{10 Fun Facts About My Boys}

So here I am at 4:38am on a Thursday morning... If you know us very well you know that means today is my Saturday...Just like vacations and sleeping in, Saturdays mean nothing to moms of toddlers...but it is a nice thought! I still feel like I should be sleeping right now. The grizzly is wide awake and wouldn't stop talking about monsters and the moon so we decided to let daddy get some rest while we watch some shows.
I thought he would lay down and fall back to sleep while watching a show...

He won't stop moving.

I may just be up for the day.
So here are some fun facts about my boys...

1) W&M are obsessed with the moon right now. They talk about how it is "asleep" during the day and it wakes up at night. They want to see it before bedtime every night.
2) W&M turn 3 in two weeks from yesterday.
3) They do NOT like it when I sing. Little wolf does though for the most part.
4) W is fully potty trained, no accidents, he has never wet his bed. ::knock on wood:: M is not interested in it at all.
5) I may have twins that are almost three but they have nothing on little wolf in the crazy department... He is WILD! I am always finding him in the table dumping out cups or ruining cell phones.
6) W&M know all of their letters, they kind of know the song and I have never heard them say the whole alphabet in order correctly but if you ask them what a letter is they will tell you.
7) F loves to dance, he is a dance machine. If you turn on music around him he will dance. Unless I ask him to...in front of people...my boys never want to do their tricks on demand. :)
8) W&M have learned the words "tasty" and "delicious" and they sometimes tell me at dinner that their food is "de-lish-us". I love it.
9) I am very proud of my boys manners skills. Especially when they use them with each other without being told. It is adorable.
10) I am trying to embrace their love of "going bye bye" it is hard to get three boys ready and out the door and it can be intimidating taking them places by myself. I have a long list of "what ifs" in my head. I can usually find an excuse that keeps us home like not having enough gas or money or someone to go with but the truth is we all need out if the house...everyday. I want to be an adventurous mom! Not one who keeps her boys inside until they lose their love of adventure. I won't let that happen!

Oohhh! I just saw a yawn! We might get back to bed after all.

{we love a good adventure}

Thank you Dunbar ladies for joining us!!

{a little update}

Our screen-free week went great!

I was so nice to have a break from screens. It was a strange feeling knowing I have complete control over how much we use our screens and yet it felt like a vacation from it. I will be much more intentional with my screen time.

I really missed snap chat.

We did call it quits one day early...(I was dying to see what happened on Once Upon A Time) ... but that's okay. Everything in life is a choice. Everything.

Right now I am trying to get a sourdough starter thriving, and working on some water kefir and I have started baking my own bread!

I decided to start keeping a journal so that's where most of my thoughts and the little (and big) things that happen during the day get jot down. I was trying to remember what everyone did before Facebook... it was called a diary... and there are a few people (me included) that need to go back to that way of sharing information. :)

{screen free week}

Starting next Monday we are going to participate in the CCFC's Screen Free Week. (April, 29th - May, 5th) Here is there website to learn more. http://www.screenfree.org/ .

We used to do this as kids and I am so excited to do it with my boys! I am mostly excited for more time with my husband. I honestly do not think we have a problem of watching tv too much. I'm sure on some days the boys get more then they really should but hey everyone has hard days. But it is the leappads, ipads, cell phones that take up a lot of our time. It is the go-to thing to do.

 I would like to change that.

Here are the {RULES} we would like to stick to:

1) No TV for anyone.
2) No screen games, LeapPad, IPad, or on our cell phones.
3) No Facebook, social media or other types of internet.
4) The only screen time allowed is for bills, and Joshua and I must both be present.
5) Text and phone calls are O.K.

I am also not going to be using pinterest for my recipes...gasp...So I must have a plan.

Overall I just want to spend more time with my cavemen and learn something.

{live simply}

That is all I really want to do.

Live simply.

But how can I teach our kids to do that when the is a constant flood of toys into our home?

I used to have a very bad shopping addiction, I still like to shop but now I try to really evaluate what I'm buying. Does it have a purpose? Will I want to take it with us when we move? Where will I put it? And with clothes I just don't buy them unless I need them. I don't really see any needs coming up anytime soon. We decided at the beginning of the year we would only buy things second hand unless we really needed it. We haven't stuck to that 100% but I do much better then I used to and that is the goal... To try.

If you have been in my home you have probably noticed that I have clutter.

The stuff you own ends up owning you.

Toys.
The boys have so many toys that they no longer value them or take care of them. If I threaten to throw them away they say fine. We put almost all of the toys in the basement last week except for the zoo animals and they haven't even noticed. They don't care about toys.

Paper.
I have SO MUCH paper. Old bills, coupons, junk mail, insurance paperwork, car paperwork, taxes, pet paperwork, I-might-need-this-someday paperwork... It makes me crazy. I have a tub of things to sort in my room. It owns me.

