Welcome to Clean Eating with Kids

Hi there! I’m Carey. Writer and ‘everything elser’ here at Clean Eating with Kids! If I had 10 11 words to sum up what you will find here they would be: Money Saving, Real Food Eating, Simple Living, Family loving, Mom Stuff.

Thanks for stopping by this About me Page – I think you are one few who do 🙂 I am super happy to have you here!

Yup. This is us. Me and my Gorgeous, Funny, Real Food Eating, Newbie Farming Family of 6 (I think this picture sums us up rather nicely).

Quick Catch Up on our Story so Far…

Three years ago our family was in a bad place. It all looked good on the outside. We had a lovely home, our plumbing business was super busy.

But behind the scenes, we were a mess. Financially we were stuck on a hamster wheel of earn-spend-earn-spend-spend-spend. The debt was mounting and the pressure was effecting our family. Both my daughter and husband had extreme anxiety. Looking back now, I realize that I was in a state of depression. Maybe I should have asked for help, but I was embarrassed and kept it to myself. And I also felt that it was our mess. We should be the ones to fix it.

My husband and I felt lost. Wondering whether this was ‘it?’. We both felt that there should be more to life than just accumulating ‘things’. We wanted to make changes but didn’t know how. Any change seemed scary.

Sometimes when you feel like everything is falling apart, you just have to pick one thing. Just one thing to improve on to help you gain momentum and build your confidence.

For me, this began with our home. I made the decision to run our home with intention and purpose. I felt as if I could just get on top of everything at home, I could begin to regain the peace and balance we all needed so badly.

One small change led to another….

We started eating Real food (You can Read About our Getting Started with Real Food Story here) despite at least half my kids being fussy eaters.

We sold the house we couldn’t afford and a whole lot our ‘stuff’ too.

We gave up our life in the suburbs and made the move to Rural New Zealand.

We bought a farm (or a big muddy paddock where we are slowly building our dream farm. It’s an adventure, for sure!).

We live frugally in a small house.

We still live off one income.

And now I write about it.

I started Clean Eating with Kids at the end of 2015 for three reasons:

1.   I wanted to share everything we learned as a regular family making the change to real food, and
2.   I desperately wanted to figure out way to earn a living from home and take some of the financial   responsibility away from my husband.
3.   I’m an introvert by Nature. Being a Stay at home Introverted Mom of four Kids can get a little lonely. You get torn between needing adult interaction and dreading it the same time. Writing this blog helped me with this.

About Carey

Some super fun facts about me….

I’m a Mom x 4
I have four funny and amazing kids – Aged 9,11,15 and 17. Two girls and two boys (how clever am I?). I love being a Mom. Love it! Don’t tell anyone, but it’s all I’ve ever wanted to be. This year I turned 40, so I am going through a bit of turmoil accepting that I’m not going to have any more and also trying to figure out what’s next.

I’m Short.
Really short. I feel I should mention this now because it does come up when people meet me. I think I write like a tall person.  I’m 5’1″ if I stand up real straight. I’ve been that height for as long as I can remember. My oldest daughter carries the shortness gene too. My youngest daughter has the longest legs ever from some throwback gene.

I’m an Introvert.
I’m not shy. I just avoid social interaction at all costs. Most people don’t know this about me when they meet me – because I’m really chatty. I hide my feelings well. Actually, I didn’t know this about myself until recently. I thought I was just socially awkward. My husband says I still am :). Nice of you, babe!  

My Husband is my Best Friend
Maybe that sounds a little corny (is that still a word?), but it’s true. We started dating when I was 17 and have been together ever since. He is kind and interesting and he makes me smile every day no matter what. And I try do the same for him.

I Love Animals. 
Seriously. I Love the little Critters. It drives my husband and at two of my kids crazy (the three lambs in the lounge nearly broke them all) because I adopt anything that needs a home. But he knew this about me before he married me, so I feel like he already agreed to that Clause.

To put you in the picture …. at the moment we have 3 cats (two rescue – one impulse purchase); 2 dogs; 14 sheep (including one blind rescue lamb and two very demanding orphan lambs); six cows (who were meant to be dinner, but ….well, it hasn’t happened yet); 7 adopted Guinea Pigs living out their retirement in my veggie garden;  2 Pekin Ducks; 8 gorgeous hens and two bunnies. Oh, I nearly forgot – 2 annoying Kune Kune Pigs who were destined for the pot but now live a ladies life of leisure wondering the farm on their little piggy legs.

And yes – every single one of them has a name. But I will spare you that.

And a few Random things ….

• I’ve dived with Sharks in the Ocean. Within touching distance! I don’t know if I would have done it if I had known how close we would be to those teeth.
• I only learned to hula hoop when I was 38 years old.
• I can’t sing at all.
• I’ve helped a sheep (3 of them now) give birth
• I am slightly dyslexic. Numbers sometimes reverse themselves in my head.
• I am an extreme cheapskate (never been fond of that word, but haven’t been able to find a better one)
• I’m terrified of heights (and a little scared of the dark. But I’m not scared of spiders)
• I genuinely can’t actually remember what my natural hair color is.
• And I still argue with my kids some nights about eating their vegetables.

Clean Eating with Kids

At the end of 2014, we started eating Clean as a family. Not everyone was happy about the idea, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions we ever made. OK, to be honest – I kinda made the decision for them. But that’s what us Moms sometimes need to do.

Now we are all healthier, happier and accountable for the food choices we make. And I think it has helped us achieve balance in our lives.

My kids know where the food they eat comes from and I feel as if it has helped them grow into considerate, compassionate little humans that do their part to make the World a better place.

If you are still a little worried about making the change to real food, don’t panic. It took me a little while to get the hang of it. Take a little look around the website and read these posts first:

Here are some Posts to help you on your Real Food journey.

• What Clean Eating Means to Our Family
• Our Real Food Story (the good and the bad stuff)
• Why We eat Clean 
• How I Get My Children to Eat New Vegetables
• 5 Things we found really tough when we started eating Clean with Kids