Wild about Wildtree

A few months ago I joined Wildtree, I was not sure what I was getting into, but I loved the products and was looking forward to sharing it with my friends and family.  I haven't written a blog ( http://majirosfamily.blogspot.com/2012_10_01_archive.html ) post since I initially held my own Freezer Meal Workshop, and since then I have joined the company and held a few Freezer Meal Workshops and Tasting parties.  I thought it was time to share some more information for those who do not follow me on Facebook.

 

From the Wildtree Website: "Our Mission

Wildtree offers the highest quality herbs, spices and culinary blends that are free of preservatives, additives, fillers and promote a healthier lifestyle. We believe in the value of making cooking a quicker, easier, more healthful project for those who are short on time. Wildtree also offers a fun adventure for those who wish to be more creative in the kitchen. We offer our representatives the opportunity to earn unlimited income and have a home based business that allows them to live the American Dream."

 

What is a Freezer Meal Workshop? 

There are many menu options to choose from for a Freezer Meal Workshop.  Once you choose what menu you like, you can invite friends to come to the workshop.  I will provide you with an invite and set up a Facebook event.  Prior to the workshop (2 weeks) your guests will order bundles through me that will be used to put together the meals. All the menus have 10 meals on them, and depending on your family size, could be split into 20 meals.  (On average people have been getting about 15 meals  unless they have a large family/older children).  The Wildtree bundles range from $74-78 and with that you get 7 products that you will use for the meals and also go home with lots of leftover products, enough to make many more meals, side dishes, etc.  While this investment seems high, you will realize after your first workshop, it is totally worth it and helps expand your menu planning.  General groceries to complete the meals will run you anywhere from $50-$100plus, it just depends on where you shop, how much you buy organic, if you can get meat on sale, etc.  Must menus end up cheaper than what you would spend eating out.  If you host a workshop and have 6 or more participants (other than yourself) you earn your bundle for free!  Most of my hostesses have earned over $100 in free products, I have had 2 earn over $200 and one earn over $400.  Once you start talking about freezer meals, you will have no problem finding people to participate!

 

What is a Tasting Party?

A tasting party is a great way to try some Wildtree products, learn about the company, and order some items to try.  I provide the hostess with lots of samples to make for everyone to try.  Some of my favorites to serve would be; Ranch Dressing, Hearty Spaghetti Blend, pizza dough made into breadsticks, our signature Grapeseed Oils, Dill Dip, Alfredo, Garlic Galore dip, and Tacos. Invite some friends over, enjoy some yummy food, and do some shopping from the convenience of home! 

 

 

 

 

I am also working on building our team!  If you are interested in earning extra money, getting a discount on great products, and making your own schedule, please let me know! There is plenty of opportunity in many areas of the US to grow, build, and make money!

www.mywildtree.com/smajiros

Valentine's Day Projects

We have been stuck at home all week.  D has a case of breakthrough chicken pox.
Here is the general info (medTV, my mom sent it to me) 

"If a vaccinated person does get chickenpox, it is called a breakthrough infection. This infection is believed to be caused by a wild-type varicella virus. A breakthrough infection is usually very mild with fewer skin lesions (usually less than 50) lasting only a few days, with no fever or a low fever, and few other chickenpox symptoms. Breakthrough infection is estimated to occur in approximately 2 percent of vaccinations per year. The rate does not appear to increase with length of time since vaccination.

Vaccinated people who get this milder form of chickenpox may still spread the disease to others who are not protected. Therefore, these individuals should stay at home until the blisters have formed scabs; if there are no blisters present, they should stay home until no new spots or bumps are forming."

She doesn't itch, thankfully!   But she has a few stubborn spots that haven't dried up.  We have a snow storm blowing in tonight, so my guess is we will be stuck home tomorrow too. 

 

We have broke out some old toys, made some homemade finger paint, gotten our Valentine's cards done, etc.  All in all we have survived.

 

I thought it would be fun to revisit old Valentine's Day projects and maybe inspire a few to get crafty!

D's first Valentine's

I used this picture to send Valentine's Day cards to family and friends!

2nd Valentine's :  We were in Tokyo and sent this picture home for everyone!

working on her first real Valentine's Day cards for her class.

Watercolor

These took awhile to complete, but turned out super cute!  I just got blank cards and she painted on each one.

Her goodies from her first party! 

Valentine snack at preschool (2 years old)

Party at school (3 years old)

I thought I got a better picture of this, but we did an owl theme Valentine with a pencil, the owl was perched on the pencil.  She signed her name.

Her goodies from us! (3 Years old)

4 Years old

Working on a Valentine.

Special Cake for V-day

A fun homemade book D made for her teacher last year!  It turned out so cute.

5 Years Old--Kindergarten Party goodies

 

Christmas Recap....bring on 2013!

