Pictures, pictures everywhere!

 I kept getting an error message on my phone when I would try to take a video or upgrade an app, telling me I had run out of storage. Well, that could have been because I had over 800 pictures and videos on my phone! (not the 600 I told you, Dad) Whoops. I have it set up to sync to the computer every day, but I need to figure out how to set it up so it will delete them off my phone once they're synced! And since I realized I haven't posted any pictures for quite a while...here ya go! :)

 I did NOT put them up to this! :) I realized it was a little too quiet and found them both content, looking at books!

 Isaac still loves baby Rhys! 

 We celebrated Jacob's birthday at Aunt Cara and Uncle Terry's house this year. She made his cake (of course!) and I had just about everything I needed to decorate for a John Deere-themed birthday!! :)

 It was also the weekend we celebrated Mia & Kaedyn's birthdays and had the 2nd "annual" Stinemetz 5K! Busy times. But we got to use our camper!! We took it out to Jeremy's to give everyone a bit more space (and we thought there would be a lot more people). The kids absolutely loved it! I can't wait to use it "for real"!!

 Uncle Terry helped her come up with the hay field idea for his cake. He said his cake was his favorite part of his party!

 Papa's got his hands full!

 One night Aaron & Jamie found a newborn calf, tied up and abandoned, next to Jeremy's house! Poor guy still had his cord, so he wasn't very old. 

 He's having a lot of fun with school this year and is already reading 3-letter words!

 Sound asleep.

 We learned about fingerprints one day...

 I made some mini pizzas (with homemade sauce...YUM!) for our picnic supper when we went to the state fair. 

 Isaac's favorite part? The tractor "trolley" ride from the car to the gate! He got so upset when we got off and then when we went back out to eat supper, he would dissolve into tears every time it went by and we didn't get on!

 Ferris Wheel!

 (he dumped a cup of water on himself, I promise!)

 Avid reader. Except she said the Boxcar Children mysteries are too scary now, so I think we'll start her on the Little House on the Prairie series.

I made up a game today. The kids kept asking for a name, so I called it "Letter Hop". For Jacob, whatever letter his rock landed on, he had to tell me a word that started with that letter. For Anna, she had to spell the word. They had fun!

Disturbing

So, the more I learn on this journey to healthy living, in particular the eating part, the more disturbed I become. Every time I think we're doing great and eating all the right stuff, I find out something else that I want to avoid putting in our bodies! It's very easy to get completely overwhelmed by it all, but there are some things that I kind of just have to draw the line at and say "ABSOLUTELY NOT!" I just read an article (please read it!) the other day on food dyes from 100 Day of Real Food. I couldn't believe it! How is this stuff allowed in our FOOD??? Known carcinogens??
This weekend, Aaron and I were planning our menu for next week. We decided to see how little we could buy and really clean out the pantry and freezers. He found some boxes of jello and pudding in the back of the pantry. I looked at the list of ingredients and promptly threw them away! For the pudding? How about some metal that's used in anything from paint, to sunscreen, to FOOD?? Yep, titanium dioxide is in that little box of pudding. Or how about some sodium pyrophosphate? This is what it is sometimes used for...

Sodium pyrophosphate is sometimes used in household detergents to prevent similar deposition (of calcium and magnesium) on clothing, but due to its phosphate content it causes eutrophication of water, promoting algae growth. (wikipedia)

And the jello? How about some adipic acid? Know what that's used for? Mainly in the production of NYLON! What is the reason for these chemical compounds being put in our food?!? I feel like common sense says if I can't buy titanium dioxide at the grocery store, it sure as shootin' shouldn't be IN the food I buy at the grocery store!! I'm sure I sound all kinds of crazy, but it just makes me cringe and want to move to the middle of nowhere and live off the land! We all feel so much better since starting this journey, but I have to remember that's what it is...a journey. We won't get there in a day or a week or even a year. But we WILL get there! (I hope I don't sound mean and nasty to those who eat jello or pudding from a box. I had no idea this stuff was in such an innocent sounding thing as pudding!! It's another lesson in reading labels and knowing exactly what we're eating!)

Another Change...

We've been on a "real food" journey the past month and this article makes me want to move to the middle of nowhere and live off our land!! Why is this kind of thing allowed?!?!
Please read this article.
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/03/13/real-food-tips-7-reasons-i-hate-artificial-food-dyes/