Fall's Last Hurrah

chris made this video of jonathan a while back, but it's taken me this long to figure out the video feature. i'm pretty sure that poaching a neighbor's wireless connection helps, since this weekend i learned that the same program that downloaded for over 4 hours on our dialup connection (and was still unsuccessful) took all of 2 minutes with my parents' highspeed. oh, how we love the dark ages...

anyway, enjoy:

To Light, or Not to Light

in the spirit of raising issues with high emotional value, i thought i'd throw another one into the ring: when to turn on the christmas lights. knowing how deep this issue goes, it may be the most controversial one yet.

my husband loves to hang christmas lights, and he is great at it. our usual rule is that christmas things don't come out until *after* thanksgiving, unlike most major retailers and just about everyone in the world, apparently. last weekend (at my request, mind you) he hung out our outside lights because we knew we would be travelling, and we wanted to turn them on right after thanksgiving. however, now that the lights were up, the temptation was too great--hangs head in shame--we turned the lights on this week.

so, i ask you, where do you fall on the great christmas light debate?
a.) never before thanksgiving! never! never!
b.) i like to put them up whenever the mood strikes, although i save most things til after.
c.) the sooner the better! i'm a christmas maniac!

Stirrin' Up a Little Controversy

so, can we talk parenting books for a sec? i know that many of you parents out there have books that you love, and books that you love to hate. at least, those of you who approach life like i do, which is to read any and all material i can get on a subject before making the "big dive in". i did this before getting married, when thinking about starting a family, and of course, once the babies came there were all manner of things to research and think about. i affectionately refer to it as my "obsession phase", the phase directly before i make major life decisions.

anyway, in the process of doing this in the parenting realm, i came to realize just how controversial some of these books can be. who knew, right? i mean, before i got pregnant, i had *no idea* that there was this world of polarized opinions, and every parent has them. i guess it makes sense....parenthood is such a high-stakes endeavor, and everyone is just trying to do their best...but critiquing one book's message can very well offend those who thought those ideas were just right for their family.

all this to say, that no offense is meant to anyone reading who happens to think that the books i'm about to talk about are either a) the best thing that ever happened to their family, a lifesaver, something that should be read by every man, woman and child, or b) the worst, most dangerous batch of misinformed rubbish to ever be hoodwinked over the unsuspecting populace. apparently, there is no middle ground.

i have embroiled myself in the midst of this maelstrom once again, and willingly. our church offers a parenting sunday school class, and like many churches, the curriculum they chose was written by Gary Ezzo. many of the parents out there are familiar with him on some level, as he wrote the wildly popular book "Babywise." (and its many incarnations....seriously, there are about three hundred.) the books are very user friendly, so it's very easy to plug them in to a sunday school curriculum.

however, the books outline a parenting style fairly diametrically opposed to mine, as well as carrying a fair bit of hyperbole about any style that contradicts theirs. there is actually quite a cloud of controversy which i won't bore you with, (if you are interested, you can look here for one side of the debate). but more than that, i wanted to have our church be able to help parents dialogue about this and the many options available, rather than just present one side through this curriculum. as a young mom, i always felt like these books were some kind of moral imperative, but they were *so* far from my understanding of God and my role as a parent that i felt really discouraged and alone. i don't want other young families to feel this way because our church only offers one side of things.

so, i am in the midst of creating an alternative for our church. ideally, this would be a packet of discussion materials that present excerpts from at least two styles of parenting, and possibly more if i can find them. they would be grouped by subject (i.e. sleep, feeding, discipline, etc) and give a starting point for group discussion as well as resources for future research, should the parents want to pursue more information. i don't know if we will keep the ezzo materials because of their inflammatory style, but i would like to find other options that may present a similar parenting style to his so that it is still represtented in the discussion.

which is where you come in. i'm sure there are some reading who really love ezzo's books, and i respect that--in fact, i need your help. do you have any other resources that have helped you, that are similar but not "his"? or, if not, what are the most compelling parts of his system, and the ones that really "clicked"? for those who don't love them, what alternates did you find helpful? and for all...what subjects would be most important to you as far as an overview goes? also, is anyone aware of a meyers-briggs type test that could help parents discern their own parenting style?

and for those of you who aren't parents, feel free to weigh in. we are an equal-opportunity blog. thank you.

