Confessions of Registered Dietitian Mom!

Food is such a personal choice. It's emotional, it's powerful and it's important. As a Registered Dietitian for going on 12 years now_ I get a lot of questions about what I buy for my family, how we eat, what to do about this fad or that fad etc. So I thought I would share how we do things in my household!.


1. I buy local when I can ( but it is not feasible for everyone). 
Buying local is important to my family. We like to know where our food is coming from, and supporting our local economy. Although there are some nutritional implications of buying local ( vine ripened tomatoes that are allowed to ripen naturally have more lycopene for example).  Sometimes though buying local can be more expensive. You have to really know how to shop by the seasons and in some cases have the ability to buy in bulk to get the best deal. However - if you do not buy local broccoli for your kids- I'm not mad at you! Please just feed your kids the broccoli!

2. My kids have a VARIED Palette!
I have three children ( ages 12, 10, 6) and they really are great eaters. They eat sushi, avocados, Indian food, hummus, etc. They really do eat a lot of different things. And your kids cold as well- it takes time. Start with perhaps just naan and plum sauce with your Indian food, maybe spread avocados on a cracker or toast, sushi doesn't have to include RAW fish- California rolls are our friend! Let them help you make the hummus at home and have them try it on their favorite veggies etc. Bottom line- let them explore, give them options and have lots of conversations about food ( where it comes from, what culture it's traditionally found in, look at it's country of origin on a map etc.).

3. I make wonderful home made pizza ( but I'm not above a frozen pizza either!).
We make a lot of home made pizza- like maybe once a week. I do use homemade sauce, home made crusts, fresh toppings etc. HOWEVER- if it's between my family of 5 going out to dinner for probably close to $40 or eating a frozen pizza from home- you better believe I'm popping in a Digornio! One slice of pizza with a nice green salad and maybe a fruit cup for dessert is still a HEALTHY balanced meal. Don't beat yourself up!

4. I grow A TON of veggies ( but I buy a lot from the store as well). 
I do have the summers off and we have some time to work in the garden, but we don't have enough time or energy ( or space or money for that matter) to grow every single bite of produce we would like. We have several blueberry bushes and I normally get enough to snack on and maybe enough for a few cobblers- but we love blueberries and I buy frozen blueberries for smoothies and buy fresh and frozen and yes even canned produce to supplement what we grow. It is OKAY! Please don't think that if your child ( or yourself) isn't eating only organic local blueberries that you can't have blueberries. I look for things that have no additional ingredients in them such as fruit in water or it's own juices, no heavy syrups. This year I ran out of canned tomatoes from our garden- we ran out of salsa, canned tomatoes, pasta sauce etc. so I buy it from the store. Just be careful on things like added sodium or sugars.

5. My kids crunch around on veggie sticks for snacks ( but they also love chocolate no bake cookies). 
It's about balance people. My kids eat cupcakes. They eat ice cream. They get a slice of pie every so often. But it's not several times a day. They got candy in their Christmas stockings and they ate it. It's fine. I bake normally on Saturday and I might make a cupcake or some peanut butter no bake cookies. They know though that they only can have one cupcake ( not 4 or 5 a day). It's a treat. They don't really even ask for sweets . They are used to just having them on occasion ( and since I bake themselves I know what is in them).

6. We don't have a deep fryer in our house.
Not much else to say about this- I bake or saute or roast everything. There really is no need for a deep fryer in your house. It's an extra appliance space on my counter and we have not had one in our home since we got marred 15 years ago. It's fine- we still get all kinds of yumminess.

Bottom line- just try your best. It's okay. Everything in moderation and please stay away from fad diets and hip trends. Have your kids drink water instead of sodas and give them availability to healthy foods.

What are some ways you try to keep your family happy and healthy?

Don't all 16 year olds talk about adopting one day?

Oh my goodness. These past few months. Almost a year actually- but these past few months have been such an emotional roller coaster.

I'll start way way back. Like when my husband and I were dating in high school. Yes we dated way back then and have been married almost 14 years now. I remember when we were dating and driving around in his truck we would talk about the day when our home would be full of little feet. Even as teenagers we knew that we were called to be parents. Even back then we talked about if we could not have children ourselves we would be open to adopting.

Well we graduated ( high school and college!) and got married and started working on our family. Within a year and a half of marriage we welcomed our first child- a beautiful baby girl. A bit later came daughter number two then several years later came our son. Three beautiful children. And let me tell you we are blessed. Blessed beyond our wildest dreams.

