mmmmm .. crock pot chicken :)

Tuesday - We went grocery shopping today and bought a fruit dish (Wyatt was hungry and it was lunch time. I usually prefer to make them at home since it is cheaper to just cut up your own fruit), 1L choc milk (special treat), a container of Greek yogurt (Wyatt has been doing well with dairy being Introduced, it is just the small one and we will see how he does with it), shrimp, whole chicken, sausage, bananas and cauliflower. Total = $26.40

Breakfast was banana pancakes out of the freezer (.20), lunch was fruit and sausage ($4), supper was this crock pot chicken from 100 days of real food ($6.20) I love this chicken! I make stock from it after the chicken is cooked ($2). I get about 8 cups out of it. I freeze the chicken stock in ice cube trays, once they are frozen I put them in a large freezer bag. Each cube is 2 tablespoons and I use them in recipes :) cheap to make and I know exactly what is in it. Total $12.40

Chicken cooking in the crock pot. The house smells amazing when I make this!

Wyatt told me he was cold and wanted to cuddle in the blanket on the couch, he was talking to me while I was cooking them he just stopped. Out cold for 2 hours :)

Wednesday - We have people coming to see our house. I am not a fan of strangers coming in my house but I really want to sell it. We are buying a house on 10 acres which will be awesome because we are going to have some animals and a big garden :) I have been crazy busy this last 2 days trying to get the house ready for people to come see it while keeping up with Wyatt and the messes he makes. He has been crazy the last few days.

Today we had some Greek yogurt, butternut squash and bananas for breakfast. ($3) lunch was sausage and cauli rice with broccoli (this was frozen when it was in season, I love my freezer!) ($4) supper was chicken soup and Wyatt ate 5 small bowls I think it is safe to say he is a fan of the soup :). I made it from the stock I made over night and used some of the leftover chicken from yesterday with vegetables ($.50) I still have 4 cups of stock left to freeze. We snacked on apples and shrimp Total $11.50

I had to run to the grocery store again and I picked up Avocados, bananas, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celery, green grapes, kale, kiwis, leeks, green peppers and sweet potatoes the total was $23.05

Total meals made to date = $49
Total groceries bought to date = $94.45

What we do with no TV

I already posted about our food and thought I would do a separate post with pictures from the last few days of how we are keeping ourselves occupied :)

one of Wyatt's favourite things is circling books he wants form the scholastic book order :)

Wyatt made a person out of cheese and named him cheese head

Painting

learning how to take care of baby animals .. we can;t have them pooping on the floor he told me .. lol

he loves playing with Alex's games so I made him a page so we could make it a game he can play. We each pick letters form the bag and if he can name the letter then he gets to find a matching letter on the "board"

Lots of writing. here he is writing Bs

some iPad time :)

lots of games!

I made him a dinosaur for "knitting" he loves these things

He has been loving all the extra attention he has been getting. He has been showing a huge interest in letters and writing his letters this week so I am taking advantage of that! 

Where do the hours go in a day??

I know I have not posted in a few days. I honestly have no idea where the hours go in a day :) I have been keeping track of everything just haven't had a chance to actually sit down and write it on a post. I am thinking I may have to do this for 2 months since I eat way more frozen leftovers than I thought. Lol. It is hard to keep track of how much they cost.

I am still unplugged even though Wyatt has his protests at times. There are also times I wish I could just turn the tv on so he can sit while I do something. We are on our third magic treehouse book and we have read many other books. We have painted, played with playdoh, gone on adventure walks, cleaned out some books to pass on to another homeschool family, made up our own tv show, played outside a lot, made treasure maps, played flashlight tag and many other things to occupy our time. I honestly am shocked by how much time I have wasted on the computer and TV. I guess that is the whole point of going unplugged. You forget by the time January comes around again though :)

I have read a couple books and I go to bed earlier than before. I find I am more relaxed and the house is cleaner and more organized. I have found the game "words with friends" and I can see that game taking over my time quickly if I allowed it.

Friday - Breakfast was oatmeal (we are trying to reintroduce oats into our diet) and some kiwi. Lunch was leftover chicken and root vegetables. Supper was the last of the chili and cauli potatoes. The day cost less than a dollar since it was leftovers

Saturday - Breakfast was bacon and eggs ($3). Lunch was cauli rice with sautéed peppers and onion along with chicken sausage, I get these from a man at the market and I love them!! ($8.50) supper was some root vegetables (left over from freezer) with the rest of the sausage, peppers and rice. We drank a half bottle of grape juice too :) ($2.50) Total of $14 for the day.

