A relaxing but productive day

I got to have a day "off" today for about 5 hours. All the boys were out and it was just the dog and I. I love the quiet for a bit but then I miss them. I did get to relax though and get some reading in. I reorganized the basement and purged some toys, which always makes me feel great. These kids have a crazy amount of toys! I also realized that I may have a problem with collecting homeschool books and children's books. My book shelves are getting full.

Not having the tv has shown the boys they can not always have everything they want when they want it. Wyatt had a bit of a meltdown this morning when he realized I was changing the morning routine (yesterday was Mike's birthday so the present opening distracted him). Usually he watches TV in the morning and before bed. He is still kind of confused as to why I would unplug all the televisions in the house for a whole month. This morning we played a couple games and worked on his letters with his Hand writing without tears stuff. We love this program for learning to write and letter recognition. Today we used the iPad app for wet, dry, try (first the app shows them how to write the letter then they go over with a wet cloth, a dry towel, then chalk) We also do this on an actual chalk board but the iPad was in my room and his HWT materials were in the basement (I was not walking all the way down there at 7am ...lol).

I had some bananas getting dark so I made extra banana pancakes this morning to freeze. Wyatt would live off these if I let him and they are so simple to make. I let him have a bit of syrup with them and he will eat about 5 for breakfast. They do not cost much to make either we figured about $1 a batch. You can get bananas on sale when they are too ripe and make a couple batches up and freeze them. It would save you time and money for a quick breakfast or snack.

Wyatt went to his grandparents today while Mike and Alex went to watch the Hobbit at the theatre. When Wyatt goes to visit someone I always have to send him with food since he will try to con anyone into giving him food he is not allowed to eat .. lol .. Really it is just easier for everyone if I send his food with him and he loves picking what he will snack on. Today he was sent with banana pancakes with a bit of syrup on the side, homemade beef jerky, carrot gingerbread muffin, ham, chicken, boiled egg, strawberries, blueberries, a kiwi, coconut milk and some natural grape juice we get from a local farmer. When we first starting eating like this it always felt like such a pain to pack his snack every time we went somewhere but now I just keep small containers with snack food in the fridge and it is nothing to grab a couple to throw in his lunch bag. He loves having his own snacks while we are out and we are not tempted to eat unhealthy/expensive foods. We absolutely love our Balanced day lunch kit! We can fit so much into it.

My fitness challenges continue, today I did 25 sit ups and a 1m 30s plank (doesn't sound like much but it feel like an hour while you are doing it). I forgot to mention yesterday that Alex and I ran a 5k on New Years Eve. It was chilly but we had fun like always. I am pretty sure we don't have any more runs until April now. I would like to keep it at a race a month like we did last year. He really wants to start doing 10k but I like the 5k pace :)

We have a pond behind our house and once it freezes we have free skating all winter. I was so excited to see people playing hockey on it yesterday. We didnt make it out today but I will try to get Wyatt out tomorrow after Mike leaves for work.

I don't have to go grocery shopping yet so I have to tally up the amount the food costs that I am using. Yesterday we had Mike's birthday dinner plus our regular meals which was banana pancakes and leftovers. Today's meals have been pancakes $2 with leftovers for 2 days. Lunch was leftovers and for supper I made this chili. It was so good! I added steak to it (I also used coconut oil instead of olive oil) and the whole meal cost me $19 (it would have been $9 if I left the steak out) Mike and I both had seconds and we have enough leftovers for another meal :) My meat was all grass fed organic meat from Honey Valley Farms (we also get our grape juice from him) and the tomatoes, onions and peppers were organic (from the grocery store). So today's total food consumption cost was $20 with leftovers.

I was reading this article today and she says that the average American spends $100 per person a month on groceries. I personally think people spend more than that. My food budget before we changed foods was $500 a month. That includes my cleaners and paper products. I very rarely ever went over and usually had quite a bit leftover. I am interested to see if it has gone up or not now. January is such an expensive month to buy foods because there is not much fresh produce available locally but it will be mostly just Wyatt and I for the month.

Kids are all in bed and my book is waiting for me. I really like not having TV :)