Bliss Beyond Naptime

Simply Sick

Normally the kids are like me, strong like ox, but a nasty bug has been making its way around the community and they are stricken like chicken. They are on the mend but it’s been almost a week of being completely off our schedule and normal daily rhythm. Like, not even getting outside. Kale’s looking a little grey around the edges but his cough is unsettling so inside it is for a couple more days.

Though it’s weird to see my normally screen free kids veg out in front of with that glazed ‘sicky’ stare, I decided to surrender to the novelty of it; letting them do nothing at all other than quiet activities and naps while I dove into my projects in my studio while stopping every few moments to warm up soup, make more tea, and assist with many, many tea pees.

 I have to admit I fought it at first and was grumpy, a little anxious even and concerned about the effect of not doing anything would have on the kids. But then I heard the sultry voice of Danielle Laporte say how life balance is a myth. The essences of life is fluid so it’s only natural that shifts in what needs to be tended to unabashedly will morph constantly. The best thing to do is to see these as opportunities for growth and to reassess what is  important and needed in the family right now.

I made sure the kids were lubed up with lots of liquids and did implement the bare essential rhythms; mealtimes and bedtimes and our Smokey Sunday pancakes. Also on Sunday we were to attend an advent spiral walk but we made our own in the living room instead. The kids were feeling well enough to walk into the dizzying spiral of evergreen boughs to light a candle in the center with their apple candle and come back out without falling over onto open flames which I’m so grateful for. Edie automatically starts slipping in spiral walk drawings into her sketching repertoire shortly after her birthday. This appears to be quite a powerful pause in her internal rhythm so I thought it important we acknowledge this one way or another. It turned out beautiful and brought a reverence to the house that was both healing and comforting for us all.

I surrendered to life that happens, was reminded of the balance myth (which was a cataylst for reviewing some major life decisions), and saw an opportunity to tend to my own needs at a pivotal time in my career (I’m gearing up for my first Simplicity Parent Workshop this weekend!) while the childrens’ growing bodies took on the necessary challenge to strengthen. All this supplemented with echineachea, many layers and cuddle time on the coach of course! And speaking of sick, aren't these my new business cards from Moo of mine that? I'm handing these out at my workshop this weekend. My beautiful friend Shauna is my designer guru and came up with these. There are many different images from my blog over the years in front of them. Awesome idea Shauna. You're a gorgeous genius :)

Do you want to share your bare minimum rhythm you adhere to even in times of crisis, transistion or upheaval? Perhaps a little ritual? Please share in the comments if you feel inspired.

QAWK-Wow Episode Three 'K-Chow'

This one goes out to Dee today. Thanks sweetie for the flattering posed question! I forgot to mention in the video my love of kombucha. Hardly a lunchtime goes by without a glass in hand. I have a how to over at Curious Bird to whip up your own (super easy and so good for you).  And after the video there's the recipe for my mom's Arroz con Pollo. I don't have a photo of the dish due to it not being the most photogenic grub around, but enjoy!

 

Peruvian Style Arroz con Pollo (Rice and Chicken)

4 chicken legs, 2 chicken breast (bone in, skin on)

small onion

3 cloves of garlic finely chopped

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp tumeric

1/4 cayenne

1 tsp pepper

bottle of beer

2 cups basmati rice

2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups of green peas

1 red pepper sliced 1/2 inch

1 bunch of cilantro

bunch of spinach

1/4 cup of parsley

Take a deep breath and sip of beer. Saute onion and garlic in oil. Add cumin, tumeric, cayenne and ground pepper. Saute for about 3 minutes at low heat without burning (but of course!). Add chicken pieces, adding beer to keep the chicken from sticking and saute for 5-8 minutes. Blend cilantro and spinach in blender or food processor with enough beer to make things paste-y. Add to chicken along with parsley and saute for about 15 minutes. Add rest of beer in there and cook until chicken's tender.

Take chicken out and put in oven (350 degrees). To liquid add the rice and broth (should only cover the rice about 1 cm), then add red peppers and salt. Cover tightly and cook for 20 minutes.

Return chicken to pot, add peas, stir and cover, cooking at low heat for another 10 minutes.

My grandma makes this for me when I go to Peru. Tastes the same. So trippy!

This Moment ~ Aren't they Doily?

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

Coach U

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends. We're heading straight into Christmas in these parts. Now, I'd like to share the three moments that led me to consider helping spread the word about the beauty of  bringing more rhythm and simplicity into the parenting day and an exciting offering to (snow) boot!

A friend of mine called me saying she was talking with her friends about me and wondering how it is I do it. “Do what, exactly?” I asked her. They’ve noticed how structured I am about the day and in that seem to get a lot accomplished. And then she was wondering if I would be keen on giving a talk to an early childhood group that has guest speakers periodically. At first, I have to admit, the paranoid side of me thought maybe she was poking fun at me; “Oh, my god. These guys are the backwoods version of the mean girls.” But then my alter ego kicked in (aka K-Wow) and I said “But of course. I am fabulous and I would love to spread the word on how it’s done.”

