Sibia Sandoval

For the past few years I have been putting together a fall grazing board on the first day of fall. This year I was a bit late. The kids have been kind of picky lately and I wondered if they would even want to eat. Well, danny came over, gasped, and yelled look what mommy made! Come eat! 😆 And you know what? We ate it all. Here’s what I added Cheese Pears Apples Pomegranate Oranges Pumpkin seeds Sunflower seeds Breadsticks Pumpkin biscotti Olives Honey Leaf shaped tortilla chips and pumpkin shaped pasta Do you have any fun traditions for fall? #fallgrazing

After our trip to the apple orchard we were left with so many apples which of course meant it was time for apple hand pies. Sure it was 100 degrees outside but we turned down the AC, stayed in, and had some warm apple pies 🥧 This time we cooked the filling a bit different and made the pies smaller because the cuter the better right? 😄 But hey, we still have a ton of apples left. What’s your favorite apple dessert? #applepie #handpies

I’ll be honest, 10 minutes into the drive to the apple orchard Rosie was sleepy, Danny wanted the iPad, and I spilled barbecue sauce on my dress. I turned to Dan and said do you think we should just do something else? should we just turn around? But we ended up going. we picked apples walked through sunflower fields, Rosie chugged apple cider like there was no tomorrow, and danny screamed “so much fun!” It reminded me of the last time we did something like this We were picking peaches at schnepf farms when this older gentleman walking alone stopped to tell me my children were beautiful and how much he loved seeing them running through the orchard. He said “ my daughter used to give me the hardest time about coming to these things. She would fight me so hard but by the time we got to picking peaches she was having the time of her life. Now those are my favorite memories of her.” So now I’m I looking at these pictures , remembering that mans words and and thinking man, I’m so glad we did this. So much favorite memory potential here after all

This is our setup from last year I hope you enjoy it as we work on this year’s. I am incorporating a lot of the same elements but I am adding some new ones as well. Can’t wait to share. I really loved this video that was a part of a collaboration I did with @thejunkyardjournals But it ended up having a copyright claim on the music. 😬 So I’m re-uploading it with new music 😄

sunsets with my crew are good for the soul. -Joshua tree

I recently shared this post on Facebook and it was shared close to 1500 times. I don’t say this to brag but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t extremely encouraging. When I began writing in my blog years ago I did so to feel less alone as a new mother. It has been incredible seeing something I wrote resonate with so many people. I’ve had people share their own thrifting stories or red sweater moments. This is a video I never even meant to film. I tried posting it as a caption here on Instagram but it was too long 😄. So I hope you enjoy this one and that it resonates with you too , especially during this back to school season. May we all remember that no act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted

I have to say that the hardest part of trying to homeschool Danny has been keeping Rosie entertained. Thank you @rock.blocks for providing us with an activity for her to do that is engaging and fun, and well keeps her out of Danny ‘s work 😄 She is not always super gentle with Danny’s arts and crafts and that can get kind of frustrating for him but these blocks are a great activity I can set up for her to do. They are the perfect perfect grasping size for her and she can build them up and knock them down all she wants 😄 How do you keep your little ones entertained?

The kids LOVE pickles so we have made this recipe a few times over here and now that we are growing our own cucumbers I see many more times in our future. In a pot or saucepan add: 1 1/2 cup white vinegar 2 tbsp sugar 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 tbsp whole peppercorns Bring to a simmer and remove from heat Cut up cucumbers. We are growing mini cucumbers but store bought pickling cucumbers work too Add your cucumbers and liquid to a quart mason jar Let cool After it cools to room temperature add dill weed sprigs. (We are also growing dill but it was not ready to harvest so store bought it is) Refrigerate overnight Eat ! Have you tried overnight pickles before? #overnightpickles #24hourpickles #refrigeratorpickles

First day of (home)school It definitely wasn’t an easy choice for us to make and I would be lying if I said I was completely convinced of it even now but I definitely am excited and Danny is too. I decided to make a little welcome gift for him so he would feel special about his first day of school. He really liked it even though rosies stole his apple before he got to it 😆 So here goes nothing, maybe everything. I’ll have to report back. #firstdayofhomeschool #preschoolathome

My husband was telling me that he remembers making his own butter as a kid at school. But I don’t remember doing that, and when my friend @coffee_cupcakes_kids shared about making her own, I knew the kids would love it. So this week we made our own butter in a mason jar. It’s so simple and only one ingredient ! Just put 1 cup heavy cream (high fat content) in a glass mason jar And shake shake shake! That’s it! A clump will form in about 7 minutes. When you hear a thump you just shake for 30 seconds more, pour out the liquid (buttermilk) run your butter under cold water for a few seconds, pat dry, place in a container and eat. We added a little honey to ours and ate it with bread. Danny and I really liked it and Rosie just chose to stare at her’s instead 😄 So tell me, Did you make your own butter as a child?

That one time we found the sweetest hideaway in the middle of the forest right alongside a little creek. Sharing the link for this beautiful listing from @tentrr today in my stories. I wish pictures could do it justice. Somany great memories made here

• • And when I say being a mother is a dream come true, this is what I mean

Butterfly catching game using stuff we were going to throw away. Double confession time Confession 1: I have been thinking of this activity for a year Confession 2: I was figuring it out as I recorded this video but I figured if it was a success I would want to share that 😆 For the pasta butterflies I found this bag of pasta when cleaning out my pantry and since it was so old I decided to do this with some of them and save the rest to make bats on Halloween Could I have just bought a bug net? Of course, but where’s the fun in that. So instead enjoy this trashy activity 😆

. . One thing I love to remember when thinking of this story is what a huge accomplishment this was for my mother. She was a single immigrant mother of 5. To her this was a dream come true. I hope you all had a great week and are out there moving forward. 💛 Thanks for watching

I can’t believe Danny will be three this month. He got an early birthday surprise from @cocovillage and I would tell you how excited he was about his new balance bike but I think the pictures speak for themselves. Check them out and use code: DANNY10 for 10% off your order #gifted #getcocozy