Author: Anna Eastland

I'm a homeschooling mom of 8 and write at "Just East of Crazy Land: Adventures in Parenting." My younger daughters share their art and writing at "The Passionate Pencil" and the older ones at "The Writing Sisters." Enjoy! :)

Cuddle-Up Crisp

On By Anna EastlandIn Yummy in the TummyLeave a comment

There’s something special about cuddling-up together on a cold winter evening to share some warm comfort food and maybe watch a favorite show or movie. It just makes all the ‘owies’ of the day melt away…can you tell I spend most of my time with small children? 😉

A hard day at work, a stressful meeting or deadline, or a rough day at school, can all be soothed by the simple, loving act of baking a special treat to share with your husband, child, best friend, or even yourself, with a cup of hot chocolate and a book for company. The smell of warm cinnamon does wonders for the ruffled soul. Somehow it says, “I’m home, and all is well with the world.”

But perhaps you say:
“I don’t feel like baking at the end of a rough day. Are you nuts?”
“Yes, of course; this is Crazyland remember?”

But it is precisely doing this loving thing, while not feeling like it, but to bring joy to the one you love, that makes a noble, romantic thing out of throwing together some flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon on top of berries and sticking them in the oven.

Having said all that, maximum effect with minimum effort is helpful when you’re sleepy, so here’s a super easy recipe for blueberry crisp that’s a sure winner of any husband’s heart. It was the first dessert the author of The Kitchen Confidant made for hers! Happy cuddling!

http://kitchenconfidante.com/the-scent-of-cinnamon-and-blueberries

The only change I’ve made is to drizzle a little lemon on the blueberries, when mixing them with flour and sugar, and to use raw sugar, which gives a nice little crunch. Simple and sweet!

20131213-220153.jpg

Christmas With Kids: Making It Meaningful

On By Anna EastlandIn Family Life, motherhood1 Comment

Here are a few ideas on how to make this Advent and Christmas season more peaceful and meaningful for your family. Another day I’ll post some links to great ideas from other sites.

1. Be Present

This is huge. Crossing off all the to-do lists in the world can’t make up for not being present to our family.

Don’t try to do everything, and make yourself crazy. Better a few things simply and cheerfully done, than so many done that we are frantic.

Our kids will likely remember our friendly chats and little snuggles more than our elaborate craft projects, especially if the latter are done with impatience and anxiety. They want you and your love, not Martha Stewart. That goes for your husband, too.

As I’ve been told by someone who knows me well: K.I.S.S. “Keep it simple, sweetheart. ”

2. Give

Help your children learn to give. They can find great joy in making cards for relatives or wrapping up some of their little toys to share with friends.

Help them to think of the less fortunate. Let them help choose some toys and clothes to give away to charity. You’ll be surprised how generous they can be.

Help them to give of themselves by calling relatives to wish them a merry Christmas. Hearing their little voices will likely make the day of the person they call.

3. Enjoy

It’s easy to get so caught up in doing that we forget to enjoy. Take time to savor the memories you are making.

Relish that tight squeeze from your toddler. Laugh at those silly antics of your five year old. Listen to that long story of your seven year old. Don’t check your email in the middle of it.

This Christmas is like no other. Don’t take it for granted. It’s appreciating the present moment that gives life depth and beauty.

4. Pray

Because we need to fill up our own well of love so we can pour it out on our family. When we try to run on empty, we deprive everyone of our best.

If we take time to find peace, it will emanate from us. If we don’t, we won’t be able to help anyone else find it either.

So light that Advent wreath candle, and spend a quiet moment staring into the flickering flame. Or pick up an inspiring spiritual book. Take a walk and admire the wonder of creation.

Or even space out in front of the fish tank, watching these little slippery pieces of beauty dance about. Hey, it’s even good for your blood pressure, I’ve heard, which can be helpful in this busy season!

One Simple Craft Idea:

One thing we’ve done this year is cut up a bunch of paper hearts. When the kids do something nice like listen well right away, help a sibling, tidy up cheerfully, etc, we write it on the heart and tape in on our fireplace.

