How to Make Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

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Embracing Motherhood How to Make Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

I was first motivated to make my own ranch dressing when our youngest daughter went through a phase where she wanted to eat everything dipped in ranch, and then she got to the point where she was only sucking the ranch dressing off from things and not even eating the food! So I made this recipe, and we haven’t bought ranch dressing since. I like making it a little thinner and using it as a dressing and a little thicker to use as a dip. It is a favorite of everyone who tries it.

Ingredients/Materials

  • 1-2 c. Fresh Herbs (Cilantro, dill, and curly leaf parsley are my favorites. You could also add sage, thyme, basil, or whatever other fresh herbs you can find.)
  • 3 Green Onions
  • ½ t. Real Salt (I buy my Real Salt in bulk here. You can buy a shaker here, or a refill pouch here.)
  • ¼ t. Pepper
  • ½ t. Onion Powder
  • 2 Pods of Garlic (If kids will be eating this, I’d leave out the garlic. It makes it “too spicy”!)
  • *¼ t. Cayenne Pepper (This gives it a nice kick, but once again, leave it out for the kids.)
  • ¼ c. Helman’s Mayonnaise
  • 1 c. Buttermilk
  • 1 c. Sour Cream
  • Container to Hold Dressing (I like reusing glass jars from store bought dressing, but something like this would be really luxurious.)
  • Small Food Chopper (Get one here.)

Directions

  1. Chop Up Herbs and Garlic: Chop up herbs and garlic into big chunks (on a wooden cutting board) before adding them to the mini food processor.

    green onions, garlic, parsley on a wooden cutting board

    Green Onions, Parsley, and Garlic

  2. Food Chopper: Add the chopped up herbs and garlic to the mini food chopper. Pulse a few times on low until everything if fairly mixed, then mix on high until everything is finely chopped.

    Green Onions, Garlic, and Parsley Chopped Up in a Food Processor

    Green Onions, Garlic, and Parsley Chopped Up in a Food Processor

  3. Add the Mayonnaise, Sour Cream, and Buttermilk: Add more or less buttermilk depending on how thin or thick you like your dressing. If you’re going to be using this as a dip, start with about a ½ c. of buttermilk and add more if needed. Add more sour cream to thicken things up. If you don’t have sour cream, or if you’re looking for a different flavor, add some plain yogurt instead.
  4. Add Seasonings and Herbs: Mix together.
    Ranch Dressing Ingredients About to be Mixed

    Ranch Dressing Ingredients About to be Mixed

    Ranch Dressing All Mixed Up

    Ranch Dressing All Mixed Up

  5. Serve: I like using this dressing as both salad dressing and a dip.
    Salad with Ranch Dressing

    Salad with Ranch Dressing

    Ranch Dressing Dip with carrots and celery

    Ranch Dressing Dip

  6. Storing: I like to pour this dressing into old glass dressing jars, but you could also use mason jars.

    Ranch Dressing Stored in an Old Blue Cheese Container

    Ranch Dressing Stored in an Old Blue Cheese Container

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Why We Don’t Make Our Little Kids Pick Up After Themselves

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Embracing Motherhood Why We Don't Make Our Little Kids Pick Up After Themselves

First of all, let me clarify something. I’m not saying that I’ll never have my kids pick up after themselves, I’m not saying that I’m not currently teaching my children strategies for picking up after themselves, and I’m not saying that I’ll never teach them how to do chores. What I’m saying is that while our kids are little (all four are five and under), there are far more important things for us to focus on than whether or not they are picking up their messes.

I chose this picture of Ruby helping to fill the cat food as my featured image because it represents what I feel is a hallmark of success. She chose to do this on her own without any prompting or teaching from me. Lately, she has shown a desire to pitch in and help me out, and it completely warms my heart to find her “babysitting” Julian, getting a laundry hamper for her room, filling it, and then wanting to help me do the laundry, organizing the ponies in her room, and helping me pick things in the garden. This intrinsic motivation is what will allow her to progress farther than any preconceived notions I may have about where she should be or what she should do.

Why We Don’t Make Our Kids Pick Up

  • The time we interact with our children is valuable. When I think about the amount of time that our children are engaged in independent creative play, working on their basic needs (eating, going to the bathroom, getting dressed, etc.), and of course lots and lots of cuddle time, it doesn’t leave a lot of time for “instruction”. Their attention spans give me these small windows of time to work on the things that I really value and consider important. If I spent these rare teachable moments instructing my children on how to pick things up, I do not feel that it would not be as valuable as teaching things like number sense, the alphabet, reading, writing, and bigger concepts about the world based on their interests.
  • It would take them a long time to clean up, and it wouldn’t be up to my standards. Whenever I teach my children anything, I use the gradual release of responsibility model, meaning that I first model how to do something, then they do it with me, and finally I have them do it together or on their own. So basically, I would be spending hours upon hours of precious time teaching my children where all of the toys go, how they are sorted, how the arrangements continuously change, and how to adapt to this change. The very idea is not only insulting to my intelligence, but theirs as well.
  • I would have to hold them accountable. Whenever I teach my children a rule such as “Clean up your toys after you use them”, I can’t just mean “Clean up your toys only when I’m there to see it”, I have to mean “Clean up your toys all the time”. So I would have to follow them around from room to room ensuring that they indeed cleaned up every mess that they made. Frankly, the very idea of this is wearing me out!
  • I would rather that my children spend their time engaged in imaginative play. I remember when I was a little girl and my brother and I would take out all of the canned food and pots and pans from the kitchen, then take off all of the couch cushions, and finally use everything to make a little store. We would carefully set up all of the food and pans and take turns being the store owner and the customer, then we would play for hours! I also remember taking off all of the books from the bookshelf and playing library. I never once remember being expected to clean up any of these “messes”. (I say messes in quotes, because they weren’t messes to us, they were intricate worlds we created that we became immersed in.) Knowing that I would have had to put everything back “just as I found it” would have been so overwhelming and stifling that I probably wouldn’t have wanted to take out all of those items in the first place. Children need creative and imaginative play. Research has actually shown that their games of pretend have numerous cognitive benefits. Basically, it’s how children learn about and make sense of their world.
  • I would rather spend my time on more important things. Instead of following my children around while they are engaged in imaginative play to make sure that they are picking up after themselves, I would rather use this valuable time to prepare healthy homemade meals, clean up the kitchen, organize things in the background, set up new play and learning stations, prepare materials for guided instruction, or maybe even blog a little. Then, when I do engage with them, I will use my voice to speak to them about things that really matter to me. I will share my passions for learning, creativity, and writing, I will listen to what they are interested in and do my best to take their thoughts to the next level with my knowledge of the world and Socratic questioning (open ended questions that promote critical thinking), I will get down on the floor and play with them, and I will sit them on my lap and teach them about the world through a love of books.

Setting Up an Environment That’s Easy to Clean

  • Don’t cluster too many toys together, like in a playroom. Recently, we had a bedroom open up because our two older kids wanted to share a room, and so I turned it into a playroom. It was fun at first, but it was a concentration of too many toys that were always scattered on the floor. Not only that, but when the kids were playing up there, they were far away from me as I tried to get a few things done around the house. I prefer to spread small concentrations of toys around the house, and I’ve found that they are actually engaged for longer amounts of time and in deeper play when there are fewer toys available. Read more about how I set up this environment in my blogs: How to Create an Environment That Encourages Creative and Imaginative Play and Having a Clean House with Four Young Children…Is it Possible? 
  • Only keep out the toys that get played with. If there are toys out that don’t get played with, I put them away. If I keep them hidden for awhile, bring them out (I like to rotate my toys anyways), and they still don’t get played with, then I’ll get rid of them.
  • Get toys that encourage extended creative and imaginative play. I know that some people go so far as to say “no toys with batteries” or “only wooden toys”, and I don’t go that far, but close. My criteria is that if the toys we have engage my children for extended periods of time in creative and imaginative play, then they are worth keeping. It is also worth it for me to spend ten minutes cleaning up toys that engaged them for hours, but it is not worth it for me to spend twenty minutes cleaning up toys that only engaged them for five minutes.

