Healthy real food

I am revisiting this blog again because I want to use this blog for more than just to show off my cute kids. :) I want it to be about life. I want to show you what choices I made at the grocery store, share healthy recipes with you, show you my craft projects, discuss parenting choices, faith topics, etc. Please feel free and dialogue with me. I want this to be a learning process for me and those that read my blog. I am constantly searching for ways to make myself and my family healthier, not just how we eat and exercise but also by how we live. With that said, here is my first post showing you what I bought at the store. I'm not a couponer but I do try to stay within a reasonable budget. I don't like to spend any more than $100/week on groceries for my family. This will include all meals that we eat since we try to eat most meals at home. I also include all toiletry, household, and dog food in this total because I do it all at one store-Scnhucks. My food philosophy is to eat REAL food. You won't see anything that comes in a box. It's all fresh food, sometimes canned. You also won't see anything low fat, fat free or a substitute for something else. Fat is good for you. Healthy fat that is. What you will see is protein, vegetables, and fruit. I buy a lot of organic food. Milk, eggs, butter, canned goods, and anything from the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen (http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary/ ) I try to buy organic. Schnuck's Full Circle Organic brand is very affordable which makes it possible for me to do this and still stay in budget. Eating healthy doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg. So without further adieu, here are the goods.

Bag of kale

romaine lettuce

baby spinach

strawberries

asparagus

peaches

blueberries

blackberries

baby carrots

2 plain greek yogurts

sausage

mozzarella cheese

plain organic yogurt

3 pkgs of bacon

macadamia nuts

pepperoni

1/2 gallon org. whole milk

tomato sauce

3 dozen organic eggs

simply orange juice

simply apple juice

2 pkgs girly bandaids :)

Total: $98.04 (I just realized they charged me twice for the kale. Grrr... so the real total should be $95.05)

There's not a lot of meat this week because I already had a freezer full of it. I buy it when it's on sale. This week nothing on sale interested me so I didn't buy any. In the freezer I have ground beef, chicken breasts, pork chops, and a whole chicken. We also have a garden so right now a lot of our veggies are coming from there such as zucchini, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and green beans. Stay tuned to see what I made for dinner this week out of my haul.

Buss, Party of 4!

It's been forever since I've kept up with this blog. Two years to be exact. Lots of changes have happened in the past two years. Our little girl is almost 3 and recently became a big sister. Eli Harrison made his big debut into the world via c-section after 28 hours of long hard labor on April 9. The little booger just didn't want to come out very similar to his sister. I was not the happiest camper when he was born, in fact I barely smiled due to the fact that I had so desperately wanted a VBAC with him, but this sweet little boy has brought me nothing but pure joy since he entered my life. Our family is now complete. Here are a few pictures of our sweet little boy and family.

11 months

We had some fun in the sun last week when the weather was so hot and played in the water outside. Bailey loves the water and by the time we came back inside she was soaked from head to toe. Here are some pictures from our afternoon.

These were Father's Day

All dressed up but a mess.

Looking for Daddy outside on Father's Day, but he wasn't there. He was out of town. :(

Easter fun

Happy Easter everyone! Not only did we spend the morning at church celebrating our Lord's resurrection, we also celebrated with family. We had a lovely afternoon at my grandparents' house with aunts, uncles, and cousins. Here are some pictures of Bailey and Blair all dressed up in their first Easter dresses. They really played well together, especially when they were terrorizing the poor dog, Maggie. hehe

Posing in her pretty polka dots.

Sitting with Great grandpa

Bailey and Blair

Sharing the pearls

Say CHEESE!

TOOTH!!!!

It's here! It's here! Bailey's first tooth. Can you see it? Top left...her left...your right. Sorry for the blurry pictures. It was the best I could do with a baby that kept trying to grab the camera and eat it. LOL

Highlights of the month

I played horsey with Daddy for hours. He loves it and never gets tired. Faster Daddy faster!

I found a crown in a box of clothes that was given to me and I loved being a princess.

I got my very own laptop to work on like Mommy and Daddy. I do my best work in the nude.

I pooped on the potty...well actually I started pooping on the rug during naked time and Daddy rushed me to the potty to finish. I don't know why he was so upset.

I ate a brownie while Mommy and Daddy weren't looking. One of the teenagers at church gave it to me. They found the evidence on my lip. Can you see it?

Typical Friday night

You know you're a parent when....
on Friday night you look forward to taking your baby swimming at the local community college. haha
Almost every Friday night we take Bailey swimming and she loves it. Last night she floated on her back and also let Ken dunk her. It's a goal of Daddy's that she learn to swim at an early age. So far she's right on track. We have quite a water baby on our hands. Here are two videos from last week. Every week she gets a little better than the week before.