When our son was born we always thought we would have another. We prayed about timing and when God might see fit for us to try to start trying again. Many a night we prayed that if it was time for us to have another child that we would know. We never felt that the timing was right and never felt that calling to try to have another child.

So come last October we started feeling VERY strongly that adopting from foster care might be in our cards. We both prayed about it a lot and on January 1st of this year (2017) we submitted our paperwork to become a foster family with the intention of adopting.

Okay guys- the time is almost here. We've done paperwork and background checks and physicals and more paperwork, and home visits and this weekend we will finish up our training. Meaning that it could just be a few weeks ( probably longer but who knows?) until we see a child in our home. That is both terrifying and amazing at the same time. We are very excited about the possibility for our family to provide love and care for a child ( or children) that may need it.

I hope to talk a bit more in the coming days about the decision to become a foster family as well as some of the training we have went through ( it's been great by the way!) in coming blog posts.

If I can be an encouragement to just one person reading this then I'll be overjoyed. If this is just an outlet for me to write and share my heart- just for my sake- I'm okay with that as well.

Until next time!
Happy Homesteading Y'all!

Teaching Giving at Christmas

I strongly believe that giving is something that can be encouraged and taught at a young age to foster a giving spirit when older. You may recall that my husband and I are trying to pay off our debt and really focus on family, fun and memories. Even though we are paring back our Christmas overall ( as far as gifts, wow did we buy the kids too much!), there is one tradition we love keeping.

We give goats. Or chickens. Or geese- to people in need through Heifer.org. 

We've been giving to this organization for a while ( 15 years maybe?) and when my oldest daughter started Kindergarten, she wanted to give a goose in her teacher's name for Christmas. Talk about making this momma proud.

To backup just a bit, according to the website Heifer's mission is to:

We empower families to turn hunger and poverty into hope and prosperity – but our approach is more than just giving them a handout. Heifer links communities and helps bring sustainable agriculture and commerce to areas with a long history of poverty. Our animals provide partners with both food and reliable income, as agricultural products such as milk, eggs and honey can be traded or sold at market.

When many families gain this new sustainable income, it brings new opportunities for building schools, creating agricultural cooperatives, forming community savings and funding small businesses.

I love that Heifer promotes "passing the gift" meaning that when a family accepts a gift, they are trained on how to care or manage that gift, then are expected to give the knowledge to others around them. They have projects all over the world, even right here in the United States. They help provide everything from actual heifers.... to ducks, geese, goats, sheep, rabbits, vegetable gardens, bee hives and more. It's a great way for us to teach our kids about sustainability as well. 

Once you donate, you can order free "honor cards" in a variety of beautiful prints, to give to whomever you are honoring. 

This year both of our older daughters decided to get this: USE THEIR OWN MONEY to purchase a gift for their teachers. One "bought" a flock of geese, the other a flock of ducks. I also purchased a gift of a gardening project in honor of my boss who has been extra amazing this year. 

We love to give at the holidays, I think this is an amazing way to share our blessings with those that can benefit from it. It's not a handout, anyone that has hand milked a cow twice a day, or made goat's milk cheese, know that these families work hard, but just giving the initial gift of an animal can make such a difference in their world. 

Happy Homesteading Y'all!

Our goat saga

Not really a Saga I suppose. But a somewhat sad story, with an ending that could have turned out much worse.

We have 4 goats. Three Nigerian Dwarves and 1 Spanish Boer. The Boer is a show goat my daughter *was* going to show at this year's fair.

 This isn't the best picture, but shows three of the four goats. The black ones are sisters and the brown and white one, we've had for about 4 years now. Clifford.

We live out in the country. We have one tiny little fluffy dog that stays inside. No outside dogs. Two Saturday mornings ago, we wake up to a crazy racket. Dogs barking, the goats were making whatever noise it is they make. It was just about daylight. My husband and I run outside and find two large dogs running from our property. We go check on the goats and find two injured. One ( the little showgoat Lizzie) quite injured. She was crying like a baby, bloody and overall just pitiful. The other one just acted like his leg hurt and wouldn't walk, and had a few small knicks on him.

 ( Cupcake)

So over the last two weeks I have given antibiotic shots, cleaned the wounds twice a day, given them topical antibiotic, and for the first week we put an umbrella over Lizzie because it was so hot and she couldn't walk to get shade.