The kids are saving up hearts to buy (with Mummy and Daddy’s help) a gift for a child in Africa through the charity Chalice, which has a great record of financial accountability. We are thinking maybe a school uniform, back pack and shoes, because the kids can relate to this. We have the catalogue so they can help choose. Here’s the link so you can see what kinds of gifts they have:

http://chalice.ca/

Chalice also helps the children and families in the Philippines, so that’s another great option, after the typhoon.

You could do something similar with any charity of course. The idea for the kids to focus on is that love makes the world a better place, and it’s mean to be shared. If we want our kids to have a truly happy Christmas, and not fall into the bottomless “ME” pit, we need to help them think of others. Cause love is something that doesn’t run out when we give it away. Sharing it by doing good makes it grow.

Merry Christmas! God bless you all!

20131213-052845.jpg

Christmas Cold

On By Anna EastlandIn PoetryLeave a comment

Hit by a cold
like a ton of bricks
two weeks before Christmas.

Ugh.

Squinting at the Christmas lights
(thank God they’re already up)
through my sleepy mole eyes,
I try to nap while the kids watch a show.

Ha!

My toddler gives me the play by play:
“Dere’s a weindeer, mama, and a bid, bid spider.
He’s not the bad guy, he’s the bad guy, riiiiight?”
“Right!”

Wrapped in blankets,
I’m trying to keep from falling
off this little donkey
that is life.

Trying to keep riding along,
over the dips and bumps
in that ancient little path
towards Bethlehem.

Keeping company with that young girl
full of wonder,
wrapped in starlit silence,
riding that little dusky mule
towards motherhood.

Nanna Likes to Play

On By Anna EastlandIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

20131211-014911.jpg

How do you know your kids have an awesome Nanna? When she can’t resist scraping together just enough snow to build such a funny, adorable snowman…even though the grand kids aren’t visiting. Cheers to the young at heart!

First Snow

On By Anna EastlandIn Family Life1 Comment

Some of my best memories of growing up are of playing in the snow with my brothers. When we lived on Red Mountain Road, outside the village of New Denver, up the highway and 2 km down a gravel road, we had lots of snow. We had to walk on that icy road through the forest to the school bus, all bundled up and roasting in our snow suits, while our breath curled out like faint dragon smoke. Sounds like a grandma story, but it’s true.

When we got home, the things we would do with snow! We’d build sledding runs down the driveway, which my rambunctious brothers would do snowboard jumps from, while I of course slid down on my butt, thanks very much! We’d build giant snow men bigger than us, heaving up the big snowballs together and decorating our creation with a hat and face.

On really cold days, when the top of the four feet of snow was a frozen crust, we’d tromp along on top of it, as delicately as we could in our mega snow boots. We would see how far we could get before our feet would break the crust and leave us half stuck in snow and laughing as we hauled ourselves out again.

When we moved into town, we still had to contend with the snow, and a family chore was shoveling the snow off the roof. It was very satisfying to work together, kind of like an old pioneers, resisting the snow’s urge to wrap our home in a sparkling white blanket of silence. Up there, seeing everything covered in snow, with more thick flakes falling through the trees and kissing our rosy cheeks, you could just take a deep breath and be happy.

Now we’re on the mild west coast so snow is more of a temporary decoration than anything else. Still, there’s wonder and beauty in that first snow fall of the season. Here’s my little one gazing out at it.

20131209-133741.jpg

Bad Day Better Brownies

On By Anna EastlandIn Yummy in the Tummy3 Comments

20131209-000737.jpg

Here’s a super easy brownie recipe to make for when you’ve had ‘one of those days’.

The kind where your tired, post-Christmas party kids have had a few moments where they weren’t having tantrums and weeping fits, but more when they were.

The kind where it’s freezing cold and you have to bundle everyone up and go out, even though it feels like an expedition to Everest.

