marathon! We are going to meet next Oct in a town somewhere between the two of us so that we can run together! I’m really excited … Continue reading
Hunters Moon Afternoon Hike
We did Science on the go the other day! We spent a beautiful NW afternoon and evening hiking through the woods, making dinner on the fire, eating food we brought plus some chantrelles we picked along the way. This is … Continue reading
Homeschooling High School
Homeschooling through High School has it’s own, new challenges and can seem a bit daunting. For our guide, we are using this 4 year plan that I got from the Washington Homeschool Organization website. It’s incredibly useful for making a … Continue reading
Night time ramblings
I can’t believe it’s almost midnight and I am still awake, this rarely happens! I went to an awesome talk on homeschooling with our local homeschool support group. It was so inspiring! Did you know that we eat, as a … Continue reading
Simple Isn’t Always Easy!
Keeping things simple in an otherwise complicated world can be difficult. Especially when it comes to parenting. It’s so easy to overbook activities for our kids. They always want to be on the go and to be visiting friends and … Continue reading
A Great Week!
We had really fun week. . . homeschool was very productive. We are still really liking Oak Meadow for 6th and 1st grades. It seems, especially with the 1st grade, the ‘schooling’ just fits right in with family life. Maya … Continue reading
Television by Roald Dahl
Television The most important thing we’ve learned, So far as children are concerned, Is never, NEVER, NEVER let Them near your television set — Or better still, just don’t install The idiotic thing at all. In almost every … Continue reading
Integrating Mind-Body-Heart in the homeschool
We really are not trying to ‘duplicate school at home’. In fact, our home learning looks very different than that of a public or private classroom. First of all, we are really trying to serve the body, mind and heart … Continue reading
NO POO!
So I haven’t used shampoo in years, except for a bit here and there. You can read about that here, but recently I bought some Beauty Society shampoo because it is phosphate free. My scalp is feeling pretty itchy and … Continue reading
Pretty Easy Wingback Chair Redo – Just a tiny bit of sewing!
WARNING! If you are a perfectionist or a professional, you probably will NOT like this whole situation! But if you want to quickly recover a wingback chair with very little sewing, then read on! So, I was inspired by Four … Continue reading
Personal Goals & Family Goals
So, in the spirit of living deliberately, my husband and I recently sat down and evaluated our personal values. We each sat down and wrote down what our top 10-13 personal values were. We then shared these with eachother. Next, … Continue reading
Oak Meadow
I’m really excited because I am expecting to get our new Oak Meadow curriculum in the mail next week! I ordered the first and sixth grades for my 2 youngest. I have been researching and thinking about how to make … Continue reading
Keepin’ It Simple
Whew! I have been working HARD for the last week. I have scrubbed Every Single Tile and Every Single Grout Line in our whole house. Then I sealed it all. I’ve cleaned all the bathrooms, scrubbed down my shower, organized … Continue reading
Ok, so everyone is asking WHY?
Why are we selling our beautiful house? Isaac took 2 years building this place. We poured the foundation a few days after bringing our second baby home from the hospital. During the pregnancy we worked on the house plans. I … Continue reading
Good Life Photos
Garden Goodness!
Vintage Homemaking – Good Life Homemaking?
I’ve been told that I am a mix of a hippie and a pioneer! My heart often feels like it has lived in the 1800’s and I sometimes long for that slower paced, nature inspired life. I’ve been obsessing over … Continue reading
To Do Today
Make bread (KK did this) Clean out fridge Wash front windows Make soup walk 4 miles take shower 2 loads laundry look up sage ceremony for Jared It was a sad but good day. I got most stuff on my … Continue reading
Planning school academics
So, I am really trying to get organized with what we’ll be doing for the kids’ school this year. We will be doing Monday class, so that will make Kyler’s (9th grade) easier for me. He will be taking Physics … Continue reading
Vegan Gado Gado Recipe
Or at least my version of it. This is a great Vegan meal. Super healthy and one of my family favorites! I know it probably has nothing to do with real Gado Gado, an Indonesian staple, but it’s my healthy … Continue reading
What is the simple life today?
Well, today, this wonderful Monday, it means doing school in the morning for me and the kids and a home inspection this morning for Izee. Then, off to the beach for a very restful afternoon. Maya and I took a … Continue reading
How much is nourishing & How much is too much?