Crafts.
Everything can be used two or three or more times. Everything. So I tend to save everything that could possibly have another use which is better then throwing it away... But now it owns me. I have tubs and shelves and baskets full of things to repurpose.

Clothes.
I have enough clothes to go weeks without doing laundry. That is not ok.

Pinterest.
Yes there is even clutter here. I can't find the really importient pins that help make life simpler because I have created so many boards and I have too many things pinned.

So my goal here is to challenge myself to really take care of these problems. I will probably handle clothes and paper first. It may take me all year but I am going to try.

{getting creative}

We had such a fantastic time this last week with some friends that were in town. There is just something to be said for having people around who are like-minded and believe in the same things you do. I'm lucky enough to have a few really great mom friends who fit that description.

I seriously love feeding people. I love buying food for the people I love. I love feeding people that come into my home, just ask Joshua... I do not like to eat alone. Since we have started eating real food we haven't had many chances to cook for other people. It was nice to be able to do that last week. There were 9 people in this house! Luckily for them they came on what we will call budget week 1 (aka the week after payday...lots more food choices in the house)...today starts budget week 2... the week before payday... where I have to get very creative with our meals. There is still plenty of food to eat but it can be an experiment on how it is going to taste! :)

For dinner tonight I am going to make some sort of chickpea salad... I guess. I have canned chickpeas, green salsa (thanks to Emily), Swiss chard, dandelion greens, red onions, and garlic.
 I will let you know how it turns out!

I also have some sort of broccoli tater tot things pinned on my {real food} board on pinterest but after the melted plastic and fire I started this morning... it may be pb&j for the littles again tonight....sorry guys.

I think my coffee pot is calling my name.

{Hello Friday}

Whew. I had no idea how busy a mama could get! The older my kids get the busier I get! 

It is so fun! It really is. They say the funniest things, they are so very silly. 

My good friend Emily came by today and taught me how to make green salsa... it is so yummy! I cannot wait for Joshua to try it when he comes home from work! I think I will make chickpea tacos again tonight just so I can use it! 

I went to the library today... 

I think I am going to start with the Parents Need to Eat Too book, then green mama. Most of these books I want to read cover to cover... reading isn't something I have really made time for in the last three years (except for The Hunger Games of course) and I just gave my self some personal goals for my etsy shop... maybe I should start taking bets on how many of these become over due. ;) Just Kidding.... kinda.

I have been making homemade larabars this last week and it is the perfect snack. There are tons of recipes online and it's easy to find good ones so I won't post any here. I tried a coffee one this morning, they are yummy but not something that I will eat all in one day. I'm kinda mad at myself for using a whole cup of coffee beans in it... I hope what's left will last until payday! (Don't worry boys I have back up coffee just in case... mommy will be ok.) 

{who needs sleep anyway?}

Zzzzzz....

That is what I should probably be doing right now.

I set my alarm last night for 5am so I could get up and practice yoga before everyone gets up and we go to the new doctors office in a not so good neighborhood. I defiantly needed that practice this morning. I did get up after 5 am... right after I crawled back into bed after being up with a teething, cranky, feverish baby who just had shots a few days ago... right as I was getting back in bed my alarm went off. Since Faelan was fast asleep finally I decided I might as well get up and do what I need to do. I feel much better!

For the last 5 nights in a row the boys have been getting up between 1 and 4. Most of the time one at a time, so I will have one awake for about 45mins then get him to sleep just in time for the other one or the baby to get up.

While I was up nursing, rocking, cuddling and kissing on the sweetest baby ever I decided to do some reading online...
If you have read my past few posts you already know that we are striving for a whole (REAL) foods lifestyle. So far we are LOVING it! We had one dinner that didn't go as planned but that is okay! Anyway, I was reading on www.foodbabe.com she is amazing. So many great articles about real food and things we all need to stop eating! Like GMOS. If you want to learn more about GMOs check out this link { http://responsibletechnology.org/docs/140.pdf } Take note of what happened to the animals these things were tested on... it is horrific.

Well now after all of that info, finding a great new nut milk recipe that I can't wait to try, doing yoga and about to down a glass of water... I'm going back to bed until all the people that I love wake up. :) Good night.

{Pears}

And that is all I have to say about that. 

just kidding. 

I really like pears. 

I never thought I would sit down at the end of the day and think , man I need a pear right now.

But that happens more and more these days. 

{Winter Wonderland}

Our backyard snow is up to Joshua's thigh... That is some deep snow.

Joshua shoveled off the yard so the boys could get out there and play this morning. Wyatt is still out there with him but I couldn't wait to upload the pictures so here they are....

