Family Traditions - of the Southern Kind

It is always amazing to have strong traditions and to share these with the next generation. M&H partake in many of these, on New Years it is the eating of black eyed peas, which is a Southern tradition from Papa Bear's side of the family (GA, NC). Good luck comes to those who eat this humble pea. Plus, this year we had more country ham than we knew what to do with. You see pictured here - a toasty pan of cornbread, a hambone in progress and a big bowl of black eyed peas, soaking in hot water - preparing for the dutch oven.

Now that the table has been officially cleared - and it was impressive. It is time to say farewell to the Holiday Season. You can see some of our favorite things captured here. Pretty little white birdhouses made by (M&H + Dad) from recycled wood, the Christmas morning spread with foods from multiple parts of Texas and Virginia, Maverick - digging her head in the Santa sack that she carried back to her room and last but not least, Haywood - dressed in his best Star Wars pajamas and sporting his new Spiderman gear. Oh, we will miss this particular season. Our birdhouse may become the next M&H kit.

Christmas Leftovers

They are fierce in our house. Christmas morning was met with a healthy spread, like no other and that meant leftovers from Texas, Virginia, etc. All the wonderful foods that were shipped to us from family all of over the US.

Smoked cheeses, bay shrimp, pastrami from Texas and the proper cracker/roll, all with a side of avocado. M&H have loved the variety. 

POST Christmas

Always a fun time to hang out with family and see movies (Parental Guidance - fun!), play baseball, hike, eat and be merry.

We spent some time with Grandma & Grandpa, enjoying the little creek that runs through their property, best of all was the day after Christmas turkey - cooked to perfection! Grandpa uses a brine, then stuffs it with oranges and lemons, then on tot he BBQ. Absolutely wonderful and we all stuffed ourselves to the max. Great spot to be in the few days before the new year.

We hope you and yours have the most wonderful holiday season - we sure are :) - spending our time in the snow.

THIS -- is our favorite tune, by far. And the continual theme at our house.

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say
on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day.
That's the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway.
Here we know that Christmas will be
green and bright.
The sun to shine by day
and all the stars at night.
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way to say
Merry Christmas.
A very Merry Christmas,
a very, very, Merry, Merry Christmas to you.

Art is a Grand Adventure

As we all work diligently on some very nice handmade pieces for Christmas at our house. We are continually reminded of the amazing impact that art can have on the person creating it, the person who receives it and in the case of our picture, the person who stumbles upon it. This is a picnic bench perched on the edge of Lake Tahoe. During a hike this summer, we "found" this piece of adventurous art and were impacted by how beautiful it was. The person who make this left a wonderful artistic reminder, in an awesome place. Love it.

Fresh Bread

On a day that we happen to have fresh snow. This idea just seemed to go well with the concept of fresh snow - anything fresh is better.

In the case of bread, M&H love to dig into fresh loaves of whole wheat bread. We buy the wonderful balls of fresh dough from the health food store, or your local grocery store. The kiddos love to watch them rise and we use our trusty parchment paper to keep each loaf in it's own zone. Then off to the oven and in a pretty quick fashion, you have warm, amazing bread.

HEALTHY PLATES

The plates pictured are just some examples of recent choices at our house. Even more important at this time of year are whole, clean foods.

What a great way to combat all the sugar, gingerbread and eggnog of the season. Keeping every other item high in protein, veg and fruit is a nice way to stay on track during the holiday season. Even M&H can get on this band wagon, they love a simple plate, full of interesting colors and flavors.

Recently we did a agriculture lesson on the foods and crops of California. Part of the lesson asked each child to evaluate the color of the foods they most often eat, pointing out all the benefits of foods currently in their spectrum. Then it asked which colors you are missing in your diet. M&H quickly identified that they were missing the red/orange elements. So, we discussed what important nutrients come from these brightly colored foods. Making them aware made a huge difference, now they make it a point to ask for variety and to recognize when they haven't gotten enough of a certain color. Wonderful learning!

A fresh tree is the best thing going, we even like to leave the red tag on it. Nothing like a little outdoor conversation piece for every party and family gathering. What a great way to remind ourselves that the natural environment is a huge part of (the most wonderful time of the year) and it sparks learning in this arena for our M&H who take this inspiration to class.

