so simple and perfect...snowed in together.
and we're all healthy.
and we have power.
it's just been so nice!
rebekah, sawyer and i took a walk the other afternoon...before storm #2 started...it was a precious time with my oldest and youngest.
thanks for all your tips on the photo books!sam's does make them...i think i might try one at sam's and one at shutterfly and see which i like better {sam's is cheaper...but i also need it to be easy!}
i'm also not trying to make it look like things are a fairy tale around here...there's arguing...and attitudes {unfortunately that's mostly ME!}
it's been fun...but also hard!
i kinda feel like the servant girl at times...and pat gets to be the "fun one".
the laundry and dishes are double what they normally are.
i'm constantly making a meal, cleaning up a meal, folding laundry...or drying the floor where all the wet snow clothes were thrown.
it has helped immensely that pat's been off work also!
and it has made it feel so FUN and like a vacation!
we've gone to bed way too late every night...but this is like a once in a lifetime storm/vacation and we just have to take advantage of it!
how sweet are they?!?
pat and i watched "Food, Inc." last night.
wow.
i truly had no idea.
i thought "organic" was just a label like a brand that meant nothing except they could charge you more.
that movie really made us think and we will be making some changes around here. we eat pretty healthy...or so i thought...
it's a vicious cycle...it's cheaper to buy the food that is less healthy...so that's what we buy...so that's what the companies make in MASS quantities...and keep the prices lower on the bad stuff and the healthy stuff costs more. if we all stop buying the junk and start buying the healthier stuff maybe the companies will change their focus? and start lowering prices on that?? i don't know. but i do know that i want to know what is going in my family's bodies.
anyone else seen that movie and made some changes??
if you haven't seen it, you SHOULD!
just some pictures of our home in this crazy storm...
our mailbox...waiting patiently for our I171 approval letter!
{that's what got me through shoveling it out!}
pat is excited that survivor starts tonight.
he would go on that show in a heartbeat...if he wasn't allergic to shellfish.
that is what they eat most of the time and he'd have no strength.
{there's also the fact that he has a wife and 4 little kids to take care of!}
i'm excited that the olympics are starting tomorrow!
can't wait to see what interesting things make up the opening ceremonies!
one of my favorite memories of this week has been laughing with pat.
we've laughed SO MUCH!
i'm so thankful for him.
i finished this book last night.
i think i've posted about it before.
it's the kind of book you read little bits at a time.
i was sad to finish it.
but it's one i'll read over and over...year after year.
when i'm reading a book, i turn the corners down on pages that have something i might want to write down...or read again...do you see how many page corners are turned down?? that means it was a good book!
sorry...that was all a bit random!
i'm impressed if you hung on this long :-)
we finished room #2 yesterday (the study)
and we are starting on room #3 today (joshua's room)
we have to take advantage of this time to get our home ready for 6 kids!
once the spring starts...we'll be outside playing sports so much on the weekends that we will hardly have any time for projects!
12 comments:
What great memories for your kids. Its great that you've been able to do so many fun things but be productive at the same time.
If you move to Iowa you can do that every year! ;)
Wait, only its not as fun or nearly as productive.
;)
Are you off all week then?
so much to respond to and so little characters to do it in!! first, i relate to the wonderful being home, but not a fairty tale, but still good thing. same thing going on here. second, i took a drying rack and hang the clothes on them right when the kids come in to keep them off the floor. not sure if you thought of that. third, food - don't get me started. i eliminate something 'bad' each year so it's not overwhelming. getting a side of beef is the least expensive way to do organic cow. you can still get organic produce, just shop the flyers and limit the variety you enjoy now of all those imported fruits. whole foods has the least expensive natural pb. um, maybe we should chat in person. and fourth, how do find the time to read all those books?! and lastly, tell me what you think of Sam's books. :)
what a sweet family and precious memories. wish that John had off and that wilson was a little older - for now, we are just a little stir crazy to get outside these four walls...took Wilson out in the yard a couple times, but he didn't last too long in the cold. Maybe next year.
so fun!
and yes, we've gone practically all organic. it's my theory that when there's more demand, the pricing will be better appraised.
trader joe's helps us with that- all the dairy is hormone free, and some is organic, but not labeled. it costs more to get the label, and takes a couple years to get certified, so some companies are organic, but not "organic". in its care for the earth, TJ's buys from such companies. their organic PB is also very good, and $2.99, i think? i eat it everyday.