How to Teach Kids About Chores

  • I involve my children in the jobs I am doing, and I make it fun. When I am cooking, the kids love helping me crack the eggs, stir the batter, and of course taste the batter! Not only are they learning about what it means to help, but they are learning valuable cooking skills that will aid them in the future. I encourage them to help me with whatever I am doing, but I don’t force it. Over time, the kids have enjoyed helping me put laundry into the washing machine, rinse dishes (but mostly play with the bubbles in the sink), pick vegetables from the garden, put dirty clothes in the hamper, empty their potties, and many other small jobs that someday they will be able to do on their own.
  • The kids like helping Daddy too. When Daddy is doing little projects around the house, the kids love following him around and “helping him”. They will hold nails or screws for him, try hammering things, stand on boards to hold them straight, sit on his lap on the riding lawnmower, unscrew and fix computers with him, and many other small jobs.
  • It’s a gradual release of responsibility that lasts for years. I think the toughest thing for kids is when we expect the whole from them when we haven’t taught them the parts. So when parents say “Clean your room!”, what does that even mean? The children might not know how to fold their clothes, how to hang them up, where to put their toys, where to put their books, how to make their beds, and so on. And you can’t just teach all of these things at once. It has to happen layer upon layer in a gradual way over many many years.
  • Using backwards design as a template. When I think about chores with the end in mind, I wonder, “What do I want my children to know, understand, and be able to do by the time they are adults?” Well, I want them to know how to crack an egg, how to shake a rug, how to angle the broom to get under the cupboards, how to fold clothes so you can see the top of the shirt, how to do laundry economically, how to use different brushes to clean different dishes, how to change a vacuum bag, and so many other little things. I want them to understand the value of a clean home and how we take pride in the things that we have by keeping them clean and in working order. And finally, I want them to be able to do all of these things when they are grown and on their own; this includes my daughters and my sons (You’re welcome future spouses!).

Tips and Tricks

  • If you take something out, play with it. I will lay down the law if I see my kids pick up toy after toy and discard them about the room without even playing with them. That is not okay with me.
  • Don’t throw things inside. We really only had to make this rule for our son Elliot because he would throw things that would and could hurt people, but it was also a really quick way for him to make a tremendous mess. We tell him he can throw things outside as much as he wants.
  • Put caps back on markers. Since my kids are capable of it, I expect that they will put the caps back on the markers after they are done using them. Before I expected them to do this independently, I first modeled how to do it and showed them how to make sure the caps clicked on so that they were securely fastened and how different caps fit different markers. I also explained what would happen if we didn’t put the caps on the markers, and how we couldn’t afford to keep buying new markers all the time. Before I expected them to do this independently, I worked with them side by side to make sure they were doing this right. (I give you this detailed example to show the depth of teaching that I put into all of the parts that will one day lead to the whole of me saying, “Clean up this mess!”)
  • Clean when the kids aren’t looking. If you try to clean in the same room as the kids are playing in, it’s a futile attempt because they’re just going to keep making a mess, and you’re going to get frustrated. That’s not to say that you can’t tidy up a bit when they’re distracted, but I’ve found it’s easier to just wait until they’ve moved on to another project in another room. Also, I don’t think it’s good for kids to have to think too much about the cleaning I have to do. I don’t want to thwart their creativity by constantly reminding them that I’m the one who’s got to clean up all of their messes, and I don’t want them to feel entitled to having me clean it up. I just want it to be clean without them even thinking about it. I’m like a magic little elf who works behind the scenes!
  • What to do if kids get defiant about helping pick up occasionally. From time to time, you’ll need your kids to help you pick up (or do any other number of chores), and if they flat out refuse to help you on the rare occasion that you ask for help, then you’ve got bigger issues on your hands, and I recommend you reading my blog: Guiding Children Towards Positive Behaviors for some tips on how to nip that attitude in the bud with positive parenting.

How Kids Learn

Kids learn by observation and immersion. We shouldn’t have to tell our children (constantly, that is) to say please and thank you, they should hear us modeling it all the time (if this is something we choose to model) and it should become second nature to them. I remember when Ophelia was just learning how to talk and kept saying “I know!” over and over again. We were like, “Where did that come from?” but then when we were out walking one day having a great conversation and saying, “I know!” back and forth to each other, it finally dawned on us.

If we value having a clean home, if we model what it means to take the time to organize and clean our living space, if we involve them in the process along the way, and if we gradually release them to be able to do these jobs independently, then it won’t be something that they need to be constantly reminded about, cleanliness will be second nature to them. It will be so ingrained in their very fiber that they will crave it, and they will find a way to make it work without even thinking about it.

Future plans

People often ask me what we’ll do with our children when they’re older, or they’ll make me promise to them that I’ll do such and such when they are teenagers, and all I can say is that it is an ongoing work in progress, and there is no way that I can look into the future right now and know exactly what I’ll be doing or how I’ll be doing it. The way that my husband and I parent is by keeping the big picture in mind while focusing on the details at hand. We know that we want to raise well mannered caring children who have confidence, creativity, passion, and skills that will help them succeed at whatever they choose to do. We want them to know without a shadow of a doubt that they are loved, not just by our words, but through our actions as well. We know that when they are teenagers, we will have long chats with each other into the night about their well-being, growth, progress, and goals – just as we do now.

Right now, when we look at the details and the big picture, we see that there are more important things to focus our energies on than having our children pick up every single “mess” (or remnants of creativity left behind) that they make. As they get older and are capable of more, this may change, but for right now, this is what works for our family.

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Popsicle Puppets for Pre-Reading and Imaginative Play

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Embracing Motherhood How to Make Popsicle Puppets for Oral Language Development, Reading Readiness, and Creative Play

I love making simple popsicle stick puppets for my young children because it is a great way to encourage imaginative play while also teaching basic reading skills. I love following their interests to make popsicle puppets of their favorite characters or genres and watch as their imaginations take off into a world of wonderment.

Pretend play is more than just fun for kids, it actually helps their cognitive development on several levels. Studies show that pretend play during early development allows for the enhancement of the child’s capacity for cognitive flexibility and creativity. Taking on different roles during pretend play also allows children to represent problems and scenarios from a variety or perspectives and this precipitates empathy and self regulation. Studies also show that it positively influences  language usage including subjunctives, future tenses, and adjectives. I love it because it get kids talking and any kind of talking is good for oral language development.

Materials

  • Jumbo Popsicle Sticks (Or you can just cut some strips of cardboard.)
  • Glue Stick (I like to buy my glue sticks in bulk here.)
  • Card Stock (You could also use regular computer paper.)
  • Scissors (I like these.)
  • Color Printer (Having a good economical printer is an absolute must! These ink cartridges, that go with the printer previously linked, are expensive, but they last a long time, like 1,200 color sheets.)
  • *Optional: laminator, laminating sheets, and large cardboard boxes

Directions

  1. Print out some small characters. Elliot really wanted germs this time around, and we found tons of great images on our google image search. He has also liked superheroes, spiders, monsters, and Star Wars characters. When I’ve made these for Ruby, she wanted all of the My Little Pony characters. To get the images, I first do a google image search, then I click on the image I want, right click and copy it, open a Word or Publisher document, right click and paste it in, and then resize it to fit my paper. Sometimes I add boxes with the characters’ names and other times I just write the name on the popsicle stick. This kids love sitting on my lap as we do this part together.
    Embracing Motherhood Germ Printouts on Popsicle Sticks

    Germ Printouts on Popsicle Sticks

    my little ponies

    My Little Pony Sticks

    superhero popsicle sticks

    Superhero Sticks

  2. *Optional: Laminate your sheets before cutting them out. Here’s the laminator and laminating sheets that I use.
  3. Cut them out. Sometimes Ruby helps me with the cutting, but I usually just do this by myself.
  4. Use the glue stick to affix the cutouts to the top of the popsicle stick. *If you’ve laminated your characters, you might want to put some masking tape over the back of the stick to make sure it really holds.
  5. Give them names. Elliot LOVES coming up with funny names for his germs. He’ll make up names like “Mook” and “Funkoo” and it’s a great opportunity to teach him how to sound out and spell words. It then becomes a great reading activity as he reads his sticks. I like writing the names vertically on the stick. On the back of the stick, we write their nicknames.

    elliot with popsicle stick project

    Elliot (4) Naming his Germs

  6. *Optional: Make backgrounds. When I made Ruby’s My Little Pony sticks, I also did google image searches for the homes of each of the characters. I printed out one picture of the outside of their home and one picture of the inside and glued them onto a large unfolded cardboard box. Elliot wanted random backgrounds of haunted houses and cities. This is a great way for children to learn about setting (where a story takes place).
    Ruby's My Little Pony Boards

