Thanks to our ailing economy, we’ve been budgeting more than ever before in our house. Unfortunately this has started to affect our fair-trade and 100% organic food budget. We now buy non-organic oils and run-of-the-mill organic sugar. These are items that cost half as much as their organic or fair-trade counterpart. A part of me mourns how we may be compromising our values, while a part of me applauds how we’ve found ways to cut corners. I keeping reminding myself that this is temporary.

In an effort to cut costs, we’ve stopped buying protein bars and have come up with more cost-effective and healthy snacks. Here’s one that I make a few times a week.

Mix up 3 parts peanuts to 1 part raisins and 1 part dried cranberries. If we’re having company I may add chocolate chips and coconut flakes. You could substitute any type of nut or dried fruit. The combinations are endless. And SO tasty.

Miss Leyba loves David SO much.

She totally gives him love eyes. She’s busy playing and suddenly she sees him and her entire expression changes! She looks at him in a special way called LOVE! It’s adorable. The feeling is completely mutual.

Look at this little lovefest over breakfast this morning:

Yes, she wanted to hold his hand!

The downside of all this love is that she CRIES when he leaves for work in the morning.

For about 30 seconds.

And then it’s playtime! Cause mama is fun too!

We miss you, David! Get home from work so we can get some things done hang out already!

What have we been up to and why have we been neglecting our blog?

We’ve been busy:

• playing with Grandma who has visited us this week from the east coast
• saying goodbye to crawling — we only walk around here now!
• dancing up a storm
• celebrating two birthdays (mama turns 29 today)
• hosting a birthday party and play date
• tooling around our beloved wine country
• recovering from not one but TWO clogged milk ducts
• and we all have colds now

More from us soon!