The Friendly Cudgel

well, it has been a while, hasn't it. a big thank you to my loyal readers (all 2 of them), who have mocked me back to the drawing board. apparently, i needed a little kick in the bootay....don't we all. :)

what have i been doing? well, who can say, really. its all the little things of life i suppose... driving back and forth (and back and forth) to kinder and preschool, making halloween happen (the costumes! the pumpkins!), and plotting christmas craftiness. nothing too exciting, and yet they are all the stuff of life, aren't they?

lets see if i can come up with something more interesting....

Pig Roast

addendum to the previous post on reasons to eat local:

for us, eating locally has meant being a part of our local community supported agriculture (CSA) farm. all summer we have gotten fresh, organic fruits and veggies, and the kids have been able to visit the farm, see chickens, climb trees, and maybe begin to realize where food comes from. (although, the other day nicholas asked what sort of a plant sausage grows on, and i had to break it to him that there's no such thing as a sausage tree.)

as a side benefit, this week the farm hosted their annual pig roast (hence, the sausages), complete with bonfire and tractors for the kids to play on. it was a perfect autumn day, and really exciting to see how many people are connected and fed through this one little farm.

i've posted this link before, but if you are interested in pursuing a CSA in your own community, a great place to start is the website Local Harvest. not only will you connect more deeply with your community and preserve a piece of food security in your region, but you just might start eating better, too.

Eating Local

our local farmers market sends out an email newsletter each week, and this week had a section that seemed quite timely, given the harvest season and all (hey dad, #8's for you):

Ten Reasons To Buy Local

1. Locally grown food tastes better. Food grown and sold locally is crisp, sweet, and loaded with flavor because it is picked less than 2 days before it reaches your hands. Produce flown or trucked in from California or Chile spends a week or longer in transition from field to plate, enough time for sugars to turn to starches, plant cells shrink, and produce to lose vitality.

2. Local produce is better for you. Studies show that fresh produce loses nutrients quickly once harvested. Food that is frozen or canned soon after harvest is more nutritious than "fresh" produce that spends a week on a truck or supermarket shelf. Locally grown food, purchased soon after harvest, retains its nutrients.

3. Local food preserves genetic diversity. Local farms tend to grow a large variety of plants, instead of only a limited number of varieties that can withstand the harvest and marketing process. This variety provides a harvest all season long, an array of brilliant colors and flavors, as well as preserves the genetic material from hundreds of years of human selection.

4. Local food is GMO-free. Since biotechnology companies currently only license to large factory-style farms, local farmers don't have access to genetically modified seed, and most of them wouldn't use it.

5. Local food supports local farm families. Direct markets, selling directly to consumers, cut out the middleman allowing local farmers to receive the full retail price for their food. With commodity prices at historic lows and farmers getting less than 10 cents of the retail food dollar, supporting local farms mean that farm families can afford to stay on the farm, doing the work they love.

6. Local food builds community. When you buy direct from the farmer, you are re-establishing a time-honored connection between the eater and the grower. Knowing the farmers gives you insight into the seasons, the weather, and the miracle of raising food. Relationships built on understanding and trust can thrive.

7. Local food preserves open space. As the value of direct-marketed fruits and vegetables increases, selling farmland for development becomes less likely. Lush fields of crops, meadows of wildflowers, and wild open landscapes will survive only as long as farms are financially viable. When you buy locally grown food, you are doing something proactive about preserving the agricultural landscape.

8. Local food keeps your taxes in check. Farms contribute more in taxes than they require in services, as opposed to suburban development. On average, for every $1 in revenue raised by residential development, governments must spend $1.17 on services, requiring higher taxes of all taxpayers. For each dollar of revenue raised by farm, forest, or open space, governments spend 34 cents on services.

9. Local food supports a clean environment and benefits wildlife. A well-managed family farm is a place where the resources of fertile soil and clean water are valued and diversity is welcomed. The habitat of a farm, with fields, meadows, woods, ponds and buildings, is the perfect environment for many species of wildlife, including bluebirds, killdeer, herons, bats, and rabbits.