We went to the market today and spent $45 we got 2 bottles of grape juice, a basket of beets, 6 heads of garlic, 4 chicken sausage, a huge bag of apples (about 15), 6 pairs, 54 eggs, a bottle of apple cider and a bouquet of flowers (Wyatt picks one out every Saturday. I love always having fresh flowers on my table). I can't wait for warmer weather for all the fresh local produce!

Sunday - we were in and out of the house today and didn't really eat any specific meal at home. We didn't eat breakfast (before you say "how could you skip breakfast" we really just follow our bodies. Wyatt wasn't hungry and neither was I so why force it.) We had some lunch at a friends. We snacked on oranges, boiled eggs, leftover chicken, beef jerky, pears, cheese and left over cauli rice. I would say the day cost about $4 (we made the beef jerky which makes it soooo much cheaper).

Monday - we had some beef jerky and raw cucumber and peppers for breakfast. Lunch was mustard glazed chicken breasts with peppers and butternut squash. Supper was leftover (from the freezer) pork tenderloin, root vegetables and spinach. $6 for the day.

I am just going to keep track of the money used/spent on the bottom of my post. I am writing down what each meal cost me everyday but also what I am spending on groceries. 2 different totals but since I already have food in the house I couldn't just keep track of the amount of food I buy. I will figure it all out by the end of the month :)

Total meals made to date = $30
Total groceries bought to date = $45

Changing the look of the blog

I keep playing around with different layouts for the blog. In the next few days I will be making some changes to it for the better. All the posts will be staying I am just moving some things around :) Sorry if things are confusing while I am doing this.

Kim

Getting back into a routine

Mike left for work today. We loved having him home for 2 weeks! It always takes a few days to get back into routine and the holidays always mess with routines.

Mayo in the food processor 

This morning we had egg salad with bacon. I made mayo again (this is the 4th try) it turned out pretty good. It cost me around $3 to make and has nothing bad in it. You can see the recipe here from "the clothes make the girl". $3.50 for bacon and 2.80 for eggs about .30 worth of lettuce. Bacon is from Churchhill Natural Meats and it is all drug and hormone free "happy" pigs. The eggs are from a local free range farm. Lunch we had leftover chili. Supper we ate leftover seafood and leftover "potatoes" and carrots. So those meals did not cost us anything. we had some cucumber, kiwi, leftover chicken and an apple for snacks. Todays' total for food has been about $10.

Wyatt playing bilingual memory match

Tv free day 3 has gone well. Wyatt has asked three times to watch TV and I told him we were not watching it until the month is done. He said ok and walked away .. lol. We started reading the "magic Treehouse" book series today and finished book #1. I read these with Alex and I love them I hope Wyatt will love them all just as much. I am reading "Wheat Belly" by William Davis, it is really such an interesting book. I love that I have more time to read without TV and Facebook (my 2 biggest time wasting activities). Wyatt and I played some games and did some puzzles too. I felt like I had so much more time today.


I did my 30 sit ups today and 1m 30s plank. I am not so strong in the plank department. We will be back at the gym next week. Wyatt loves the programs and activities the Y has and I love doing the classes. We have not been to the gym much since we changed foods November 1st for some reason. I am pretty sure I have the food thing down now and we are going back to the Y :)

I am not so great with technology things but I have decided to check out some apps on the iPad. I love how many great educational apps there are for the kids. I still think they should be using non technology means of learning but it is fun for 30 mins a day to do some hands on learning with the iPad. I am shocked how fast Wyatt is learning how to do things on it.

The boys enjoying a game together on Alex's iPad

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 :)

wow 2013!

Where did 2012 go? I remember sitting with Mike December of 2010 and deciding to be processed free (or as close as we could) by December 2012 and it felt soooo far away. Here we are beyond what we ever thought we would be at this time. The changes we have made have made a big impact on me, I am shocked what food has been doing to us. Not just weight but mental, behavioural, and over all health. I feel amazing and proud of where we are right now and knowing I have so much more to learn in the year to come.

