{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! :)