Moving Forward...

Astral and Defy love this INVSOC card!

These little dudes love stuffing their mouths with mangos!

 

Astral and Defy are right on the cusp of the big 3-0! 30 months, that is. In 3 days they will be 2 ½. How did time fly by so quickly? The past 30 months have been so precious; we’ve experienced and learned so much while raising our sweet little rascals. We are happy to have shared our journey so far with readers from all around the world. It has been very important for us to represent veganism as a healthy and ethical way of living, and to show that raising children as vegans is entirely possible. We have been told by many readers that this blog has helped them out on their own journey, so we feel it is necessary to keep on posting, at least until the boys are a little older. 

DnA are natural born gymnasts. These little daredevils have perfected their forward roll, and since that wasn’t nearly amazing enough, they have now mastered the forward roll with no hands. They are basically catching air while tumbling. We need to quickly find a gymnastics class to nurture their flexibility and acrobatics in a much more padded environment. They still enjoy stretching, doing push-ups, hanging on bars, and doing pull ups. Never doubt the strength of a vegan toddler, especially one powered by kale juice!!!

As usual, the boys have been eating so well. They usually finish every single bite on their plates or in their bowls and quickly slam down all of their coconut milk and green juices/smoothies. This isn’t a food blog by any means (yes we know our photos aren’t vegan cookbook worthy), but since this is going to be a short and sweet post we’ve decided to post some photos of our simple, go-to toddler-friendly vegan meals.

 seed and raisin mix

 back to the basics: red beans and brown rice

 pasta salad

 tofu scramble, tortillas, oven potatoes

 brown rice and stir-fried veggies, tofu, kale salad

 no queso blackbean quesadilla, salsa, carrots, salad with walnuts, blue corn chips

 toddler smorgasbord: salad, salsa, lentils, blue corn chips, plantain

 veggie noodle soup with bok choy, corn, edamame

Lucas found 30 pounds of this Sulfur Shelf aka 'chicken mushroom' in a park last year.  We dehydrated it and are still enjoying this delicious find.

 Soy 'chicken' analogs have nothing on this mushroom! Look at the texture!!

This is some of the 'chicken mushroom' right before Luke harvested it! Best find EVER!

Warning: Please make sure you do serious research before foraging for mushrooms!!!!

chugging coconut milk

Art is definitely in Astral and Defy’s genes. These budding artists can draw pictures of faces, cars, etc. There's really nothing sweeter than having them draw a picture of a face while saying with a smile, "that's mommy" or "that's daddy".

We are getting settled into our new place. We had no clue how much extra (unnecessary) stuff we had accumulated after preparing for and having the boys. The movers were with us from 10am until almost 6pm on the day of the big move. I never imagined it would take more than a couple hours for them to move our stuff. Boy was I wrong. Astral and Defy behaved really well and thankfully we had helpers to keep them out of the way at the new house. They have their own playground in the backyard and a great playroom that has kept them entertained over the past few weeks as we try to figure out our new routine. At first they asked about their old house, but now they tell us that they love the new place. They still ask about old friends and we tell them we will visit soon, since we only moved 35 minutes away. We are relieved that they are adjusting so well to their new environment.

 

 plotting and scheming 

Having a sizable yard is something new for all of us, and we have already put it to good use. Star and Sunny love sunbathing for unlimited amounts of time and, aside from the playground, the boys enjoy playing in the dirt and observing all their insect friends (there are some amazing and huge butterflies here). Daddy is already composting away and planning his garden that will go along well with the (now berry-less) blackberry bushes that are already here. Hopefully by this time next year we'll have copious amounts of home-grown kale and other organic goodies! Until then, at least we can pick pears from our neighbors' tree to our hearts' content...

 

 

they requested "little vases" to make arrangements

 

 all photos are of Astral Defiance and Defy Aster at 29 months old

 

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