My latest obsession

My church group had a guest speaker last week who spoke about biblical nutrition. She opened my eyes to a lot of things! Most of the things I am going to write about are scary disgusting facts some of which are not about food but the food we eat could be the cause, so if you don't want to know...

Stop reading now!!

*Did you know that 1 in 3 women & 1 in 2 men will have some form of cancer in their lives
*sugar is in EVERYTHING we eat
*sugar is just as addicting as cocaine! Crazy huh?
*4 grams of sugar = 1 tsp. of sugar
*we should eat no more than 8 tsp. of sugar per day
Guess how much sugar the average person eats in a day?

1/2 a pound!!!
That is 4 pounds of sugar in 1 week!

YIKES! That is disgusting!!

*When reading a food label you can look for about 50 different names of sugar like.....anything ending in "ose" (dextrOSE, glucOSE, fructOSE, lactOSE), malt, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, panocha, molasses, etc, etc, etc

*Children who eat several (can't remember the number) hot dogs a week are 60% more likely to have leukemia! Which is directly related to the nitrates!
*Most childrens vitamins have several artificial colors. Why put something so unnecessary in their bodies?
*Some of these childrens vitamins as well as womens were found to have lead in them a few years ago, again Why??

I know buying organic is expensive. I struggle all the time with what I should buy organic and what doesn't matter so much. I always buy organic milk, yogurt, eggs, fruit without skin, cottage cheese, & basically only the things my kids eat! I didn't care about myself. I figured I was already tainted anyway :o)
So I have a handy resource for buying organic foods now!
Here are the top foods that have the highest additives, pesticides, & hormones.
Meat
Milk
Coffee (surprising to me)
Celery
Peaches
Strawberries
Apples
Blueberries
Nectarines
Bell Peppers
Spinach
Kale
Cherries
Potatoes
Grapes
Leafy greens
Carrots
Pears
Tomatoes

And now for the foods that have the least amount
onion
avocado
corn
pineapple
mango
asparagus
sweet peas
kiwi
cabbage
eggplant
papaya
watermelon
sweet potatoes
broccoli

If you are interested in reading the reasons for these just go here:
www.thedailygreen/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods

So to further torture myself I rented the movie "Food Inc."

All I have to say is GROSS!!!
If you have not seen it....
Did you know that the ground beef you buy comes from not 1 cow but hundreds? That makes the risk of E. coli much higher.
Cows are being fed corn since it is so much cheaper that maintaning grass for them to eat. Corn causes their guts to be acidic and favors the growth of E. coli.

The documentary was not fun to watch but it has changed a lot about my trips to the grocery store including the cost :o(
but will benefit my entire family in the long run :o)

Thanks for reading! I just needed to document all of this stuff in-case I want to look back to refresh!

Butterflies & Allergies

We headed to the butterfly pavillion today! We have never been and figured the girls would love it. The entire ride up there Mackenzie was sneezing and blowing her nose. By the time we had paid, touched the starfish, & walked into see the butterflies her eye was swollen and purple. She felt awful! Not sure what it was. She gets that way after petting dogs, but we hadn't played with any dogs! We left the pavillion and asked her if she wanted to pet the tarantula. She said yes so we pressed on. She had so much fun coloring and playing in the huge spiderweb that she forgot about the pain and after another 30 minutes her eye was better!

Mackenzie loved holding Rosie the tarantula.
No thank you!!
You could not have paid me to do that!!!!

Presley's quilt

I am just now getting around to taking a picture of this for Presley's scrapbook, so it is a year delayed!!
Our church has a group of women who make quilts for all of the babies that are baptized in the church. It just so happens that my sweet friend Amy is a member of this group! Hence the hook-up. She told the group she knew the baby getting baptized and wanted to make the quilt herself. She matched my style to a tee! I absolutely love this quilt!!!
Thanks Amy!!

Zoey likes it too

Presley's 1st day

Presley started a mom's day out preschool program on Wednesday. They have a curriculum that they follow to teach the kids their shapes, colors, they hear a bible story, & music. She didn't have any tears and slept on her mat for an hour. Yipee! I can't wait to see how much she learns!

this cracks me up!!
Yes she is holding onto her milky (doesn't go anywhere without it) & a pack of earplugs (once she finds something she doesn't let go for hours)

much easier transition since one of her BFFs Lila is with her
the teachers can't tell them apart, and it didn't help that Penny & I dressed them coordinating!