Maverick Thoughts

We appreciate the moments in life that we can act in a Maverick, adventurous way - Yoga is an activity that this unusual as a normal habit for kids. Yeah, some do it - but we still like to think that we are doing something special, each and every time we practice this ritual. It is a calming, wonderful way to spend some PE time during homeschool, downtime as an adult or just to use as a transition from one stage of the day to the next. M&H see major benefits - increased concentration, flexibility, utterly calm kid moments and lots of zenlike fun.

Easiest Recipe Ever - Chocolate Fudge

This one is a cinch - and the kids can help stir. All you need are a few simple ingredients and voila, you have the most fabulous fudge.

Ingredients:
1 bag milk chocolate chips
1 stick butter
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

Cook over low heat - I prefer to put in a class dish with parchment and then right to the fridge to harden, let sit before eating.

Elf in a Rocking Chair

This had been one of the best adventures ever - having our very own Elf (Buster Posey) come and visit. He has decided this little rocking chair is the spot he prefers to use, when sitting and watching M&H throughout their day. We truly enjoy each and every prank he plays, including this one - where he drank all of our maple syrup.

He has also helped M&H keep their behavior in check, despite all the sugar they may consume.

Mt. Shasta California
We are all about adventure here, most of or posts center around the theory that adventure is an amazing way to learn. We stopped by the Shasta Trinity National Forest offices for our Christmas tree permits. For $10 this allowed us to cut our tree up at Mt. Shasta. The benefits of doing so are huge! Outdoor education day for M&H (in the snow!) + a trip with the Grandparents + a snowy hike along our favorite fire road + time for snowmen, snow angels, snowball fights and the most beautiful tree in the forest. Dad is standing next to ours, right before the cut down.

What is Outdoor Education?
Per Wikipedia? (Outdoor education usually refers to organized learning that takes place in the outdoors. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or journey-based experiences in which students participate in a variety of adventurous challenges in the form of outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing, canoeing, ropes courses and group games. Forest Schools and the John Muir Award are amongst organizations which encourage and provide opportunities for outdoor learning. Outdoor education draws upon the philosophy, theory, and practices of experiential education and environmental education.)

Old Shasta Historic Park
Home of the Blumb Bakery - a wonderful historic restoration here in Shasta County.

The new bakery serves fabulous crepes, Straw House coffee and scoops of decadent ice cream, all at very reasonable prices. This is a perfect stop while out looking at all of the other historic elements at SHP. M&H just loved the old blacksmith, cold cave and ruins. A wonderful day out all around - and we found local buy one get one free coupons for crepes.

Baking Soda - it can be so much fun! M&H like to see any kind of reaction we get out of baking soda and this one was a great outdoor summer project. We made a part-time attempt at keeping homeschool going throughout the summer, as Maverick was only starting Kindergarten in August. Art was the perfect medium, no kid will ever say NO to an art project, even if it includes a (science) talk sandwiched in there. Don't get me wrong, M&H love school - but, during the summer in our area is time for serious lake/pool adventures and the heat alone tells kids that its time to party. :)

Wildfire Education

The reasoning is clear for us, as to why we educate M&H on all aspects of wildfire. Pictured here is our local area and shows the remains of a fire that came within 3000 ft of our home. Education is the best way to become more informed and comfortable, living in such a high risk area.

Some topics we have covered:
Defensible Space
Wildfire Lookouts
& much more to come...

Shasta National Forest Research Center

This local resource offered many, many forms of literature on the National Forests surrounding us. Just in the research center we saw many exhibits that sparked M&H's outdoor interests. One they really liked were models, as pictured here - of fire lookouts. We even discussed the reasoning for lookouts with a ranger and the incredible fact that, up here, you can rent a lookout for a night.

Elf on a Shelf

Good Fun -- at least M&H think so, our Elf (Buster Posey) believes in good fun too. He has shown up all over the place in the last week. This one was a big surprise - good one Buster - green milk!!

Sonoma Brinery and their wonderful, outrageous Bread & Butter pickles.

These lovely pickles just made their way to our far Northern California local store and my, my - they are fabulous. Hands down, best I have ever tasted.

The best part? Seeing a company making something amazing, in small batches. This kind of skill is something to be treasured and can be repeated at home. Using this as inspiration, I might just dust off my canning skills and try a batch of pickles.

The Doughnut is a wonderful thing.

Kids love them, parents love them and they just project an air of good, clean fun. We found something special at our local small town doughnut shop - BACON MAPLE DOUGHNUTS!

After seeing these on many food network shows, we didn't really think that this item would hit us here. We are so glad that it did - what an adventure! And a great reason to spark the educational debate - how does food change over time? Do people develop new products and tastes?