Chicken...

Following up with a post about my favorite blog...I would like to tell everyone my new favorite thing (courtesy of that blog)...A Whole Chicken in a Crock Pot!  It is delicious, cheap and most importantly - super EASY!

After taking all of the meat off the bones (did I mention how easy it was) I even add some water, bay leaves, carrots and celery (or whatever I have on hand) and put the crock pot back on low overnight - to wake up to homemade broth!  Then I make soup with that (and the leftover chicken) in the next day or 2 - or you could even freeze the broth.  Even Blake (and sometimes Mark) love this recipe too....and Bentley (who usually gets a little bit of chicken).  But really, what's better than coming home to have the hardest part of dinner already done?!  Nothing.

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/02/25/recipe-the-best-whole-chicken-in-a-crock-pot/

Hope someone tries this and LOVES it as much as we do!

Blog Obsessed

Since I'm a stay at home mom now (that still makes me cringe when I think it or say it - even though I'm surprisingly enjoying it)....I have become obsessed with reading blogs (and not writing mine).  Well, one blog in particular.  That's what us moms are supposed to do right?!  I'll blame Tory - because she's always introducing me to new blogs.

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/

I'm lucky enough to live 5 minutes (or less) from Whole Foods and find it hard to shop anywhere else.  I'm continuously annoyed at people who think its snobby to shop there and expensive.  I have a Target, Kroger, Martins, and Trader Joes also within the same 5 minutes and sure - there are some expensive things in Whole Foods - but I don't generally buy them.  Guess what - prepared foods are expensive in EVERY grocery store!  I did find milk for $1.00 cheaper in target today - but I'll pay an extra dollar for convenience of everything in one place.  Also, we have found some of the items in Target that are cheaper - to not be as fresh.  Enough of that rant.  I could continue for hours.  But I will say - that I think even Blake is convinced that the store is awesome - even if he will only admit it in secret (oops...secret is out!)

Back to the blog.  This mom is truly an inspiration.  Feeding her family only whole foods.  That's my general goal around here - but sometimes we are good at it - and sometimes we have one too many trips to chick-fil-a or something else.  My guess is that any company still using styrofoam for their drinks - is probably not big on the idea of whole foods.  I have found that I actually don't even like chick-fil-a anymore - except for the sweet tea.  Nothing like the taste of sugar!!!!

My goal for the next couple of months will be to live on the same food budget as suggested by this blogger.  $125 a week (probably mostly spent at Whole Foods)- which apparently is about the same as a family of four would get in food stamps. I have NOT verified that data - so I don't know if that's true.  But I do know that I spend too much at the grocery store, I do NOT plan meals, etc etc.  So...I figure it's worth a try.  And maybe me making it public - will make it harder to fail.  Even if I make it a week - that will be awesome!!

I want to encourage everyone we know (and who actually read all the way to the end of this) - to please read the labels of what you eat - or at least check out the blog - or crazy Dr. Oz.  I have found that we generally don't even like the taste of processed food anymore.  It's funny how we didn't really know what we were missing out on.

Oh...and after 3 weeks of having at least 1 kid with a fever per day - I am allowed a frilly, expensive starbucks drink both days this weekend! (obviously not good at budgets)

Too be continued....

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

I don't even know where that saying came from and google wasn't helpful to me.  If someone knows, then  feel free to pass on the info.  I have a feeling my brother will know, since he never forgets ANYTHING - but that would mean waiting to write this blog and seriously - haven't I waited long enough?!  Don't answer that.

Like most people around the area, we were sick of the rain.  And Mark had LOTS of extra energy.  He was playing in the same room as his sister the other day when I saw it happen in slow motion.  She was pulling up on a bin of books - he saw this as a fantastic opportunity - to push her over!  Then the bin hit her on the edge of her eye.  This is her second injury to this same eye.  Last time a mysterious green cup came out of the sky and landed there!  So, cue screaming baby - screaming like I've never heard her scream.  And we all loaded up in the car (after attempting a time out for Mark) to go to the pediatrician.  We needed to continue our weekly visit to the pediatrician anyway, right?  Price did in fact have a cut on her eye and was about as close to the cornea as you can get.  So, we were actually lucky, right?!

She's fine and doesn't even have a cool eye patch to show for it.  She still continues to stand up on anything - including moving objects (mark and bentley).  She doesn't even mine the eye drops. 

