It’s April!
Matt and I are breathing for the first time since February.
We had a few things going on… if you hadn’t heard.
Last week was Finian’s birthday (who let him be FOUR). He asked for a chocolate chip fudge cake, “hanglers”, “mock-a-mole” and a few toys.
He’s pretty easy to accommodate!
Before you ask, there will be no recipe for this insane cake.
The cake was Elana’s vanilla cake recipe (with a few substitutions), our icing recipe (without spices), topped with chocolate chips and Enjoy Life chunks and the fudge sauce from Eat Like a Dinosaur. VERY rich, but since the four year old said, “Mama, it’s my birfday. I know it’s not healthy, but can we eat junk food today? I want a choco-wit chip fudge cake!” I happily obliged.
What’s teaching your kids about healthy options and empowering them with knowledge if not allowing them to sometimes make choices that aren’t perfect? We’re not perfect, and can’t possibly expect them to be! On my birthday I splurged on Bill & Hayley’s Carrot Cake with cream cheese *gasp* frosting… so his request seemed reasonable once I figured out what in the world he meant.
Speaking of Bill & Hayley, our good buddies came to visit for the big celebratory weekend. Oh that’s right, Finian’s birthday was the SAME weekend as our first formal book signing as a family and the week of our book launch… only a week after Paleo (f)x! We were so thrilled B&H decided to come down to good old Virginia and do a book signing together.
Thanks to Bobby Gill (again) for taking pictures… we were a bit occupied.
The adorable food & cooking bookstore, Salt & Pepper Books, the waterfront location of Occoquan, Va
& beautiful weather made for a fantastic day!
It was such a testament to the paleo lifestyle that the happy, healthy kids chose to run around outside, playing together.
Have I mentioned enough how much I love this community?
Then the following weekend we had another book signing with good friend & illustrator, Amanda Gates at Barnes & Noble.
Thanks to Amanda’s special friend Steve for snapping a few photos for us!
If you bought the book, like the site or have a t-shirt, we guarantee you it’s at least in large part because of Amanda’s awesome artistry. We can’t thank her enough for being part of the PaleoParents team. You might not see her, but she’s what makes this cool, fun, pretty world go ’round!
We also thank EVERYONE that came out for book signings. It was SO nice meeting friends we “knew” but hadn’t met before. Both bookstore managers said they were impressed with sales and turnout – so pat yourselves on the back or find someone close-by to high-five!
Can we have another honesty moment for a minute?
This is insane. We NEVER thought we’d write a book that more than a few people would be interested… let alone run a site that people actually traffic. We still think of ourselves as just Matt and Stacy, normal people. Parents. Suburban dwellers and generally boring people. Who are a little weird about they way they eat. And perhaps a bit crunchy granola with their weird cloth diapering and breastfeeding philosophies. Meeting some of you, or talking, facebooking, tweeting, e-mailing, etc. has blown our minds.
You know our story, you support our family and you constantly offer words of encouragement. It can be intimidating to feel like your life is an open book that you share with the world, never knowing who’s looking. But it seems so normal to meet you all – we wish I could be BFFs with everyone! *p.s. my new protocol has made me totally go all rainbows and butterflies – thanks hormone balancing!*
And, because no update is complete without thanking people who have reviewed ELaD – here’s our weekly round-up!
The Whole Gang
We love full flavored foods in my house and these recipes are full of that. I think this recipe and guidebook is a great addition to your kitchen and I hope your book ends up looking like my copy, a little sticky, turned down corners, notes and a book used in the kitchen a lot!
Diane from The Whole Gang is actually quite local to us (in fact, we got the idea to contact her after we read a list of top gluten-free blogs in the DC-area!). Be sure to check out this awesome blog and especially her weekly round up! We’re so happy she is putting a lot of love into her copy of our book!
RobbWolf.com/Amy Kubal
Dad is going to go T-Rex on the 50/50 Bacon Burgers. Mom is going to blow her Triceratop over the section on packing lunches. And what little boy wouldn’t Pteradactyl into some ‘Rats on a Stick’? If your little girl is an outdoor diva, let her get down with her Parksosaurus self in the garden or at the farmers market; Eat like a dinosaur has tips and tricks for all that too!
Hey, we made it to RobbWolf.com! How cool is that? This review by Amy Kubal is completely cute with lots of tiny plays on words that really tickled us!
The Paleo Home
This book is Marilyn’s. She adores having a cookbook all to herself, and it’s been fun picking out recipes and seeing what allergen is or isn’t inside. She has the colored sections memorized. There is a place for kids to add notes. There are symbols on the side of each recipe that allows you to identify the allergens. This is much more than a cookbook – this is a children’s manual for nutrition.
The Paleo Home looked through our book with her daughter and, judging from her review, we have a hit! I love how her hatchling got excited about having a book to call her own. Very cool!
Push Ups and Carrots
I pre-ordered the book as soon as it was announced by PaleoParents months ago. It was to be a present for my little girl, who LOVES to ‘make’. When I had the opportunity to view it in person at PaleoFX I became so caught up in the amazing order, colorful allergy key and enticing photos that I nearly missed one of my most anticipated panels.
Stacy met the proprieter of Pushups and Carrots at PaleoFX where, apparently, ELaD excited her so much we distracted her from her schedule! Read her review and then enter to win a free copy of your own!
Delish Dish
My two boys and I sat down together and looked through our new food adventure, and the excitement in all of us was mounting, which for me (after watching my oldest refuse food for 3 1/2 years) was a tear jerking moment.After putting both of my munchkins to bed, I finally got to dig into this amazing book. While reading Eat Like a Dinosaur I found myself smiling, laughing, saying “aha!”, and feeling hopeful that soon our family will be Eating Like Dinosaurs and feeling the amazing success that this family felt once they switched over to the Paleo way of life.
We’re super excited (you think we’re being sarcastic, but we’re not) to “take the blog back” from it’s month of ELaD goodness. I mean, we enjoyed that too… but, we blog for a reason – we enjoy it. So, hope you do too and happy to be “back in the saddle” so to speak!