    Ruby’s My Little Pony Boards

    Elliot's Boards

    Elliot’s Background Boards

  7. Imagination Games: Now the children can use their popsicle characters in some imagination games. I love to play with them too and use funny voices for the different characters. Sometimes I like to introduce a problem scenario like one character is evil and trying to capture the others or one is sad and the others want to cheer him up, but they are usually pretty creative and independent with this part.
    ruby playing with her boards

    Ruby (5) Playing with her My Little Ponies

    ophelia playing with popsicle sticks

    Ophelia (2) Loves Playing with Them Too

  8. Storage: I like to keep these out and accessible as the children are interested and want to use them, but if they lose interest after awhile, I tuck them away in a more disclosed location. That way, they’re excited when they “find” them again. 🙂

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How I’ve Found Happiness as a Stay at Home Mom

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How I've Found Happiness as a Stay at Home Mom

Being a stay at home mom has been the hardest and most rewarding job I’ve ever had in my life. When I was a working mom for two years, going to work actually felt like a break. I had a scheduled lunch time, I was given challenging tasks and completed them, and I got to interact with other adults. As a stay at home mom, I am working (or on call) 24 hours a day, I am constantly multitasking and busy doing a thousand things at once, and I am in a sea of children. All. The. Time.

BUT, I am truly and deeply happier than I ever thought possible. Being with my children during these formative years is not only rewarding for me, it is deeply beneficial for my children too. I get to be there to see every smile and to soothe every frown, I get to nurse on demand and see first steps, I get to see what goes in and what comes out of them all day long, and I get to just BE with them. They are my favorite little people in the whole world, and words cannot express the joy that I feel upon seeing them every day in my role as a stay at home mom.

But it hasn’t always been peaches and cream. We had to really think about our lives differently in order to make everything “fit” around me being a stay at home mom. When we just had one child, we could easily cart her around and make her a part of our former lives. But when we had two, and then three, and then four, we had to let go of our old lives and start living a new normal. These 13 tips are what have helped me to battle some of the low points and find a happiness greater than anything I thought I was capable of experiencing.

Also, let me be very clear in that I am NOT saying, “Follow these 13 tips and you will find happiness!” I am saying, “These are the 13 things that have helped ME to find happiness.” I believe that we are each on our own journey and we each have to decide what things actually DO make us happy versus things that we feel like we are “supposed” to do for x number of reasons. You, dear reader, might actually be happier working, or unschooling, or living in another country…who knows! The important thing is for each of us to support each other in this wonderful journey of motherhood.

1. I Found a Way to Make It Happen

When we had our first daughter Ruby, I wanted more than anything to just keep staying with her after my 3 month maternity leave, but I just didn’t think it was possible. We were upside down in our condo, both working full time, and barely making ends meet. When I expressed my desire to stay at home with my daughter, a very well meaning grandmother (who actually adopted her daughter’s son who was in my class) said to me, “You never get that time back.” I just threw up my hands in exasperation and said, “I make twice my husband’s income, I don’t have any choice but to work.”

But I did have a choice, I just didn’t see it at the time. It took having another child, trying to juggle two different child care providers for my two children (that’s a whole other story), and spending a summer vacation at home with my two little angels (Elliot was 6 months old and Ruby was 21 months old at the time) to make it happen. I don’t know how I ever managed going back to work when Elliot was only 4 weeks old or how we managed to be apart until he was 5 months old, but after spending the summer with him attached to my boob, I couldn’t imagine him ever making it without me nearby. Not to mention that I was crazy in love with my daughter Ruby and enjoying spending every minute with her as well.

So we decided to go for broke. We made some radical decisions that led to us both quitting our jobs, doing a short sale on our condo, and moving 1,200 miles away to live with my parents for 8 months while we sorted things out. Now, flash forward four years later, and we own our own home on an acre of land with a fenced in yard minutes away from my husband’s amazing job that provides very nicely for our family of six (even though he makes about what I did when I was working).

If you really want to be a stay at home mom, you can find a way to make it work. You may have to really think about your choices from an “outside of the box” perspective, but sometimes those crazy hair-brained ideas that you think will never in a million years work, well they just might be the best ideas you ever had.

2. Finding My Identity

When I chose to stay home, I was riding high on cloud nine at first, but then after the routine set in, I felt lost. I felt like I had lost a part of myself when I quit working, like I had lost my identity. Taking care of my children was an amazing honor, and I cherished every moment that I was there to cuddle them and love them, yet for so long I had worked towards my career, and it kind of felt like I had just thrown it all away. More than once, I fell into some pretty serious bouts of depression as I struggled to find my new normal.

I knew that I needed something just for me that was separate from the kids, but I couldn’t seem to find what that could be short of finding a part time (or even full time) job. But, it wasn’t about needing money, it was about finding something for me…something that I could work on, something that I was passionate about, something that would stimulate my mind, something that I could accomplish, and something that would make me feel whole.

It took many years of trial and error until I established what this blog is now (even though I still feel like I am at the beginning). I knew that I was passionate about learning new things, discovering the best health options for our family, cooking healthy food, learning about the science behind health topics, educating our children, being a mom, and writing. It just took me awhile to put all of those things together and find my voice at Embracing Motherhood.

I don’t write this blog with any intention of making money, I just do it because it completes me. I love finding time to write when all of the kids are happily playing independently or sleeping. I love having a voice and a platform to learn new things and record them. I love sharing what I’m learning with others. I love having something to talk to other adults about besides just surface level topics. This blog has helped me to find my identity and give me purpose. It is also a great bonus that everything I’m learning and writing about also benefits our family.

If you are reading this and wondering what your passions are and what your identity could be beyond being a mother (which might just be enough for you, and that’s ok too), then I encourage you to think about what it is that you enjoy doing that makes you really really happy. What do you enjoy learning about? What do you enjoy doing in your free time? What completes you? If you can find a little bit of time every day to work towards figuring out what you are truly passionate about, it can actually be the most liberating thing ever. So many times, we fill our time with what can make us money, and to be a mother and not only be able to spend time with your precious angels but to also look into the deepest regions of your soul and figure out who you are without the burden of earning an income, well, it is truly a blessing.

3. Owning It In the Kitchen!

When I read Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, it changed my life. I realized that everything that I thought I knew about health and nutrition was wrong, and I made it my new mission to learn everything I could about Weston Price and what a healthy diet meant for our family. I’m still learning more and tweaking our diet as our health continuously improves, but this journey and this knowledge have really given me confidence in the kitchen. It really helps that Scott has been learning right beside me and is totally on board with everything I’m doing.

After I learned what our family needed to eat, I had to learn how to cook it! I’ve had fun sharing my recipes that give my family healthy nourishing meals that they enjoy eating. It seems like each child has a certain list of foods that they will or will not eat and that list is constantly changing. By planning ahead and having the fridge stocked with things like my sourdough waffles, whole wheat pancakes, steel cut oats, homemade cereal or healthy oatmeal cookies it makes the day much more manageable.

Even though we eat mostly organic foods and pastured animal products, we are still able to stick to a pretty good budget because I am always planning ahead and buying in bulk. Country Life Natural Foods is one of my favorite places to order dry goods in bulk and we live near many Amish farms where we get our raw milk and pastured eggs and grass fed beef all at reasonable prices. I also save us money by making my own laundry detergent, toothpaste, deodorant, and more!

We are also not crazy obsessed about eating the “perfect diet”. We try to eat mostly good most of the time, and we don’t worry about eating a little birthday cake or fast food every now and then. We just try to make the things that are routine pretty consistently healthy.

4. Creating a Morning Routine

The rest of the day is always different depending on what we need to do or how everyone is feeling, but our mornings are always pretty much the same. During the summer, when I have all four kids at home, we get dressed, eat breakfast, brush our teeth, and then do three activities before they are allowed any screen time. Having this routine in the morning takes the guess work out of the beginning of our day, and it allows us all to sort of run on autopilot as we wake up.

Now, that being said, there are many days (like today) where I’ve been up with 7 month Julian multiple times in the night, and all I want to do is sleep in. When the kids (Ruby – 5 and Elliot – 4) wake up, they know where their iPads are and how to turn on the TV and find their favorite shows, so I have no problem at all when they do this and let me sleep in a bit. We have have food like apples and my healthy oatmeal cookies within easy reach, and the kids will often get themselves snacks when they need them.

