Weekend Shenanigans and Upcoming activities

The weekend was relatively usual, except Matt worked most of Saturday doing some carpentry for a friend. And then he played basketball most of Sunday afternoon. But Saturday we palyed outside and enjoyed the day.  Regardless that it felt like a weekday workday I was bent on relaxing and not doing anything too work like. I did go to the grocery store. Interesting, as usual. In the middle of checking out Ellee grabbed Peyton's hand, slowly selected her victim of the 5 fingers and then bit down on her middle finger leaving teeth marks. BIZARRE. I still have no idea what posessed her to do such a thing but I am SURE it won't happen again. 

That afternoon Ellee was outside and I was inside. I all the sudden hear her screaming at ridiculous decibels. Why? She can hear the ridiculous music of the ice cream truck. Our mistake of course for introducing such a thing to her.  Here's what I caught on video. 

You can check out my Instagram for her ending excitement once she got her well sought after ice cream.

That night we ended at the home depot and Menards. Its taken about 24 years for me to like that store :) 

We drove by a diary queen, so of course we swung by, its definitely my weakness. A midnight truffle blizzard NEVER gets old. 

Peyton loved it. She hadn't got any ice cream that day and it kept her ridiculously happy through Menards. 

The summer months are upon us. Which is secret code for busyness. I am so relieved to be done school, but that doesn't mean things slow down!

I head to Saskatchewan on Thursday and the usual anal way that I plan and organize our life, I am looking ahead at the next two months and planning how everything should go, and how to help it go smoothly. It's filled with trips to Canada and Wisconsin, and plenty of visitors in chicago. One of the bigger ventures is a camping trip with the dudgeon side in Wisconsin. 2 kids under two camping....does this scare anyone besides me?if I being honest I am actually a little worried aim going to lose a kid. Ellee is so quick to wander and live her life how she pleases that she'd probably leave us to go do something on her own. I need to be prepared and be on high alert the whole time, it may be a very draining experience, but it will definitely have some memories, I think. We've rented a cabin, good thing which good for multiple reasons. 2 kids, and the fact that it keeps ellee contained so she can't run lose on us at night time. Also I don't want to interrupt the people sleeping in tents with the sound of shouting toddlers instead of the nightly crickets. 

The there's my sisters wedding in July. Matt and I are both standing up and then the girls are flower girls. No, I am not joking. Thank goodness we're bringing a "Nanny". 

Pit and Peak Thursday

Peak: Ellee pooping on the potty

Pit: it was a fight and we sat like this for over 20 minutes till finally she gave in. 

Peak: coming back into the room and seeing has taken the initiative to feed sweet Peyton her yogurt and fruit. I am not sure what provoked her to just do it, but it was so sweet to see. And the funny thing is it takes so much work for Peyton to eat from us. She constantly rejects whatever we have on the spoon, but of course, ellee fed her the entire bowl, no complaints...

Peak: munchkins passing out in the car. So sweet. Can never get enough of them!

Judging a Banana by its Label

I’ve spent a lot of time this year working on my college courses. I haven’t finalized what I’ll do and exactly what my degree will be; I am not in a rush with 2 little ones at home.

For my English class, the major assignment was writing a research essay. We spent most of the course working at researching our chosen topic. We could choose anything. I tossed a couple different controversial ideas in my mind and then decided to go for something a little less controversial, and more something I actually wanted to know about. Now I think it’s probably still pretty controversial, as a lot of people have their own ideas about everything, but why don’t I share with you what I found out, about Organic food.

Everyone knows somebody who devotes the majority of their eating habits to organic foods, at least I think so. Especially in a metropolitan area, there are plenty of grocers with their own organic sections and some whole stores are devoted to 100% organic. My husband is a farm boy, raised in Wisconsin and grew up on a cattle farm, owned by his Veterinarian father, who actually just enjoys having cattle on the side. They didn’t eat organic anything, except for the produce from their own garden. It was store bought milk and their own non-organic beef, and to this day the 10 kids of his family are all alive and well, so it’s easy to see why he has so many uneducated and firm ideas about organic being ridiculous, which of course have rubbed off on me.

I decided this was the perfect opportunity to research this unknown water to us, I mean it’s really not fair to pass judgment discriminate against the organic bananas if you don’t really know about them, right?

Well, after 12 weeks, a tone of research, and a 3,500 word research paper later, I am informed. And this is my way of sharing with you what I learned without throwing 12 pages of words and citation in front of you!

I had so many questions, and I dove in with the question I had assumed for some time to be true: Why is organic food better? Let’s get right at it, it’s not. This is a total misconception. After looking at several studies completed, there is no firm evidence that organic food is better. Some organic potatoes showed to have a little more phosphorus, but our diets are more than potatoes, or at least mine is and I hope yours is too! The process of making organic produce is actually more environmentally friendly and research shows this is proven, less synthetic pesticide run off and such.

