Sponsored Giveaway : Whole Food Meal Plans

Today I am very happy to introduce you to Nicole the owner of www.wholefoodmealplans.net. I have been enjoying catching up with her and all she has to say on her site Natural Health At Home. Her meal ideas and health advice have been particularly helpful to my family and I with our soy and dairy intolerances (as well as my recent endeavors trying a vegetarian version of Paleo and going grain and sugar free) - Not to mention how simple and fast they are (which is a must in this house!).
I'll let Nicole do the talking from here.
Welcome Nicole!



Hi! I'm Nicole Kraft and these are my two lovely kitchen assistants Noah and Aidan. I'm the mama behind Whole Food Meal Plans which is a weekly meal plan service for people wanting to eat more whole, unprocessed foods. After many requests from friends and family for recipes and advice about how to eat healthier, I decided to launch this meal plan service to make it easier for families to eat simple meals without a ton of effort. They serve both as an educational tool for healthier eating and a time-saver for busy families who still value healthy meals as well as spending time together around the dinner table.



We offer two meal plan options: Classic Meal Plans (which are always gluten-free) and Grain-Free, Dairy-Free Meal Plans (aimed at those following GAPS, SCD, Paleo or Primal diets). My son was on the GAPS diet for over a year to help heal his digestive problems and food allergies and we witnessed great improvements. So we wanted to share what we learned about grain-free cooking -- especially if it could make the process easier for other families on this path.

Our weekly meal plans include:

•5 dinner recipes
•2 dessert/snack recipes
•1 weekend cooking project
•detailed shopping list
•printable menu planner
•tips & tricks for the week

Giveaway:

We are offering a free 3-month subscription to one reader! You can earn up to 5 entries for this giveaway! Here's what to do:

1) Leave a comment telling us if you'd like the Classic or Grain-Free Meal Plans. Check out the descriptions here: www.wholefoodmealplans.net

2) Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/naturalhealthathome

3) Follow me on Pinterest:http://pinterest.com/nicolelynnkraft/

4) Sign up for email updates: http://eepurl.com/iAtmw

5) Share this giveaway on FB, Twitter or on your blog!

Thank you Nicole! Once you have done any or all of these activities above for the giveaway come back here and leave a comment for each thing you did for the extra entries. I will close comments on Wednesday June 6th and announce the winner within this post that day.
Good luck everyone!

Comments closed

The winner is: Melonie K. ·
What a wonderful giveaway - thank you for the opportunity. I think I'd go with the Classic option to start. We live on a military base overseas with some limits on what food is actually stocked, so I'm interested in the grain-free version, but mildly concerned about not being able to get everything for the recipes.

Congrats Melonie! Please e-mail me at farmergopi (at) yahoo (dot) com.

For those of you who entered but did not win, Nicole is offering a special Frontier Dreams rate - the 3-month subscription for $29.95. To sign up for this special discount enter your information into this sign up form: http://eepurl.com/midEj. On June 10th, you'll receive an email with instructions telling you how to sign up for meal plans at this discounted rate! them know how to get the discount.

Thanks again, Nicole!

Sponsored Giveaway : Whole Food Meal Plans

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

Poor C probably thinks her Mama has forgotten about her belated birthday gifts.
But fear not little one - Just look! Your C Ingalls Wilder is so close to being done. Now let's see if I can actually finish it up for her. I am in the process of sewing on the pockets and then all I need to do is sew on buttons and block. For some reason I tend to lose steam when it gets to the tiny finishing details, which is ridiculous of me. They don't take long to do but I get this mental block and can't finish them.

How about you? What are you working on? Happy creating!

If you would like to link up and share your current works in progress please leave your link below. It can now be either to your specific blog post or Flickr photo. There are no rules, only that your link is current and something about a craft project (of any kind) you are working on. Don't forget that there is now a KCCO Flickr group for you to share your crafting photos at anytime.

Please remember to link back here so that others who may want to join KCCO can find us.

It's as simple as that. Remember your post can be from any day of the week, it doesn't have to be today. We all love feedback so if you have a moment please leave a comment on some of the KCCO posts you may visit. I know your comments really motivate me! Now please share and inspire us all!

