I posted my Family Recipe now it’s your turn! Add your recipe to comments below…

Take one granola crunchy progressive home schooling mama and one recovered Republican daddy. Give them five babies, four girls and a boy, three births(one at home), two sets of twins, one dear one gone to heaven to make sure we know how precious and sacred our life with the other four is.
Posted By Lorrie on 2/1/2006

The Kalshoven family recipe

Take 2 grown ups - who actually are not - who fell in love without meeting first, 5 years ago. Add lots of magic in the form of a little boy of nearly 2 and mix well with lots of hugs, kisses and laughter. Add another little magical creation in the form of a nice big round belly and wait to rise. In the meantime take a delicious big bed and lots of lovely yummy boob for liquid love. A lot of cuddles and dribbly sleep can be added here. Mix really well. Add a lot of eastern theories of attachment gleaned from past generations from the family and shake really well and fold in. Sprinkle in lots of care for the planet and teachings of peace, love and happiness. Once all mixed well, place in log fired oven and enjoy the aromas. Ensure lots of love is added throughout to taste. Enjoy with a cocktail drink of drumming, dancing, surfing and lots of laughter and sunshine. Feel content. This cooks enough for as many people who want some and is a never ending dish – yummy!
Posted By Fozia on 1/29/2006

The Intrepid Monkey family recipe:

Take 2 young scrawny parents.

Blend well in an oven-safe, sturdy 2 person tent or rusty mercury sable.

Transfer to drafty studio apartment and set aside for 1 humid summer.

Create:
1 genius faerie baby girl(be sure to select one that glows like pearl in moonlight).
Snuggle. Have lap ready.
Add mama’s milk, daddy’s fondness for naps and improvisational music, read lots of stories and draw pictures in a 100 degree patch of sunlight on floor and baste often with strange, beautiful assortment of family, friends and inappropriate language.

In a small, creaky fabulous old house, mix:
1 whole white chocolate lab with assorted eyes
2 small striped cats
Whip into frenzy.

In a small separate bowl, separate sweet faerie-daughter from totalitarian 1st grade teacher and transfer to big salad spinner with nice soft new teacher who is NOT hopped-up on dexatrim and lots of kids of many ages and abilities.
Spin freely, stand back, peek in, jump in yourself, spin again, whatever you please. Watch funky new culture develop all over the place. Embrace and be thankful.

Meanwhile:

Transfer whole family into small, creaky fabulous old house and let rise for 8 years until baby boy begins to bubble in back of mind and surface on top.

Fold in strawberry-haired baby boy with a big warm hug and blend whole family steadily on low speed for 16 months.

Season fiercely with hugs, tears, tickles and pitter- patters.

Pour onto a bed of gourmet mixed family and friends (preferably not the kind you buy in a bag at the store, you really have to grow and pick your own for best flavor and quality)

Garnish with huge crazy garden of flowers and funky homemade decorations.

Serve with dedication in mind and enjoy with toast.

Cheers!

Posted By Dominique Monkey on 1/28/2006

Take one radical leftist mama, blend in one clean-cut leftist dadders. Add two free-range Alaskan cage-free home born girls. Add two pugs with superiority complexes. Pour into one queen-sized bed every evening. Stir.

Blend regularly with plenty of breastmilk and Eloise-like indolence. Pour champagne down the mail slot. Wear pudding. Wear babies. Work in local politics. Make it better.

Love every minute.
Posted By Karen on 1/23/2006

Start with one single teenage mom and one amazingly sweet and happy baby boy. Wait two and a half years. Add baby girl two weeks before momma’s 20th birthday. Send momma to college. Drag kids to classes whenever needed. Travel to Central America with kids while doing field work for thesis. Return to US, having forgotten English almost entirely. Seven years after babby girl, add baby boy born in April who we think might actually be none other than Loki’s own son. (evidenced by April birth, favorite holiday = April Fools Day, favorite pastime = practical jokes, and thinks that comedy timing is an important academic skill). Travel to Israel. Ditch Israel, go to England. Hang out in England for 3 years. Ditch England, travel to Seattle. Bask in Seattle until Gramma needs help in a tiny town on the Washington-Idaho border. Move to a little college town close to gramma and spend lots of time at university libraries for fun.