The kind where your eight month old poops his diaper in church, and then there’s no change table so you have to change him standing up in the bathroom counter. And then the freezing cold baby wipes make him pee. Three times. All over his little pants.

While your other kids run around, have fits, squirm, and try to play marbles.

And then you arrive home, after waiting for the bus in the cold dark night, to find that an animal has knocked over your garbage and spread it across your welcome mat.

This super easy brownie recipes just the thing for one of those days. Brownies to make your bad day better when when you’re too tired to bake some thing fancy, but need a treat.

Here’s the link to the recipe:

Eggless Chocolate Brownie Recipe

There’s only three tablespoons of butter in them and no eggs, so it’s a pretty guilt free treat. And more importantly, they’re very yummy. Enjoy!

Fancy Fish Food

On By Anna EastlandIn Uncategorized2 Comments

20131206-120610.jpg

Recently got this flyer from the aquarium with their
sea creatures’ menu. Wow, $100 a day to feed one otter! And people say kids are expensive…
Otters are awfully cute, but my little creatures are, too. And fishy crackers are a lot cheaper than sea urchins!

Husbandly Awesomeness

On By Anna EastlandIn Family Life, Marriage2 Comments

This morning my husband did something so awesome. It was just a little thing, but it totally made my day. He was getting his shoes on for work, preparing to head off to another long day at the office. I was so excited to tell him, after having checked the stats on my blog that morning, that 8 people in Australia had read my blog that morning, and 1 in New Zealand, and well as a bunch here in Canada.

Looking around my rather exploding kitchen self-consiously, I began to backtrack before he had a chance to respond.

“Not that I’m just sitting around blogging all day…I’ve just been posting brief things lately, a little picture with a paragraph or so…”

My husband is really a tidy person, so he could have said, “Good thing, honey, cause this kitchen could use some work, and I wish you’d focus more on the house.” And it wouldn’t have been unreasonable. But he didn’t.

Instead he said, “That’s fine, but be careful you don’t lose followers who like your longer stuff, the ones who read it for your poems and writing. Don’t make it just a Facebook #lol, ;).”

In other words, take the time you need to write. To do your art. To be you.
Cause you’re more important than the house.

If I was a cartoon, little hearts with wings would have come flying out of me and stuck all over him.
I can’t really think of anything more romantic for him to have said!

I brought it up a few nights later to thank him again for understanding me so well, and for being such a good friend, and to say that I really do want to work on having a tidier house so it’s more peaceful for him. Remember that I mentioned he really likes things organized and clean, kind of minimalist, and somehow ended up falling in love with me, a bit of a scatterbrained clutter-bug.

Then he outdid himself again. He hugged me and said, “I’d rather have a messy house and a blog than a clean house and no blog.”

Fireworks! Applause!

It’s another reason why after 8 years of marriage, and 13 together, I’m still head over heels for my husband.

What’s your best husband story? Something little he did that just made your day…Please share your latest incident of husbandly awesomeness!

Have you told him how much it meant to you? Since I told mine about this he has been so affectionate…

Here’s me with my sweetie when we were first dating. Lucky me.

20131203-161110.jpg

Comfort Food

On By Anna EastlandIn Family Life, motherhood, Yummy in the TummyLeave a comment

20131128-155001.jpg

Sometimes in this busy complicated world full of parenting experts and conflicting theories, of ever wondering if what you’re doing is right, or if it’s enough, it’s nice to take refuge in doing something simple. My five year old left her afternoon quiet time show to make these banana muffins with me, just in time to pour in the chocolate chips. My seven year old arrived home to a hug, a tickle, and a warm homemade muffin. If nothing else at the end of the day, I’ll have this.

Story time!

On By Anna EastlandIn Uncategorized3 Comments

20131127-210546.jpg

Nothing like the library for a chilly November afternoon outing. There’s something special about those tiny kid sized tables and chairs that just make kids want to sit and read or colour. Even my little guy loves to look at books, especially this brightly coloured one with black contrast. He pats it and gurgles.