I've turned into an Organic Food Researching Maniac!!

I was chatting with a fellow SAHM friend at a play-date a few weeks ago, and the topic of conversation has started a whirlwind of changes in my home; more specifically in our food. We somehow got into the topic of organic food and she told me how she buys all organic food, and I told her that my husband would never go for all organic because it's just so expensive. She recommended I watch the documentary "Food Inc." to help convince my hubby of the benefits of buying and eating organic (I had told her he was a documentary lover.) I have always known that there are benefits to having an organic diet, but I did not know the exact specifics and I never really bothered to research specifics. I was not an organic shopper, and that was mostly because every time I walked passed an organic item at the grocery store, my jaw dropped to the floor when I would see the prices! I just wrote off organic food as something rich people and celebrities ate and it being "just another fad diet/food trend."

So that same night, I found the documentary on Netflix, and we watched it together. OMG- he was just as appalled as I was to see just how horrid our food in America is and how important it is to have an organic diet! We discussed and chose to start our "organic journey" with buying the "dirty dozen" organically grown only from then on. Since then, I have realized that when you buy in bulk, and buy sale items, organic shopping is not nearly as expensive as one imagines.

Long story short, I am now a maniac researching organic, local, grass-fed food and I thought I'd share this with you guys. LOL! I have read 2 books so far, educating myself on organic food and trying to figure out what I need to know to buy and eat to have the healthiest food for my family. It has been very interesting and I can see that this is now a part of our lifestyle that will stay with us forever. I hope everyone can take some time and really find out what is being sold to us in our grocery stores, and exactly how "healthy", and really how DANGEROUS our foods are in this country; it's a sad but very true fact that we are the most UNHEALTHY country in the world. The origins of our food is without a doubt a big factor of this fact in my opinion.

Valentine's day

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

We started our day by having breakfast; Valentine themed :) Heart shaped belgian waffles with heart shaped eggs! Alyssa loved it so much! we are doing heart shaped sandwiches for lunch too. She and AJ got their gifts from Mommy and Daddy after breakfast and she said, "mommy, this is the BEST valentine day ever!!" I will post pictures later.... can't wait to see what the rest of the day has for us.

New adventures... full of worries

Now that the hubby got the job offer of his dreams, we know we are on the fast track to living our life dream; suburban nirvana if you will. The only problem is that we will be taking a pay cut the first year, and he got offered the job position in one of the most expensive places in the country, San Francisco.

We knew we'd have to make sacrifices during that first year, but the daunting task of finding a new home in the area, although i'm VERY familiar with it, since we've been living here already for 4+ years, is taking it's toll on me. We currently live in a 1500 sq. ft. 3bed 2 bath townhouse. We are going to make 10THOUSAND dollars less a year, and that's BEFORE taxes are taken out!!!!

EVERYTHING i'm seeing is in the range of 900-1050 sq.ft.!! so we're cutting over 500 square feet! and not to mention, all of this for just 100-150 dollars less a month than what we currently pay!

We know that we can NOT keep our current place, and we know things will be tight that first year, but it's a very scary thing to think about... we will be bursting at the seams in whatever new place we end up in, and paying not much less. Ok, I'm off to continue my search, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. :(

LadyBug is growing up!!!

I have realized LOOONG ago that she is no longer a baby. I've gotten over that part. The thing that has me realizing just how FAST she is growing is what we are doing now. She is learning to write letters and numbers. Yesterday, as she was chatting with my parents via webcam (as they do on an almost daily basis) she decided to show them with her easel the letters she knew. It sunk in to me when I saw her doing her A, B, C, D, E, F and number 1, 2, 3!!!!!

For the record, I've only taught her A, B, C and 1, 2. She learned the rest on her own by using her practice books!!!!!!!!

Such a proud moment for me, yet sad to see that she is so close to being school age, and that we are about to embark on a totally different phase of childhood so soon scares me; but I know we will rock it! just like we've done with babyhood and toddler phase.

Monkey is sick :(

So, we went to a playdate on friday, and he was being very clingy so I kept him in the Beco carrier. He felt warm, but everyone was saying it was a bit warm in the house so I thought nothing of it. We went to Old Navy after that, and that's when I realized that he was warm and running a bit of a fever. Fast forward to today, SUNDAY, and he's still got this fever going on!

We tried to have some family time on saturday by swimming at the pool and ordering pizza, and he seemed a tad better, still clingy, but not too warm. Well, today, we did an oral temp. reading (we were doing armpit since friday, he won't hold it in his mouth long enough for the reading) and it was 103!!! I called the doctor and he will be seen tomorrow. The nurse thinks it might be an ear infection.

Whatever it is, I'm ready for it to be all OVEr and have my healthy Monkey back to normal!

Easter!

This is my first attempt at posting pictures of my kids on my blog, I hope it works.
First we dyed eggs, and as you can see, Ladybug was very hands on with the project; and she really enjoyed it!



Here is the end result! Not bad for being the first time she and I dyed eggs, although Daddy did help, and he's done this many times growing up.



These are all the goodies the Easter Bunny left the kids, hidden on the side of the couch. (we did a plastic egg trail that Ladybug followed first thing in the morning that went all around our house and ended with the baskets; too cute!)




I took a TON of pics, but here are my faves. Ladybug with all her goodies....












and Monkey with his :)

Easter Celebrations

Growing up, I never celebrated Easter in the traditional American non-religious ways. For me, Easter consisted of a super early service at church and a family lunch. No easter baskets, egg hunts and DEFINITELY no easter bunnies. Well, for my kids, I want to celebrate both the Christian traditional ways and incorporate the American traditions. This will be my first attempt at Easter celebrations. I bought the kids stuff for baskets and spent WAY too much money (I didn't want to give candy so I had to buy toys and gadgets LOL). I even bought a kit to decorate some hard boiled eggs!!!
Unfortunately, this weather doesn't seem to be cooperating with an egg hunt so i might do it around the house and take her to a playdate egg hunt later next week when the sun decides to shine. I have to say that I truly do love the playgroups I am a part of; they allow my Big Girl to socialize so much and do such cute things. She's already done 2 easter crafts playdates and she did I don't know HOW many St. Patricks crafts. Now that I've veered off topic I will end this post with the most important part of it which is that I truly do hope that my kids enjoy all the Easter festivities I have planned for them.