 This is from yesterday, I was trying to keep them busy. 

 Silly little Faelan 

 The puppies. 

 Well the plow got one lane again... that was nice of them 

 I have been sporting various "snow day" outfits this week. 

Here is todays. 

And there ya have it. Our snow men. 

Wyatt and Mahon call all the snow, snowmen. Mahon fell in it today and said I fell in the snowmen. It is the cutest thing in the world. 

On a side note I have joined the 40 Bags in 40 days challenge at www.whitehouseblackshutters.com. I'm going to say that I started yesterday since I cleaned out W&M's room. I really wish I had before and after pictures! 

{Enough about me, How about some cuties?}

 Wyatt's "cheese" face

 Mahon's "cheese" face

 Sorry mom, I'm eating.

 Messy Wyatt

 Mahon eating. 

 FAELAN!!! 

 MOM! I'm eating!!! 

 Seriously? Does this woman ever stop? 

 Bathtime! 

 Hi mom! 

 Rub a dub dub. 

 Three men in a tub

YUMMYYYYY 

{Real Food}

There is a fantastic website { www.100daysofrealfood.com } ... When I first found her site I was in awe. What a cool site! But after awhile her post about which foods (the ones currently sitting in my kitchen that we eat every day) aren't real and are full of chemicals were starting to hurt my feelings. Mostly because I know the cost of the real foods and it just wasn't in my very small grocery budget.

Have you heard the quote... Pay the farmer now or the doctor later? ... I'm trying to really put that into practice and now that tax time has come and gone and we have made some financial changes (canceling our cable, I changed to a "normal" phone instead of a smart phone, ect) just little things to allow our grocery budget to grow a little so we can eat "real" food.

We are going to do the 10 day real food pledge (click here for the rules) when our farmers market opens. I am going to slowly change over the things we eat to the real thing before then so it won't be a huge grocery trip (expensive) or a shock. ;) The first thing we changed was butter. We bought REAL butter. It is amazing. It changes the way everything tastes and we love it. I blame this on my girlfriend Heather... she was talking about it one day and I couldn't get it out of my head. I wish I took a picture of the ingredient comparison  There are just two ingredients in butter... cream and salt. I like the salt. :) However it was 2.99 for real butter, 1lb. 3.39 for margarine for almost 3lbs of chemicals. I'm happily paying the extra. :)

I stumbled onto the site www.plantoeat.com through her blog tonight and I think that is going to be an essential tool in doing our 10 day pledge.

We put an order in at kc.doortodoororganics.com. They deliver a box of organic produce to your house! You can also add all kinds of different groceries, I have some eggs coming too. But there is a lot of local items and meats! It is defiantly something that is going to help out with the grocery dilemma!

I think Mondays will be our Trader Joe day, Wednesday farmers market, Every other Thursday is the door to door delivery (which I might cancel in the summer while I have the market right down the street.), Friday is my KO day so I can catch up on any extra grocery shopping that I need to and I plan to take my Grandma to the River Market this summer. So get ready Grandma! :)

{ Insert quirky title here }

whew... I am exhausted...

We have been sick for almost a week now. First the baby, then M, then W, with mommy and daddy quickly following. By Tuesday we were all sick. (Except for M, He had the same symptoms but he seemed to be feeling fine and into his usual mischief.)

 I will not go into all the details... you do not need to know how gross it was... I will say on Tuesday I did not know how we were going to survive the day, and I thought by the end of the day they would have to condemn the house and we would need to start over from scratch and that felt a lot better than cleaning everything.

The worst is over, but my house and bathroom have seen better days.

Here are somethings that I have been very grateful for this week:

1) Family. Joshua. My grandparents. Everyone that was at my grandmas house on sunday who watched the boys so I could nap. My sister for coming over tomorrow... my poor mama who got it from us. :(

2) Disposable wipes, and diapers. I had to throw one cloth diaper away.... talk about sick to your stomach! it was like $20!

3) Tax season. I am so thankful for this season and being able to get some debt paid off.

4) Mama bloggers. I found some very encouraging blogs from moms that have or had three kids under the age of three. The best advice is from people who have been through almost the same thing... not from strangers at the grocery store.

5) Grace. So thankful for the grace for this week that is defiantly not going as I thought it would, grace for each other while we don't feel good, And for my good friend Grace for calling me in the middle of it at just the perfect time to chat and to give me a GREAT cleaning recipe! :)

I think all of my guys are asleep so I'm going to try to catch up on some too.
Good Night! :)

{My Silly Boys}

I know two silly little boys! 

Train Track Battles. 

Friday we were SO busy! We played outside, did puzzles, helped mommy with chores, played with trains, painted, got in trouble and had to hug it out, then crashed on the couch! 

{Choo-Choo}

Obsessed! :)