And how about those pesticides? Organic foods aren’t made with pesticides right? Yea, actually they are. They are just environmentally friendly pesticides, approved by the USDA, which breakdown in the environment. So if they break down easier in the environment this also means that sometimes, organic farmers have to use larger amounts of pesticides to find success for their crop. Keep in mind too, just because they’re more environmentally friendly does not necessarily mean they are more human health friendly. Some of the pesticides, rotenone and pyrethin, used on organic crops are 10x more toxic then roundup by weight. Lovely. A lot of people seem to fear the synthetic pesticides on regular old produce, but there’s no research proving them a problem, and the FDA monitors this closely.

Not only is there organic produce, we also see the +$6.00 gallon of organic milk at the grocery store, and the (usually) grass fed organic beef. A lot of people will buy organic milk to stay away from hormones given to the cows. But really, those hormones rarely make it through the pasteurization process and even if they did our bodies ignore them and can’t break them down. So unless you’re getting your milk from your pet cow, or buying raw milk, don’t use the excuse of avoiding hormones to spend extra $ on organic milk. In fact, a study done showed that the average range of hormone byproducts in both organic and non-organic milk was in the same range, that’s ironic.

The beef issue pushed me into an interesting area of my research. I got to bond with my father-in-law and talk to him about his experience as a veterinarian and a cattle farmer. He had a lot to share and I was extremely enlightened. As a vet he actually goes to some organic farms and provides hormones or antibiotics if necessary, yea, to organic cows. But the USDA actually offers farmers waivers for certain situations. So the beef can still get that ‘organic’ label even though they’ve received antibiotics or hormones. Other farmers can actually obtain waivers if they live outside of 100 mile radius of organic feed. So they feed the cows non-organic feed and then get a waiver from the USDA to maintain the organic label on the beef. Kind of contradictory, right? So what about antibiotics and hormones in regular old beef? My father in law has cattle and according to him, if his beef tests positive for antibiotics, well, it can’t be sold. The FDA does a pretty good job, I am not sure we give them enough credit, probably because most of the times were too busy criticizing.  I think it’s really important to remember the FDA will test things accordingly and it’s up to us not to do drastic things to our bodies.

After all was said and done- and 3500 words later-my husband was happy to know that based off current science and knowledge, we can still buy the non-organic products without fear. Maybe over time research and studies might show a difference, but for now, organic foods are better for the environment, but not proven better for us. I am not saying you should not buy organic, you should just make eating a healthy well rounded diet a priority, not the ‘O’ word. My main purpose in my research was to make sure I was making good decisions for my family and also be able to know why I don’t buy organic when asked about it.  Its best for us to eat a good variety, keep up with our vitamins, and if you really want something good, grow your own produce! I think anything we grow ourselves is going to taste a lot better, and be a lot better than what we buy at a grocery store.

Pit and Peak Thursday

I can't remember where I heard this term before, the pit and peak, but I think its perfect. I am not saying the for every pit of my Thursday I'll tell you one peak, I intend to tell you 2 peaks for every pit. Like parenting, I feel each correction should be followed with double the encouragement.

And I am being realistic. I am not going to sit here and tell you that my Thursday was only full of peaks. There were endless things to be thankful for in my day, but there were some that kind of were bummer too. 

Peak: The excitement on this girl's face when she gets to wear a 'pretty dress'. She loves dresses and insists on pink and purple crayons all the time. Such a girl. She loved spinning in her dress and I had to get some shots.

 

Peak: Meeting the Hubs for lunch today. We saved money and had a little 'leftovers picnic' filled with twice baked potatoes, yogurt, hummus, and watermelon. It was delightful. Peyton loved the freedom and was so happy to run wild!  

 

Pit: It was hot. Yes the girls got to wear sundresses and loved it but, there was a reason I haven't been praying for summer. I really don't like it that much unless the beach is in my backyard... 

 

Peak: Being reminded of how beautiful this child is. She is so happy and so sweet. I am so thankful for her. I can't wait for the years ahead and the time I'll get to see her grow. I dreamt she was a toddler again the other night. I drove into the driveway and little 15month old Ellee, very little haired, all big brown eyes, and baby chub standing waiting for me. It was such a vivid dream. It made me slightly sad, and then I see this. I love this little lady and what personality she has developed.  

Peak: How much they like each other. They embraced the open grass and dandelions together at Matt's work. Runnning around like wild flower children I was surprised shoes didn't come off more quickly! Look how sweet they are holding hands.

Peak: The hot weather. Isn't it funny how the peaks and pits can fall into line together? I love when my girls are happy, and water sure makes them happy. With the warm weather I was finally able to answer the request Ellee had the first spring day she was outside: for 'baffing sweets' and 'schwimmin' (That's bathing suits and swimming :) )

Pit: I was out of swim diapers...Peyton pooped in her suit...yuck. 

Peak: What a cuddle bug this girl is. And how much she is like me. She got out of her bath and she was shivering like crazy, in convulsions almost (I shiver like this also, its like a mini seizure you'd think there was something wrong with us) And I wrapped her in the blanket and she sat on my lap cuddled in for almost 15 minutes. I of course then got worried she'd pee on me so diapered her up and then cuddled her into my bed. She stayed wrapped up for a long time. So sweet.  