Not to be outdone - Mark went full speed and crashed into the side of our bed last night - producing a huge welt on the side of his face.  He sat patiently through 20 minutes of icing and proves to once again be a super patient!  Maybe that will give him a story to tell at his new school.  Or it will just make the teachers question what we really do to our kids.

All of this drama has that stupid quote going through my head..."it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye."  Seriously....this is what my brain resorts to?!  It also makes me want to watch an 80s movie?!  

No cool picture of the kids with their injuries - so I'll post this cute one of them sitting on the couch watching the first hokie football game of the season.  The love/hate relationship of siblings has already begun!  They don't ever want to be apart - but they constantly test each other.  I remember this very well!!!!

Life Lesson #10,552 - Temper Tantrums

I made a mental note a long time ago NOT to judge people by how "bad" their kids were acting or screaming/crying, etc. This I learned because my brother had awful temper tantrums and probably still does. Yes...my mom and I would leave the aisle in the grocery store with him screaming about wanting what was probably some food full of sugar (relax people - we were still close by).

sidenote: Were Chris and I the only kids that used to try to get their mom to buy the actual sugar cubes? Mom never would buy them.

He used to kick and scream and freak out like no one else - much like that crazy kid we've all seen somewhere. So, now I think it's this craziness that was actually just his ultra-competitive and very stubborn nature. Those traits can be used for the good and are probably what continues to make him good at ANYTHING he wants to be good at.

So, all of that has come full circle. I think I have my own version of Chris. Mark is getting into severe temper tantrums - which include arms-flailing (or hitting if you are too close), legs kicking, screaming, etc etc. I know, I know - it gets worse at 3 (and we aren't even at 2 yet).

Today, we went to the park. When it was time to go (yes, he had 3 warnings) - that was it. On the ground, etc etc. Lucky for me, I've been through this before and I do NOT care what it looks like (and his sister was sound asleep in the baby bjorn). Finally, at a break in the crying, I picked him up and carried both of them to the car (1 sleeping, 1 screaming). One really cute, older lady who was on her morning speedwalk - even stopped to ask if I needed help. If only she knew - I might be more prepared for this than most moms. To that - I think my mom and of course, my little brother Chris!

I tried to take a picture of him screaming to post here but they didn't turn out. I'm sure I will have MANY more opportunities.

Sun and Sand

Last week we went to the beach with my mom. The weather and water were PERFECT! We had a great time and for once, I was NOT ready to come home!

This was Mark's first trip to the beach since he's been able to walk - and Price's first beach trip. Price enjoyed eating as much sand as possible and mom tried to teach Mark how to ride a boogie board. We were having so much fun and were too busy to be bothered by actually getting our camera out of the case - but we did at least take our phone to the beach and got a couple of shots.

Mommy and Price (she's eyeing the sand - trying to figure out how to get it)

Grandma and Price

Daddy and Mark in the pool

Price playing in the waves with Grandma

Daddy and Price

Grandma, Mark and Daddy playing in the waves

More Poop...

Another poop story. Yay!

Sunday marked another milestone in our house (even though it happened in the church nursery). Mark looked at Blake and said "poop" and then immediately pooped in his diaper. We were so excited that you would have thought he actually pooped in the potty! Awareness is the first step!

Yesterday, I saw him with his "poop" face on and asked him if he needed to go. He told me yes but as he was busy playing with his cars also told me he did not want to go to the potty.

Later in the evening after bath, he ran into his sister's room as I went to get a diaper. I saw him squatting and knew exactly what he was doing! He was in the poop position - and there it was (thankfully on a blanket and not the rug) - poop! So, we took it to the potty and waved it bye bye and then washed our hands. He seems unsure about the poop part - but LOVES to wash his hands afterwards?!

I can't help but be excited by this progress!

Bumbo or Potty?

This post is about poop.

Because that's what you think about and talk about when you have little kids. Who's pooped when. Is someone going to poop so much that it goes all the way up their back? Do you have a change of clothes in case someone poops themselves?! I could always talk about poop, but people that think it's inappropriate to talk about burping and farting and pooping - still manage to talk about baby poop! I love it.

This brings us to the bumbo. My dad was saying that it looks like a toilet (otherwise known as a potty). Price exploded through not 1 but 2 diapers while sitting in her bumbo last weekend. And she did the same thing yesterday! Instead of being annoyed or grossed out - I chose to take this as a sign that she's really advanced and just might be ready for potty training! I was also very thankful to have bleach in the house!