5. Filling Their Tanks First 

Throughout the day, I take turns giving each child as much attention as I can. Sometimes they want to do something, like coloring with us sitting side by side and other times they want to tickle, wrestle, fight, and get as much physical contact as possible. Whatever it is that they need, I give it to them until their tanks are full. Once their bellies are full of food and their tanks are full of love, they are able to go off and play on their own, and THEN I get some time for me. 🙂

6. Finding Time for Me

There are little pockets of time throughout the day when I’m caught up on food preparation, cleaning, and all of the children are either playing independently or sleeping. Sometimes this happens multiple times a day for extended periods, and sometimes it happens less often and for short durations, but when that time comes, I seize it!

When I do get this time, this is what I like to do:

  • Take a shower
  • Work out (When I had one child, I would do these deep medatative yoga videos for an hour and a half, but now I do a 10 minute yoga video and an 8 minute core workout when I can.)
  • Work in the garden
  • Read
  • Take a nap
  • Eat
  • Blog (This is what I usually end of doing!)

7. Making It Fun…For Me!

Do you like schedules? Do like organized activities? Do you like spontaneity? Do you like playing outdoors? Do you like go to museums and learning new things? Are you a homebody? Do you enjoy gardening? Whatever it is you like to do…if you can get in touch with your deepest passions and find things to do with your children that make your heart sing, then everyone will be happy.

There’s no such thing as the perfect routine or the perfect way to raise your children. It’s so completely important to be happy and enjoy what you do. That is what matters, and that is what your children will remember when they’re grown and on their own. They will remember the happiness, and it will comfort them and give them confidence at the same time.

8. Learning Goals for the Kids

I like to set learning goals for each of my children so that I can be aware of what their needs are. I like to keep it simple and stay in their zone of proximal development. For example, Julian, who is 7 months old, is ready to start building a relationship with reading, so we watch Your Baby Can Read videos (which sadly went out of business, so we created our own video here) and read the same books over and over. Ophelia, who is 2, is reading single words and simple sentences, so we’re doing lots of flashcards and repetitive reading of her favorite books. Elliot, who is 4, is developing his reading skills and working on math concepts, so we play a lot of online math games and spend lots of time cuddling and reading his favorite books. Ruby, who is 5, is already a voracious reader, so now we are working on her writing skills by writing lots of stories, letters, and books together. (Here are some videos of our kids reading over the years.)

When you have really little ones, it can seem like you are spending all of your time wiping butts, making food, and cuddling, but by setting aside a little time every day for learning activities, you will be so pleased with the results in the long run. You don’t need to spend six hours a day or really any set amount of time, just wait for teachable moments and do it for as long as you both are interested.

To learn more about setting learning goals and creating activities, check out my blog: How to Set Up a Summer Routine That Keeps Kids Productive.

9. Creating a Stimulating Environment

When I’ve got a crying baby in one hand, a screaming toddler in the other, and two young-ins who are looking for something to do, I’ve got to have some things ready to go at a moment’s notice. I spend a lot of time creating play and learning stations that will keep my children engaged in independent and self directed play for extended periods of time. Read more about how I do this in my blog: How to Create an Environment That Encourages Creative Play and Learning.

10. Educational Screen Time

When people see our 2 year old reading and hear that I used to be a teacher, I think that they assume that I spend hours doing elaborate lesson plans, but the reality is that while I do spend a lot of time with children on my lap reading books and such, I rely on a lot of educational screen time supplements to help me teach the basics. (To learn why we DO allow our children under 2 to have screen time, check out my blog: Why We Shouldn’t Ban Screen Time for Children Under 2.)

The important thing is to have a balance. I find that the older kids do really well with these limits that we have in place. (Of course, the limits wouldn’t work if we didn’t have a good management system in place.) I love putting on these educational YouTube Playlists with my little ones (and the older ones love them too!) to teach them letters, numbers, vocabulary, nursery rhymes, and more! I also have loved using these educational apps to teach my young  children the fundamentals.

Instead of having cable TV, we’ve connected our TV to a computer so that we are very purposeful about what we watch. Using Netflix, YouTube, Network websites, and DVDs, we watch programs like Dora, Super Why, Little Einsteins, Preschool Prep videos, Your Baby Can Read videos, and Leapfrog videos that are all great learning tools.

By having these educational screen time options set up, I am able to use them as a babysitter if I need to put the baby down, make some food, cuddle a crying toddler, or whatever other “emergency” that might pop up. This definitely saves my sanity.

11. Living Close to Scott’s Work

The best thing we ever did was move really really close to where Scott works. And I’m not talking close like 15 minutes away, I’m talking like two minutes away. 15 minutes away means a 30 minute trip home and back and so lunchtime visits will be out of the question. 2 minutes away means that he can pop home whenever he can without wasting any time in the car.

We have lived together for many many years where Scott had over an hour commute each way, and that in comparison to this was horrendous. Now, the time he is away from us, he is earning money, not just sitting in a car. We also have more time together in the mornings and evenings, and he can get me something from the grocery store if I need it without too much hassle.

An added bonus is that he’s able to come home for lunch every day. How can spending time with co-workers compare with that? Not only am I able to make him a nutritious lunch every day, but he’s able to pitch in and give me a hand while he’s here. We also enjoy napping together from time to time. 😉 What could be better than that?

12. Dealing with the Boredom

It’s a weird juxtaposition because when I was working full time and had two little ones, I never had enough time, and now, here I am, still very busy, but also, well…bored (sometimes). It’s a crazy feeling to be bored when you’re not used to it. When I was working, I was so used to scheduling and filling all of my time, and then when I became a stay at home mom, I felt like there was this pressure to go to play groups, get involved in activities, sign up my kids up for things, and cart them around to avoid the boredom.

I tried this for a little while, and it didn’t work for me. The kids just do better (the little ones especially) when we can stay home. When we’re here, I don’t need to worry about what food they are going to eat, and they can nap in their beds whenever they need to (rather than falling asleep in their car seats). So yes, rather than feeling stressed, I sometimes feel bored, and honestly…I LOVE it! I mean, are you kidding me? I can just lay on a bed for an hour playing mouth bubble games with Julian, spend time cuddled on the couch reading books with Ophelia, really focus on building towers with Elliot, and get really creative doing art projects with Ruby…um, yes please!

I know that these days are passing by quick and that I don’t need to have everything in my life balanced all the time (i.e. 25% of my time for me, 25% of my time for work, 25% of my time for my husband, and 25% of my time for the kids). I know that while they are little, children demand an insane amount of attention, and so I balance out time for everything else after that. I know that someday I’m going to be an old lady remembering these as the “good old days” and I will have more than enough time “just for me”. (Which is also why I love taking tons of pictures and movies and keeping memory books!)

13. Find Ways to Relax

There is certainly nothing wrong with cracking a beer or having a glass of wine from time to time (if that suits you), but if this is the only way that you can “unwind” or “relax” after a long day, you’re asking for trouble. See, kids don’t take time off for you to drink, and as soon as you crack a beer because you finally got them to sleep, you just know that they will wake up in half an hour to nurse or need to use the potty. Plus, when we put the kids to bed, that is the time when my husband likes to work on his programming or music side projects, and I like to work on blogging. We’re not just looking to veg out and deaden our minds…ok, sometimes we are (Game of Thrones anyone?).

Here are some of the things that I do that help me to relax:

  • Kombucha: Not only is kombucha good for helping to build a healthy gut flora, but it can help to relax you too. There’s about as much alcohol in a kombucha as a non-alcoholic beer, but unlike drinking beer, the euphoric “high” I get from drinking a kombucha is nothing like the buzz I get from drinking a beer. It feels uplifting, invigorating, and relaxing all at the same time. In Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon states that it’s even more hydrating than water. Check out my kombucha recipe to learn how to make your own.
  • Bath: We inherited this crazy sit down Jacuzzi tub from the previous owners of our house, and we all just love it! I really love getting the water as hot as possible, putting in some bath salts, putting my Enya mix on, dimming the lights, closing my eyes, and enjoying a good soak.
  • Massage: Sometimes a quick shoulder rub or a foot massage can just make the problems of the world melt away. My husband is always so generous to give me the attention of his hands when I need it, and I like to do the same for him.
  • Alone Time: After a long day cooped inside with the kids, sometimes I just need a half an hour to myself. I might go out and weed the garden or hop in the car to go drop some books off at the library. Just having a few moments to catch my breath without anyone needing me is all I need to reset my clock.
  • Being Intimate: Sometimes we get so busy taking care of everyone else’s needs that we forget to make time for us. Enjoying a good cuddle on the couch wrapped up in each other’s arms is a very good way to relax.