10. Local food is about the future. By supporting local farmers today, you are helping to ensure that future generations will have access to nourishing, flavorful, abundant, farm fresh food

taken from the Sustainable Food Center's website.

Temporary Singledom

just a little shout out to all you single parents and occasional "business trip widows". chris has been gone since early sunday, and lets just say this week has helped me to not take him for granted. being home with 3 little ones is hard--being home with 3 little ones alone is even harder. and, i don't even have to do it that often! so, kudos to all you uncomplaining masses who deal with this all the time--you have my respect.

Doing the Can Can

so the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of canning--pots boiling, knives flying, steamy kitchen madness. so far i have processed about 40 pounds of peaches, and probably half that much of apples, with the other half still to go. the apples are not so precise, because they are windfall apples we found along the bike trail, and a few from a willing neighbor. what does that translate into, you ask? well, that would approximately be:

*7 jelly jars of apple butter (+ 1 that broke in the canner)
*8 pint jars of apple sauce
*6 quarts of sliced peaches
*22 jelly jars of peach jam

plus:
3 peach pies, and one for the freezer.
the rest of the apples will likely become more apple butter and maybe some apple pie filling. watch out, martha stewart! (or should that be, laura ingalls?)

ever wondered how to can? it's as easy as boiling water and cutting up fruit, with a few little tricks thrown in. here's a little overview if you're interested...you can always start small and dazzle yourself with homemade goodies along the way.

however, in the interest of full disclosure, i must say that the above amounts do *not* include the 4 quarts of peach jam that i burned late one night during the first round of peaches. chris was very gracious to me and did not remind me that when the recipe says "do not double", that generally it is a good idea not to double it.

He's a Kindergarten Boy

so, nicholas had his first day of kindergarten yesterday. surprisingly enough, i did not do much bawling, probably because i had gotten it all out of my system the week before when i took him in for his orientation. it helps to get the separation anxiety out of the way early (for mama, that is.) personally, i'm fairly certain that he is the smartest and most well behaved boy in his whole class. probably the cutest, too. :)




we had a good morning, even though the early rising will take us a little getting used to. school starts at 8am, and we pick him back up at 10:55. i made him special "first day of school muffins" (check one for martha), which he had to eat in the car because we were running late (check one for procrastination.) we parked the car about 6 blocks away and walked in, since it was a beautiful sunny morning. such a big boy, carrying his backpack, with new shoes that he tied all by himself (a new skill learned the last week or two.) here's a shot of him walking along--notice the cellphone? (just a foretaste of his teenaged years, perhaps.) grandmom called along the way to say happy first day of school.

and so, we begin a new era with nicholas....hard to believe that he is the very same little boy who taught us how to be a mama and a daddy almost 5 years ago. good job, buddy, we are so proud of the way you are growing up.

Slacktitude

so, i have been neglecting the blogginess over here...i don't really have an excuse other than it's summertime, and i'm a slacker. this last month has been exciting:

* the end of swimming lessons. the boys had a great time this summer and really learned some swimming skills. neither one can go in the water completely alone yet, but i think with a few more lessons over the winter, by next summer nicholas may be ready to go out on his own. it would be nice to have one independent swimmer--i can't really take them my myself to the pool until i have at least one boy who can survive without my help!

* our 10 year wedding anniversary. it's hard to believe it's been so long! we celebrated with dinner and a movie...and big plans for maybe a weekend away sometime this fall. we've had a good run of it together....

* our first family camping trip with just ourselves. this was super fun--we took the boys up to brainard lake, about an hour up in the mountains from here. it was very beautiful, and we all had a lot of fun. that is, until it rained buckets for over an hour and all our tents and sleeping bags and chairs and warm clothes got soaking wet. fortunately, this happened in the middle of the afternoon, so we had time to evaluate and make a plan. we decided to go home early, and to try to procure more waterproof supplies before the next trip. (we realized after we got home that the tent we borrowed specifically said water *resistant*--not water*proof*, like you'd hope. apparently, this is a tent that one would use only when one doesn't really need a tent.) but, we will definitely go back. i would also have had pictures for you, except our camera broke the week before, and all i could do is take pictures on the camera phone, which i don't have a cord for. so, we'll see if we get that figured out.