I have a friend that laughs at how we eat, not in a negative way but he just says "it is just eating real foods it doesn't need a name". I wish everyone would think that way and then we wouldn't have so many problems with health and obesity. We follow a Paleo diet but not 100%, we are not perfect at it and I am sure not many people are. We make a kick butt pizza with mozza cheese in the crust, no grains but cheese is dairy, my body hates dairy but I love that pizza! We have managed to go 2 months with having nothing non paleo (other than the odd brick of cheese) in our house. Over the holidays we did have some not-so-great-for-us foods at holiday parties and paid for it the following day(s) but it was so worth it.

January will be a busy month for me. I will be keeping track of every penny I spend on food (somewhat to prove a point to some people .. lol) and what we made in that time. I have so many people say they can not afford to eat this way but I think people can, I don't think money is the problem as much as having the time to do it. I am getting better with prepping and having all meals planned out to save time in the kitchen. Some ingredients can be more expensive but I save by not buying processed foods like crackers, cereal and snack foods. I also find we eat less food when we eat whole foods.

I did a squat challenge in December with some online friends and we did 2000 squats in the month of December. I feel like I should give us all a hand because that was tough .. lol. Now that it is done we have been wondering what to do next so we are doing a plank challenge and a sit up challenge.

This is the plank challenge. I am going to try my hardest to do the plank times in one plank but it may have to be split up because 4 minutes is one long plank!!

This is the squat challenge we did in December. We are going to do it again but with sit ups instead of squats. 

Twice a year I try to do a Facebook break. I find that other people's drama creeps into my life and I don't need it. I enjoy the break (even though I miss Facebook more than I like to admit) and it is nice since I am forced to actually talk to people more instead of relying on seeing everything on Facebook. It is a little crazy when I am gone because I feel like I miss so much and I can't help but wonder how people keep up with things without Facebook .. lol. I enjoy the groups I am in on Facebook and the amazing knowledge and support I have at almost anytime of the day or night. I have just started with Twitter because of this blog and I will also be taking a break from that for the month of January. The big thing that we will be taking a break from for the month (because Facebook wasn't enough .. lol) is television. I take pride in how little TV we watch in this house but it seems like it is creeping in more and more. When I was thinking about the Facebook break I decided that we would do a whole "unplugged" month and ditch the TV too. Today was our first day and all was fine until the evening since Wyatt usually gets to watch a tv show before bed. I told him that the TVs would be unplugged for 31 days and he looked at me like I was crazy and told me to just plug them back in :) I do love that the boys did not even notice until 7:30pm. I will be writing some posts about how it is going and what we are doing with our time without the TV.

Today is Mike's birthday so we had an amazing seafood dinner :) Everyone left full and happy. We had lobster, bacon wrapped scallops (we accidentally used mint toothpicks for them so they had a minty taste), steamed mussels, shrimp, garlic spinach, candied carrots, mashed faux-tatoes, and broc-cauli chowder. This was a special occasion dinner and will not be on the final budget for the month but we figured it out during dinner and the whole meal cost around $140 which isn't bad for the amount of seafood we had and we fed 7 people.

mmmmmm seafood!!

I will not be answering posts on Facebook or Twitter so leave a comment here for me :)

Eating healthy .. what does it cost me?

I get people tell me all the time that it is too expensive to eat the way we do. I know I pay more for certain things and less for others, I don't eat out, I don't buy expensive pre made foods or drinks. I think over all I don't really pay much more than I used to. In January (since we will have no TV and lots of time on our hands) I am going to keep track of everything we buy and cook during the month and how much it cost.

I will admit that the way I cook is a bit more time consuming but with some planning it can be super easy. I cook meals and freeze smaller portions for lunches or a supper in a hurry. We don't have a microwave so again I have to plan ahead even for heating up, I am thinking of getting a toaster oven though.

Once a week I will post what I spent on food. It is January so it will cost a bit more since I eat fresh produce and the price isn't so great this time of year. It will just be Wyatt and I most of the month.

I am curious how much it will be. I have not been very organized with our budget lately so I really do not know how much we have been paying for food (which is very odd for me since I am usually pretty on top of the budget).

Unplugged for January

Wow, January is coming up quick! In January we will be going "unplugged". We will be unplugging the televisions for the month and no social media (Facebook, twitter). I have decided to still blog and share what we do with our time without the technology in our faces.

It sounds like a simple thing to just unplug the televisions but really I think it will be hard. I fall asleep to the tv every night, tv is a part of Wyatt's bedtime routine, and it fills our day. We will find other things to do. I am going to have a busy basket with different things in it to keep Wyatt busy. We didn't have cable for 2 years and I loved it then we moved and had free cable for a bit which got me hooked back on tv.