In Conclusion

My husband encounters a lot of older women at his job who tell him how amazing it is that I’m able to stay at home with the kids and how they wish they could have done that with their little ones too. But he’s never once met anyone who has said that they stayed home to raise their little ones and have then regretted it ever since. (Can you imagine?)

Personally, I don’t think that staying at home with the kids is something that I will ever regret. In fact, I think that it is one of the greatest things that I have ever done. I can’t imagine being a grandmother forty years from now saying, “The one regret I have is putting my career on hold while I raised my children”. All I can say is that after much soul searching, self reflection, and following these steps, I love my life, I am completely happy, and I feel like every day is a gift.

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All Natural Homemade Deodorant That Really Works!

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Embracing Motherhood All Natural Homemade Deodorant That Really Works!

I have been using my homemade deodorant for awhile now, and I am blown away by how well it works. Not only is it better for me, but I get to tailor it to my specific preferences.

I first got the idea that commercial deodorants were bad when I read this article about how the aluminum in commercial antiperspirant deodorants prevents your body from sweating (which is one of the ways that the body releases toxins), and it was reason enough to make me search for an aluminum free deodorant! (Not to mention that aluminum is toxic to the body.) My husband was easily able to find a deodorant without an antiperspirant (Dove was his original choice, but we have switched to Every Man Jack), but I was only left with a few natural options at the grocery store. I tried every one, and none of them worked. In fact, Tom’s Natural Deodorant actually made me smell worse!

Then my cousin said she tried Primal Pit, and it was the first natural deodorant she had ever used that actually worked. I was going to buy some myself, but when I saw the price tag and the list of ingredients, I thought, “I can make this!”

Homemade Deodorant Recipe

This recipe will make four 4 oz. jars of deodorant, and each jar typically lasts me about 4-6 months. Coconut oil has a shelf life of about 18 months (if in a covered jar), so that’s a pretty good expectation for how long it should keep. *Although 2022 update, I just used my last jar that I made about 5 years ago, and it still worked just fine!

*Note: The pictures below actually show me making a double recipe. When I make things, I like to have enough to last for a long time, and I like to have extra to give away!

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. Measure the Ingredients: Measure the coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, and beeswax (for deodorant sticks) and place in a glass bowl. It’s helpful to break apart and mash them up a bit before melting.

    cocoa butter shea butter coconut oil beeswax

    Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Coconut Oil, and Beeswax

  2. Double Broiler: You can use a double broiler like this, or you can just put a glass bowl on top of a pan of boiling water (that’s what I did). Make sure everything is completely melted before moving on. This should take about 15-20 minutes. If you want to speed things up, put a towel over the top. Just make sure it doesn’t touch the burner!

    double broiler

    Double Broiler

  3. Add Powders: Using hot pads, place the bowl on the table. Then add the arrowroot powder and baking soda. Mix with a fork until it’s nice and creamy.
    melted butters and oils

    All Melted!

    stirring ingredients

    Adding the Dry Ingredients

  4. Add the Essential Oils: I like using a dropper like this for measuring my oils. Don’t add the essential oils before you heat everything up because they will evaporate and not be as strong.
  5. Storage Containers: I like keeping my deodorant in small glass jars because that is what fits best in my bathroom. I like using a glass measuring cup like this to transfer the recipe into small jars. (*Once the deodorant hardens, I find it useful to stir it up with a spoon or fork so that it’s easier to use.)

    ready to pour

    Ready to Pour

Deodorant in a Glass Jar

Deodorant in a Glass Jar

Deodorant Stick

If you want to be able to keep your deodorant in a plastic deodorant container, you can use the above recipe, and keep in the refrigerator, or you can modify the recipe by adding more beeswax. Fyi: I tried both recipes on either armpit, and the recipe with more beeswax did not work as well.

filled deodorants

Deodorant Sticks

hardened deodorant

Deodorant Stick Hardened

FAQs

How Should I Use This? First of all, natural deodorants really work best on thoroughly cleaned armpits. So when you’re in the shower, don’t just graze your pits with a loofa; really get in there with a bar of soap and make sure they are clean! I find it’s best to apply this deodorant right after I get out of the shower (I have never had it sting after shaving my pits) and before I put any clothes on, but you could apply it once you’re dressed too. (It won’t leave any white marks on your clothes like traditional deodorant sticks, and it’s not so oily so that it will leave grease stains on your clothes either.) Scoop a pea sized amount onto your fingertips and rub into your pits. With the leftover residue on my fingertips, I usually smooth out any flyaway hairs on the top of my head and rub the rest into my hands to soften them up. I typically don’t reapply throughout the day, but if you’re worried about stinking, it might be a good idea.

Can I Play Around with the Recipe? I have played around with many different combinations and types of oils, butters and wax, and even though this exact recipe is my favorite, there is a lot of room to play around with different combinations of things. For example, you could substitute cocoa butter for shea butter or eliminate the beeswax altogether. The coconut oil is antimicrobial and pretty easy to come by, so that’s always a staple for me. As a rule of thumb, you basically want the dry ingredients to be about one and a half times more than the liquid ingredients. I have used many different essential oil combinations, and this one turned out simply divine! I really think that the tea tree oil and lavender oil are essential, but the honeysuckle was just for my personal preference. Feel free to add whatever essential oils you like until you find the right combination that works for you.

Where Can I Get the Ingredients? I originally bought all of my ingredients on Amazon, and I have linked to them above. I used my favorite organic brands, and I really loved the quality. But since then, I have discovered Bulk Apothecary. They are an amazing company that consistently delivers a quality product at a reasonable price. I buy coconut oil (not organic) in bulk from Country Life to use for cooking. Also, once you buy the shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, beeswax, and essential oils, you’ve got a lot of the ingredients to make whipped body butter, toothpaste, and lip balm (recipe coming soon).

How Can I Make This Recipe More Manly? I have not yet made this deodorant for my husband, but I’d like to someday, and I will update this post when I do. In the meantime, to make this recipe into a version fit for a manly man who likes manly smelling things, I would use all of the same ingredients except for the lavender and honeysuckle oil. If you take those out, the tea tree oil might be a little overpowering, so you could add sandalwood oil, cedarwood oil, vanilla oil, patchouli oil, or any other scent combination that works for you.

Is There an Adjustment Period? If you’ve been using an aluminum based deodorant for awhile, you’ll need to “detox” for a bit before your body fully adjusts. With your antiperspirant deodorant, your pits weren’t allowed to sweat freely. Now they are, and they will have a lot of toxins to eliminate. So you may initially see a large amount of perspiration as your body adjusts. After awhile, however, things will taper off and you’ll settle in to a new normal. I’ve also heard that your pits might be a little sensitive at first, but I haven’t personally experienced that myself. If this happens to you, you might want to make a batch with about half of the recommended baking soda and go really easy on the tea tree oil, which is probably what’s irritating you.

Why Do Underarms Stink Anyways? Sweating is how the body cools itself down when we get too hot. Sweat has no odor. The odor is caused by the bacteria that live on our skin. Basically, the bacteria metabolize the proteins and fatty acids from our sweat, and this is what causes body odor. We don’t need to stop the sweat to stop the odor, we just need to stop the bacteria. This is why so many of the ingredients in this deodorant recipe are anti-bacterial. If you’re really concerned about having stinky pits, you should make sure to shave often so that the bacteria have less places to get trapped. Other things can effect the smell of your pits as well. Being overweight, being diabetic, taking antidepressants, and eating garlic, certain spices, and alcohol can also effect the smell of your pits.

Reasons to Avoid Commercial Deodorant

When I researched these harmful ingredients found in commercial ingredients, I was very glad that I had stopped using it and found a better alternative.