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

Treasures (& memories) found

My family and I spent the weekend going through boxes in our garage (You know, those boxes that have been there untouched since we moved in almost three years ago). What a rewarding and much needed chore.



I found some of my favorite horses from childhood. (Was anyone else as obsessed with Breyer horsesas I was?) I even found my favorite books along with them. I can't wait to read them to the girls! I grew up on Marguerite Henry books but always had a love for her book Misty of Chincoteaguethe most. My mom encouraged this love by taking me on a trip to Chincoteague Island over summer vacation one year. I can still remember it so clearly. It is one of my best memories (Although seeing the real Misty stuffed was quite a shocker to me. In my young mind I thought that the story of Misty was very recent and that I would see her running in a pasture or something along those lines.)



K found my box of saris and needed to try one on. I told her that they were all adult size and way too huge for her but she was still very adamant that she needed to try one on. So I did my best to make it fit her and she was quite happy with the outcome proclaiming that she looked like someone dressed up as Mother Mary in a Nativity play.


Picture taken back home in New York by my Mom on her new fangled phone







But the biggest treasure of all was finding my Grandpa's prayer book that he carried with him during WWII (just in time for Pentecost, too!). I have been longing for it so much lately. (This kind of jumps into the 'journey conversation' I have been meaning to talk about. I have to say I am loving this journey I am on.) My Grandfather meant the world to me, he was like a father to me so I hold him very close to my heart. I have been thinking about him a lot lately with Father's Day approaching. He passed away on that day when I was twenty, so it has become a hard day for me. I'll never forget our last conversation. I was living in California at the time and he was back home in upstate New York. It was as if he knew his time was near because he told me to straighten my life up and go to college. He never spoke so seriously to me before and until then was always very light hearted in his conversations. When I got the phone call the next day that he was gone, I did what he asked of me - I owed it to him.

His prayer book is sitting on my desk next to me as I type this. Glancing over at it I now feel the need to shut down my computer and curl up with my sleeping baby and read.

Happy Pentecost and Memorial Day everyone!


P.s - In case you missed out on the beautiful weather set giveaway from Armadillo Dreams, I thought I would share with all of you that they have 3 day sale going on from 5/26 to 5/28 and everything is 25% off! There is no coupon code needed, they discounted everything up front. Makes it easy for everyone!

Treasures (& memories) found

Discovery (this moment in a series of shots)

La, la LAAAAAAA! Lights on.





Still dark and gloomy here, but on the bright side the gloominess brought about a discovery for Baby L - the kitchen lights. He pushed his big sister's stool right up to the counter (while snacking on fresh bread out of the oven) and after a couple seconds of contemplation and looking at me to see if it's ok he flipped the switch. I think you can see how happy it made him.

p.s Because I know I will forget this later... Out on a drive today K asked me how people can know the weather ahead of time and put it on the computer (we check the weather online). I paused to really think about it and replied with, "Hmmm. That's a good question, Beanie. How do you think they know?". She sat there silent for a moment and responded, "I think there are special people in the world that the sun fairies and rain fairies will only talk to, and they tell them what the weather will be. Then those special people put it on the computer". Ack, what an idea! I love that little creative mind of hers!

Discovery (this moment in a series of shots)

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

The sun has gone back into hiding making it utterly impossible to take a photograph. After about 10 tries with multiple different locations and camera settings I decided to call it quits and just embrace the blur. So theres that.

Baby season is upon us, or so it seems. I have quite a few friends and acquaintences having babies over the summer and some of the girls' classmates are becoming big brothers and sisters. Such a special time. Right now I spending more time planning on what I will make for those new precious arrivals than anything else. However I did knit up a hat for one of the babies that just arrived, I am hoping to get it to her this week. The pattern is very sweet and if I have another girl in the future I will knit it up again in a heartbeat! (Rav notes here)

I just found Cutest Ever Baby Knits: Over 20 Adorable Projects to Knitat my local library and I already have many pages bookmarked. Those sweet strawberry booties on the cover are soon to be on my needles. I love newborn knitting, it's so fast, so dainty and so darn cute. I grabbed The Opinionated Knitterwhile I was there too, with dreams of knittng a baby surprise jacket for Baby L. Probably just a dream, though.