January is kind of a hard month to do this because we are stuck inside more but I am sure we will still have fun with it.

We are continuing our Paleo eating even though this month has been hard. I am still making paleo meals and not buying junk but it is crazy the amount of treats there are everywhere this time of year.

Why we eat the way we do

I had a great conversation at our local market this morning about eating "Paleo". I have to say that I don't agree with the reasons behind "Paleo" eating. I don't eat the way I do because someone believes that it is the way cave men ate. I believe that what grains have become are not good for you, modern grains are not what they were in the past. It would be hard today to find grains that are not affected by modern farming (GMOs, pesticides, over used soil). Everything is so processed even "whole" grains that you buy in stores. I am still learning about grains and my diet and in the new year we may reintroduce some of the foods but I know I have never felt better and it is only making good changes in Wyatt.

Wyatt's behaviour has changed so drastically and we can see the immediate reaction to certain foods. I think it is so much more real when you actually see it happen in front of you. I don't think it is fair to Wyatt to give him the "treats" when we are out and then have him lose control because of them. This is such a hard time of year to make these changes since candy and treats are everywhere. We have had to take a break from some of the holiday parties and parades but we have done many fun holiday activities without the holiday foods.

The changes in food have made me realize how much we put on food in many of ways. A reward, a punishment, an emotional reaction, a way to celebrate or a way to socialize. I no longer meet a friend in a coffee shop (since I can't eat or drink anything there), I can't bribe the kids that if they are good at the grocery store we will get a cookie before we go, or make our friday game night about "fun" food like pizza and chips. We still make food that the kids find fun and they help me make it (always gives me the opportunity to talk to them about why we eat what we do).

Since we changed we have found new things to do with our time and our focus is no longer on food. I have communicated so much more with the children about their bodies and how we take care of them. The boys are also much more involved in choosing what we eat and why we eat certain foods together. It is more than just our eating it's our way of living and I am so happy that we made the change we did.

A 4th birthday party

Yesterday was Wyatt's 4th birthday. It was a fun but busy day :) We had a party for him and hired a magician (Calvin's magic for anyone local). The kids LOVED him and so did the adults. He was so worth the money!

We stayed at the hotel for the night after the party. I am a home body and really prefer to be home in my own bed but the kids love staying at the hotel whenever they get the chance. I had about 2 hours sleep, it is now 6am and I decided to write a blog post :) Mike is taking the boys to an indoor water park today after our photographer meets us to get a picture for our Christmas cards (I know I am late).

Food was a challenge for me at the party. I really wanted to do healthy foods and would have loved to have all Paleo safe foods but as we added up the amount of people we realized it was going to cost us quite a bit. We ended up doing a fruit tray, a veggie tray, pistachios, clementines, cheesies, and fruit bars then we had pizza and cake. I let Wyatt eat whatever he wanted and of course he ate a good portion if cheesies .. Lol. He didn't want any pizza but had some cake. Mike made him real pancakes for breakfast too. He was pretty wired I think part of it was the food (and juice) and part was the excitement of his birthday party and all the friends and family there. I had a piece of pizza, cake and some juice and I have been regretting it since I ate. I love the way I feel when we don't eat things like that but they are everywhere this time of year. We are done with parties for a few weeks then it is Christmas and there will be lots of goodies to get into.

Getting ready for Christmas

Wyatt's birthday is this weekend which means we can decorate for Christmas :) We put our tree up the weekend before Christmas, this year we will be decorating on the 22nd. We wait until after Wyatt's birthday to decorate the inside of the house and I am so excited to get the house all Christmasy :)

We started our advent bags on the first. We do small bags with a nativity magnet in it with an experience and activity to do for the day. Wyatt loves them! This year Alex also got a Lego advent calendar and he is having so much fun with it.

I love Christmas and the feeling it brings. I love how excited my kids are around this time of year and seeing all our family together.

I have some posts in the making about what we have been up to in December so far. One is an amazing photo shoot with Darling Mine Photography. I am so impressed with the photos as always! She came and just hung out with us at home for the afternoon. I am also planning on a post about my crazy weight loss and our advent bags. So much to write at such a busy time of year.

Going to get some sleep for another busy day tomorrow!

A lazy Sunday afternoon :)

Today was such a great day! We got up and dressed then Wyatt decided he wanted to put pjs back on and have a pajama day. I was ok with that :) we did some Christmas crafts from yesterday's advent bag and we learned to play a new card game with the cards from today's advent bag. Wyatt later decided we should cuddle in bed and watch the Smurfs. It really was such a great relaxing time spent with my boy.

