10 Fun Ways to Spend Time Outside

Published on by Kariane Category: Family

As summer comes to an end and we move into fall, blistering hot afternoons are being replaced by cooler weather. This makes it the perfect time of year to spend afternoons outdoors (especially if you live in a place that gets really cold during the winter!).

 

Here are some of the things we do to get my boys and I enjoy playing outside:

 

Chalk Mandalas

Drawing Chalk Mandalas (see HERE)

 

Get Moving, Play outside in the Water

Playing Outside with Water (see HERE — We’ve still got a little bit of time before it gets too cold to do this.)… Continue reading

Grain-Free Graham Crackers

Published on by Kariane Category: Food

Grain-Free Graham Crackers

I was looking for a grain-free graham cracker recipe, and stumbled upon this one from Power Hungry. It fit what I was looking for and looked simple to make, so with a small modification I decided to make it.

 

These Graham Crackers turned out well. My boys both liked them. They were much softer than the graham crackers I used to buy in the store.… Continue reading

Simplify Saturday: Make a Master List of Auto-Payments

Published on by Kariane Category: Home, simplify

Simplify Saturday: Make a Master List of Auto-PaymentsThis last week we got a call from our credit card company asking us about some charges that didn’t seem consistent with our purchase history. It turns out, the charges were fraudulent.

 

While our credit card company was great about handling this (we won’t be responsible for any charges we didn’t make), it’s a bother to change the card number with all of the services we have bill that card on Auto-Pay.… Continue reading

Homemade Honey-Sweetened Marshmallows

Published on by Kariane Category: Food

Homemade Honey-Sweetened Marshmallows RecipeThe other day, we were reading Rattletrap Car, which repeatedly mentions “Chocolate Marshmallow Fudge Delight.” My 6-year-old speculated about what it might taste like, and how we might make it ourselves. I told him that I imagined it tasted like s’mores, but with all of the ingredients mixed together. Since he’s never had a s’more, this spawned a whole other conversation.… Continue reading

Finding a Huge Caterpillar: Another Adventure in Homeschooling

Published on by Kariane Category: Homeschooling

 

The other day as I was cooking dinner, I heard my 6-year-old call, “Mama, you have to come out here right now. We found the biggest worm EVER, and we need to save it.”

 

That is a call that cannot go unanswered, so I turned off the stove and headed outside. I saw both of my boys leaning over the strip of cement that runs along our retaining wall.… Continue reading

Preserving Summer’s Bounty: Dehydrating Stone Fruits

Published on by Kariane Category: Food

We’ve enjoyed a lot of stone fruits, such as peaches and plums (see HERE and HERE), throughout the summer. As summer comes to an end, we decided to dehydrate what will likely be our last bags of local stone fruits.

 

Dehydrating our own fruit not only allows us to preserve some of the delicious flavors of summer to snack on throughout the fall and winter (if they last that long), it also allows me to dry our fruits at a low temperature and without any additives or preservatives.… Continue reading

The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson

Published on by Kariane Category: Books, Homeschooling

The Gruffalo, by Julia DonaldsonWe have several children’s books written by Julia Donaldson, and we enjoy them all. However, there are two that get read over and over and over in our house, and The Gruffalo is one of them (I’ll post a review of the other one in the future).

 

The Gruffalo is a fun book about a mouse who shrewdly outsmarts all of the animals who want to eat him.… Continue reading

Fruit-Sweetened Chocolate Brazil Nut Milkshake

Published on by Kariane Category: Food

Today as I was writing I suddenly had a huge craving for chocolate. I didn’t have anything chocolate made or ready-to-eat, so I pulled ingredients out of my pantry, refrigerator, and freezer and tossed them all into the blender. What came out not only fulfilled my chocolate craving, it tasted really fantastic and was very easy to make.

 

This single-serving Milkshake recipe is vegan, raw, simple to prepare, and full of chocolaty goodness.… Continue reading

Simplify Saturday: Limit your Media Consumption

Published on by Kariane Category: Mind, simplify

Simplify Saturday: Limit your Media ConsumptionI want to start by saying that I know this tip isn’t for everyone. If you place a high value on your media time, go ahead and skip this one. That said, if you’re looking for a way to free up some spare time, media consumption may be a good place to do it.

 

A report from the USC Marshall Business School estimates that the average American engages with media for over 14 hours a day (Short, 2013).… Continue reading