Fun!

One day a week, I meet a friend for lunch at the church while John watches the boys during his lunch hour. It's a great break for me and a fun time for John to spend with Eli. He loves running around the empty hallways. He thinks its his own personal playground. One afternoon, when we were finished eating, this is what we came out to see them doing:

I can't seem to load the video, so you'll have to check out my facebook page for that. I am so thankful to have a husband who loves playing with his boys and does so in such a creative manner!

Eli and Evan have also spent a lot of time together working on puzzles. They can literally sit together for 30 minutes at a time working together.

Since I've stopped working and have a lot more time, i've started researching and getting into things that I never would have previously guessed. Things like, organic food, cloth diapers, making my own baby food...No, I am not becoming a hippie (although I do live in what some joke to be a commune). Some of these things have come about because of the lack of funds since I've stopped teaching, but others I do because I see the benefits and choose to.

Last year, John began telling me about a movie he watched called Food, Inc. He began by telling me that after I watch this movie, I'll never want to eat meat again. Originally I told him not to tell me more since I was afraid of what I might find out and I wanted to remain ignorant, but eventually I got curious. WOW! I found out a lot that I didn't want to know, but now that I do, I can't go back. That was my first step in going organic.

We then had a nutritionist come to our MOPS meeting to talk about

organics, last year, and again this year, and that has continued to confirm my choice. We don't buy organic everything, but when we can afford it, we aim to at least buy the "dirty dozen", dairy products and meat.

This started me on a journey to find the cheapest way to eat healthy, w

hich led to my interest in researching local farms. I've enjoyed reading about and visiting a few farms out west in my quest to find the cheapest organic food I can find. I've also used loudounflavor.com, which is a virtual farmers market (one of i'm sure many). And just today I found another website I want to check out called washingtonsgreeng

rocer.com. Last week we went out to Hillsboro to check out Stonybrook Farm, which is certified organic. Although I love the idea of buying directly from them, it was just too far to drive once a week for food.

Now that I am finding all these healthy ingredients, who needs high fructose corn syrup? So I've gotten into making my own foods. I now am making baby food for Evan and breads, oatmeal and granola bars for us(which freeze really well and make a gr

eat, quick breakfast in the morning). If you like pumpkin, here is the best pumpkin breakfast cookie

recipe i've found:

Mix 1 cup brown sugar, 1.25 cup oats, 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1.5 teaspoons baking soda, 0.5 teaspoons baking powder, 0.5 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, 6 tablespoons applesauce, 6 tablespoons pumpkin puree, 2 egg whites, 0.75 teaspoon vanilla, and 0.5 cup cranberries. Roll into golf balls and bake at 350 for 8 minutes or so. Y

ummy!

Lastly, I made the leap to cloth diapering. I thought it would be complicated, but really the transition was easy. I started out with some fancy ones, but eventually went the cheap route and just bought the Gerber prefold daipers. EASY and CHEAP!