Throughout cooking and prep, mix in a wonderful assortment of friends, shared housing situations, a little bit of public school. a little bit of private school and a lotta bit of no school whatsoever.

Make sure to play with opensource software and Linux computers. Create comic books and movies and self-publish. Read everything. Discuss politics. Snuggle lots.

Please ensure that you treat your teenage children like adults. If you do not, you will spoil this part of the recipe. Remind them that you have “legal responsibility” for them still, but that you trust them as adults. Discuss the meaning of this often enough to be remembered, but not so often that it seems like a mantra. Watch them find their own amazing paths while you continue to provide a home base for them and the financial and emotional security to get well on their way in their desired endeavors.
Posted By Elizabeth Sterling on 1/23/2006

Place into large bowl: 2 unruled kids, 2 unruly adults, 1 loyal dog, and a lot of backyard. Add a pinch of knitting, a batch of fresh fluffy diapers, some endangered insects (at least 3 big ones) and a large drum. Beat well.

Set temp to near freezing, wrap in mamas scarf, and let rise.

In smaller bowl, combine all the love you can muster, all the patience you can find, and all the consideration you can offer. Stir. Mix in a pinch of giggles and a smidge of tickles. Whip this up till it forms peaks worth climbing.

Punch buggy down the first bowl, marinate in a u-haul over 4000 miles. Cross some borders, sleep in the desert, wake in the pine trees.

Slowly fold second bowl into first while mixing. Cook this in a house full of hugs and kisses, and release into the universe.
Posted By Andy Lee on 1/23/2006

Toss one sweet, beautiful boy with big soulful eyes, two oft-enchanted, sometimes-overwhelmed, always-loving adults and one gigantic, crazy, fuzzy, black teddy bear of a cat into a big old pink-and-white bungalow in New England.
Mix in: one breast full of milk, many sweet kisses (mwah), a couple of spicy tantrums, and some soft, fluffy hugs. Stir till dizzy with love.
Then:
Add a healthy dose of attachment parenting and flying by the seat of our pants, with a dash of moderation, creativity, and of course, lots and lots of music.
Sprinkle with faery dust (stolen from Mama’s special shelf) and admire the sparkle.

Every so often, add a dash of California to keep things sunny.

(This was SO MUCH FUN! Thank you!!!)
Posted By Renae on 1/23/2006

Smith-Burke Family recipe
Put a Pixie Princess, 2 grown ups, and 2 immortal cat companions in a character filled, drafty, old New England home with equal parts: winging it and by the seat of our pants attachment living style. Add niblets and tidbits of information gleaned here and there about how we think we may want to unschool….opps, realizing we are already doing it just by living our juicy life filled lives! (used to think we had to wait until the Pixie Princess was “school age”)
Add:home birth-birthing pool use (we talk it up but most look at us like we are whackos), breast feeding (see above), environmentalism, big family bed, cloth diapers and wool soakers.
Mix with Mum’s baby boomer mentality, Daddy’s “ I was born in the 70’s” mentality, “my parents met online-edness”, and crunchy granola New England Irish Scottish-ness.
Add a dash of conspiracy theory and Daddy’s all things Apple computer mind set. Throw in some sublime skiing, avoid trees, pray for snow.
Add crusty New England temperment with laid back West Virginia temperment. Duck and take cover at times. Spice it up with unconditional love, laughter, softy softy Io bunny kitty, playful Queenie Bast kitty and a dash of Irish/Scottish temper for a wild but wonderful ride!
Posted By susan on 1/23/2006

My family recipe:
4 children (more if desired)
2 adults
1 cat
1 house
1 life time of love
1 barrel of laughs
1 mile of smiles
endless kisses
armfuls of hugs
a dash of unschooling
2 breast full of milk
1 garden
1 compost heap
2 green freaks
1 nice sling
1 BIG bed
a big back yard
a load of cloth diapers
fresh baked bread
a dash of patience

Mix slowly to savour the experience.
Serving size: A life time.

By heather and Mike Hawkes
Posted By Heather H on 1/23/2006