I will get on the KCCO button contest soon. I am excited about it!

Don't forget to enter to win a weather set from Armadillo Dreams while you still can!

If you would like to link up and share your current works in progress please leave your link below. It can now be either to your specific blog post or Flickr photo. There are no rules, only that your link is current and something about a craft project (of any kind) you are working on. Don't forget that there is now a KCCO Flickr group for you to share your crafting photos at anytime.

Please remember to link back here so that others who may want to join KCCO can find us.

It's as simple as that. Remember your post can be from any day of the week, it doesn't have to be today. We all love feedback so if you have a moment please leave a comment on some of the KCCO posts you may visit. I know your comments really motivate me! Now please share and inspire us all!

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

The banana slug races

Remember my desire that I expressed a couple of weeks ago to explore new places this summer? Well, we started a little early. Nothing wrong with that, right? We traveled to Leach Botanical Garden over the weekend and I kid you not, we could have walked there. It is right at the foot of our mountain but just on the other side - the side we never go to. We were really missing out. Funny how some of the most amazing places don't require a trip but are right in your own backyard!

Leach was hosting a children's nature fair and it was all about bugs. This came at the perfect time as my little C has suddenly developed a fear of any bug that flies (even fruit flies!) and also spiders. I am not sure how these fears came about - we have always handled and gently played with bugs and taught the girls that they have their place in our world and are our 'bug friends'. I guess it's just something she needs to work through. C didn't mind the bugs at the fair and even enjoyed seeing the tarantulas (of course she screamed hysterically when we came home and a fly flew past her).

We enjoyed many bug crafts, folk music, birds (Baby L's highlight for the day) and an educational 'Ladybug' nature walk. Each child was given a ladybug backpack filled with fun goodies to use on the walk including a paint brush (to dig into the creek and paint the rocks and trees with water), magnifying glass, a bowl, an animal mask,a bug box and more things that I can't seem to recall at the moment. The girls were very inquisitive and listened so closely, hanging on to every word the instructor told them. They both quickly picked up on the edible plants around them and started snacking down. K even prepared a snack bouquet for the road. There was some disappointment and tears shed at the end of the walk when we had to return our ladybug backpacks but we got through it and now we have plan of making our own nature bags filled with similar goodies. I am thinking that Meg's pattern in Growing Up Sew Liberated might be just perfect.

I can't deny that the real excitement for the day was the banana slug races. That was the reason the girls wanted to go in the first place. Quite entertaining, I do have to say. I wouldn't necessarily call myself a slug person but I admit they are pretty cool. I foresee many banana slug races being held in our own backyard in the near future.

Without a doubt, we'll be heading back to Leach many, many more times this summer.

Don't forget there is still time to enter to win your own weather set from Armadillo Dreams! You can enter here.

p.s - Please excuse the mess as I try to clean up this blog of mine. It was feeling a bit cluttered with the two sidebars and so many links. I hope to be finished with this project by the end of the week.

The banana slug races

Sponsored Giveaway : Armadillo Dreams

I am quite happy to introduce you to one of my sponsors Armadillo Dreams. I love this shop, not only for the beautiful handmade toys but also for the family that runs it. You just can't help but smile supporting such a great business. We have similar interests and a love for Oregon - it makes me feel like we are neighbors. I'll let Dustin take over from here and tell you a bit more about Armadillo Dreams.
Welcome Dustin!

About us:


Hi Frontier Dreams readers! My name is Dustin. I own/run Armadillo Dreams with my wife Amanda. We have lived in Central Oregon most of our lives. I met Amanda during sophomore year in high school. After graduation we moved to Portland, Oregon for about 3 years and then moved back. We got married in 2004, had our daughter Lucy in 2007 and had our son Lincoln in 2010.