* the washing machine broke. (what is it with appliances this week?) if you have seen my previous laundry post, you know that this is no small situation. the guy comes tuesday--wish us luck.

*nicholas had orientation for kindergarten, which starts monday. more on that later.

whew! so, there you have it.

End of an Era

well, it's official. for the first time in 5.5 years, i am not pregnant, breastfeeding, or pregnant and breastfeeding. that's right, jonathan is officially weaned. he's not too happy, but not sure he remembers exactly what it was he's not happy about....it's the blessing and curse of the 1 year old attention span.

me, on the other hand, i'm ambivalent. as i usually am at big crossroads like this. on one hand, it is really nice to have more freedom and to let someone else take over the nighttime waking, putting-the-baby-to-bed routine. on the other, i am going to miss that sweetness of time together, the way he would look at me while we were nursing, the easy comfort that nursing brings. the funny way he would throw one arm over his eyes. the oh-thank-goodness-i-finally-got-some-milk eyes rolling back in the head.

he's got things to do now, places to go. he can't be stopped for nostalgia.... bye bye, baby. hello, toddler-on-the-road!

He has Wheels!

so, jonathan has been walking up a storm these days, in the walk walk walk walk BOOM! sense. he took his very first steps on my birthday (happy birthday to me!) and he has been practicing ever since. he is very proud of himself...and i have to say that i had forgotten the cuteness of the little leg-flailing, arms-held-outward gait. when there is a need for speed he will still resort to crawling, but that is getting fewer and farther between. i bet by the end of the month he will be walking full time. it's amazing how fast they learn!

i am going to try to post a video here later, if i can figure it out. stay tuned!

Beware the Kidney Stone

something you may not want to do for your next saturday: go to the e.r. to pass a kidney stone. that's right, no longer the domain of old men or sedentary meat-eaters, ye olde kidney stone came to visit me this weekend while i was minding my own business. let me tell you, not such a fun time.

side note to the young woman who was working the front desk at the urgent care: maybe it would be best to confine your personal phone calls to times when there isn't someone in your waiting room writhing in pain and vomiting.

off to drink more water....

Seasonal Food by State

just thought i'd share this link as a corollary to the post from yesterday: Sustainable Table has a listing of the food that each state produces and shows when each item is in season. this way, you can tell if those groceries you are buying are actually fresh, and not shipped from halfway around the world. the site also has a summary of reasons why local and sustainable agriculture and meat farming is so important, as well as shopping guides to help you find these things in your own neighborhood or state. i haven't looked through the whole thing yet...maybe there are even more treasures there i don't know about!

additionally, this website gives an eye opening and thoroughly disenheartening list of grocery store brands that contain genetically modified ingredients. i had *no idea* how widespread this was.

Local Food

this has been an exciting month in the estoll household for food. as i mentioned before, we have made a commitment for our family to refrain from buying factory-produced meat, which for us has meant a vegetarian diet for the most part (grass fed or wild meat is out of our price range for now.) what i haven't talked much about, though, is our foray back into the world of csa membership.

for those of you who don't know, csa stands for "community supported agriculture." essentially, people buy a share in a farm in the early spring, providing the farmer with start up funds for planting. then, as the growing season progresses, each person receives a share of the harvest. the beauty of this system is that the small, local farmer has a stable source of income, rain or shine, and the shareholder gets not only fresher, more flavorful and varied produce, but also the chance to see first hand who it is growing the food they are eating. and, for my kids, a chance to chase chickens and play with the kid-sized tractor every week when we pick up the share.

this summer, we somehow stumbled into having 2 shares at 2 different farms. the first one we planned on--its the same farm we had a fruit share with 2 summers ago before the whole Greeley Debacle. this year, we wanted to get a veggie share in addition to the fruit, but it was sold out...so we decided to go with just the fruit again. but then, my friend joanna, who had gotten a veggie share at a different farm, asked me if we wanted to split hers, because she was getting way more food than her family could eat. yeehaw! so, now we get to go on a field trip to the farm for the fruit share each week, plus every thursday i have an excuse to have a coffee date while we split up the goods from joanna's share.