I made a chicken in the crock pot since I needed some chicken stock. I use the recipe from 100 days of real food and I love it. We also made some mashed faux tatoes (cauliflower) with some baked carrots.

Supper

Chicken stock ready to cook, it smells wonderful!

A bear he made from the craft kit

Wyatt's pom pom tree

Wyatt playing with stickers and colouring with breakfast. 

I got my 2013 calendar and I love getting a new calendar. I love the organization of writing all the information on it and it is so fresh and new. I know I am weird but I really enjoy a new calendar :)

New calendar :)

day 29 and 30 eating Paleo

We have finished our 30 days! In the last 30 days I have gained so much more knowledge and confidence that I can feed my family the way I have been wanting to. We have made a major lifestyle change that turned out to be the best thing we ever did. We found out that Wyatt definitely has a reaction to certain foods (we are still not 100% what yet). I know for sure that food has been causing so many problems in my body (I already knew that I was just not ready to take this step). I think even if we didn't have these reactions to foods that I would make the change anyway. The more research I do on grains the farther I want to get away from them. I have also learned that Wyatt and I are a fan of teas thanks to our naturopath.

Our final numbers from the 30 days are .. I am down 17 lbs and 3.5" .. Wyatt has gained 3lbs. More important than any number on a scale or a measuring tape is how amazing we feel.

I won't be posting what we eat everyday anymore, well maybe it will come up in posts but since I am done the 30 days I won't be specifically writing a post just for what we are eating. I will continue to eat like this. We will start to introduce some foods over the next few months, butter is being introduced this week.

We are going to start a new goal on top of the food for this month. On top of our new foods I will be working out 30 mins a day for the month of December. It can be in the gym, at home or going for a walk. November I really got off track with learning the new way of eating and how to get into a routine with it. We are also doing our advent activities and the holiday traditions we have (I will post about those). January we are unplugging our televisions for the whole month (this will be hardest on my husband when he is home).

Our microwave lit on fire last week and I have not replaced it. The more I think about it I don't think I am going to. I am not saying that the microwave is going to kill us or anything but I just think for our family right now we are going to just use the stove to heat things up. Maybe I will get a small toaster oven just for heating up leftovers since we eat so many.

So 30 days are gone but it is really the start of a new life for our family!

Day 28 paleo

4 weeks!! Wow it has been 28 days! Today was the first day in a while that I felt like I am getting back into a routine. I am getting used to pre prepping meals and using leftovers. I pre pack snacks so they are easy to grab on our way out the door and I am not as nervous now to be out and have no idea what to give Wyatt as a snack.

We made it to the gym again this morning :) Wyatt is ok with not being able to have any of the sugary treats they have in the cafe there, really I think the fact that they have a whole row of candy at the gym is kind of crazy anyway. I have written on a comment card about it more than once since I believe the Y of all places should be promoting healthy living and the 20 varieties of candy is not healthy.

For breakfast we had some bacon and eggs with a banana nut muffin. Lunch was left over jambalaya and chicken sausage with cauli-rice. Supper was beef stir fry with the left over cauli-rice from last night.  I finally got to use the coconut aminos for the sauce. It was so good and I actually liked it better than soya sauce it was a mix of coconut aminos, garlic, ginger and water. The cauli-rice is super easy to make you just shred raw cauliflower ( I use my food processor because it is fast) then fry it in a pan, I put about a tablespoon of coconut rice in the pan first. Cook until tender (it gets darker in colour as it finishes) add spices if you would like.

While it was cooking

mmm stir fry

 Wyatt and I spent some time in the classroom again this evening having fun painting, colouring, cutting and reading. I know I say it all the time but I LOVE my classroom! I got some prep work done for his next letter lesson which is the letter L. He already knows it really well so it will be an easy week :) We are really starting to use the Raising Rock stars program more which is from 1+1+1=1. I will try to remember to get some pics next week of some of the activities he is doing.

Wyatt would cut all day if I let him

It is shedding season for my shepherd right now and it is driving me crazy! I went out and brushed her today and I can't believe how much hair I got out of her. I love the furminator. My back yard looks like I shaved the dog (Which I have thought of .. lol).

Some of the hair I brushed out of Bonnie today

I have an exciting day tomorrow and I will post all about it tomorrow night with pics :)

Day 27 paleo.