  1. Aluminum – A metal used to help block the sweat from escaping from the pores. It has been linked to breast cancer, prostate cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. (Here’s a study showing aluminum found in breast biopsies. This is a great article if you want to learn more about the dangers of aluminum.)
  2. Parabens – A synthetic preservative that disrupts the hormonal balance leading to early puberty, a higher risk of hormonal cancers, birth defects, and organ toxicity. (Check out this study about how parabens are found in breast tumors, and read this article that explains how when mothers are pregnant, parabens cross the placenta and are even found in higher concentrations in the baby.)
  3. Propylene Glycol – A petroleum based material used to soften cosmetic products that in large quantities can damage the central nervous system, liver, and heart. It is also found in many processed foods. (This is a great article to learn more about the dangers of propylene glycol.)
  4. Phthalates – A class of chemical used to dissolve other ingredients and to create a better consistency that has been linked to birth defects, cell mutation, and a disruption of hormone receptors. Used in cosmetics, synthetic fragrances, plastics, body care products, and medical goods. (This is a great article to learn more about how phthalates can affect you when you’re pregnant and what to do about it.)
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How to Make the Best Potato Fries

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Embracing Motherhood How to Make the Best Potato Fries

As a busy mother of four little ones, I love making healthy food that the kids love that fits our budget. These potato fries do all of those things, and this is why I make a big batch of them at least once a week. I try to make enough so that we’ll have extra, but they don’t usually last very long!

Ingredients

  • 6-8 Potatoes (Organic are best, they are one of the dirty dozen!)
  • 2 T. Coconut Oil
  • Real Salt
  • Pepper
  • Optional: Garlic and Onion Powder

Directions

  1. Preheat the Pan: A cast iron skillet would probably be ideal, but for convenience sake, I use a plug in skillet like this. Add coconut oil to the pan and warm it up on a low to medium heat until the oil is nice and hot.
  2. Cut the Potatoes: Wash and cut potatoes. I like to cut mine into strips to make into potato fries, but you could also dice them into little potato cubes or potato circles.

    raw cut up potato fries

    Raw Potatoes Cut Into Fries

  3. Add the Potatoes to the Skillet: When you add the potatoes, the oil should be hot enough to pop.
  4. Cook: Cook with the lid off for about 20-30 minutes on low to medium heat. Flip and stir often. If you leave the skillet uncovered, the fries will be crispier, but take longer to cook. If you cover them, they will cook more quickly, but the fries will be softer.

    potato fries cooking

    Potato Fries Cooking

  5. Season: Add the seasonings of your choice, stir, add a little more, stir, and add a little more. I usually just add a bunch of salt and a dash of pepper.
  6. Serve: My kids like their fries with ketchup of course. For me, I like loading them up like I would a baked potato with cheese, sour cream, and chives. Yum!

    potato fries with ketchup

    Potato Fries with Ketchup

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White Chicken Chili Recipe

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Embracing Motherhood White Chicken Chili Recipe

When I used to work at The B.O.B., Bobarino’s made the best white chicken chili ever, and I would eat a bowl every single day for my shift meal. It was my all time favorite food, and when I ventured off into the world of teaching, and then a job as a full time stay at home mom, I finally figured how to make a similar chili that was even better than the white chicken chili that I used to love so much.

I mean, this chili is so good that I would say it is the single best thing that I have ever learned how to cook. The secret to the amazing flavor of this soup is in both the quality of each of the ingredients and in following this recipe precisely each step of the way so that each component of the soup is properly prepared. Making a good soup like this is NOT about just throwing all of the ingredients into a pot. Each flavor must be layered upon each other, and the end result is a dish so exquisite that you will either want to share it with everyone to impress them, or horde it for yourself so that you can enjoy all of the succulent flavors by your lonesome.

Ingredients

  • 3 Large Chicken Breasts (or one whole roasted chicken)
  • 2 c. Raw Organic Garbanzo Beans (Or two cans of garbanzo beans if you’re in a pinch.)
  • 1 4 oz. Jar of Green Chilies
  • 1 Stick of Butter
  • ¼ c. Flour
  • 1 Medium Onion (Organic)
  • 2 c. Cream (I skim the cream from our raw milk.)
  • 4 c. Chicken Stock (See how to make it here, or you can buy some, preferably organic. I always try to make extra and store it in the freezer in Ziploc bags.)
  • 2 c. Shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese (You can really use any kind of cheese. I used a combination of mozerella and sharp cheddar last time I made this because that was all I had and it turned out great.)
  • 1 c. Sour Cream (Get a good brand like Daisy that doesn’t list a ton of extra ingredients.)
  • Chili Powder
  • Braggs Liquid Aminos
  • Real Salt
  • Onion Powder
  • Cumin
  • Cayenne Pepper (Add a bit if you like a little spice.)
  • *Green Onion
  • *Jalapeño
  • *Tortilla Chips

*For toppings

Directions

  1. Prepare the Beans: In a pinch, you can use canned beans from the store, but I buy dry organic garbanzo beans in bulk, and to get rid of the phytic acid, I need to prepare them properly. To do this, I put my beans in a large pot, cover them with twice as much water, and add a glug of apple cider vinegar and a spoonful of freshly ground whole wheat flour that helps to unlock the phytase that will break down the phytic acid. Then, I turn my pot on low and let them sit overnight. In the morning, I bring them to a boil, skim the scum, turn the heat back down to low, and cover and simmer for the entire day (or 8 hours). The longer you can do this (24-36 hours), the better, but anything is better than nothing. 🙂
    Skim the Scum from the Beans

    Skim the Scum from the Beans

    cooked garbanzo beans

    Cooked Garbanzo Beans

  2. Season the Chicken: Put the chicken into a bowl and add 2 t. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, 2 t. Real Salt, 2 t. Chili Powder, 1 t. Cumin, 1 t. Onion Powder, and a bit of pepper. *I hate adding amounts for my seasonings, because I never measure them when I cook, I just eyeball it, but you can use my numbers to get you started. You can cook the chicken right after you season it, or you can put it in a ziploc bag or cover up the bowl and let it marinate in the fridge overnight (recommended).
  3. Cook the Chicken: If I can, I like to cook my chicken on the grill, but you can also pan fry it as well.
    • Grilled Chicken: Preheat and scrape the grill. Grill on medium heat for about 15 minutes on each side or until the internal temperature is between 160º-180º F.

      grilled chicken

      Grilled Chicken

    • Pan Fried Chicken: Preheat a generous amount of butter or coconut oil in your pan (preferably a cast iron skillet). Cook on medium heat with a cover for 15 minutes, flip, and cook on the other side for an additional 15 minutes.
  4. Cut the Chicken: When I had more time, I used to like to shred my chicken with my fingers into irregular chunks, but in an effort to save time, I just cut my cooked chicken into cubes, and I like it just fine this way. Make sure you’ve given the chicken a chance to fully cool before cutting it. This will ensure that all of the juices are soaked up. Add more of the same seasonings to the cut up chicken and put back into the fridge to let the flavors soak in (recommended), or you can use it right away.
  5. Make the Roux: Melt one stick of butter in a large soup pot. When it’s melted and a little bubbly, add the flour and stir constantly for about 3 minutes.
  6. Add the Onion: If you pan fry your chicken, you can cook the onion in the same juices until it’s soft, but if you’ve grilled your chicken, you can just add the chopped onion to the roux.
  7. Add the Liquid: Add the chicken stock and the cream and slowly bring to a boil stirring often. After it comes to a boil, turn it down to a lower temperature to let it simmer.

    Roux with Cream, Chicken Stock, and Onion

    Roux with Cream, Chicken Stock, and Onion

  8. Add the Rest: Add the beans, chicken, green chilies, cheese, and sour cream.
  9. Season the Soup: Add 4 t. chili powder, 2 t.cumin, 1 T Real Salt, and ½ t. cayenne pepper. Simmer everything for about 20 minutes. *I hate giving amounts for the seasonings because I like to just add to taste. I recommend that you taste often as you add your spices to adjust the amounts to your liking.

    white chicken chili pot

    White Chicken Chili

  10. Serve: Serve each bowl with a dollop of sour cream and top with green onions and jalapeños (if you like spice). Serve with tortilla chips too. *I’m not usually one to stage my food before I serve it, but this chili tastes REALLY  good with the toppings put on precisely like this.
    Bowl of White Chicken Chili

    Bowl of White Chicken Chili

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How to Build a Sandbox

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Embracing Motherhood How to Build a Sandbox

It’s that time of year when the kids are out of school and all of the possibilities that they ever dreamed of are at their fingertips, and yet what do you hear when you unleash them into the wilderness of your yard, “I’M BORED!” Well, thankfully, we rarely hear our kids say that over the summer, and having this sandbox is part of the reason why. Between this, our stock tank pool, mudpit, stepping stumps, tepee, and trampoline we are all set.