How we started:



Armadillo Dreams started in late 2010. We started the shop after I discovered a passion for woodworking. I completed a backyard chicken coop/run (we have 18 chickens currently) in the summer and was looking for new woodworking projects. We always wanted more wooden toys for our children, but didn’t have a lot of money. Amanda had already been selling on Etsy for about 5 years with her shop (Wild Plums: http://wildplums.etsy.com). We combined Amanda’s artistic skills and knowledge of Etsy with my passion for woodworking and Armadillo Dreams was born.

Our process:



All of our toys start from a board of poplar lumber. Amanda draws patterns (she is the real artist) that I trace onto the boards. They are then cut and sanded in my wood shop (a large converted shed in our back yard) using my power saw and three different power sanders. Each toy is hand sanded to eliminate any sharp edges and get each toy buttery smooth. Amanda then uses a 1000 degree F wood burning pen to draw details on the toys. The toys that are painted get a wash of AP certified non-toxic water color so that the wood grain can still be seen. From there we seal the wood with a natural baby/kid safe beeswax polish. We both do the painting and polishing. That’s about it! There are some specific trade secret details I have left out, but this gives you an overview.

The future:



We are currently in the process of setting up armadillodreams.com with our own full shop and blog, plus some other fun things we are going to do on the website. We will be spending most of the summer and fall promoting it before the holiday season hits. We are also going to be working on getting our catalog up to about 225-250 items by the holidays. Our primary goal for 2012 is to make Armadillo Dreams capable of supporting our family financially on its own.

Special offer:

We are offering Frontier Dreams readers a special discount of 10% off on your entire order! Just use the coupon code “FRONTIERDREAMS” during checkout to receive the discount.


Giveaway:

Armadillo Dreams has generously offered to giveaway a weather set to one of you lucky readers. I have been eyeing these sets for awhile now - what a great toy and learning tool all in one!



Sun, rain, clouds, lightning, wind, snow...perfect for teaching children about the weather! Have them look outside each morning and select the piece that represents what it's doing outside! Also great for imaginary play - Is that a raincloud heading towards the gnome's house? Smallest piece (raindrop) measures 1 by 1 3/4 inches and largest piece (cloud) measures 2 by 3 inches. There are 6 pieces in all!



For a chance to win, simply leave a comment on this post!
You can earn up to 6 entries for this giveaway! Here’s how…

1. Leave a comment and tell us what your favorite Armadillo Dreams toy is from their shop (http://armadillodreams.etsy.com).

2. Like Armadillo Dreams on Facebook (http://facebook.com/armadillodreams).

3. Follow Armadillo Dreams on Twitter (http://twitter.com/armadillodreams).

4. Tell others about this giveaway on Facebook.

5. Tell others about this giveaway on Twitter.

6. Blog about this giveaway.

Once you have done any or all of these activities come back here and leave a comment for each thing you did for the extra entries. I will close comments on Wednesday May 23rd and announce the winner within this post that day.
Good luck everyone! The winner is: Nadaj:I love wooden toys, I love hand-made and I love supporting cottage industry! Congrats Nadja!Please e-mail me at farmergopi(at)yahoo(dot)com. Thank you very much for helping spread the word about Armadillo Dreams and this giveaway!

Sponsored Giveaway : Armadillo Dreams

His and Hers

Last week Baby L and his cutie of a friend unintentionally wore their new vests I made them on the same day. Hold that thought for a moment - Did I ever even mention that knitting up her birthday vest finally inspired me to finish up Baby L's winter wheat milo with just the last step of grafting the top and bottom together? Things seem to be slipping by me a lot lately. Back to what I was saying - I just so happened to be lugging around my camera that day Eh, who am I kidding? I drag that thing around with me just about everywhere. so we ran outside in the (rather harsh) morning light to get a picture of them together. Have you ever tried to snap a photo of two one year olds together? If so I am guessing it looked something like this...







Am I right?



Even the squirrel in the tree above was laughing and taunting us.



We did manage to wrangle them up for a split second, but then they were off again and of course in opposite directions! Such sweet baby love.

Stay tuned for a fun giveaway tomorrow.

His and Hers