CHEESE

Cheese is one of the few words that Presley can say, and boy does she say it when the camera comes out!

Porch Crawl Time Machine

This past Saturday we had our 2nd annual Riverbrook porch crawl. This year we did a progressive dinner style with a decades theme. Each house has food, cocktails, kids craft or activities, & decor!

We started with The Roaring 20s which included....

waldorf salad, deviled eggs, bottled cokes, paperdoll crafts, lincoln logs, a speakeasy bar, & custom made beer labels for the porch crawl

20s were hosted by the Hastings & Arnoldis

The next stop was our stop which was the 50s and it included...

decorate your own sunglasses for the kids, chicken salad, a jello mold, tang, fuzzy astrounat cocktails, root beer, orange crush, hula hoops, candy from the 50s (wax bottle sodas, lego sweet tarts), hand jiving (which was more fun to Kim & I than the kids), & limbo (oh yeah, I forgot to do that!)

my handsome greaser

Our co-hosts were the Phams & Frankowiaks

The next stop was the 70s which included...

groovy veggies, Harvey Wallbangers, rock decorating, & pop rocks!

loving the pop rocks

The 70s were hosted by the Smiths, StOnges, & Larsons

The next stop was in the 80s. It included....

Where's the Beefwhich sandwiches, pretty in pink lemonade, amaretto sours, & a cake walk to 80s rock music for a chance to win silly bands!

The 80s were hosted by the Dutchers, Lynches, & Guesses. They win the award for most festive as they were all dressed up, even the kids!

The final stop was in the future. It included...

color your own space putty, Buzz Aldrin martinis, & an awesome ice-cream sundae bar (including custom made labels for the toppings)

The future was hosted by the Babcocks, McDoniels, & Montanos

The crawl was an absolute blast! My wheels are already turning for next years theme!!

Mackenzie's 1st Day

Mackenzie finally started preschool after a long busy summer. Her teacher, Ms. Marcie, from last year is her assistant teacher this year. This is great news since she is a little nervous when it comes to change!

Mackenzie S, Mackenzie B, & Macy (don't they all look alike?)

She had a great first day. The only thing she could tell me about it was that they colored their placemats, and could I put a treat in her lunch because Connor had a really cool chocolate stick in his lunch!

Daisy Darlings

Our neighborhood alone keeps Gymboree in business! Our play group got all 11 girls to wear the "pop of dasies" line of clothing for a picture. Aren't they all so cute matching :o)

Gracyn, Reagan, & Addison Guess / Ava, Claire, & Brenna Dutcher / Clara, Nora, & Lila Lynch / Kenz & Pres Borie

Clara & Mackenzie

The little girls (Gracyn, Lila, & Presley) Claire is missing!

Labor Day weekend

Sunday we went to Bellview park with the Lynch crew. The girls had a blast playing in the river and riding the train!

Monday the St Onges had the neighborhood over for a Labor Day celebration. The kids played in the bouncy house, sandbox, painted rocks with glitter, and had a blast!! Labor day is a sign that summer is coming to an end. I am going to miss these outdoor gatherings!!!

Pres & Gracyn chalking up the sidewalk

Painting rocks

hot mamas of Riverbrook Circle (we have birthed 22 babies)

Riverbrook's cool crew

Kenz & Clara

Aint Life Grand

Kevin's team won a challenge at work so he took them fishing in Grand Lake on Friday. We packed up and went with him so that we could see our friends Kyle & Kathy. They drove over from Grand Junction to spend the night. We got a cabin in Grand Lake and let the kids have a slumber party. They were so good! I thought for sure they would be up all night chatting. It must be because Josh & Abby are great sleepers since Mackenzie is far from it! It is so beautiful in Grand Lake. I had never been!

On the way home we stopped off in Winter Park for some rides! Mackenzie & I did the alpine slide while Kevin & Presley took the chairlift around the mountain. Mackenzie also jumped on the bungee trampoline and was so excited that she did a back flip :o)