Neither my husband or I are really very “handy” people and this was really one of the first building projects we ever took on together. But overall, it was a fairly simple and straightforward process that has yielded a tremendous amount of fun for the children. If you have even a bit of land, I would highly recommend building a sandbox for your little ones. Not only will it provide endless hours of fun, but it will also provide them an opportunity to play barefoot in the earth which is an excellent source of antioxidants.

Materials

  • Wood
    • Four 4″ x 4″ x 1′ Posts – for the corners
    • Four 2″ x 10″ x 8′ Boards – for the edges (We used 8 foot long boards, but you could also use 10 foot long boards if you want a bigger sandbox.)
  • Wood Screws – a whole bunch 🙂
  • Power Drill – cordless is best
  • Weed Blocker – absolutely essential for keeping weeds out
  • Wood Stain – for waterproofing the boards
  • River Sand (100 cubic feet for a 8′ x 8′ sandbox was more than enough!) – We got ours from a local gravel company for $100.

Material Notes

  • Pressure Treated Wood: By 2013, all CCA (chromated copper arsenate) was phased out of use in pressure treated wood and replaced with AC (alkaline copper) and ACQ (quaternary ammonium compounds). These pesticides (which are meant to prevent rotting from insects and fungus) still pose some health risks, but are not the cancer causing hazard of CCA. The 4″ x 4″s we purchased were pressure treated, but the rest of the wood we got was not. If you purchased some wood and you’re concerned about the risks, you can always just paint over it with a sealer, which I recommend doing anyways.
  • Safe Sand:Don’t buy sand made with crystalline silica because it is a carcinogen that can cause damage to the lungs when breathed in (something your little ones will be doing a lot of in the sandbox). Much of the play sand found in stores today is not natural sand, but derived from quarried quartz rocks. The state of CA actually requires a warning label to be put on this sand to warn of the dangers. Some people have opted for using pea gravel or other substances instead of sand, but we just contacted a local gravel company and purchased some river bed sand.

Directions

  1. Location: Find a place that has some shade (something we didn’t do that I wish we had), good drainage (not at the bottom of a hill or a place that can be swampy), and is in a good location for you to keep an eye on your little ones while you putz around the yard.
  2. Measure and Mark: Measure out how big you want your sandbox and mark your corners. We made ours 8′ x 8′, and I feel like it is the perfect size. You’ll want to dig a few inches outside of where you want the sandbox. Better to dig too much than not enough!
  3. Dig the Corners: Take your time to make sure the corners line up and everything makes a nice looking square. You’ll want your  corners to be a few inches deeper than the rest of the sandbox for your posts to go in.

    Digging the Corners for Our Sandbox

    Digging the Corners for Our Sandbox

  4. Dig the Sod: The toughest part of all of this was digging up the sod. We have a lot of rocks in our yard, and that made it extra tough. Plus, it was barely spring and the ground was still frozen when we started. (Yes, we were itchin’ for warmer weather!) You could also use a rototiller (which in hindsight would have been much easier) if you don’t care to repurpose the sod. digging sod for sandbox
  5. Use That Sod: We actually used all of the sod and dirt we dug up to make a little hill in our yard. Over time, the sod pieces all came together, and now we have a nice little grassy hill that our kids (our toddler especially) love climbing on.
  6. Dig Down (if you want): Our ground was too rocky and still slightly frozen, so we did not. But if you could, I think it would be good to dig down another 6 to 12 inches to allow more room for the sand.
  7. Level the Ground: Try to get the ground as level as you can. You can just eyeball it or use a rake to really even it out.
  8. Weed Blocker: We went to our local lumber store and got something like this. I like it because it prevents the weeds from growing through the sand, but it also allows for drainage (which you will need if your kids want to make castles with moats and flood the sandbox as ours frequently do). I know that some people lay down plastic and poke holes in it, but I’m not sure that would provide enough drainage.

    laying the weed blocker for the sandbox

    Laying Out the Weed Blocker for Our Sandbox

  9. Stain the Wood: We stained our wood with an exterior stain like this. These saw horses came in really handy for laying out the wood. We were worried about the rain, so we wanted to keep the wood under our overhang, but to this day (one year later) we still have drips of stain on our concrete. For this reason, I wish we would have done it in the grass.

    staining wood for sandbox

    Scott Staining the Wood for Our Sandbox

  10. Make the Sandbox Frame: We are not really handy people, and this was the first thing we ever really built together. We made a few mistakes, but overall, it was still a pretty simple procedure that turned out rather well. First, we cut the four posts to be 12′ long using a circular saw. Next, we used our power drill and some wood screws to attach the 10″ planks to the posts. We made the mistake of not attaching the planks to the posts in an even pattern all the way around. Scott drew a quick little sketch to show the wrong way and the right way. 🙂
    Wrong Way

    Wrong Way

    Right Way

    Right Way

    sandbox frame

    Sandbox Frame

  11. Put the Frame in Place: When you lay the frame down, you want it to lay over the weed blocker. There should be a small gap inbetween the frame and the dirt that you will fill in later with loose dirt. Step on all of the posts to push them into the ground as much as you can. Then, fill in all around the frame with dirt until it is secure.

    Laying Down the Sandbox Frame

    Laying Down the Sandbox Frame

  12. Fill with Sand: When we moved into this house, we knew that we wanted a sandbox and a fence to be put in. We were smart to put the sandbox in before the fence because I’m not sure that this truck would have fit through our gate! Anyways, we just contacted a local gravel company and had our sandbox filled for $100. He said he was fine giving us as much as we wanted for that $100, so I told him “when” when I thought we had quite enough sand!
    truck with sand for sandbox

    Getting Ready to Dump the Sand for Our Sandbox

    sand delivery

    Sand Delivery for Our Sandbox

  13. Extra Sand: We loaded up the wheelbarrow and put one load of extra sand where we wanted to put our stock tank pool and another extra load where we wanted to create a mini sandbox.
    extra sand for stock tank pool

    Extra Sand for Our Stock Tank Pool

    extra sand by tree for small sandbox

    Extra Sand for a Mini Sandbox Under the Tree

    grandpa helps with the sandbox chairs

    Grandpa Helped Us Build Some Sandbox Chairs

  14. Make a Cover (Optional): Every blog that I read about building a sandbox included directions for making a cover. We researched many different options and decided to attach a cover that folded out. We had every intention of actually attaching our cover in order to keep out our cats and any other critters, but it just never worked out and we never did attach the darn thing. I didn’t like how we would have had to take out all of our sandbox toys in order to close the cover. Plus, I didn’t want to kill the grass on either side if the cover were to be left open. We just keep an eye on our cats to keep them from using it as a litter box, and even though, yes, we find a turd in there from time to time, I’m glad we didn’t go with the cover.

    playing in the sandbox with a cover

    Optional Cover for Our Sandbox

Time to Play: We have had our sandbox for over a year now, and our kids have played in it every single time we have gone outside. It provides endless hours of imaginative play, and the kids absolutely love it!

playing in the sandbox

Our First Week Playing in Our New Sandbox

Playing in our Sandbox One Year Later

Playing in our Sandbox One Year Later

Building a Volcano with a Moat in a sandbox

Building a Volcano with a Moat in Our Sandbox

Tips and Tricks: Here are a few things that have helped us to enjoy our sandbox even more.

  • No Throwing Sand: Right away, we made a rule about not throwing the sand out of the sandbox, and that is why one year later we still have plenty of sand. We have never been super strict about this rule and encourage the children to dump globs of sand into our little pools if they so desire, but we also encourage them to not go overboard with it.
  • Play with Them: At first, we played with them in the sandbox a lot to help give them ideas for how to use it. We showed them how to make sandcastles, how to bury treasures and find them, how to play imagination games, how to dig moats and make rivers, and how to play with the sandbox toys. We still get in there and play with them from time to time because, hey, it’s fun!
  • Sand and Water: If you want to take your sandbox fun to the next level, just introduce a hose into the mix. You can show kids how to carve out moats and rivers or just let them bury the nozzle of the hose and watch the water bubble out. We also like putting our mini pools near the sandbox so the kids always have access to some sort of water.

