Living Green

I just wanted to share how we are trying to live greener and healthier. We have been shopping at Henry's and Clark's mostly.

• Organic Milk- I have been buying only organic milk, on sale and we have really been paying more attention to when the bulldozer has it in his cup, making sure he doesn't leave it somewhere and it goes back in the fridge.
• Vinegar and baking soda (separately of course) to clean, I have been doing that for a while now. I still have a lot of traditional cleaners so I am trying to use those up before I buy natural cleaners.
• Indoor plants- we have 7 now, so that is really cleaning our air. We really notice how stale the kids rooms are without having the plants in there.
• Natural meat-We have been purchasing natural chicken and beef from Henry's only on sale, which is by the way, the BEST meat we have ever had!
• On sale items- Organic items can be pricey so I have really been paying attention to purchase only when on sale. I am currently watching for a sale on the seventh generation brand dish washing detergent, laundry soap, and dish washing liquid. I have also been purchasing organic fruit on sale only and the locally sourced eggs they sell at Henry's.

I watch Get Fresh with Sara Snow and I have gotten most of these ideas from her show.

If you love purchasing your foods instead of making them, Do Not Click On The Link Below!!!
I have also started making more things from scratch. The major one is peanut butter. I read this article on the Internet, I had heard about it a long time ago, but didn't believe it. Now I do believe it and I am trying to make more things from scratch and buying things closer to their natural state. The insects don't bother me terribly, it is the rodent hair part that disgusts me.

This Peanut Butter recipe is so easy and the kids love it!
I added some honey to sweeten it up a bit.

I will share other things we are doing to be green and healthy! Share any tips you may have also please.

Three Stitches

And unbelievably cute! Bad news is that he is allergic to latex, we now know this because of the redGreat news though. They did a CT scan to see if he had a concussion and while looking at it the doctor noticed (What we already knew) that part of his right parietal lobe is missing. The doctor was about to discuss it with Brad when Brad said, Oh I know about the missing part of his brain already, he happened at birth. The doctor was relieved that Brad knew already. The cool part was that aftder reviewing the CT scan further the doctor noticed that the left side of his brain was enlarged, in a good way. It is compensating for the missing part. He said that in 15 years he may only have a slight delay. Which to me translates into he may one day get married and have children, which means the world to me.

Here you can see the reaction to the band-aid. Actually The prince and I are both allergic to latex. And after my fetoscopic laser surgery when pregnant with the twins we found out I was allergic to the surgical glue. My reaction to the glue was terrible! They almost put that on his eye instead of stitches. Good thing!

You'd never guess!

First thing you'd never guess is the great deal we got on a 1953 hutch at a thrift store. We decided 2 days ago we wanted a hutch for some better storage solutions and last night we went looking some were $280 used and $400 new, that wasn't going to work for our budget. So we tried one more store and found the perfect one that was the perfect size and it was only $90 marked down from $240. What a steal!!! Brad picked it up today. Here it is in all it's glory.

Sooooo while I was helping Brad take it out of the van, actually we barely had opened the van door when from inside we heard crash... wahhh. We ran in knowing what we would find, mostly anyway. The boys have been pushing themselves away from the dining room table and then they decide to pull themselves back up to it from their booster chairs. Which is fine, except when the munchkin does it he isn't strong enough to slide straight back up to the table so he, only once before, has fallen face down with the chair on top of him. Very scary, we thought he learned his lesson and we have been careful with his placement at the table. Today he fell again. So when we ran inside he was under the chair. And apparently he hit the table on his way down. The cut continued slightly bleeding so after we took the hutch out of the van and put his car seat back in, Brad took him to the emergency room to see if he needs stitches. Brad put a butterfly stitch on his cut to help with the bleeding. This sweet boy has now had 2 emergency room visits, the seven year-old has had 0. I think the munchkin is not as innocent as we all think he is. No really though he only cried for a second, he sure is tough!

I will post about Christmas and everything soon, I promise!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Literally and figuratively. This is the second day this week it is raining, Oh I am a happy girl, When I looked out the window this morning I smiled so big when I saw it all beautifully cloudy and drizzling. So now the figurative part, it's raining homemade Christmas presents. I am working on like 5 projects right now. With the kids all being sick last week I was too exhausted at the end of the day to sew the pajama pants but I have finished Brad's pair, so just 5 more to go! I also need to help the kids finish their gifts and I am knitting and crocheting. I have a nurse here today so hopefully I can get a good part of my projects completed. And Brad just called and said because it is raining so hard, he is on his way home. Apparently you can't work with asphalt when it's raining. Yeah, I love when he comes home early! Even though it is not so great when the check comes, I do love having him here!

Todays Happenings

The kids have all been sick for over a week now. It has been a looong week. This morning as they are waking up they seem to be all better. Yeah!! We are talking about going to look at a new camera. My Mom and Dad said they would help with the cost for our Christmas present. The one we have now takes terrible pictures at night and of moving subjects, which doesn't really work for us. We found a sale at Circuit City so we will probably head down there and then maybe to the Snow in Palm Springs. Then tonight is the Christmas show at our church. We are going to take the big kids out to dinner first and then to the show. I am really excited to do something for the big kids.
In the mornings I listen to CSN (Christian Sattelite Network) on channel 88.9 on the radio in the mornings and there are two really great shows that I have caught. One is about the Ten Commandments and the other is about Marriage and parenting the resources are free and you can download them right onto your ipod. Just click on Listen online. Just wanted to pass that information along it has been quite informative for me. Have a great day!

Skip

I just read their blog. As soon as I saw it at the top of my blogroll I knew what had happened. I am so sad. We brought them a meal a few months back and I was on the phone with skip for about 20 minutes just talking. He asked me abut our kids and I told him how the boys were premature and about the munchkins CP. And at the end of the conversation he asked me if he could pray for us. I felt so undeserving-he has been suffering with brain cancer for about 5 years now and he is praying for me?? When I got off the phone I prayed, and prayed and prayed for him. I never really knew him except for that phone call. I was Hannah's preschool teacher at the church when she was 4 (I think she is 11 or 12 now) I know Linda much better than I knew Skip. I can't even imagine what their family is feeling right now. Please pray for peace for them.