Catching Up On Life!

It's been awhile since I've posted, so here's a quick update on what's been going on...

Our "Real" Eating Plan

We are about 5 weeks in to our new plan to each a majority of real food, and it's definitely starting to feel more like the norm! The first week, I had planned out all of our meals and snacks with real food, but Evelyn and I still stopped at fast food every single day for some sort of snack or "treat". Obviously, that's not the goal! My biggest obstacles have been how to find real food options when I just want to snack, and our budget - eating healthy is not cheap! I plan six homemade meals for the week, and I'm feeling much more confident in making things from scratch when I either don't have the money in my budget or can't find the healthy option that I want. I still buy 90% of our grocery list from Aldi, which is working surprisingly well. My "one day" dream would still be to get our dairy (especially milk!) either local or organic, but I'm willing to be patient for now. Clearly, I'm not a food blogger, because I never remember to take pictures of the delicious meals that we've made, but here are some of our favorites in our cookbook! 

These meatballs are so good! I can say that since it's not my recipe. They have whole wheat breadcrumbs, grated carrots, and Parmesan cheese in them...really, how can you go wrong?

These tuna patties are a new favorite. I don't buy organic fish, but I DO get the whole, white, albacore tuna in water, and then we melt a slice of cheese over them. Served with cold peach slices and corn on the cobb as sides, and this meal is epic!

I think the most exciting thing for me is when I find myself reaching for the ghee butter instead shortening, or actually remembering to toss some frozen peas on the girls' plates for lunch! (Not that they eat them, but at least they see them!) And we definitely still splurge! Last night, Steve brought home a box mix of double-chocolate, Ghirardelli brownies and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream! Sooooo good!

Bella's First Month of Kindergarten

Bella seems to be adjusting really well to school! Her teacher ended up being more laid back in the "behavior" department than I expected, and she is extremely patient with Bella! You know she's a Grandma, because she is an expert at taking it all in stride - last week, Bella came home, completely soaked from her hair to her sneakers. Her teacher just calmly explained that it had rained last night, so the playground was really wet, but Bella had loved rolling down the hill over and over (and over and over...)! That right there was proof that her teacher is a "go with the flow"-kind of girl! She does seem to expect a lot when it comes to their work, and I really appreciate that! If Bella misses a question or gets an activity wrong because she wasn't paying attention, Ms. Thornton marks it wrong; she doesn't give in and just assume that Bella would have known it. This has definitely been Bella's biggest hurdle in school - listening before she starts the activity and then following through on the correct instructions instead of what she wants to do - so it's really important that Ms. Thornton is holding her accountable in this area! It has been fun to see her general understanding of letters and sounds improving, even if it's not the letter the class is specifically working on that particular week. And she's getting pretty stellar at writing her name! 

This is one of my favorite projects that she's done this year. I'm a little proud of her horse drawing, but I'm raising an eyebrow that my talent is limited to starting movies for her...

Little Man

I'm sitting in the doctor's office as I'm typing this, waiting to see another one of the doctors in our practice. We are just shy of 33 weeks and I'm actually feeling good! I called in to the nurse about a week ago for some prescription heartburn medicine, and that was like nectar from the gods! It has really helped my comfort level at night! (Also, I had to finally accept that I can't eat any more delivery pizza for the rest of the pregnancy; apparently the tomato sauce puts me at death's door. That's a huge bummer.) Steve and I are still working on middle names. Our current favorite is Wilder (Laura Ingalls' husband in the Little House series.) I loved those books as a kid and I love that Little Man's middle name would have a literary reference like Evelyn's. Oh! And he was an actual person, which is just cool. (We may have to create a reference for Bella and "Cole" just to keep the tradition going.) Going from "Wilder" to "Wires" is definitely a mouthful when you say all three names together, so we're still thinking about it, but it's our favorite at the moment!

Here he is...Almanzo Wilder in the "flesh". Total stud, right?

Baby Shower Fun

I have my baby shower this Sunday! We've kept everything with Little Man pretty low-key since he's our third, and the baby shower will be the same way. We're only doing one, we didn't register anywhere for it, and we kept the invitation list small. Steve's mom sent me an amazing box of baby goodies that had a bunchnof the most adorable footie PJ's, so I'm pretty set in that area - I think he's just long to wear footie pajamas for the first three months of his life! They're so adorable! I think I'd be excited if all we got at this shower were diapers! I still haven't done too much with the nursery, but I know we'll get there. I have a feeling that the shower this weekend will be my "Oh yeah, he's actually coming!" moment that spurs me to action.

Here's the invitation that Mel and Caroline designed. It's super cute! I've been so thankful to have the two of them and Cathy host this shower! (I have to admit, though, it really makes me miss Whitney.)

What Else...

Having the girls in school and getting closer to meeting Little Man have been the biggest things on our plate lately. My work has gotten much busier (in a good way!) now that the Bella is in school everyday and Evelyn goes two mornings a week. It's been fun to be a part of something at church and be more involved with Missions. 

I'm getting super excited about the different holidays coming, and I'm already planning Steve's Halloween birthday party at the end of October! Hopefully, Little Man can hold off until we celebrate Daddy!

This is a sneak peek of my cake inspiration for Steve's party this year! I also found a gorgeous one with ravens that may win out!