The start of my Montessori style summer camp, in pictures

Lunchbox love from Earth Day

All organic, mostly local and plant based dyes. Oh, and the kids loved having flowers on their lunch that they could eat :-)

A Haiku for Monday...

A rewards based future?

Are we setting our future up for the constant need of external rewards and approval? For me, it seems so; and this makes my heart hurt. 

One afternoon this whole problem really came to life for me when my oldest got in the car after her after school program. She was playing with a little toy. I asked how she had come about the toy and we informed she got to select it from the prize bin for helping clean up the crayons. What?! Given a toy for completing an activity and then putting it away?! Around here that's just a part of the process... You complete a task/play/chore/etc. before moving to something new. Well, that made me really take a look at everything in our extracurricular activities. Here's some of the things I discovered: candy for walking quietly down a hall, rewards for listening in class, and trophies for everyone on every sports team of the same size. 

Now, please don't misunderstand me. I believe there is nothing wrong with commending a child for doing well (ie aren't you proud? Look how neatly you stacked our blocks! Etc.) but shouldn't we be teaching them to feel proud for a job well done without needing external approval or material reward? 

We should be building self efficacy not just self esteem. A belief from within them to complete tasks and reach goals. Sure, we can train a child with candy and rewards but what does the child learn? Instead of learning "I should walk quietly in the halls out of respect for the other classes who are learning" they learn, " If I can stay quite until I reach my room I know I'll get candy." Or, instead of thinking, "let me help clean up these crayons to keep my classroom beautiful" they think, "maybe my teacher will see me and I can get a prize from the prize box."

Help raise a child who can find value in a job well done without the material and external and I believe those are the children who will grow to have not only self motivation but also see the full picture and not just the soul desire of reward. 

Listening walk with Fairies!

We so enjoyed actually seeing snow in South Carolina this week! After reading "The Listening Walk" in class Monday that gave me an idea! 

We bundled up, and after heading to the playground to try out a frozen slide we went on a Listening walk around our pond. I was amazed at the things the kids heard! They really took the activity seriously and they heard everything from snow falling of the trees, to birds, to shoes crunching in the snow, even the cars in the distance. I enjoyed the brisk beautiful nature and cardinal spotting I was able to do along our walk as well. 

No snow day would be complete without snow angels and snowpeople so we created a snow fairy complete with toadstool throne and castle. I love our families imagination! 

Enjoy our pictures and eco-live and laugh with us!

I'm so excited to announce...

I am now a Barefoot Books Ambassador! Our family absolutely loves these books and I can't wait to share them with others:-) if anyone is interested in hosting a party I would love to help you earn some free books! Feel free to visit my site at heather-connor.barefootbooks.com and I can't wait to share book reviews here as well!

MLK Day and a free family outing

One of the many joys of my new job is more family time. For Martin Luther King Jr. Day the whole family decided to go hiking at Preachtree Rock. It was a wonderfully sunny and comfortably warm day (SC weather is so strange!) to enjoy nature and it's beauty and the best part?! It was totally free!

I would like to encourage each of you to try out these types of things around your town...sometimes the most rewarding fun is free! So give it a try and Eco-live and laugh with me! 

My dreams are coming true...

There has been so many changes for our family over the past 5-6 months! Moving, working crazy hours, getting injured, etc. But the biggest change has been for me...I am now an assistant montessori teacher for a primary classroom. Yippee!! God is Good! I am so very excited to finally be on the path to eventually becoming a lead directress in Montessori (once I get certified) and I absolutely LOVE my new job. This job not only makes me happy while I'm there,  it also allows me to actually be the wife and mother that I have longed to be. Having dinner as a family every night, tucking my children in and reading stories together, enjoying more that just car conversations with my wonderful husband; it's truly a blessing! But I know I've neglected my blog followers and for that I am sorry. But I'm refreshed now and full of lots of ideas so I can't wait to get blogging!

Let's eco-live and laugh together!

Healthy Halloween

This week we had a blast with out all the sugar crash! From fun fall crafts to cute halloween lunches our sprouts enjoyed all the fun of the holiday without all the junk. We got goodie bags from Whole Foods and cannot wait to do the candy trade in at Earthfare tomorrow! We enjoyed a yummy meal with friends before trick or treating which kept the sprouts full and help curb the desire to eat their stash. 

Most parents sort candy only for allergies or open packages (or, let's be honest, our favorite treats) but we also sort for artificial colors and GMO's...which means a lot of things got tossed. (I know some folks will say I should have donated it but I can't in good consise give anyone that junk!) We got left with lots of chocolate and a few real sugar items...but the kids had a blast and no one really needs all that candy, a little square of organic chocolate makes our sprouts very happy! 

So, here's our healthy and spooky lunch boxes from this week: 

Hope you had a healthy, happy eco-halloween! Don't forget to compost those pumpkins! 

I Wonder...