Pit: The hot weather. This again you ask. I forgot to mention our A/C is broken. Its been 80 degrees in the house all day. And my kids being like me, are not heat lovers either, unless they are IN water. Ellee didn't nap and I had to put Peyton in the basement.  

Giveaway Winner!!

Random.org is great. You give them a range of numbers between 1 and so one and they choose one for you. The winner is #20!

HANNAH ASPENSON! :)

Lets get in touch so you're new little babe has some cute moccs for when he/she arrives!!

DIY-easy fun decor

Ellee's getting big and I'm learning quickly what she loves: freedom and art. Freedom involves going outside as much as possible all day long and not wearing shoes. And in general being able to what she wants for herself all by herself. Art is pretty self explanatory. She has watercolor paints and tonnes of crayons, she loves markers and any sort of craft associated activity, this is why I think she

Likes to cook as well. 

I decided I needed to fill some wall space and I knew wanted to incorporate ellee into the project. I bought 3 small little bottles of paint that I felt could match our living room, and hopefully would stand out against eachother. I was only slightly successful in finding some that didn't meld together (as Matt quickly pointed out when he got home. Boys...) but I love what turned out and love that ellee had a blast. 

Shortly after she had been using her hands. I was sitting beside her doing something and I look over to see she has her hands paint covered about an inch above my arm. She's holding them very still. She picks up her head from looking at her hands and says in the most mischievous way

 "I'm gonna touch you..."

All while hold her hands and inch from my bare arm. 

And then of course I laughed hysterically and she proceeded to try to touch me as I tried to stop laughing so she wouldn't touch me with her paint hands. 

Of course i should leave the more intricate things of my life to my husband as I just don't hold the finesse for perfection like he does. So yes, these are kind of uneven... Character right?

But they turned out cute and I used a paint marker to draw some simple random art on top. Nothing perfect but I love it. 

After She painted them and I drew on them I used modpodge to kind of finish them off. 

Simple Weekend Recap

We were able to spend some quality time together this week. We decided to go out for dinner on Saturday night and settled on Panera. These days we don't op for a REAL sit down restaurant. Its easier with our little crazies to do a quick in out and with a little sit type thing and there's a Panera near us attached to the mall. Yes, I let my kids play at the mall play areas, I just get all germaphobic afterwards. 
We ended up passing a Panera on our way to the other one and it so happened we had already told Ellee about getting "soup".
As we passed the Panera tears and shouts of "Want soup!! Noooo soup! Bread! That way! That way"
She was fine after we got there. It amazes me how much shes been expanding her vocab. Today I got up and yawned obnoxiously. She looked at me and says with a concerned look "You tired mama?"
I couldn't help but laugh. It was such a sweet start to my Monday morning. Especially since Peyton has been digressing lately and getting up a couple times in the night. This results in a very tired mama come morning, thankfully, the Lord made coffee and Peyton sleeps in after her rowdy nights. So Ellee and I relax in the morning, some crayons and watercolors are our usual companions :)

I have been wanting to add some nice art to the walls. But have you noticed how expensive decor is? I realized I could make some cheap decor, and sentimental decor. I just bought 4 8x10 canvases and 3 diffrent colored paints that go well together.
My plan: let the girls go wild and have them make me some artwork :) I'll keep you posted on the outcome!

Heres a few pictures of the girls to round out the post.

GIVEAWAY! Freshly Picked Moccasins!!

I am so excited to share that one lucky reader is going to get their own pair of of adorable Freshly Picked moccs! 

Peyton has her own pair, and as I said in my previous post, WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM! They are so cute and very comfy for her. She doesn't go ballistic when I try to put them on her and even if she was tantruming they are so easy to put on with the built in elastic style. 

My little stinker has never been good at keeping shoes on, and I'm thrilled she actually has to think about how to get these off. You can't just grab the toe and pull the shoe off, they stay on so well! This isn't meant to sound like torture for the child, its totally a benefit that my child cant pull off her shoes and whip them out the window while I am driving :) 

I had heard from another mommy blogger that these are so cute being soft soled, your sweet little ones foot print starts to come out on the bottom. And sure enough Peyton's is starting to show on the sole of her moccs. I can see her five little toes. Its not like they get worn in fast, its that they have already become more then just shoes. They carry sentiment for me already!! 

Their colors are even more awesome. I didn't know which one to choose. Still, I stare at them debating which one I'll get next. Seriously check these out!! Totally worthy of your little men or little ladies little feet!! 

 

Freshly Picked

Images courtesy of Freshly Picked website.

Now I've always been a stickler for price, and these are $60 a pair, but its worth it. Really, your little one will love them, you will love them, and they will last. 

So if you'd like your own pair, comment below and you can be entered in the giveaway. Freshly Picked and I have teamed up and one reader will get a free pair!

Like I said comment below NOW till May 7th at 11:59! I will randomly select and announce the winner on May 8th!!

Giveaway is open to residents of Canada and the U.S. Only one entry per person.

All opinions in this post are my own.