it's also exciting because i have been learning how much of a negative impact eating food that has been trucked, flown, or otherwise shipped has on the environment, not to mention the quality of the food. eating produce grown by anne the farmer down the street allows me to not only support her business, thus keeping local economies thriving, but also blesses my family with healthier, tastier, and ultimately safer food. check out this link for 10 Reasons to Eat Local Food.

in case you were wondering, csa's are in just about every community across the nation, and many who don't will at least have a farmer's market nearby. for a look into how many farms and farmers markets are near you , check out localharvest.org. happy eating!

Preschool is Over, and other summer adventures

nicholas' last day of preschool was last week, and summer has officially begun. i didn't really think about it much until the last day, but that also means that by the end of the summer, he will be A Kindergartener. that sounds really big. but, for now, it's summer vacation, and so far it's been great.

we also went berry picking last week with friends laura and hayden, and made jam with our haul. nicholas was very cute with his apron on, standing on a stool to stir the jam over the stove. jonathan did his best to eat all the strawberries in sight, and daniel was very concerned to know, 'is this one red? is this one red?' little did i know how worrisome it would be when i told him to make sure he only picked the red ones.

the wednesday night bible study that i have been a part of for the last few years is studying a book by larry crabb (The Pressure's Off), and while i'm not too crazy about the book itself, i feel like i am learning some lessons through what he's writing--the most important of which, that just because something is hard, painful, or suffering is coming as a result, doesn't mean that you are not following God's will. and, sometimes surrendering to the feeling of being out of control or suffering or discontent, and not trying to 'feel better' right away, creates enough space for God to do the work that the heart needs.

i feel like God has given me a reprieve from the distress i was feeling a few weeks ago. i feel so much more peace with where i am in life, and my role in my kids' lives. maybe i am just the kind who needs a 'nervous breakdown' to reset my internal priorities. whatever it is, i feel like God is honoring my decision to 'hang in there' with this season at home with my kids, and giving me an extra dose of precious, memory moments with my kids. thanks for that.

long live summer!

Jonathan Turns One

today is jonathan's birthday--our baby is now one! it seems hard to believe that a year has passed already. jonathan is such a ray of sunshine in our family. he brightens up any room he comes in to with his huge smile and his outgoing personality. he knows no stranger, and makes everyone his friend. what a blessing he is to us!

for the celebration, we had grame, grandpa, and grandmom with us (grandad was in mexico for a mission trip.) we had popcorn and smoothies (some of jonathan's faves), and then baskin robbins clown cones for dessert. (anyone remember those when you were a kid?) what a big hit!

nicholas and daniel helped pick out presents for the birthday boy, and they were super excited to have him open them. i managed to finish a hoody towel just in the nick of time....alligator flavor, so now all the brothers have one.

brothers are great! happy birthday, brother #3!

Capitalism

my dad and i were having a discussion about capitalism a while back, and i was trying to explain why i thought that capitalism was a harmful and exploitive force to many people, especially in developing countries. not that i want to be communist, just that i don't think that capitalism is necessarily "christian" or more virtuous than other forms of commerce. and, in fact, many times it harms one person in order to bring cheap goods to another person. (i.e. sweatshops in china so that walmart can sell me cheap stuff.)

however, i am not all that eloquent, and so i found a post on No Impact Man's blog about this very subject, and he talks about how capitalism in it's purest form allowed one person's altruistic idea to benefit himself and others buy selling a needed item (benefitting those who buy it) at a profit (benefitting him.) this is what i think that my dad was trying to say, that capitalism is positive when used this way. right now in our country, however, much of our consumerism is a negative form of capitalism, where most of our needs are already met, so the market tries to create artificial "needs" in order to sell us stuff. the newest cellphone. the fastest computer. the biggest house. benjamin barber wrote an article for the l.a. times that says it much more eloquently than i can.

a way forward from this gluttonous cycle could be to turn our capitalistic market towards fulfilling some real global needs. instead of marketing botox, market malaria medicine. instead of selling a bigger gas grill for the yard, create clean water systems for a third world market. creating inexpensive, useable items for developing countries benefits those with little money, and using those same resource-conserving items could benefit wealthier nations who are beginning to realize that they need to make changes in the amount of energy they consume. read no impact man's post here.

so, dad, this one's for you.