In Conclusion

If you could only add one thing to your yard to entertain young children, I would say make it a sandbox! Every time we play outdoors, the kids spend time playing in it. It entertains them for hours and hours, and they absolutely love it. If you’re looking for another fun summer project, I would also highly recommend making a stock tank swimming pool. Between this and the sandbox, our kids are very entertained. They also enjoy our stepping stumps, teepee, and backyard obstacle course. The summer is such a fun time to do outdoor projects that encourage kids to have fun and play outside, so make the most of it! Check out my blog: DIY Backyard Ideas for Summer Fun with Young Children for even more ideas.

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Chicken Kebabs with Rice and Lettuce Wraps

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Embracing Motherhood Chicken Kabobs with Rice and Lettuce Wraps

It’s summer, and that means it’s time for grilling! There is just something so amazing about slow grilled, flame-licked, and well seasoned meat on a hot summer’s day or cool summer’s night. Get ready to have your taste buds blown away with this amazing recipe that has quickly become a family favorite in our household. I have always enjoyed cooking kebabs, but I was inspired by some an online post about a beef, rice, and lettuce wrap and I decided to take our kebabs to the next level by adding rice and lettuce and turning them into these amazing wraps!

Ingredients

  • 3 Large Chicken Breasts
  • 2 Bell Pepper
  • 1 Medium Onion
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Skewers
  • 3 T. Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 3 T. Olive Oil
  • 1 c. Fresh Herbs (I used cilantro, parsley, and dill. You could also use oregano, basil, thyme, etc.)
  • 3 t. Salt
  • ½ t. Cayenne Pepper

Directions

  1. Cut up the chicken breast into one inch cubes.

    cubed raw chicken

    Cubed Raw Chicken

  2. Marinate the chicken cubes in apple cider vinegar, olive oil, fresh herbs, and salt. You can add some pepper here too if you want. I like add a little cayenne pepper for extra flavor. Add more or less depending on how spicy you like things.
    seasoned chicken cubes

    Raw Chicken Cubes with Seasonings

    • I like to use fresh herbs from my garden when I can, but any kind of herbs will do.

      potted herb garden

      My Little Herb Garden

    • You might as well go ahead and make some Italian dressing while you’re at it now because it needs all of the same ingredients.

      italian dressing

      Italian Dressing

  3. Cover and place in the fridge for an hour, up to overnight.

    mixed seasoned chicken cubes

    Chilled Marinated Cubed Chicken

  4. Cut up the onion and bell pepper into one inch squares.

    ready to make kebabs

    Skewering Chicken Kebabs

  5. Make the skewers. I like to alternate bell pepper, chicken, onion, chicken, bell pepper, you get the idea! The tomato on the end doesn’t always stay put on the grill, but it sure looks pretty, and it tastes amazing!

    raw kebabs

    Raw Chicken Kebabs

  6. Make sure to preheat your grill and scrape it clean before you start grilling. Set the grill temperature to medium, and grill for about 20-25 minutes turning the skewers occasionally. I like to try to make sure that every side of the chicken gets some grill time. You can also paint the kebabs with any remaining sauce as you turn them. Before you take all of the skewers off from the grill, test one to see if the chicken is fully cooked. It should be firm throughout, not pink, and not opaque.
    cooked kebabs on the grill

    Chicken Kebabs on the Grill

    pile of cooked kebabs

    Grilled Chicken Kebabs Served on a Plate

  7. While the chicken is grilling, prepare your rice. I just used an Uncle Ben’s Lemon Wild Rice mixture, but you can cook any kind of rice. *Check out my post about phytic acid to learn how to properly prepare rice and other grains. But in this case, I just view the rice as something extra that gives flavor rather than a “healthy addition”.
  8. Prepare the lettuce. I like to buy organic romaine lettuce bunches. I just went to the middle to get some firm leaves for the “shell” or the “bed”.kabobs with rice and lettuce bowls
  9. Make the lettuce wraps.
    Chicken Kebab with Lettuce and Rice Wrap

    Chicken Kebab with Lettuce and Rice Wrap

    Cut Up Chicken Kebab on Rice in a Lettuce Wrap

    Cut Up Chicken Kebab on Rice in a Lettuce Wrap

    chicken kebab kid plates

    Chicken Kebab Kid Plates

    kebab salad

    Kebab Salad

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Homemade Pizza Recipe

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Embracing Motherhood Homemade Pizza Recipe

If everyone is hungry and you haven’t made plans for dinner yet, how about a homemade pizza? If you order out, you’re getting freeze dried toppings, loads of “natural flavors” (i.e. MSG), and not to mention you’ll be out $20 or more. By making your pizza at home, you can guarantee that all of your ingredients are fresh, custom designed to the specific needs of your eaters, and at a significant cost savings to boot.

Pizza Crust

  • Sourdough Pizza Crust: If you can plan ahead by about 8 hours or so, this sourdough pizza crust will taste great and be free from the mineral leaching phytic acid present in all grains.
  • Quick and Easy Pizza Crust: If you’re looking for a quick and easy pizza crust that is made with fresh homemade ingredients, this is the recipe for you.

Ingredients

  • Sauce Options:
    • Organic Tomato Sauce: I like finding the little cans that are pre-seasoned with basil and such, but you could use plain tomato sauce and add your own seasonings too.
    • Organic Spaghetti Sauce: I try to keep my cupboards stocked with this and use it if I’m in a pinch.
    • Tomato Pureé: This is  the healthiest option, but it can be a bit watery.
  • Herbs and Spices: Basil, Oregano, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, and Salt – I like using fresh herbs when I have them, but dried works just as well.) 
  • Mozzarella Cheese (This is the ooey gooey cheese that gives pizza its classic look and taste. You can use just about any cheese and it will taste great though.)
  • Kid Toppings: Pepperoni, Ground Beef, Lunch Meat, Bacon, etc. (My kids really only like meat toppings.)
  • Adult Toppings: Jalapeños, Green Pepper, Onion, Mushrooms, Green or Black Olives, Chives, Tomato, etc.

Directions

  1. Crust: Spread the crust out onto a pizza tray like this or a pizza stone like this. I like using a pizza tray with holes for a nice crispy crust.

    pizza crust

    Pizza Crust

  2. Sauce: If you want to make a pizza that tastes like take out, the trick is to go really really light on the sauce. I prefer it a little thicker though. If I’m using plain tomato sauce, I like to sprinkle some basil, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt over the sauce. *If I’m feeling really fancy, I like to melt some butter in dish, mix in some herbs and salt, and paint over the outer crust.

    pizza sauce

    Buttered Pizza Crust with Sauce

  3. Season: Add the herbs and spices.

    Homemade Pizza with Herbs and Spices

    Homemade Pizza with Herbs and Spices

  4. Cheese: Add a generous amount of shredded cheese.

    pizza with cheese

    Pizza with Cheese

  5. Toppings: Add any toppings you’d like. Sometimes I’ll go with a plain pepperoni pizza, and sometimes I like to get more creative!
    pepperoni pizza

    Pepperoni Pizza

    Half and Half Pizza

    Half and Half Pizza

  6. Bake: Bake at 450° F for 15-20 minutes. Time will vary based on your oven, altitude, and amount of toppings, but 18 minutes is what usually works best for me.
  7. Cut and Serve: Use a great pizza cutter like this to cut up the pizza into slices and let it cool. You will want to devour this pizza quickly, so make sure it’s had time to cool so you don’t burn the roof of your mouth!

    taking a pizza slice

    Half Pepperoni Pizza

Variations

The thing I like about making pizza is that it’s a hodge podge meal. You don’t have to specifically shop for it, but instead just use whatever ingredients are in your fridge!

Half Lunch Meat Half Veggie Pizza with Cheddar Cheese

Half Lunch Meat Half Veggie Pizza with Cheddar Cheese

Chicken, Feta Cheese, Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Tomato, and Green Olive Pizza

Chicken, Feta Cheese, Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Tomato, and Green Olive Pizza

Rectangle Pepperoni Pizza

Rectangle Pepperoni Pizza

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Hi, I’m Stacey Maaser,

author of Embracing Motherhood! I am a stay at home mother of 5 with 7 years of teaching experience and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction. I am passionate about teaching my children, feeding them healthy food, learning the truth about things (not just what is popular opinion or counter culture), and sharing what I’ve learned and experienced with others. Thanks for stopping by!

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