travel :: santa monica

A week ago, Lane and I went on a little kid-free vacation to Santa Monica, CA. We love short getaways to explore an area we have never been before, and three nights was the perfect amount of time to do just that with out missing the babies too much!

I arrived on Thursday and Lane taxied up from Long Beach where he had been at a conference. We checked into our airbnb, ate some tacos, and explored the area.

The area we stayed in was known as "the canyon" in Santa Monica, with tiered neighborhoods rising steeply on the North and South side. We immediately fell in love with the area to the South, specifically the neighborhoods of beautiful old houses and one street in particular, Montana Ave, that was so quaint and had the best restaurants and coffee that we experienced.

The next day, at the recommendation of some locals, we rented bikes and rode along the beach south to Venice beach. We explored the beautiful canals and then walked over to Abbot-Kinney Blvd, which we were told was rated "the most fun street in the US". We truly don't understand that status. However, we had a yummy lunch at Neighbor, and then returned back to the canyon and spent the rest of the day on Montana once again.

On Saturday we biked to the farmer's market in downtown Santa Monica, which was not much to speak of, and then explored around downtown. Again, it could not compare with the charming area of the canyon/Montana Ave.

Saturday afternoon we grabbed an Uber ride up to the hills of Pacific Palisades and hiked the Los Leones trail, which was a nice easy (and very popular) walk with beautiful views.
That night we ate at Art's Table (on our beloved Montana Ave.). I am still dreaming about the vegan bowl of rice and roasted veggies I had along with a glass of JuneShine hard kombucha- SO good! After dinner, we went next door to check out the impressive tap selection at Father's Office. Lane had a couple tasty beers, and we turned in early (yet again. nerds.).

Before we flew out on Sunday we had coffee for a second time at the best coffee shop we had found in the area- Primo Passo, then strolled the neighborhoods one last time.

I would have loved to go up to Malibu for a day, but aside from that, I think our quick getaway was the perfect amount of time to spend in the little area that we fell in love with in Santa Monica. As always, though, it was just so sweet to come home!

the toothless wonder

Oh, hey there!

Right about now I should be sweeping/scrubbing/wiping/folding/sorting/prepping/ etc, but here I am blogging (equally as important, right?) because the baby (almost two but still a baby and pretty please don't try to tell me otherwise) is napping, the other three are all playing Minecraft (which, side note, plays bizarrely serene music), I am sipping some iced coffee despite the gray outside, and THIS girl lost her two front teeth*:

She is seriously rockin' the Toothless Wonder look, which is what we are all calling her after Junie B. Jones, one of our favorite book characters.

In other news, our week so far has looked like this: co-op and baseball Monday, gymnastics and karate Tuesday, OMSI yesterday, karate and baseball today (Thursday)- all while slipping school work, neighbor play dates, and chores in when we can!* Needless to say, you can see why I am drinking a big ol' mason jar of coffee right now.

Well, that's all for now since mopping is long overdue and I keep stepping on honey drips from Nat grabbing a pb and h off the counter and munching on it while walking all around the house this morning.
Have a great Thursday friends!

*my apologies if you have an aversion to run-on sentences!

so, how's home school going? + granola revamp

Big, fat disclaimer before I begin: I realize that home schooling is not for everyone. It is not for every kid, every parent, or every family. I am also aware that some parents may wish to home school, and are not able. I realize that this is a special blessing for our family, and I am so grateful. I also believe there are seasons for everything, and this may not last for every child in our family through their entire education. We are taking it year by year and kid by kid.

Since September, friends have been asking me how home school is going. Which is a very reasonable question. I just never really know how to answer.

There is all the logistical information- curriculum, schedule (spoiler alert: we don't have one), co-ops, etc.
And then there is the academic: how are the kids doing with their studies? Which I think the answer would be: just great!

But what I believe people are actually asking is: are you surviving? Are you going crazy? Do you wish you had not made the decision to home school, or are you seriously happy about it?

And the honest answer is this: I truly love it. I love being home with my kids, I love teaching them, I love having a flexible schedule, I love watching the relationships between them deepening, I love getting to choose what they learn and learning along with them- I love it all.

