Uno!!!!

     Do you remember this game?  Perhaps it is something that you still play.  I can't even begin to get over my excitement for this game!  My oldest daughter received it as a stocking stuffer and we have all fallen in love with it.  It is always cool to remember playing something as a child and then to revisit it as a parent and Uno has just blown my mind.

     The first time we pulled it out I tried to occupy the two younger ones but they insisted on being at the table.  So I gave them a couple of cards so that they could have their own little side games while the big kids and I played.  Of course this did not appease them for very long and the next time we played they demanded that they be able to join in.  So, Zola sat next to Peylyn and I sat next to Taj so that we could help them.  I was blown away by how quickly my 3 and 4 year old got the concept of matching colors and numbers!  We have them lay all of their cards out in front of them and when their turn comes they quickly know if they have a match or not.  Of course we help them with the wild cards and other cards that wind up in there hand but beyond that they are taking care of their own cards.

     We love to play card and board games here but it is not easy to find something where the little kids can join in and the older ones aren't bored or the older kids are having fun but the younger ones just don't get the concept.  When dealing with kids aged 3-10 that is a pretty big challenge.  The best part might have been seeing the look on my 8 and 10 year old when my youngest, Peylyn, won!  She even did a little victory dance in her high chair.

    

Water...what to do???

     Water has been on my mind a lot lately...and I owe it all to my little bacterial buddies.  See, I recently received more water kefir grains after my recent many failed attempts to not only get mine to multiply but just keep the little suckers alive.  Now that we have moved and we are back on well water I thought I would give it a go on this water and guess what, they are doing better than I have ever experienced and this is what got me thinking. When I first started making water kefir we were on well water in the old house and then about a year later our landlords were forced to connect to city water.  Knowing that chlorinated water can kill the grains I started using the water in our water cooler that we drink, reverse osmosis filtered water.

     As soon as I made the switch I was having issues, I wasn't getting fizz and they stopped multiplying.  I would get more grains from friends and add all sorts of things to try and put the minerals back into the water that had been stripped away by the filtering.  I have always known that this system completely takes everything out of the water but I always thought that I was fine by adding stuff back in.  I began adding clay to my grains and to our drinking water also, and still my grains were not doing so well.  Honestly, I wasn't even thinking about how the water was affecting us.

     Today when I strained out my grains and I saw that they had more than doubled, it really got me thinking about the water.  If these simple little crystals of bacteria can't thrive on water that is completely devoid of minerals and show little improvement even if a mineral substitute is added, what is this doing to my children?  Of course being like any modern mom I went straight for Google and did some reading.  First of all, I had no idea that this filter system actually wastes water!  Wow, here I thought we were being so earth friendly by not buying any bottles of water we just keep refilling the same jugs.  So, finding out that I am causing water to be wasted kind of sucks.  Also, I thought I was doing the safe thing by giving the kids water that had EVERYTHING removed.  Well, I learned something else...RO filters only removed things that are larger than the water molecules, like the minerals essential to our health.  They do not remove the stuff that is smaller, like fertilizers and pesticides.  So why am I making these extra trips to fill my jugs with this water?

     I know, there are things I could add and that I have added but if my grains did not do well even when I added minerals back into the water then how is this making any difference for us.  I wouldn't hand my kids a piece of fruit that had all of the vitamins and mineral removed and sprinkle some clay on it and say "Here, it's all the same."  I am not even quite sure what I am going to do with this information as I have 3 jugs of RO water sitting out in the mud room.  I did tell Perry that I thought we would be better off just getting one of those Pur filters.  If the grains are growing so well on this water it clearly is a superior water.  I only even really feel a need for filtering because of the age of the pipes.

     I would love to hear other people's thoughts on water and filtering.