Fair Weather Vegetarian

so, i am just about done with john robbins' book "the food revolution". in it, he gives a lot of compelling arguments for why a vegetarian diet makes sense not only from a health standpoint, but also from the perspective of environmental sustainability.

most people know that eating more vegetables is good for you, but i had never really stopped to think about the effect that factory farming has on the environment. i sent chris a link to the article, "vegetarian is the new prius", and after reading that and watching a link to meat.org (which he said that i shouldn't watch, because it would make me cry), he is on board as well. what we have decided for our family is that we will eat vegetarian at home, and when we are at restaurants, and if possible, at other's homes as well. but, if we are at someone's home where there isn't a vegetarian option, we will eat what is available. and, i still have a few things in the freezer that we will use up, rather than waste. mostly, we are deciding that as far as our food dollars go, we are no longer going to support the factory farm system. thus, the 'fair weather vegetarian.'

now, before you get all worried that i've gone completely ga ga here, let me just say that i am not saying that i think it's somehow morally wrong to eat meat. i think that God gave us many good things to eat, meat being one of them. if i could afford to buy locally produced, small farmed meat, or if i had access to meat that was hunted in the wild, i would eat that without qualms. and, there are times when i will be able to afford sustainably harvested seafood, and we will probably buy that occasionally. the monterey bay aquarium has a seafood watch program, which monitors the status of fishing and helps decipher what fish is a good choice and which ones are overfished or farmed in harmful ways. they also have a little wallet card that makes knowing what to buy much easier.

however, that said, i do think that our typical diet in america is pretty meat-heavy, and i am beginning to realize that there are many ramifications of that, not only on a personal level, but also collectively as a nation. from a peace-and-justice standpoint, there is a lot to link our (and other wealthy nations') consumption of meat with some of the ways that poorer nations suffer. meat is cheap in our country, so we eat a lot of it. but, there was a time not too long ago when meat was a luxury--probably a good way to approach it even now.

on a positive note, this exploration has caused me to find some fun resources for vegetarian cooking. i already have the blog "vegan lunchbox" linked to the left of my blog, which is a website full of super fun lunch food. and unless you are worried that veg food is all hippy and health foody, i have also come across the cookbook "vegan with a vengeance" and the accompanying website the post punk kitchen, essentially full of vegetarian junk food, like lots of cupcakes.

so, what do you think? are you willing to make changes to what you are eating for the good of others, the environment, your own health? do you think it makes a difference?

New Beginnings

well, the lilacs are blooming all around our yard, the first spring that we have spent in our new house. spring is my favorite season, and lilacs are my favorite flower. they last for just an instant it seems, but while they are here you can't help but notice them. i have to say, there are times when i identify with that sort of drama.

we spent a lot of this weekend in the car, driving through wyoming to my cousin jennifer's wedding. it was nice to have a change of scenery, and this has got to be the prettiest time of year to drive through wyoming. just miles and miles of green, rolling grassland. the children slept, and the grownups got a chance to talk to each other. just what the doctor ordered.

also this weekend, grandpa and great-grandpa estoll spent some time working on putting up a playset in our backyard. chris found it on craigslist for free--someone had just moved in and the previous owners left the set in their backyard. gotta love that. when we got back, the kids were so excited to climb and slide (and spy over the neighbors fence).

jonathan, not to be outdone, has taken to standing unassisted, sometimes for up to 30 seconds at a time. he put on quite a show for the family, many of whom were meeting him for the first time at the wedding. i wouldn't be too surprised if he started walking before his birthday...a boy has to keep up with his brothers somehow.

and so, life goes on. we have a good life.

Photo credit: Flickr/ladyLara