they also have organic potatoes, which are one of the foods you should definitely eat organic bc they grow for so long and absorb all that's soaking into the earth.
i garden organic, too. tomatoes are so much better organic. i can actually taste pesticides now, and jackson can, too. he won't eat broccoli unless it's organic (which is fine in the summer when i grow it!- spoiled!), and he spits it out when it's not (and glares at me with, "this isn't organic, is it?- ha!).
but yeah, we're vegetarians 5 days a week now, for that organic reason (and bc cows emit more carbon emissions than anything- wild!), to keep a $125/week gro budget and eat organically. and i garden and freeze in the summer. it ain't easy, it ain't cheap, but yeah, it's pretty wild to think about, huh? :)
there are 2 farms left that use old school methods of rotating cows and chickens in a day to eat and poop and avoid pesticides. one is in WI and one in VA. i think the horrells hit up the VA one :)
Firstly - the snow piles are INSANE. We didn't get half of what you guys did. WHAT FUN!
Secondly - Food Inc changed a lot for us. We do organic whenever we can. It's worth the extra cost to us and we just sacrifice elsewhere to make it happen. We will be joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm this year. You can find them in your area. http://www.localharvest.org/
I echo Robyn's advice about potatoes being one of the most important. And another thing to watch out for is that "Natural" is NOT the same as Organic, and a lot of labels will try to trick you with that.
Fascinating stuff. And as much as I'm a city girl (for the moment), it made me want to have my own farm and grow all my own food.
The cool thing about NYC is that there are certain restaurants that only serve organic food. And they are some of the best restaurants I've been to.
Let me know what changes you guys try to make....I'm so interested in all of this.
xo
My thoughts on Food, Inc.
http://cmjw13.blogspot.com/2010/02/food-inc.html
our internet was down for the last few days and we're just now back up...i just had to check in on you and see how much you were smiling....and this is the post i found!!! i KNEW you'd be loving this mini-vacation....mostly probably because of the fact that pat is home too so it REALLY is like vacation! :) Smiling over here for you my friend!
so glad that you are enjoying all of your snow! i am so envious of all of that snow (even though we still have tons here) and that everything truly shuts down!! everything around here just continues to "plow" right on through. enjoy these days!
I just ordered the book (love the quick check-out at Amazon) - can't wait to read it!
The food movie sounds 'eye-opening'. I read 'skinny bitch' and 'fast food nation' and they both really transformed my viewpoint of what food i buy and put on the table for us. I learned that peanut butter is another one that you buy organic.
Your snow looks like SO much fun!
so glad you've had such a great snow week! :)
and yes - go organic!! we went organic when i was pregnant with jackson and have never looked back. it's SO worth it.
wow, LOL you got it all in there. How awesome you have gotten this opportunity to spend with your kids, and a rare treat, especially having Pat home as well, its the kind of a forced slow down from God. I love being home with the kids but after 5 days we are all anxious to get out. I can relate to the extra work, that part has been crazy, plus we ran out of paper plates so I'm running the dish washer twice a day so I can relate.
As for the food I have not seen it but have seen many thing upon it and have done some research into it because of Jordan I want to make sure that anything i put into her body does not effect her learning disability, with that said it is difficult because food manufactures really market well the junk food and hardly ever market the good stuff (with the exceptions of Kashi) but I agree if we all stopped buying the junk (I'm just as guilty) maybe they would stop making it, who knows but great job even worrying about it. Hopefully this will inspire you to maybe grow a garden, we will be planting one this spring and the possibilities are endless (well space and climate dictating). Your week's almost over hope you get to enjoy the last of it all.
oh my GOSH you got a lot of comments on this one! :)
I almost missed it b/c I thought I had already read it!...
Yes, fast food nation started to change us, and Food Inc kinda solidified things. I honestly cried after we saw it---we had gone on a "romantic date"--ha! It just made me so mad how much money makes people so sick---and willing to compromise the health of an entire generation---but I guess we're the ones who buy it, so...
We buy as much organic as we can (available/cost/etc) ONLY organic dairy, eggs, meat--that is for sure the most important...and are really trying to limit things that can live on shelves for years at a time :) thats a LOT harder with the little guy cause its so convenient, but---we just do our best.
I agree with noticing a major, MAJOR difference in taste---its amazing! And a co-op is a great idea too :)
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