Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #gardeinmeatlessmeats #lovesprouts #CollectiveBias

As the school year begins, and we prepare to move into our newly renovated modern farmhouse, #PimentalRanch, I am setting up all the easy solutions for our days to run smoothly. I call these solutions my daily rhythms. 

One of them, even though we home school, or maybe especially because we home school, is having our meals prepped and ready to grab at mealtime. Having them prepped for the day or week ahead, helps me keep the meals on our school table nutritious and balanced. 

As a nutritionist mama to a kiddo that loves veggies, (praise! Hoping all my littles share this love, haha), I love having vegan mealtime options. Your family needn't sacrifice taste or texture when opting for vegan entrees in a school lunch. You can parent young ones while leading a plant based life. Gardein offers a large selection of products to choose from for variety throughout the week.

Our favorites this week have been the Sweet and Sour Porkless Bites and the Seven-Grain Crispy Tenders that we picked up at Sprouts. I'm sharing a list of options below to accompany each entree for a well-rounded meal for your kids or yourself. 

Good for the body and the planet, it's choices we can feel good about. With a wide-variety of the products on a path to Non-GMO verified, Gardein doesn't use any artificial colors or flavors. This is HUGE on my mama radar - artificial coloring and flavor can cause so many problems in our bodies, that we want to protect our kids bodies from being exposed to things we can prevent. 

For those of you with soy or gluten sensitive kiddos, the ones shown wouldn't be an option but they do offer gluten-free varieties!. For those who can enjoy these ingredients, these are a great option - good for little growing bodies. 

To make well-rounded meals every day of the week, bookmark this list to check out some of our favorite sides to accompany the Gardein entrees. Easy to pack into lunch boxes, these are healthful hits with kids and adults alike.

To accompany the Gardein Seven-Grain Crispy Tenders

• Fresh Berries
• Vegan Macaroni
• Corn Chips
• Grapes (cut in half for safe eating)
• Avocado Slices
• Apple
• Salad
• Pasta Salad

To accompany the Gardein Sweet and Sour Porkless Bites

• Edamame
• Rice
• Quinoa
• Carrot Sticks
• Celery
• Pineapple 
• Snap Peas 
• Orange Slices

​To make it easy to implement plant-based lunches and go meatless at mealtime, you can find a "Buy 2 Get One Free" coupon below you can use at Sprouts. Click on the Sprouts Digital Coupon link to be taken to the coupon.  ​

Coupon offer good 8/13/2019-11/09/2019.  Buy 2 Gardein Meatless Meat products and Get 1 Free at any Sprouts Farmer’s Market Store. 

What are some of your favorite plant based back-to-school lunch options? Share them in the comments below! 

#gardeinmeatlessmeats #lovesprouts

One question we get asked a lot as Christian parents is how we handle the holidays. Do we celebrate with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus and all of the secular celebration activities that align with Christ centered holidays?

In truth, this was something I hadn't given much thought to pre-motherhood, as we as children did all of those things along with reading the word and going to church. In regards to Easter, we did make the decision to not shine a big light on those "other" things. We focus on Christ first, and our celebrations and gifts are centered there, yet we don't deny him Easter egg hunts or baking cookies on Christmas eve.

I did a big post on Easter baskets and gifts for children in general in a previous post, Gifted - An Essay On The Importance of Teaching Value, that you can read by clicking here.

Yet, I wanted to share something SUPER sweet and special we are gifting Grey this Easter and there is also info below on how you can get one for you as well below in my giveaway!

​I've been wanting to graduate Grey out of his first infant bible and I was blessed by Front Gate Media to recieve a complimentary The Tiny Truths Illustrated Bible and I FELL IN LOOOOOOVE. It is true to the bible, presented in a way that engages children. It allows children to discover WHO God is, who WE are to Him and what we were made for. 

I love that it's larger format than his previous small bibles and the illustrations are adorable and helps bring each story to life so well. 

I can't wait to see him dig into each story as he grows and I would love for one of you lovely readers win one for your little one!

                                 You Can Follow Me On Instagram To Watch Us Every Week 

What Is It?
Tot School is a way to introduce your young toddler to structured learning and play time. It involves simple themes tailored to your child's abilities and interests. 

I never force anything on Grey, as he is still so young I don't feel like any of this is a "necessity" right now as I follow much of the Montessori way. I let him lead and he seems to really enjoy it and thrive on a curriculum. 

Why Tot School? 
I introduced Tot School for three reasons. 
​
1. As Grey got to be more active, I wanted a way to break up our day and give us, not only activities to bond us, but to grow his learning, while waiting for daddy to come home. 

2. I saw that he naturally was progressing well with speaking, and picking up concepts, and I wanted to enhance his daily learning experiences with an actual lesson. And these lessons we work on all week. 

3. Due to my view of the school system and our family's personal beliefs on certain topics, I very well may homeschool beyond preschool. Tot School is a good way to prepare me to work on curriculum, organization of a class environment for Grey and patience when it comes to teaching a younger mind.  

Curriculum + Themes
Currently on Week 19, we have been having fun mixing it up week by week. Now that I see that Grey is grasping concepts easier and easier, and as his attention span increases, we now do TWO themes most weeks, breaking it up into one activity in the AM around 10, and the other around 3-4 after nap. I primarily search for craft ideas on Pinterest, books from Amazon and the library and more educational based activities from the local teacher resource store and choose our themes based on what I feel like he's about to really take off with or may need help with.  Read below to see the themes we've already worked with and what we have coming up this Spring. 

Themes And Activities Weeks 1-19

What We Have Planned For Spring 2018
Themes to watch for this Spring/Summer! Also, moving forward, more of the crafts, books and activities will be linked to printables, how-to's and more. 

Arctic animals, Ocean, Weather, Emotions and Feelings, Spring, Gardening, Farming, Bugs, Alphabet, Easter, Summer, St. Patricks Day, Jungle Animals, Farm Animals and so much more!

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM AND SEE OUR TOT SCHOOL LIVE IN ACTION EACH WEEK!