The second moment was from coming off the phone with a friend and realizing how every time I talked we talk she was asking advice on how to smooth out the day. Mind you she’s tight with the lovely, non-mean girl from the above moment but now that my attention was drawn to this aspect of our chats it felt good to know I was inspiring and helping her on a very practical level.

And finally, the affirmation I received not too long ago. I was chatting on the phone with my best friend who lives far away and we always like to give each other compliments and if Craig’s around I like to put her on speaker phone after she has a sentence that begins with “I have a compliment for you”. So Craig was right in front of me, I pushed speaker so he can hear how wonderful I am and she said “so and so said that she thought it was pretty amazing how you stick to your guns around your kids’ routine and are selective on what you expose them to. That takes a lot of discipline, you know.” Mind you Craig said “and insanity” to get his two cents in and to be the quiet clown alter ego he likes to throw on at times (aka C-Clown) but I was deeply touched that this aspect of parenting was once again recognized and perhaps even inspiring others.

So this brings me to this offering to you. In the New Year I’m going to be opening a pretty, nifty and sleek coaching page here on my new site; Bliss Beyond Naptime, allowing you to schedule in one hour phone consults with me helping you to make simple changes to bring your parenting closer in alignment to your values and ideals. I can help you in one of many realms; minimizing kid clutter, daily rhythms, screen time, scheduling, and carving out more mama time. Until sometime shortly after the New Year  I would love to offer half hour sessions on a donation basis to help me tweak some logistical stuff.  Plus I thought this might be a good time to help you out with some of the mounting stress with the coming holiday season (and perhaps even cover that topic in itself) and give you an opportunity to try out my coaching before I begin implementing my more secured rate.

Please email me at Kathy at blissbeyondnaptime.com to make a time for our half hour chat, I’ll email you an adjustable paypal receipt (the suggested price is  $50 but you will be able to bring it down to whatever price fits your fancy, or budget, today. I promise I will not take offence even if it’s only five bucks! I’m just happy for the experience and the opportunity to help you to what may be a challenging change in your life). After this I’ll email you a questionaiire that is to be sent back to me before our appointed call. After our chat I’ll send you an email with an actionable step to take and then send you a follow up email after that to see how the changes are coming along.

I look forward to connecting with some of you in this way and help bring more simplicity to your parenting flow. I can’t promise simplicity is simple all the time but it sure brings a lot of peaceful pockets to the day that will help make these years even sweeter ones to look back to. Must run now. C-Clown’s in the house!

Simple Parties for Simple Kids

 

My little man turned three this weekend. This indicates we are approaching the halfway mark to the birthday season.  As you can plainly see we like to conceive children during Valentine’s Day weekend so it’s back to back birthdays around here; first it’s Edie, six days later it’s Kale’s. But then two weeks later it’s Craig’s, shortly after that it’s Sweet Baby Jesus’s and then a few weeks later it’s mine.

So with much experimentation and it being my third year of birthday bootcamp I think I got the simple kid birthday celebration thing nailed down to a framework I’m comfortable with and brings the maximum amount of joy and minimum amount of meltdowns:

• The kids are awaken with a gift, usually a hand knit item finished at midnight the night before, and their usual morning verse but with a saucy twist:

Day is breaking,

Birds are waking,

Calling Birthday boys (girls)

To wake from their dreams.

• I love the classic guideline of number of guests not exceeding the age of the birthday girl or boy. This is easy to implement here due to my kids not running in the hugest social circles being Backwoods Mama loin fruit and all.

 

• They wake up to the house decorated with streamers hanging over the breakfast table in their favourite colour, balloons in same colour, and their designated birthday banner hung up. I made Edie’s pink, Kale’s blue, Craig’s green, Sweet Baby Jesus’s red, and mine purple and hang them around the kitchen so by the end of birthday season there is a rainbow of buntings that will stay up until Whitsun when the white ones go up for summer. Portlandia enough for you?

 

• The kids’ parties I like to have right after lunch because that way I don’t have to worry about serving a meal and instead  offer a simple snack like hummus and carrots, guacamole and a low sugar beverage like a herbal tea and apple juice combo – with  just a splash of the latter. You call it punch and the kids get all excited and you get to witness a fascinating placebo effect style sugar high.

• When Edie turned six we started with party ice breaker activities (Kale’s too young. He was just super stoked to have the big boys over.).  Last year we traced out her full body outline on a big piece of paper and then had the girls colour her dress with watercolours when they arrived and this year it was a treasure hunt with yarn and a crown for each guest waiting at the end of the tangled throughout the house strings. After that we  open the presents.