You might not can tell by this picture but they have about 3 brushed acres fenced in. There is a small shelter they normally sleep under, but we added the dog pen with the barrels for Lizzie , because if the dogs were to come back there is no way she could protect herself.  We also added another row of barbed wire around the top.

So, the good news is that Lizzie is recovering. She can now stand up to pee (YAY!!) and can walk a few steps at a time to get into better positions, go to bed etc. The vet said nothing was broken or dislocated and she was likely just sore from having her legs and tail pulled on by the dogs.

So we set up a game cam and saw the dogs again the next night. They didn't bother the goats this time. I have no idea who the dogs belong to, and have asked around and no one seems to know. But maybe someone did know because it's been about 10 days with no sign of the. Crossing my fingers.

Lizzie may not be able to be shown this year. But we all learned a lot through this, we love our pets. We took turns giving her shots, sitting with her, petting her, holding the water bucket up to her mouth to drink. Positioning the umbrella so this silly goat would have shade. Rubbing her down with a cool rag. No, perhaps my daughter isn't going to show her this year, but in my book she has learned a lot about life, about living on a farm..


Happy Homesteading Y'all!

Get those summer memories into something memorable!

This post may contain affiliate links.


I'm terrible at getting my photos developed. I love taking pictures and have all of my photos arranged nicely in little folders on my computer, but I am really awful about getting them developed and into a usable form for my family, so I can display them nicely.

Cue Shutterfly!



Sign up to get 50 free prints. Put those prints into a nice little photo album, let your kids decorate a scrapbook or choose a few for a nice picture frame.

I also have made them into photo books. We have a goal to visit all 50 states before the kids graduate and on each photo book I put the year and the states we visited.


  I know you won't be disappointed, I just urge you to get all those fantastic pictures that are on your computer and get them out there for the world to see. We only have one more week left before school starts, and that's what I'm doing. I'm making a photo calendar for my parents for their Christmas present, I'm getting some updated prints of the kids for my office desk at work, as well as some new pictures for my husband.

Happy Homesteading Y'all! 

A girl and her chicks: A love story in pictures

Above is a picture of my oldest daughter several years ago with a baby chick. She loved her chicks.

Here she is about 5 years later with a new chick. She still loves her chicks. We have 12 adult chickens right now, and now we have 8 teenager chickens as the kids call them , and 8 new chicks. We have some neat breeds that the girls plan on showing at the fair. I'll let you know how that goes.

Great Book series for young readers- Dave and Pat Sargent Books

We have 3 little ones: ages 8,6 and 2. The older two are of course really getting in to reading. I happened across a book written by Pat Sargent a while back at a yard sale or something and it had been in my daughter's book shelf. One day she found it , and read it. She couldn't put it down!.

Then she read it again. And again. I started looking online at Ebay, Amazon etc. and found that Pat Sargent has a whole series of "Barney the Bear Killer" books, as well as many other books her and her husband Dave have written.

The series my daughter really loves, is about Barney a black and tan coon hound, and his owner an 8 year old little girl, and their adventures in the Ozark Mountains. It is a wonderful series and I have since read them all to myself, and aloud to my younger daughter. My older daughter has read them all herself multiple times.

They do have another series for younger readers that each one teach a moral or character lesson.
They are called the Animal Pride Series and are very nice as well.

 

They do have their own publishing company as well and I have found many books at a bargain price at www.ozarkpublishing.us  . Many of the paperback books on that site are only $1!

 

I know it can be hard to get kids interested in reading sometimes, but this is a series my kids all really really love, and hopefully some of you will find it as lovely as I do.

Super Frugal and Fun Birthday Cake

With three little ones, plus a husband, plus myself it seems like birthdays are coming around pretty often.

Next time instead of purchasing a super expensive bakery cake, try this. I do it for most of the birthday's around here.

Make their favorite kind of cake, and frost it. Then spell out there name with colored chocolate candies ( aka M&Ms). It's always a hit and done for probably about $4 total, if that. The biggest expense are the candies. The kids love to help decorate as well.


Happy Homesteading Ya'll!

Free Educational Printables

I just wanted to share this site with you. It's great for homeschool and non-homeschooling families alike. You join the site (for FREE) and then you can search literally THOUSANDS of downloadable printables and worksheets on every subject imaginable. I have a Kindergartener and a 1st grader and can easily find worksheets and activities for them to do that are very specialized. One daughter likes fairies, no problem, the other daughter likes dinosaurs, again no problem. I really have enjoyed this site. You get a limited number of worksheets FREE a month, or you can order a subscription to be able to download entire workbooks. I haven't done that yet, but am considering it for the summer months. I have found that these are lifesavers for our little goody bags we bring with us when we travel, or for me to bring with us to church or waiting rooms. It gives the kids something to do that is new to them and educational. I just wanted to share, I know how much my readers value education and also FREE stuff. What a pair.

Happy Homesteading Ya'll

Linked up to Adorned from Above

(NOT) Keeping up with the Jones'

We've all heard the phrase " Keeping up with the Jones' ".

I think that there are people out there, that one day come to the realization that they do NOT want to keep up with the Jones'.

I'm one of those folks. Thankfully so is my husband.

Our oldest daughter is 7. Our youngest son is 16 months and we have one daughter between the two. And we want them to realize that a 4500 square foot house and a pool is not the goal. The goal in this life is not designer jeans. the goal in this life is not a 40k car. That gets 8 mph.

The goal in this life is not too accumulate stuff to the point that storage lockers are needed, extra rooms are built on just for storing junk and houses have to keep getting bigger and bigger to accomadate our nation's obsession with things.

We my friends are weird.

Please don't misunderstand me. We want our kids to be comfortable. We want them to have comfy clothing, and a cozy home and opportunities to do things in life.

We participate in 4H, other school events and we like to travel. We have a comfortable home. We have 2 ( paid for) vehicles.

I guess I'm just seeing more and more in my ripe old age of 30 ( yikes ) that kids are growing up in a country with lots of expectations. I deserve this, I deserve that, I WANT this, I WANT that, I NEED this, I NEED that..... It's overwhelming for parents sometimes to find a good balance. And honestly, when we were first starting out as parents, I fought that. I wanted to buy expensive things for them, and lots of things.

But then we realized. We realized that all of that STUFF , it doesn't matter. It doesn't create a family. It doesn't give our children the work ethic, the desire to give back to the community and the heart of a servant that we wanted to instill in their little hearts.

So we stopped.

And you know what? We are all so much happier. So much more relaxed, and to certain degrees healthier physically, spiritually, and emotionally.

So to all the Jones' out there, I am not envious of you. Not in the least.


Happy Homesteading ya'll! Linked up with Monday Homesteading Barn Hop Adorned From Above The Home Acre

Raising Modest Girls in an Immodest World

Wow. Being  a parent is hard. It is of course full of blessings and smiles and gumdrops and all that goodness, but at the end of the day I am a steward of these beautiful little lives the Lord has blessed us with. And I want to do well! Having two young girls ( 5 and 7) I am really beginning to understand the severity of immodest behavior among others. Especialy in the way that women ( and girls) dress. Whew.

I found this cartoon in Pinterest and thought it was fitting for today's post:


I really have a desire to instill in my daughter's virtue and modesty.

1 Peter 3:3-4 says
" Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price."

In our home we have a few little unwritten rules that at least helps steer us in the right direction while raising our daugthers.

1. Mom is an example!
What?? That's right ladies, your daughters are looking towards you, and dissecting everythign you wear to learn how to dress. I am very aware of my outfits, and try to make sure that each and everything I wear is pleasing unto the Lord. I make a point to not wear v necks or other collars that expose any cleavage, make sure my skirts are loose and free flowing and make sure nothing is too tight.

2. Swimsuits
I am astonished at the parents that think tiny little bikinis for toddlers are acceptable. Not only are they teaching young girls what is okay for them to wear, I also fear that it lures the wrong kind of attention from people, we live in a sick world folks and evil people are out there. bikinis serve no purpose either, they just don't. We stick to one peices that have skirts attached to them, or even the two peices that are boy shorts ( or surfer shorts) and long sleeved rash gaurd shirts. It protects against sun burns better anyways.

Something like this ( not my kid by the way)

3. Play Clothes and other dresses
I see many 7 year olds in my daughters class with tiny mini skirts, tight, v neck blouses and skin tight shorts. I just sigh. What are they learning about being a modest female? How will they attract Godly men looking like that. Hey, just being honest! I have found beautiful cotton no shrink dresses fro LLBEAN.com that my girls love to wear, and they are loose, cover all the necessaries and they can easily play in them.


They love the matching tights and head scarves as well.

There are other places to buy modest dresses, although I'm beginning to be less and less impressed with mass merchants, who favor towards stuff with Justin Beiber plastered on every article of clothing, spaghetti staps and tiny shorts and skirts. I have found I can find some nice things on Ebay for cheap from LLbean, Lands End and even Gymboree has some nice long cotton dresses.


