A Forest Frolic

Little Bunny Foo Foo...

2013-06-15T10:40:17-04:00

...is raising a family in our front yard (nevermine the dead grass and seed pellets)!

Aren't these two of the cutest little nuggets you've ever seen? They are the size of my palm!

It all started when I got home from the grocery store, walked around the truck to get baby girl out and saw one in the corner of the yard. Our lawn had just been mowed and I'll just say...it didn't make it :(

Then I saw 4 others laying around and I was heart broken even more. Until I (put gloves on) and went to pick them up and they were all just fine and even tried to scurry away from me.

I put them all back in their nest (which I had no clue was there, smack dab in the middle of our front yard) and covered it back up with the fur and went in the house.

Fast forward to dusk...we go out to find two out in the yard again. We took a closer look at the nest and it looks like there may be 6 total! Mama bunny is hanging out in the neighbors yard (probably waiting for us to go away), so we did. I'm happy to say that Mama bunny finally came to nurse her babies once it got dark!

Our girls are not happy that we can't keep them as pets! As cute as they are and as much as I'd like to keep them and cuddle them and raise them as my own...we have enough mouths to feed...and I think their Mama would miss 'em too ;)

Jamie :)

New Cupcake Toppers

2013-06-03T14:30:19-04:00

...are going in THE SHOP soon! Check 'em out...

Now go on...get to shopping for your upcoming summer bbq's, birthdays, weddings, baby showers & girls night celebrations!

Jamie :)

Ol' Baby Blue Eyes

2013-04-23T22:59:08-04:00

You make my heart melt! I can't stop wanting to cuddle and love on you. You are almost 5 months old and you just started sleeping in your own crib, instead of snuggling with me all night.

You hardly ever fall asleep in my arms anymore, so this morning when you did...I couldn't bring myself to get up and go to spin class, as planned. I just wanted to hold you and stare at your sweet face, so I did. And when you woke up, we went to the basement and got in a short workout instead. You stared at me with that adorable smile, like I was crazy, jumping around like I do...and I snuck a few kisses here and there.

Ol' baby blue eyes, you are growing up too fast! I know you're not quite 5 months, but I feel like you were born yesterday. Where does the time go?

Jamie :)

Fresh!

2013-04-10T10:55:15-04:00

We are on a journey, my family and I. A journey to strive to be better...to get healthy and make a lifestyle change. It's not a diet, I hate that word! We are forming healthy habits, showing our kids how we want them to be, making better choices, and sometimes treating ourselves so we don't completely deprive ourselves of 'fun foods.'

We've always been into playing sports and staying active by working out and have always tried to eat healthy. But 'tried' is the key word here. It's hard to get the kids to eat veggies and fish and raw almonds vs. heavily salted ones, but we are only buying healthy foods now (with the exception of a few things, like golfish and pretzels which they are allowed to have on occassion). We are trying to stay away from processed foods, we are staying away from soda and sugary drinks and we are juicing and vitamixing the heck outta some fruits and veggies (follow my daily instagram posts HERE)...

I've never been one to have a lot of willpower when it comes to junk food, because boy do I love me some sweets and cheetos! I can't even pronounce some of the ingredients in some of the junk that I used to love, so I know it can't be good ;)

We've somehow managed to make it through and now I don't crave the sugar or the salty snacks. If I want something sweet, I usually go for pineapple, strawberries, or a clementine. For a real treat, I go for some dark chocolate chunks mixed with some almonds, cashews and dried fruit.

We have a long way to go and the fresh stuff hasn't been easy on our pocketbooks (which is completely backwards if you ask me), but we have cut back in other areas and are making sacrifices to make it happen for our family. It's worth it! And hopefully in the near future, the kids will actually eat more of the veggies we roast for dinner, but all we can do is offer, offer, offer and show by example.

I also sneak in lots of spinach, kale and carrots into their smoothies, along with some protein powder and they gobble it up! Gotta do watcha gotta do ;)

If you're on the road to trying to get healthy...you can do it...even if it's just baby steps! Choosing water, over soda or sweet tea (my old addiction), grabbing an apple or celery sticks instead of those chips. Taking a walk and getting some fresh air, instead of a nap. Baby steps...

Jamie :)

Juice!

2013-03-07T08:00:00-05:00

I started to get tired, after about 3 months of keeping up with baby girl and the various demands of her 3 big sisters. I don't get much time these days to catch up with my favorite blogs, but I happened to see a snippet on my pal, Julie's, blog about juicing and how she felt so great.

I sent her a note, she told me to check out 'Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead,' and that was all I needed to know. I did, that day while working on an order...free, on hulu. Wow...eye opening! I did my research, asked around, got recommendations, and two days later, I picked up a juicer and A TON of fresh fruits and veggies.

I've been docummenting each juice that I concoct. All made up by me! I should probably consult a recipe book or something, but so far, so good.

Week one:

I feel so good! I've replaced my coffee (which I've never 'had' to have) and normal oatmeal, cereal or yogurt, fruit, granola breakfast, with fresh juice.

I'm learning each day and having so much fun with it. And plus, my kids want to try them and even like them most of the time! It's a great way to get the greens and veggies into their little bodies.

So far, I've learned I don't love juiced celery or beets and don't use much ginger at all! See that chunk in the last photo? Too much!! ;) Carrots are great, spinach and kale don't change the flavor much, but definitely add the green color and all fruits are good so far.

What about you...have you juiced? Favorite recipe? Or would you rather just eat these things whole? ;)

Jamie :)