Today was our follow up appointment with the naturopath. Wyatt gained a little over 3 lbs in almost 4 weeks and he is going in for some blood work to make sure his levels are all right (he is anemic). The dr said he is doing good and to keep it up. We will be introducing butter into our diet on the weekend and I am super excited :) He gave us some yummy tea too it is a mixture of Chamomile and holy basil, Wyatt and I both love it. We bought some peppermint tea a couple days ago and Wyatt has been loving that too.

I finally made it to the gym while Wyatt was in nursery school. I really have to make more time to get to the gym. I love the feeling after a workout. I got there and did a run then did a fitness class, I was in the lobby talking to someone and a friend literally hauled me by the arm to go into Zumba. this was my first time trying Zumba and i was not really a fan ( I have NO rhythm at all!) I will try it again just to give it a chance but I like my classes better.

I just found out that a local farm Tree and twig has a winter CSA. I am signed up for a summer CSA with a new small organic farm close to me. I love having one because sometimes you get foods you wouldn't normally eat so you get to look up new recipes :) I am excited to start my garden next year!

Today for breakfast we had crustless quiche with sausage in it. Lunch was salad with salmon on it and mixed veggies. Supper was jambalaya from paleo comfort foods. It was a little too spicy for me and my belly did not approve but Wyatt loved it and I am sure Alex and Mike will eat it right up. we made it with cauli-rice. I am thinking of making a stir fry tomorrow since I finally got coconut aminos and have not used them yet and that gives me a chance to use the cauli-rice.

The reason I should not be allowed to use my husband's sharp knives. If it wasn't for my finger nail I would have lost the tip of my thumb. 

veggies ready to saute 

simmering .. mmmmm

with some cauli-rice I didn't eat much since it was spicy but Wyatt ate 2 servings. 

A homeschool day (day 26 Paleo)

I get asked often what I do with Wyatt at home for learning. We decided to keep him out of full day junior kindergarten that most people in Ontario now have the choice to send their kids to but he still goes to a 3 day morning nursery school program for this year. We have always planned on homeschooling him (I would love to until grade 4 but it might be less or more we will see what happens). At his age we don't really have a curriculum yet. We do play based learning and we work on letters and numbers. I usually do a letter, shape, colour and number for the week and try to bring one of those into whatever we are doing. I pick books, songs, colouring pages, tv shows and games based on those things.

I love the letter of the week from confessions of a homeschooler and Raising rock stars from 1plus1plus1equals1. We also use Handwriting without tears activities and hooked on phonics. There is not really a certain amount of things we do I let Wyatt pick what he would like to do while in the classroom. He almost always picks play-dough and cutting.

doing a letter A do a dot

getting ready to make an A after rolling out the dough

his A :)

This is just a couple of the things he does in a day. I will try to keep track a bit more on what he does in a homeschool day for those asking :) 

Today is day 26 of our Paleo eating. Tomorrow is our follow up appointment with the Dr, I have no idea what happens next but I will let you know tomorrow :) We feel amazing and I am sure this is long term. I am starting to get used to the prep and it is not as overwhelming as it was the first week. I need to get back into routine and start getting back to the gym. 

Breakfast this morning was boiled eggs and grapes. Lunch was mixed greens with chicken, mixed veggies and kale chips. Supper we had leftover stuffed acorn squash with some broccoli and green beans. 

We are reintroducing butter into our diet this weekend and I am excited to have the option of using butter again. I will not use it as much as I did before but having the option will be nice!

Paleo day 25

I was just thinking as I wrote the title that in 5 days I will have to think of something else to write as my title .. lol .. this was originally just to show a couple friends what we were eating for the 30 days of eating Paleo. As most people know I am doing it longer and hopefully long term. I love that people have started changing the way they eat from reading how easy it was for us to change our eating. I know that this way is not for everyone but there are some great healthy recipes even if you are not eating Paleo.

This morning was a rushed morning so we just had a banana on the way out the door and Wyatt had some olives. Lunch was left over cauli-rice with some chicken and raw veggies (I should make a dip for veggies, I will search later for one). Supper tonight was spicy stuffed acorn squash (from paleo comfort foods) I made it with fresh made chicken sausage meat from a local farmer. It turned out so good, Wyatt loved that he could use the squash as a bowl. We also made chocolate chip cookies they taste great but they definitely do not look as yummy as the picture in Eat like a dinosaur which is where I got the recipe.

stuffed acorn squash

mmmmmm!!!

