MEET IZZY
Photo by Mary Moon 🙂
Hi! I’m Izzy – the mother to a wild and crazy 3 year old boy, Elijah, and a 7 month old boy, Sawyer, who I’m sure will be just as wild and crazy 🙂 We live in New Mexico with my husband, Eric, and our curious orange tabby, Cheeto. About six years ago I created the blog She Likes Food and I’ve been sharing healthy, vegetarian recipes there ever since.
I’ve always been a relatively healthy eater, but after having children I’m even more conscious about what I feed my family. As soon as my three year old started eating, I became passionate about creating healthy, kid friendly recipes that were also easy to make. I understand what it’s like to be a busy parent who strives to feed their family healthy food but doesn’t have much time to prepare it. In the past few years I’ve really embraced 30 minute dinners and they make my life so much easier! I’m primarily vegetarian but my husband and 3 year old are not, so I may share non-vegetarian meals every once in a while.
My goal is to inspire other parents to prepare healthy, easy and delicious meals that are satisfying to both parents and their children. And, of course it’s important to indulge in treats every now and then! I’m not quite as crafty as Mary 🙂 , but I’m also hoping to share a few crafts and activities with you as well!
And, just for fun, here’s a few random facts about me:
- I’ve lived in 6 different states. New Mexico is definitely a favorite and I hope to be here for a while!
- For the first few years of my life, we lived in a cabin out in the middle of the woods with no electricity and no running water. I’m pretty sure that is where my love of nature came from.
- My first labor was about 64 hours long which made the 24 hours that my second labor took seem quick 🙂
- I love muffins! If we have muffins in the house I’m probably eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- In a former life I worked as a wildland fire fighter. It’s still hard for me to believe I actually did that!
- I met my husband at Zion National Park, where we both worked, and that place will always have such a special place in my heart.
- We got married in Las Vegas 5 years later. It was a planned wedding and an Elvis impersonator did not officiate but it was still fun 🙂
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MEET MARY
Hello and welcome! I am Mary and I live in New Mexico with my husband, Arthur, our kids Dinah (eight) and Charlie (five), our gray tabby cat, and five funny little backyard chickens. The kids keep me very busy, of course, but I’m also a photographer and an Airbnb host. Rain in the desert, baking cakes, and reading with a cat in my lap are probably my favorite things.
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned since becoming a mom is how to prioritize and slow down. It’s easy to get too busy, but I’ve found living intentionally to be important for my family. It’s only a realistic expectation when I am engaged, organized and feeling calm though. This blog has grown out of me and Izzy’s mutual respect for meaningful parenting and intentional living. We’ve found this to be much easier with plenty of resources on hand, which is why we’ve organized this blog into three categories: recipes, crafts and activities, to help YOU stay engaged, organized and feeling calm as well.
Embracing the slow and meaningful life probably came from my own childhood. Like Izzy, I also started my life in a cabin in the middle of the woods with no electricity or running water (only mine was out in the bush in Canada). Later, we moved back to the states and I grew up on a small ranch in western Montana. My siblings and I grew up mostly barefoot, wild and free…as long as our chores were finished, that is.
We spent hours of our childhood foraging for mushrooms or berries, collecting, and exploring. We climbed trees, and hiked, and looked for animals to watch and listen to. We built forts and shelters and pathways through our property. We spent entire summers damming the creek and swimming and fishing. The free-range childhood I enjoyed makes me eager to provide a similar experience for my own kids. You will find many forest school inspired crafts and activities on this blog that echo the free-range childhood I so loved.
As an adult, I now live in Northern New Mexico, and instead of ranching like my folks did, I live in a 100-year-old adobe home in a funky and vibrant neighborhood in Santa Fe. I have neighbors on both sides and a busy street out front and I only have room for a tiny garden and my backyard hens, but even in this much different environment, I can offer my children an equally nourishing and wild childhood. Mountains and forests and the high desert are all around us to explore and learn from. We can ride our bikes to the library and farmer’s market. And unlike some of the Southwest, we are fortunate to have all four seasons here, which provide an exceptional natural rhythm for the crafts and activities we choose to spend our time on – a common theme you will find on this blog.
I hope this blog inspires parents with our fun nature based crafts and activities! I hope it also encourages others to embrace their children’s natural wonder and wildness to create and play and enjoy the magic of childhood!