Of course, we have difficulties. They are not perfect kids, and I am a looooooong way off from perfection as well. It can be hard to stay on task, or to even convince them to begin their work, and I have second-guessed myself quite a bit (am I really qualified to do this? am I out of my mind?); they become frustrated with me, and I with them. Consequently, so much of this year has been working on character- theirs and mine. And it has been so, so good.

But anyway, here is a granola recipe I posted originally almost eight years ago. It has been adjusted to serve our family for two meals, plus maybe a snack for a couple kids, and also I have made the baking instructions slightly less finicky.

Feelin' the Love Granola
Makes a lot. But only enough for about 2 or 3 servings for our family of 6.

8 cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 tbsp whole ground flaxseed meal
2 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tbsp chia seeds
1/2 tsp cinnamon*
1/4 tsp nutmeg (freshly ground is best, of course)
pinch of sea salt
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup pecans
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I like avocado best, olive oil and canola work here too)
3/4 cup real maple syrup
cooking spray
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut shavings (I prefer the large shavings over the small shreds)
1/2 cup craisins (or chopped dates, or raisins), optional

Preheat oven to 300. Combine oats, seeds, spices, salt, and nuts in a bowl and sir. Drizzle in oil and syrup, stir to coat. Spread mixture evenly over two non-stick rimmed baking sheets (if you do not have non-stick, just coat the pans with cooking spray beforehand). Bake for 20 minutes, then remove and stir, making sure the edges that are getting crisp are mixed in, and the raw oats in the middle are getting their chance to bake. Bake another 15 minutes, stir. Add coconut. Bake 7 minutes. At this point, you can remove the granola if it is done to your liking, or stir and bake in 5 minute increments, so that it doesn't brown too much or dry out, but also gets crisp enough.
Remove from the oven and add dried fruit.
Sprinkle over fruit and yogurt, eat with milk, or just plain. Enjoy!

* pretty sure I use way more than this, I never measure my spices (really helpful side note, huh?)

 

that one blog i dumped + why i blog

Well, I've successfully done another long awkward blog silence. I would blame it on the four kids, or homeschooling, or any other such thing... but really, I just haven't made it a priority.

Which is just silly because my kids LOVE to read old blog posts about themselves, so I really should write posts more consistently, because heaven knows I could Never keep up with a baby book!

 *hold on, I have to go change a messy diaper*

Okay, I'm back.
*Nope. Have to go do a history lesson.*

Anywho, as I was saying... Wait. What was I saying?
Oh yeah, the blog.
So, I used to read this one very popular blog that was a mom blogging about her beautiful life.
Her winsome photos were filled with natural light, flowers, her gorgeous children and perfect hair, and a house decorated in all manner of boho neutrals that looked straight out of a magazine (surely she must have something offensively colorful and plastic somewhere in her home, right?)
I'm not sure why I read it when I did (I think I was up nursing someone a lot at night, and I realized that if I read things on my glowing phone it would keep me from nodding off), but I did enjoy all the pretty pictures for a while.

Until one day, when I read a post in which she explained how "the letting go" in parenting is difficult, and everything else is easy.

Then I dropped that blog like a hot potato.
*'Scuse me. The baby just woke up from some people (ahem, her siblings) yelling outside her bedroom door.*

Aaaaaand, I'm back.
Anyway, as a result, I ceased to read the blog because I was so disappointed with the dishonesty. Parenting is not ALL easy, and I didn't feel like I could really trust her words after reading that statement. I also feel like it put a wall between her and all her readers who are most likely normal people (like me) who, in fact, know how difficult parenting can be.
But it made me think about this blog. It is most definitely not a blog to air all my dirty laundry, but I also feel that honesty is important, mostly because the people who will be reading these posts in the future will be my children.

I ran into a gal the other day who I don't know too well, and she mentioned that she had been reading my blog. (Whaaaaa? Other people read my blog beside my mother-in-law and myself?) Therefore, I hope that if anyone stumbles upon my silly little rambles they will find some humor, a good recipe to try, or, better yet, some encouragement.

I am resolving now: I will make time to blog at least once a week!

(Despite homeschooling, caring for four little kiddos, hosting community group, being involved in a business networking group, Monday school, karate, gymnastics, baseball coming up.... *gulp*)

Wish me luck!

Thanks for reading friends!!!

PS apparently this happened to me around this time six years ago