 I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parent seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil. Once the emotions have been aroused – a sense of the beautiful, the excitement of the new and the unknown, a feeling of sympathy, pity, admiration or love – then we wish for knowledge about the object of our emotional response. Once found, it has lasting meaning. It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate.” - Rachel Carson, in Sense of Wonder (1965)

All to often we forget the simple joys of discovery. The innate response to desire more knowledge of something is all but lost with the constant need for regurgitation in our modern educations. From the time we are children we are expected the repeat the ABC's, then the states, multiplication, test answers and so on. But what if we were to approach things differently? To look at a child's wondering not as a lazy, day dreaming or grow annoyed with the questions of why? What if we touch and experience, create lasting knowledge? Remind ourselves of the first time we took something apart, just to see how it worked. Or of the time we dug our toes in deep to the sand...and discovered a sand crab! 

"...with children there is greater need for observing than of probing" - Maria Montessori

Let's dare to remind ourselves  how to wonder! With our children, lets discover the new and exciting...and see the desire to know more follow. Our children are so much more than we give them credit for...they are artists, they are philosophers, they are dreamers...they are the future.

"Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment." - Maria Montessori

Do not stifle that since of wonder...instead, dare to do a little wondering of your own; you may be surprised where it may take you! 

How it should be...Let's get cooking!

This is a little more my true style of having my sprouts enjoy (or at least try) various veggies. . .

If you saw my Market update from this week you know that I enjoyed a demo from the fairly new Evanston restaurant FOUND, thanks to the Friends of Evanston Farmers Markets. Well, they shared the recipe used and I just knew this was a PERFECT summer dish! Plus, with little cooking involved I know the sprouts could help out with prep. And we all know if a child helps cook or grow a food/dish = more likely to enjoy or at least try it!

I'm proud to say that our Squash Blossom Quesadillas and Succotash turned out wonderfully! I am not sure if I can legally post the recipe here, but if any wonderful folks from Friends or FOUND give me the okay I will! The youngest sprout LOVED it all (he's easy to please) and the older enjoyed most of it...but, key to me...she tried it all!

Create fun names for veggies and go with it (i.e. we used gorgeous pan patty squash from Lake Breeze Organic Farm (also provider of the squash blossoms in this recipe) and it was "space ship squash" while whole and when sliced on the mandolin, it became "flower squash".

So, seek out summery recipes that are colorful, delicious and nutritious...and EASY! Get your sprouts in the kitchen and eco-live and laugh together; you won't be disappointed with the results!

 FOUND chef, making the real deal :-) 

 snapping green beans and yellow wax beans

 she decided to get her chef on and dress the part; prepping 'dilla's for cooking

 End results: YUM! We used a combo of flour and corn tortillas

End result: No cooking needed! Crunchy, sweet, fresh succotash...I think I could eat this everyday! 

Little White Lie Recipe

I am not a proponent of hiding veggies from kids or lying about food....however my oldest sprout loves cucumbers and (before this recipe) claimed she didn't like zucchini. So, since the two resemble each other...I fibbed and claimed dinner was cucumber. However, after she very quickly enjoyed her dinner, I did come clean that it was in fact, zucchini. And *whew* she was okay with it and dropped the claim to dislike zucchini .

So, what was the recipe?

Almost-Raw Zucchini "Manicotti", A.K.A Little White Lie  

1 large zucchini, sliced lengthwise
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
     - toss together and set to the side

1 cup organic ricotta
1/8 cup organic Parmesan, grated
1/8 cup basil, chopped (thanks to my oldest sprouts window garden)
Dash of salt & pepper
     - mix it all together, set aside

1 can fire-roasted organic diced tomato, puréed
(You can also sub a good marinara here too!)

Lay out zucchini slices, add ricotta and tomato sauce ( about 2 Tbps ricotta, 1 Tbps sauce) and roll up.

Take a baking pan, line with parchment, put a little sauce on the paper, add each zucchini manicotti.

Top each with a little more Parmesan and mozzarella, place in oven just long enough to melt the cheese.

Serve it up and smile big at your family enjoying tons of veggie goodness!

Little Sprout's Rocketship Popsicles

This 4th Rocket Pop's were everywhere! But I won't purchase one of those super sugary, artificially colored Popsicles even if they are a "childhood classic". My sprouts fond memories (and others for that matter) should not surround unhealthy treats. Memories of food should be about things like berry picking, watermelon seed contests and the joy of cooking with family. And that is why I was on a mission...to make a Rocketship pop for my space loving sprout! 

For the mold, I used Tovolo's BPA-free Rocketship molds, purchased with a random merchandise credit to Pier One. Now anyone who knows me knows I'm not a big plastic fan. However, this company has some of the cutest Popsicle molds and I feel okay since: they are BPA-free, nothing is being placed in them hot or heated in them, and honestly, the pops are so good they aren't in the plastic long at all. 

As for how to make the pops, it's super easy! 

1 cup organic blueberries

1 Tbsp H2O

     - heat in small sauce pan over low heat until "saucy", pour in blender and liquefy 

1 cup mixed of: strawberries, tart cherries and raspberries, organic of course! 

1 Tbsp H2O

     -heat in small sauce pan over low heat until "saucy", pour in blender and liquefy

Refrigerate both to cool.

1 cup organic Greek yogurt, plain

1 tsp organic vanilla extract

    -mix well, refrigerate.