Chocolate chip cookies. They don't look the best but they tasted good.

Wyatt started Awana tonight. He loved it and I got to have a great chat with some of the women in our church :) He said he wants to go back next week so looks like he is now busy on Mondays nights and I have an hour and half free, yay!!

Wyatt tasting the cookies after mixing

He helps me every day in the kitchen and we have been working on safe cutting. He loves it and is getting really good. 

Paleo day 24

Only 6 days left if the 30 day meal plan.

This morning Wyatt woke up and he still has his cold so he got to visit his grandparents while I went to church. I also stopped at the grocery store on my way home, sometimes I forget how fast you can run into a grocery store when you don't have kids with you.

For breakfast we had some banana pancakes and blueberries. Lunch we had chicken on mixed greens with raisins and egg (When I write down our meals sometimes they sound weird but it was good.. lol). Wyatt tried sardines today and LOVED them, he must get it from his dad I took a couple bites and pretended to like it for him but I am not a fan. Supper was Highliner pan seared tilapia (I know a boxed food but it was in the freezer and I forgot to pick up fish for supper) with cauli-rice, butternut squash and baked beets.

Highliner tilapia, butternut squash and cauli-rice

Wyatt eating sardines

Wyatt's behaviour has been amazing since we changed our foods. He has been a normal busy almost 4 yr old and I have not seen any of his out of control behaviour in weeks. He has had a couple treats at the parades and I got a little nervous but he was still good. Tonight about an hour after supper I seen his out of control behaviour back, he started tapping his foot like he used to when he just can't stop moving. It sounds bad but I was kind of disappointed because it meant it had nothing to do with food since we have not had any treats or anything out of the diet today. I then realized we had the boxed fish (this is now 2 hours after supper) I go downstairs and look at the ingredient list, it is pretty long with lots of stuff I can't pronounce. I am sure that something in that food is making him have this reaction again after 3 weeks of not having this issue at all. We go back to the naturopath on Wednesday and I will let him know the reaction.

It is snowing today and Wyatt is so excited to be able to make a snowman. There is not even close to that amount of snow but he keeps waiting for it :)

this is the snow we got today

Day 23 paleo

It is Saturday so market day :) I love going to the market! It was a cold one but we had a great breakfast and got to talk with amazing people like every Saturday. I love getting the fresh local produce but I also love the community part of the market. I learn so much every week :) You get to know the farmers and someone is always giving you a new idea on how to cook something. I am a huge supporter of buying local. I live very close to the american border and I can't tell you how many people I know that shop over there. If I can't afford to buy something local I will go without instead of crossing the border to buy (I will end the rant, that is a whole other post!). The market does not have as much in the winter but it is still a great place to grab what you can locally.

Our goodies from the market :)

Wyatt has been asking me to buy apples to make juice, we get seconds from a local apple farmer and we use our juicer to make fresh apple juice, the best part of our apple juice is I always use different types of apples so it never tastes the same :) We also picked up kale, butternut squash, leeks, carrots, brussels sprouts, beets, broccoli, acorn squash, grape juice and eggs. I always let Wyatt pick a bouquet of flowers too. It is still hard to walk by my favourite bakery without buying my regular strawberry cheese danish. Wyatt did get a piece of a cookie today though since I was talking and the guys gave him one before I noticed (we know these guys and they give him a cookie every week).

Wyatt juicing apples and pears

Our Apple pear juice, it was so good!

Breakfast was eggs and sausage with an apple. Lunch was chicken and fresh cut carrots, celery and broccoli. Supper was chicken sausages from a local chicken farmer (these are so good!!), raw cucumber, butternut squash and baked beets. I have not been following the meal plan as much now but I am way more confident in the meals I can make. I still love the book and use a lot of recipes from it just not necessarily the meal plan.

Supper

We went to another Santa parade tonight and of course Wyatt got another boat load of candy canes but he was so good about it and I let him have one again. Today I was reminded of the "it's only .." way of thinking. Last weekend it was only one candy cane and a cookie at the parade, today at the market it was only a half of a cookie, tonight it was only one more candy cane, next weekend it is only a piece of cake at a birthday party and then it is his birthday. He has not had any other "treats" at all but there just seems to be a lot of "it's only.." times right now.

This is all the candy he got at the parade. He got way more at the one last weekend.  He told me he will give it all to kids that don't get any candy.