5 Things: The Essentials

I have recently been learning about the benefits of Essential Oils and would love to share a few (actually 5) of my favorites and how I use them:

1. Lavender- A calming oil, I rub a drop or two behind my ears at the end of the day to wind down. It's also great for little summer bug bite irritations.

2. Lemon- A happy burst of uplifting sunshine! And a great aromatic scent for diffusing. Also, I sometimes add a few drops into my ice water to help cleanse the system or to warm water to gargle a sore throat away.

3. Melaleuca- Also known as 'Tea Tree Oil', I use this to try to help calm my less than perfect skin. A battle I have been fighting since the teen years, I have become tired of applying toxic chemicals to my face that have little to no effect. A few drops instead of a natural, plant based oil directly to the problem areas seem to be helping keep things relatively under control. Hoping for continued improvement.

4. Peppermint- Yeehaw. This one is powerful! I get stuffy nose type situations frequently (I blame the 2 year olds who like to share their germs with me on a daily basis). Anyway, a drop of peppermint rubbed in my palms, hands cupped to my nose and a few deep breaths really open up the airways. Yes!

5. Frankincense- They call it 'The King of Oils'. I was experiencing some minor health challenges at the time I began learning about the benefits of essential oils and this one has been shown to build and maintain a healthy immune system and promote cellular health. Yes, please. So far, I have been adding a few drops in a swig of warm water to start each day. 

BONUS:

Diffusing- The aroma and the misty/bubbly sounds that spread throughout my home make me feel happy. Two of my favorite combos to diffuse:

...and few that I hope to try in the future:

Geranium, Lemongrass & Clove. 

Feeling the Fall!

I'm sitting on my couch this morning trying out my new Fall comforter....just came in the mail yesterday and what perfect timing:)

It's so chilly today!! And I love it. Ok, I know that we surely will have several more weeks of the hot, humid air come upon us and I shouldn't say words like 'Fall', 'boots', 'pumpkins', 'soup' and 'scarves'. But I just did.

I adore the Fall season. Who's with me? I love walking outside to breathe in the crisp, fresh morning air. I love pulling my Fry boots out of the closet (they were lonely for so many months in there, just wanting a little attention). I love sorting through scarves to prepare my neck for all day coziness. I love brewing a cup of Good Earth 'Sweet and Spicy' tea, sitting on my porch and taking in the delicious aroma whilst contemplating the mysteries of life. I love when the leaves start to rain down and I can crunch them underfoot.  

What a great day! Thank you, Lord, for changing seasons and for the happiness Fall brings to my heart.

Back to summer by the weekend, but I will sit under my comforter for a few minutes longer and dream of falling leaves, apple cider and the arrival of my favorite season. 3 cheers for Fall!

Family Photo Bomb!

Phew....it's been a busy week. So you know what that means. No time for profound words and big crafty projects.

I haven't even had time to see my family up close and in person for quite some time. Hopefully soon....in the meantime, wanna see how cute they all are?

Oh yeah, and there's this:

Cuteness abounds. Happy Wednesday!

Ribbit, Ribbit.

It's time for another installment of 'Toddlers learn awesome things about animal life cycles'....brought to you by the letter F and the number 5.

We did a similar lesson last summer with butterflies and it was a big hit...so last week, we focused our curriculum on the Fabulous Frog! Along with frog themed books, group times and toys, we wanted the Tods to 'see' how the little critters grow....so co-teacher C hand-crafted some magic through a rockin bulletin board display (what a talent!). It evolved each day and they were quick to discover the changes upon arriving to school: 

Boom! Frogs. They learned a lot and shared their new found knowledge with all who entered the classroom had ears to listen:)

 Smart little people blow my mind!

Toddler Talk: Where Do the Animals Live?

Toddlers are visual folks. And enjoy the repetition...repetition (see what I did there). And are amazing little learners.

We had a curriculum focus a few weeks back all about where animals live. We read books about the topic and also had a handful of visual aids. By the end of the week, a bunch of them were able to tell me that the lion lives 'on the savannah with the giraffe' and seals 'like the cold ocean'...all thanks to this fun matching activity we put together:

A lovely selection of animal friends paired up with the habitat where they can be found hanging out! Some color copies of clip art from the internets, a laminator (have I mentioned how much I love to laminate stuff...it brings me great joy), and some sticky backed Velcro is all that was needed to make this gem come to life!

I stuck the soft side of the Velcro pair onto the habitat and the grippy side onto the animal so they would be friends....also a 2nd grippy side to the back of the habitat. This allowed me to place the animal homes on a felt board for display as we talked thru each one (the grippy side was just grippy enough to stick them to the board)!

The Tods loved sharing their knowledge by telling me where to put each animal (and also found me quite amusing when I suggested some 'wrong' locations...clearly fish do not live in trees, silly teacher person!)

Easy and quick project to recreate for the eager little learner in your life...and the delightful part is that you can make laminated velcro match cards for a myriad of subjects:

Clothing and the Body

Community Helpers and their Work Sites

What do Animals Eat?

Fruits and Colors

Create a Face

Number Match

The 4 Seasons (what do we do in each?)

Loud & Quiet

Fast & Slow

Make a few, organize in individual zip lock baggies, stick in a bucket and you have a  wonderful little activity library for a rainy day...or any day!

From the kitchen: Kale, Baby!

My new obsession....kale chips. 'Gross', you say to yourself.....'You couldn't pay me enough to even consider that plant-y green stuff to be a snack...to like, eat on purpose.' Right?

Wrong! You might find a new favorite if you just give it a chance! Afterall, I always tell my toddlers at school that they have to at least try something before they can tell me they don't like it. 

And so, I offer you a great, flavorful, spicy, scrumptious recipe that takes about 30 minutes from start to yum to help you discover the amazingness!

I found it on a website after doing a search (ohsheglows.com) and it seemed like the best one. She talked about her failures and successes in reaching the goal of a perfect chip and I liked that it added a lot of spices for flavor. 

Since just reading a recipe is super boring, i took the liberty of snapping pics of each step for your viewing pleasure. Are you as excited as I am? Let's go:

Happy Kale chip eating....tell all your friends!!

Mosie, Mosie, Mosie

It's been a little while since I have shared a montage of cute Mosby pictures here on the blog. It's about that time:

Sheesh! Why is he so cute? Have a happy Wednesday:)