Fill pop mold 1/3 full with blueberry sauce. Freeze without tops on, about an hour (do not wait for it to totally freeze). Add yogurt next, then red berry mixture. There is no need to wait for the last two...the yogurt is thick enough that they don't mix. Insert top, freeze overnight. 

These are super tasty and have a fresh berry taste. You could add a little honey or sugar if you want but I think the fruit is plenty sweet naturally. Honestly, these would be okay for a hot summer breakfast as well...hmmm, I just may do that:-)

Let me know what you think, and remember to eco-live and laugh! 

Godly Play: The Parable of The Sower

Recently I became the children's coordinator at our church, Urban Village Church - Andersonville. I am absolutely LOVING it! Can you say dream job?! Montessori style Godly Play lessons, amazing team, great kids, and working wonderfully with the Children's director and our site pastor...I am so honored to be even a small part of this amazing body and these kids lives.
Urban Village Church
Anyway, today's lesson was on the Parable of The Sower. Let me say it was so cute, the kids had never heard the word sower before...even the older ones. They thought I meant sewing or sewer. So we got an impromptu vocab lesson too. I was able to create our materials thanks to Pinterest and a little creativity...and I just had to share! It was too simple not to!

For the birds and the sower I printed clip art, colored it and gave it my cheap lamination...clear packing tape! The mat is just brown felt laid out. Then I used people's for the rocks, pipe cleaners to make thorns and instant coffee on felt "laminated" for the good soil. Then with a few felt scraps the bushels came to be. I just cut three squares, growing in size, stuffed each with a bit of plastic shopping bag, tied with embossing thread...voila, 30, 60, 100 fold bushels.

For the storage my wonderful hubby painted a shoe box gold for me. The best part? Whether your homeschooling, teach Sunday school, etc. this is every inexpensive (free if you have as much crafty things as this eco-momma) and so worth it!

Hope you enjoy! Remember, an art scrap could just become a bushel in a parable...don't toss it! Repurpose! And eco-live and laugh!

An update on my Veggie journey...

Well, I am about 3 weeks into my return to vegetarianism and you know, it's been easier than I remember. I think it's living in a more urban area where there are so many different eating habits; it sure wides my choices! I don't miss meat and my hubby has even gotten on board with a reduction in his meat habits. I hope to start sharing family favorite recipes more here as we experiment.

But for now, I will share a picture from our July 4th fun and hope you all had as green and lovely a celebration as us!

Eco-Live and Laugh!

Sunday's Eco-inspiration: Rooted

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. ¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Ephesians 3:17-19

Think Goldfish are a good choice? Think again...

I have never been a pepperidge farm purchaser...except Goldfish. They seem innocent enough, right? Well, one of my favorite bloggers, Food Babe, gives you the truth behind these deceptively smirked little fish... And as removed them from our "ok if offered" list for good! Click here for her insightful report.

But wait?! What an I replace these beloved cheese crackers with? Here's our favorite picks and even a recipe for you to make your own:

Annie's Cheddar bunnies
365 Organic duckies
Late July cheese squares

And for super mom's and dad's: check out this recipe to make your own!

Remember, eco-live and laugh!

Sweet & Tart berry trip/treat

What a wonderful day! I've always found it important to know where you food comes from and that's especially true with kids. So today we headed out of the city to Olive Berry Acres. 

Upon arrival we were a bit worried about rain, with thunder in the distance. However (thankfully!) the radar proved correct that it was moving the other direction. It made for PERFECT berry picking weather! No sun beating down on our necks, a nice breeze blowing, and the best part... Happy children, getting dirty in the fields. 

My oldest sprout took pride in teaching they youngest which berries to pick and which berries were now ready yet. Both loved picking raspberries and discovering how the berries that are ripe and ready let you know by easily being picked while ones not yet ready still held on. Of course, taste-testing was the favorite with the oldest claiming she would only eat the "funny looking ones". 

The raspberry field was nice and muddy (so much that we stopped for $1 flip flops) but getting dirty was half the fun! Plus, our shoes can be washed but memories are forever. 

I cannot wait to make strawberry jam this week, and will share my favorite recipe here. I've already frozen half the raspberries and made raspberry whipped cream. I can't wait to do even more berry-licious recipes this week...salads, smoothies, muffins, ENDLESS possibilities! 

Head out of the city, get some mud on your tires and eco-live and laugh! 

Apitherapy Honey

This week at the market I picked up a jar of local apitherapy honey, it's SO delicious! Plus there are a TON of health benefits. I'd love to share a few with you in tribute to yet another wonder from our friends, the bees!

- this honey if raw and unfiltered; it contains propolis, pollen, bits of wax, etc. it's creamy and delicious alone or spread on everything!

- pollen in honey from your local area does wonders to help curb seasonal allergies

- this stimulates the function of the immune system

- great for: coughs, sore throats, some ulcers, bad breath and reduces inflammation of mucus membranes. All because of the propolis!

- see what Dr. Weil says here 

- see what Living Green says here

- check out the brand I purchased here ( it's AMAZING! I got the clover but the buckwheat is great too)