 

• After presents we play games, and again, being homeschool, living in the boonies, this is a novelty for my offspring so is a big highlight. I keep these super easy though I attempted this complex tie a potato to your waist and drag it around the ground behind you game that got a lot of giggles but was logistically challenging. Sardines is always a hit – remember that one?

 

• Then some free play time (which is the part my kids loooove) while I get cake fixin’s ready and then it’s cake time! My stand by cake recipe is the one from Heaven On Earth which is low sugar, super easy to make and seems to be pretty much fool proof.

• And as the coup de grace – the puppet show. Every year until this one I told Edie the story of her coming over the rainbow bridge  but this year she requested something a little more sophisticated than my limted puppet stash can manage so I called in an expert (Kale still got the amateur show) Next year I’ll be more prepared – if she is still into puppet shows that is.

 

• And then it’s tata time to our little buddies, maybe  give them a goody bag that contains a little handmade gift from us (this year we made mini bunting banners) and we walk them out to their cars and frolic in some fresh November snow. Yes. Snow!

And there you have it, my current recipe for a simple birthday party. For more ideas and inspiration check out the Birthday Book. But even with keeping it simple like this I still manage to get pretty uptight for a couple of days leading up to the first one.  I guess that comes from wanting things to be super magic and golden. I just try to be prepared well in advanced, get lots of sleep, lay the whole family low for a few days prior to the festivities (because I’m anal like that), remember that they’re mostly stoked about just having their friends over and enjoy the party myself (and a piece of cheese and a little glass of wine beforehand. Thanks Cheech for that timely suggestion)!

QAWK-Wow Episode Two - Screen Time and Attachment Parenting Partnership

Another epsiode! Thank you to Funky Mommy for the questions. Keep them coming these are fun to make :)

 

 

This Moment ~ Yogi Guy

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

Seven Year Old Wonder

 I totally remember being seven. Six is still a bit hazey, my entire twenties are a complete blur, but seven – crystal clear. And here’s my little crystal child, with freshly lost front teeth, stretching out into a  graceful , shape shifting faced, thoughtful, smart, hilarious little girl entering into this year of many never to forget golden moments.

 

 This has also been the first time Edie has been pretty particular about birthday party details. Many pictures drawn of how she was hoping things would be; all the  friends she wanted to invite, the birthday crown in specific colours and even a to scale replication of her pink birthday cake; including interior shots. Done! With help from my infamous baker friend Peggy I concocted a super clean pink icing.In the food processor I blended:

1 can of coconut milk

1 tbls coconut powder

¼ cup honey

2 tbls beet root powder

Then I slowly drizzled in one cup of melted coconut oil and 2 tbsp of lemon juice. I stored it in an airtight container overnight and iced the cake right before the guests arrived. It was amazing; like pink, unrefined sugar heaven! Only one sweet little girl didn’t care for it much; she whispers her unfinished piece of cake apologetically to me “I don’t care much for coconut”. Cute! But if you care for such things as coconuts you'll love this recipe!

 

For the party favours we got caught up in a bit of a crafty roll. First I made Edie her birthday crown to spec and then thought it would be fun as an icebreaker to have her guests go on a treasure hunt leading them to monogramed crowns. Then, in their loot bag, a teeny weeny bunting was waiting to be hung on their bedroom wall so that Edie will be the last thing they think of before they fall asleep and the first thing they think of as they wake (I call this subliminal friend marketing).

Edie was so thrilled to help me make these. She picked out the fabric from my scrap collection and cut them out into little triangles which I then stitched right sides together, leaving one side open, turned right side out, top stitched and attached in to prefolded bias tape in no time at all.

And then came the request. I usually do a puppet show for Edie’s birthday of how she came over the rainbow bridge (complete with a puppet of Craig with the cargo pants and goatee he was sporting when Edie was sliding down said bridge) but this year she was hinting for a bit more of an elaborate production. I had to call in a professional.

This lovely lady runs a Waldorf homeschool enrichment program in town. She is magic and I notice lately I’m smitten by women with accents; Goddess Leonie, Dottie Angel, my Simplicity Parenting Training coach, Patsy from Ab Fab. Isn't that odd (imagine me saying that in the British accent I’ve been working)?

So there you have Edie’s birthday in a rainbow silk wrapped nutshell. And this is just the beginning of the birthday celebration season for us. This Sunday’s it’s Kale’s (Valentine Day kids!), then Craig’s two weeks after, then Sweet Baby Jesus’s and then finally mine in January. Then I can kick back and resume my sitting on the couch consuming bon bons position once again!

QAWK-Wow Episode One - Strawbale House Living

Thank you so much for all the sweet comments with my call out for questions. I LOVE you guys!!! Half the fun was deciding which question to answer first. I had oodles to gush on about with almost each inquiry and would love to get to them eventually.

The following half of the fun was picking which ten minute take was most appropriate for all audiences. So sit back and enjoy this vlog entry rated G for "Gee, I didn't know that about K-Wow!".

 

This Moment ~ Big Barn

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule