A Family Of Bikers

 

 

I love my husband and kids.  I love my life. I love our lifestyle.

Today looked nice and sunny, so we ate an early dinner and then went for a bike ride. The chilly Northwest wind  quickly froze me through my jacket. Burrrr! I was glad the children were warm and cozy.

It was Katelyn's first time in the pull-behind bike trailer. At first, she wasn't sure what was going on. Then she fell asleep before we even left our subdivision. Owen wanted to ride in the trailer with her. He kept poking his head out of the plastic window/cover in order to see better.

This is the best I could do for a family picture of the bike ride. Riding 1 handed whilst trying to take a pic with the cell phone was tricky and wobbly. I'm lucky I didn't crash!
Brian is pulling both kids in the trailer, I'm following close behind - you can see my shadow!

How to Save Money Buying CHICKEN

(super yummy picture of chicken is courtesy of zayconfoods.com)

Buying bulk saves money. Period.

Here is how I buy chicken in bulk and save TONS of money:

1- Order chicken during a "Chicken Event". This happens 2-3 times per year.
 Click here to sign up for a FREE Zaycon Foods account. They sell chicken all across the USA.  It comes in 40 pound cases. If that is too much for you, split with a friend. I buy 2 cases and it lasts a long time.

2-Pickup chicken. Pull up to the truck. Show your receipt. They load it in your trunk. Easy peasy!

3-Store chicken. I put them in plastic bags. I know crockpot freezer meals are really popular - and they would be very easy to make with this chicken.

  

This picture is about 3/4 of my box. I still have enough chicken left in the box to fill 2-3 gallon size ziplock bags.

How To Save Money Buying Produce

We eat ALOT of produce. It seems we eat hundreds of dollards worth of produce each month. I can save tons of money by purchasing produce through a food co-op.

I love Bountiful Baskets. Its a GREAT volunteer run food co-op. If you are new to the co-op experience, you can learn about Bountiful Baskets by clicking HERE. Bountiful baskets is EVERYWHERE around the Western U.S.A. Go to their website to see if they have it in your hometown.

I've been participating in Bountiful Baskets since 2007. I like it best in the spring and summer when there are lots of fruits in season.

 

Every week is different.
This week I got: 8 bananas
1 pound strawberries
3 huge granny smith apples
1 pineapple
4 pears
2 stalks celery
1 head green leaf lettuce
3 zucchini
3 cucumbers
6 tomatos
5 giant russet baking potatos

All this produce weighed 26.52 pounds.
$15.00 for Bountiful Basket
+$1.50 handling fee (for online debit card payment)
=$16.50 total cost for Bountiful Basket

$16.50 / 26.52 pounds = $0.62/lb for ALL this produce
AMAZING!

I was in a hurry to get my bread in rolled up and in the oven.

In the next picture you will see 1/2 of my B.B. produce, my FOOD SCALE, alaskan ulu,  and my super soft moist bread ready to put into bread pans.
Exciting day at the Johnson house. :-)

Here is my whole wheat bread recipe. Soft, moist, fluffy. Mmmmm goodness.
I'll be posting instructions and tips for my breadmaking sometime this summer. But if you have questions before then, please ask!

Take your medicine Baby!

The first time I gave Kateelyn some Tylonol, it was an absolute NIGHTMARE! I swore to TEACH her how to take her medicine so future dosings would go smoothly, and so I wouldn't ruin another outfit with the red or purple syrup she spit out.

I decided to teach her to drink from a plastic syringe, so the future dosings would be more manageable. THIS WORKED PERFECTLY!

I started (occasionally) feeding her thin baby cereal through these little plastic syringes. I only did it often enough so she would remember how to do it. A few times a day, and then only once a month after she got the hang of it.

This was SO EASY and she thinks its fun too- BONUS! Now, when she is sick or needs medicine, I know she will easily down that dose of faux-grape flavored syrup.

Here she is - loving the milked-down rice cereal. Mmmmmm Mmmm good!

Thankful for Co-ops

Today I'm thankful for the Bountiful Baskets Co-Op. I love getting fresh yummy produce. For only $16.50 and a few minutes out of my usual Saturday morning activities, it's worth it to me. I realize that BB is not for everyone, but i love it-and I'll shout it from the rooftops!

Todays score:

3 grapefruits

2 lemons

5 bananas

4 oranges (or tangerines?)

2 mangos

1 green leaf lettuce

2 bunches of asparagus

2 head broccoli

1 head cauliflower

2 onions

I weighed all the food on my food scale (which i LOVE) and it came to13.35 pounds.

And now i use  the calculator....

$.80 per pound. Not bad, especially when your getting things like asparagus, apples, mangos. Yum!

Miss Kate is 6 Months!

My little baby girl is already 6 months old. Where did the time go? It feels like we just brought her home from the hospital, and suddenly she is a BABY - no longer a newborn. How did this happen?

Katelyn's 6 month stats:
Weight: 17 lbs 9 oz - 80%
Height: 25 1/8" -  25%
Head size: 43 1/2 cm  - 75%
So....she is short and chubby. Just as we predicted. Haha. We love our litle tubby tubs Kate. Owen ESPECIALLY adores her. He is constantly kissing, hugging, and 'helping' her with diaper changes, buckling her carseat, and other 'helper' type things.

Kate is talented. Here's what she can do!
-Sit up, she is really sturdy and doesn't fall over easily
-Roll from tummy to back (and ALMOST from back to tummy)
-Grabs all kinds of objects and sucks on them
-Laughs at: peek-a-boo, loud noises, tickles, wiggles & jiggles
-She can 'head-butt' on command (which is knocking her forehead against mine). Then she laughs.
-Sleeps about 11 hours at night without waking up. 11pm - 10am
-Grabs her feet and sometimes sucks on her toes
-Sucks her thumb in the corner of her mouth

 

After posting these pictures I noticed that Blogger (Blogspot) uploads are NOT high quality. All of my pictures are slightly grey. They are not at all grey tinted just viewing them on my computer, only the uploaded version. So sad! But the pictures are still just as darling as ever - cause my kids are the CUTTEST KIDS EVER CREATED! :-)