How much of what we do is done just because it’s ‘what you do’? There is so much in life to do, a never ending amount of awesome experiences. There’s Scouts, Little League, Pee Wees, Dance, Gymnastics, Youth Group, Missionettes, … Continue reading
Morning Walks
So, I have been reading and reading and really feel that the ideas behind Enki are speaking strongly to my family. Especially my husband who has been trying to encourage me to be rhythmic for a long time now and … Continue reading
Road Trip
Homeschooling and living super frugally has allowed us to take a few trips down the Baja Peninsula, Mexico. We save and save and save all year in order to take this winter time trip. This time we were gone for … Continue reading
Thanksgiving With Family
We had a wonderful weekend spent with boy my family and the in laws. Between IZ and I, we have 10 siblings, most all of them have had more than 2 kids, some up to 6 kids! So, we have … Continue reading
Some Real Life Learning!
For a bunch of people that only want organic food, we are HAPPY to have gotten our first deer. We processed it ourselves, I made some of into Italian Sausage and some Breakfast Sausage, we have roasts and steaks. It … Continue reading
Our last day in the old boat
We had a great time going out in our freebie boat with some friends and family. It was a beautiful day and we sure enjoyed ourselves. There is just something about being out on the canal, the salty sea-smells, the … Continue reading
Homemade Vegetable Stock
* use a dry erase to label your jars, so you don’t forget what it is! Ok, I know it’s pretty red, but it’s because of the beets. Read on and you’ll find out a great, easy way to keep … Continue reading
A Beautiful Chair My Husband Made Me
I just wanted to share this beautiful maple chair the husband built for me. We had seen a chair in Mexico that was similar, but not near as cool, and he took a picture of it in his mind and … Continue reading
Tea Party ~ with real tea, no politics allowed!
My daughter loves a tea party. To dress up in something with lace, put a floral tablecloth on the grass, bring out the china, bake some cookies and drink tea! That is a perfect day for her. I try to … Continue reading
Raw Vegan Spring Rolls
100% Garden Food I harvested today made these beautiful ‘Spring’ rolls. So, today we are starting off on a family friendly raw food kick. What does this mean? We will be trying to eat way more raw foods. This doesn’t … Continue reading
Elections Unit Study
I can’t believe this has already been almost 4 years ago!!!!!! How can that be? This is a copy of a post I did on another blog. I thought I would repost as elections are coming closer. How’d all that … Continue reading
Kale, Chard & Collards, Oh My!
We have sooooo much kale, collards and chard. I can only use so many in my green smoothies, and we have so many other kinds of salad greens that we just aren’t using these up fast enough and they are … Continue reading
My Go-To Green Smoothie
Around here, part of our Good Life Food is eating lots and lots of fresh greens. Even the kids. We grow rows and rows of different lettuces, swiss chards, kales, collards, parsley and cilantro. One really great way to get … Continue reading
Making Sauerkraut
So, if you saw my garden post, you will have seen that I have planted a lot of cabbage. It would be impossible to use that all up before it goes bad, especially with all the other greens and lettuces … Continue reading
Yummy Zucchini “Chips”
These were really, really good. Even my non-zucchini loving kid loved them. We were fighting over the last one. Really delish dipped in spicy garlic mayonaise, which my son always makes. Yummy! Medium Zucchini (as many as you think your … Continue reading
Drying Clothes
I just love the feel of sun dried towels. They wick the water right off of you and are so rough you can exfoliate as you dry. What more could you ask for? Not to mention, Mother Nature is providing … Continue reading
Garden Vegi Calzones-Vegetarian
OK, so I kinda got confused when writing the last post. I actually saved out some of the filling from the casserole to make some calzones or empanadas or whatever you want to call them. I knew we were going … Continue reading
A Garden Salad
So, garden food for The Good Life. We try to make a huge portion of our food be in the form of raw vegetables. In the summer, this is an easy task. We have made it easier by making our … Continue reading
Chores and Work Ethic
Let me preface this with: We really want to raise kids equipped for The Good Life. Whatever that may be, for them. We know, though, that being a happy worker is a good thing. So is a worker who has … Continue reading
Garden Tour
Here is a photo tour of our garden. We have it worked out pretty well. Isaac does all the heavy lifting, dirt moving, building of things and ‘squaring off’ (or else everything is crooked and catty-wampus, which I think is … Continue reading
how to eliminate almost all products, their packaging and eliminate the crap you put on your skin, hair and in your mouth.
Lots of talk always going on about ‘buying green’, but if we don’t buy at all, we don’t have to worry about how recyclable our product containers are. Really, the ‘greenest of all green’ (I don’t care for that term, … Continue reading
I haven’t washed my hair in years…….
……with shampoo and conditioner, that is. I’m POO FREE, we’re a NO POO Household! And, no, I don’t stink and my head and hair are both clean. All is use is Baking Soda and water with a few drops of … Continue reading
