Valentine's Day, Lent, and Thankfulness

Valentine's Day was simple and sweet this year. Pippa wore a new little heart-filled shirt, and Stella got little nail decals for the special day (Plus she wore her new Minnie Mouse shirt from grandma-she couldn't be happier). We made heart-shaped scones for her daycare friends too.

The Clark Clean-Up Confessions

No, you have not just entered an episode of hoarders. These are our closets. The community closets for the whole family and all our junk (Our bedroom closets don't look like this I promise). February is "Get this S%$* out of the house" month! I've even got the Dick on board too! Yes! That wasn't as hard as a thought, but he is a bit of a neat freak so it shouldn't surprise me.

I've started a pile. A pile of things to be rid of. The current problem is not getting rid of our unused items, but where to store them until it's time to give them away. I've noticed that I can't have the old stuff just sitting out where I can see it, because when I can see it, I think up ways to use the items, or reasons to keep them. It's ridiculous. I haven't used any of this stuff in years. Get. Rid. Of. It. Brooklynn! So on this long President's Day weekend, we will get rid of the items we have so far.

Chocolate Date Bars

I like Lara Bars. Stella likes Lara Bars. Lara Bars are expensive. But I feel like they are full of whole foods and nothing processed, so I've been buying them as easy snacks on the go. But in an effort to save money on these kinds of things, I've been trying to make them myself. Any recipe I have tried so far has not lived up to my expectations. Until now. This is pretty good! I like it. Stella likes it. It went fast in our house.

The Clark Clean-Up!

Starting on January 1st, I decided to do a Whole30. Whole30 you ask? In a nutshell, I strictly follow a Paleo diet for 30 days. No Grains, No Dairy, No Sugar, No Alcohol. There is a ton of science behind this kind of elimination diet. A lot has to do with eliminating foods that cause inflammation in your gut and other parts of the body-which most diseases start from. The Paleo Solution is a good book about it and there are a ton of podcasts and blogs that I found helpful too (Balanced Bites and The Paleo View). I had a few reasons for trying to do a Whole30-since college my stomach goes through phases where it is knotted up, cramped, and bloated! Yuck! It hurts and it's hard to keep up with two little girls when my stomach is in knots. The other reason is I need to get into my old jeans-plain and simple. 

I'm back!

It's been over a year since I've posted anything on our family blog. So, for my first post of 2013 I thought I should do a rewind of 2012. Here goes...

New pictures of our little family

Family Easter photo

Stella in her tutu.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

Early this morning I went to Redwood Covenant Church to help pass out food to those in need. I'd never done this before so I hardly knew what to expect. I showed up at 7am to see hundreds of families posted up waiting for us to "open". The line wrapped around the church and some had been waiting since midnight. It was great to see so many families getting food, gifts, and Christmas trees this holiday season. Despite the long line and long wait, kids and adults alike were smiling and thankful.