Wednesday

4:13 pm

We had the whole day to ourselves. Spent it doing playdough, going to story time, napping, making these yummy animal crackers, doing laundry, and drinking chocolate milk! Jacob instituted chocolate milk Wednesdays after the kids got Nesquik in their stockings for Christmas...a fun thing to look forward to in the middle of the week :)


On the agenda for the evening: Thai Peanut Noodles, more laundry, and reading The Holy Secret

Eating

This has nothing to do with the post, pretty cute kids on our fun weekend trip.

Breakfast: Steamed egg with salt and pepper, carrot, grapefruit ginger whole juice, and a small bowl of quinoa with pat of butter, cinnamon, and honey.

Lunch: 3 grain salad, tortilla chips and Greek yogurt jalapeno dip (from Costco....yum!)

Dinner: 20 dollar chickpea Mediterranean burger, sweet potato fries, and fresh pineapple.

Treats/Snacks: Blueberry, almond, pumpkin seed, and sunflower seed trailmix, power foods smoothie.

The whole halfsies thing is working out wonderfully! I am loving all of the recipes from the 28 day challenge still and can't wait to try the rest of them. I am learning more and more about how much food my body actually needs. I get so full these days and I don't feel like I am eating that much. My tummy shrunk so much with the first couple of weeks. I have had a few real treats here and there... definitely not worth it. Well, Graeter's ice cream was :) Okay so was the Raspberry Bliss pie, but I only had a few bites of that. Still, overall feeling great about what the challenge has done for me!

Halfsies

Already?? This little dude is WAY too interested in going in the potty. I go back and forth with wanting to potty train him and take the diapers away cold turkey... but it was so hard with little Luci. I just don't know if he's totally ready yet. So, we're going halfsies. He goes when he wants to. Maybe in a month or two we will get down to business. (Oh and please notice the wonderful new bathroom floor that Jacob surprised me with while I was in Utah. It is so fabulous!)

I am also going halfsies on the 21 day clean eating challenge. I went pretty hard core the first week but I had to add in Lentils on Thursday. I was losing weight and feeling a bit light headed... It was no fun while chasing the kiddo's around. I felt MUCH better! The challenge completely served the purpose that I was hoping it would. I am excited about cooking and trying new things, especially vegetables! I hardly ever crave sugar. I realized that I actually eat a lot better than I was giving myself credit for, and I realized that I can listen to my body and that I don't have to follow all the rules just because. I needed that lesson in a lot of areas :) So, I made it a tailored eating challenge, and I love it! Here's to two and a half more weeks...

Starting

As of yesterday I started the Whole Living 21 day clean eating challenge. I am really loving it. The first week is a cleanse week and, compared to a pretty much unbearable leek soup cleanse which I miraculously completed in my college days, this one is awesome! This is for a lot of reasons. First of all, I have truly been in some kind of funk for the past month and a half when it comes to a lot of things. The biggest one has been food though. I have had no motivation to plan or prepare anything especially not wholesome things. SO WEIRD. I think it is because I have been thinking about it all way too much. By "it" I mean all the different ideas about food culture, local food, chemicals in food, seasonal foods, eating meat sparingly, whole dairy vs. processed, organic, cage free, grass fed.... blah blah blah. There were too many factors, and I just don't have any experience in cooking like that. Don't get me wrong, I want desperately to figure it all out and apply it to my family... but it is hard!

SO, this challenge 1) came at the perfect time, since I stuffed myself silly pretty much everyday over the holidays and I was feelin' dirty, 2) a lot of the foods that I was having a hard time choosing are cut out, 3) all the recipes are laid out for me, and 4) they really are simple and the flavors are yummy and surprisingly satisfying!

Of course there are still a few things I am craving, but they aren't the things I would expect. I just really want some tortilla chips... good, salty, crunchy tortilla chips.

So, I am starting strong and funk free. Waking up early, doing yoga, and eating clean. I know I know what Jacob is thinking... "she is such a hippie!" Bring it :) I love having a fridge stuffed with produce and knowing exactly what I'm going to do with it.

     Elijah getting ready to try his 'clean' dinner.      

                                                  Steamed Broccoli and Squash with Tahini Sauce