Is this a struggle for all you parents with daughters? Any other rules you dress your children by?



Linked up to Simple Living Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop til you Drop, Homesteading Barn Hop

Children and babies- frugal is key!

I understand that not everyone that reads my blog has children or babies.Some may, some may have grandchildren, or neices or nephews that would benefit. I want to tell you all about Rhea Lana's Children Consignment.

This isn't a typical consignment store, it is a huge weeklong event that just happens two times per year ( per location). There are events in Texas, Oklahoma, Hawaii, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Illinios, Indiana, Kansas, Louisana, Mississippi, Ohio,Missouri, and Tennesee. Most states have multiple locations.

I have been participating in this for about 6 years now, since I was pregnant with my first daughter. There are 2 really great components to this. The first is the fact that you can sell your old baby and kid clothing, toys, furniture, books, equipment etc and make some great money. You "tag" the items yourself and get to keep between 70%-80% of what you sell. At the end of the sale you get all your unsold stuff back! You get a check for your sold stuff in a matter of days also. I have had really great success selling my stuff here. The key is that literally THOUSANDS of mommas looking for a good deal will pass through during the week.

The second great component is that shopping there is such a pleasure. I buy the vast majority of my girls things there. I save a little money each month, and then twice a year go shopping! ( I normally make more money that I spend though anyways)  I bought the girls Easter dresses there last spring for $6 a peice, and they were absolutly gorgeous. I'm talking $50 dresses. They also have furniture ( I'm looking for a bunk bed this year), baby items like jumparoos, high chairs, pack and play type thingys, tons and tons of toys and books , maternity clothing and then so many baby and children clothes and shoes you wouldn't beleive it. All at yard sale prices.

So,  I don't get anything for referring you, I don't "earn" anything. I just wanted to pass along a wonderfully frugal idea that I hope someone can benefit from.

Just a little insight....

I work a full time job. It's something I really enjoy, and it is something that I beleive is worth my effort. I work in Nutrition and Ag Research, evaluating the effects that having a school garden has on the students. The goal is to prove that there is merit in environmental learning and nutrition education in order to force policy changes. I also do some work in food deserts and bringing access to healthy foods to communities that don't have that. I love it. I stayed at home until my oldest was 4, but I felt that this was something that I really needed to do. It's a great job, I get to travel, great benefits, etc. etc. etc.

I say all that though to say that somedays, actually most days I really want to just be a stay at home mom. I enjoyed the time I got to stay home with the girls and feel that it was a blessing I got to for that long. I think it's a struggle for many moms.

Even though I work outside the home, we still eat homeade meals, I still do homeschooling lessons with my daughters, although next year the oldest will probably go to a public school. I sew. We have large gardens, an orchard, livestock and a whole variety of other fun stuff around our little "homestead". Normally once a month or so I host a litle "cooking" type day, where me and a friend and our families get together and put up food, if we have produce we can, freeze or dry, other times like this month we make homeade pasta and ravioli to use throughout the year. We all work for about half a day, then split whatever was made.

Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who is very supportive, and our babysitter is a wonderful lady, who shares my vision for child raising. I think that among other things, I can be an advocate for working moms. I can say " I work too, but that doesn't mean you have to have fast food nightly, or babysit the kids with television at night.". It can be exhausting, but it is so rewarding.

AMAZING DEAL! $1 for a box of children's clothing, includes SHIPPING

I know I just posted a deal a few days ago, and I told myself that I wasn't going to post deals on my blog, but I can't help it. I'm weak, and this is one I really MUST share.



This is a deal from Deal Pulp . It's a site similiar to Groupon, or Eversave.
Todays deal is , buy any box of clothing from threadUP for only $6. This includes shipping. This is a box of "preloved" children's clothing and you get to pick the gender and size. The site says it normally has about 15 articles of clothing and that 95% of mothers who receive the box give it at least 3 out of 4 stars. BUT, it gets better...  If this is your first time to make a purchase from Deal Pulp , then you get a $5 credit. Making a box of clothing, SHIPPED only $1. I can't even pay gas to go to the garage sales for that much. Even if there is just a few thing in the box we like, it's worth it for $1, especially since they deliver it to my door. I bought 2 boxes, (one for each kid) and paid only $7 because I had one $5 credit to use. Sorry to post my good deals, I get excited though...