Betsy sent some gifts for the girls and they were so excited we had to share and tell Aunt Betsy THANK YOU!!!
Kids get so excited and it just makes my heart smile!
Our tasty tuesday recipe was trumped by the beads... we'll post it next week ;)
Showing posts with label Sophia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sophia. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
A Day of Firsts...
Saturday, February 27 was a day of firsts at our house. Garth's brother Travis and their niece Kinsey came for a weekend visit. Kinsey came to see us before she leaves for Marine bootcamp (keep her in your prayers... she is excited and we are oh so proud!).
Saturday was beautiful therefore we decided to go to Zilker Park. This park is just a few blocks from Garth's work but we have never been there together to enjoy. It has a great playground for the kids, a train ride and then the famous Barton Springs Pool. It was a little too chilly for a dip in the pool but we did go on the train ride! The girls had a blast climbing all over the playscapes, running up and down the hills and of course the train ride!
After going Saturday we will definitely be meeting Garth for picnic lunches from TacoDeli at the Park! (Ensalada Tacodeli-Sirloin, no cheese, no sour cream... soooo yummy!)
The other first, was that I got to go on my first "girls night" out in downtown Austin. I was invited to go with some of the girls from the neighborhood for a little dinner and dancing and spirits ;)
We began the evening at the Iron Cactus and enjoyed our dinner on the roof listening to the sounds of 6th street below... so fun.
On a side note... Let me just say that if I had gone to undergrad here at UT... graduation would have been questionable, I definitely would have chosen the 8 year Ralph White Scholarship Program (AKA my dad) instead of the 4 year program!
Okay back to the evening... Then we headed down to Pete's Dueling Piano Bar, where we listened to one of our neighbors sing and play all of the fun requests (I have never met this neighbor, David Lee,... still have no idea really who he is but the neighborhood girls knew, so it was fun)... and then it was off to dance.... dance and did I mention dance!?! I haven't had a night out dancing since right after Izzy was born, so that was over 2 years ago... it was time ;) And I think it is safe to say I got it out of my system for a few months... or maybe years! And Garth is thankful because I got to do it with the girls and he didn't have to suffer through dance party USA with me this time. HAHA!!! We had a great time. I can now say that I have been out on 6th street and maybe a few more streets...?...?...
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Splish Splash
So Garth takes care of the girls on the nights I go to my CrossFit workouts. Monday night after my workout he brings me the camera and says, "You have got to see this".
Just push the play button and look at what he discovered ;)
PS... you might hit the pause button on the slide below to stop the music from playing over this one (I need to fix that)
Hmm, now I am just a little concerned as to how she made it this far before he noticed. Ha!!! Never a dull moment around here...
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
just like Christmas...
Over the Christmas Holiday Garth and I watched the movie Food, Inc.. Many of you have heard us mention it a time or two but in case you haven't... RENT IT! It is not gross, it is simply thought provoking. Have you ever thought how that hamburger got in your hand? Or did you know that corn or some derrivitive of corn is in ALMOST EVERYTHING?!? I had no idea... if you say to yourself... "I would really rather not know" we don't believe it. Most of the people we know are health conscious working hard to lose weight or say they want to... there is a connection to how our food is "created" these days and how our bodies are reacting to it... I mean did you catch Dr. Oz out on Oprah the other day?
The movie left us asking more questions. So much so that we spent the evening in Fort Worth after the Cotton Bowl at Barnes and Noble with our noses in books rather than at the bars drowning our sorrows from our emabarrassing defeat... poor Pokes. Okay back on track. We decided that we were going to have to make changes with our food as a family.
After a lot of reading and discussion we have decided to become a household that will be conscious of where our food comes from.
After a lot of reading and discussion we have decided to become a household that will be conscious of where our food comes from.
Things we are asking ourselves at the grocery store...
How was it grown?
Where was it grown?
Can we pronounce all of the ingredients and know what they are?
Our shopping cart now consists of seasonal fresh fruit & vegetables... hopefully organic and locally grown. And of course our meat purchases... we look for Bison, pork, beef, poultry and fish that have been raised humanely on sustainable farms that do not add antibiotics or growth hormones and allow the animals to do what God created them to do...
There are really no cans or boxes in the cart anymore.
I thought that this would make cooking so much harder but it really hasn't. We eat a meat and a couple of different veggies. Easy. Easy.
My favorite part of this journey has been discovering this great company here in Austin called Greenling. It is a company that delivers to my doorstep produce, meat and dairy products that are either grown on sustainable farms locally or are organic and if we're lucky both! I think the girls have enjoyed this more than we have. Every Thursday is our delivery day, for them it is just like Christmas! The two green greenling boxes arrive and they dig in! Izzy and Sophia both dig through it to see what fruits and veggies they get to snack on through the week. They help put the food away in the pantry and then run to their seats at the table for their mini bell pepper snacks with kiwi (which has become their new favorite thing, they eat the mini bell peppers like apples)! They are excited to open the box and we are excited that they are eating what is inside... and it is good for them!
Our family is choosing to vote every time we go to the super market. If the item we are choosing has a true organic option then we buy it... and that is our vote. The more organic items you purchase at a store the more likely that store will carry more organic options. This has raised our grocery bill a little, however, we are more concious about the amount of food we buy and are throwing away less due to spoilage (which saves us money). We are also switching our mindset to pay more now for what we put into our body and be healthy rather than paying later in doctor bills for not taking care of ourselves.
Another option when purchasing your food is the Farmers' Markets in your area. This is a great way to support your local farmers and get healthy fresh food on your table. You can visit the Local Harvest website and do a search for Farmers' Markets near you! There is a handy little "What are you looking for" box, check Farmers' Market and enter your zip code in the "Where" box, then click search! I did this and to my surprise there were even options near my home town of Stigler, Oklahoma, America... well within driving distance ;)
And here are a few disclaimers...
- No, we have NOT become hippies since we moved down to Austin... HA!!! We were actually headed towards this path in Oklahoma
- Yes, we still eat out on occasion... we just know what is best to order for ourselves at the restaurant
- We realize that we are human and plan on making mistakes and rebounding quickly, holding each other accountable! If we can both stick to it 80% to even 90%, we are happy.
- No, you do not need to have special food on hand just for us if we are coming to visit
- No, we are not judging you if you do not agree or conform to our Austin-hippy ways... oh wait, I said we haven't become hippies... hmmm...
And of course I can't make a post without pics of the girls!!! Here they are enjoying the Greenling delivery... the doorbell just rang and our food has arrived!!!
Here are some of the books we have read so far...
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