We had a nice, quiet Christmas.  Unable to travel to NC this year as planned, we opted to stay home and have a simple celebration.  We attended Christmas Eve service at church and then decided to let D pick the restaurant to go to after.  She decided on Chinese, so we headed to the local Chinese Buffet.  It was nice not to have to cook a big meal and everyone got to eat what they wanted.  We headed home after and gave the girls a gift (New PJs) and let them open a few gifts that were sent to them from friends and family (thank you!).  After that we read Twas the Night Before Christmas and tucked everyone in.  N had put together a few gifts that afternoon, so we didn't have too much to prep before heading to bed ourselves.
N went downstairs first to capture E's reaction to all the presents and her new car!  So cute!!  We had a fun morning opening gifts and playing with new stuff.  N made us a big breakfast and then we settled in for a lazy day at home.  We made Mac and Cheese for dinner (we made a copy cat version from our favorite restaurant) and enjoyed some pie for dessert.  It was a great day, but we did miss having family here!

Now time to settle into the new year!  So much going on this year and we are ready to tackle it!  I have my new business up and running (Wildtree) and am looking forward to some parties in NY later this month.  N and I are signed up for the Warrior Dash in August.  I am hoping to do a half marathon this Spring or Summer.  D is still in gymnastics and is looking forward to a Kid Fit class at the gym and Softball in the Spring.  E continues to grow and change daily!  She is so stinkin' smart and independent. 

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season that makes it impossible to keep up on a blog!  I figured I shall sit for a few moments and do a little catch up, of course there is a great chance that I won't make it far as I have a cranky, teething toddler today who needs me most.
So hard to believe we are only a little over a week away from Christmas.  We are almost ready!  We have already had Christmas with both sets of parents, so that just leaves giving out teacher gifts and doing our own little family Christmas.  I still need to get stocking stuffers for E and some for N, plus we need to find another toy to give E.  I can't wait for Christmas morning and all the craziness it will entail!  I think we have decided to go out to eat after Christmas Eve service, with it just being us this year it seems silly to have to go home and cook.  Hopefully we can find somewhere to eat!
If you haven't already heard I am selling Wildtree; Wildtree is a direct sales company that specialized in all natural gourmet culinary blends, infused Grapeseed oils, dressings, and sauces (plus much more).  I am really excited about the product and their freezer meal workshops.  So far I have had one freezer meal workshop as a representative.  It went really well and I am looking forward to the ones I have booked for January.  If you want to know more please email me or check out my webpage:  www.mywildtree.com/smajiros
D is doing well, she is having a little more girl drama at school than I would like.  We didn't have any last year, so I wasn't really prepared for it this year.  She did not get put in a class with any of her friends from last year, so she is still getting to know the girls in her class.  She looks forward to seeing her old friends outside during recess, however they aren't always willing to let her join them in whatever they are playing.  I am pretty sure D has done the same thing to others in other scenarios, so we keep reminding her that you have to be a good friend all the time, and sometimes you just have to walk away when others are not being very nice.  She is still doing gymnastics and is looking forward to skiing when we finally get some snow (it was 50 degrees yesterday!).
E is a busy toddler, she is a ball of energy and so much fun to be around.  She is a talker!  Everyone is amazed at the amount of words she knows and her ability to speak in sentences.  Her favorite things to say; thank you, I don't know, yep, snowman, milk please, Jingle Bells, Laney, Kitty, Elmo.
N is busy with work!  He is also training for a 5K and trying to shed some more weight.  He is still a vegetarian and is never even tempted by some of the meats the girls eat.

Merry Christmas to all!!

November Already!

Phew--where did the month of October go?  And it is already the 10th of November!  I have a feeling time is going to continue to fly by until the end of December.
We had a lot of fun in October; we were able to enjoy some great weather, watch the leaves change color overnight, and participate in lots of Halloween activities.  I think the whole family agrees that the Trunk or Treat weekend at our church was the best.  We did our first every family fun run and invited friends to come to the trunk or treat event with us; I think we all had a wonderful time and would like to make it a yearly tradition.  We are so very blessed to have some great friends here that we can enjoy these activities with.
I am feeling a little guilty that I haven't participated in the day of thankfulness on Facebook.  I hope that in posting pictures of my family and sharing with you all what we are up to you can see how very thankful and blessed we feel. 
This week I am most thankful for my family and friends.  The beginning of the week D had a sleep study and my parents were able to come into town and help out with E. Then I was fortunate enough to celebrate a friend's birthday on Thursday and a co-worker of N's birthday on Friday.  What a fun couple of nights that included Madonna, good food, wine (!), and even a little dancing.  We are going to need the whole weekend to recover!
Up next--Thanksgiving!  My in-laws will be here to celebrate with us.  We are looking for a place to eat if anyone has any restaurant suggestions!  And I am determined to get some shopping done soon!

Freezer Meal Workshop

A few weeks ago I went to a Wildtree Tasting Party and got excited about their products and their freezer bag workshops.  As you know, I love freezer cooking!  When the representative said it would take only an hour to put together 10 meals (more if you have a small family and can split the recipes), she had my full attention.
What is Wildtree?  Here is what is listed on their website: 

"Wildtree is an exciting direct-sales company whose all natural gourmet culinary blends, infused Grapeseed oils, dressings and sauces are sold through home Tasting parties.

Our Independent Representatives will show your guests how to make cooking everyday and gourmet food quicker, easier and more healthful for those who are short on time, and a fun, interesting adventure for those who wish to be more creative in the kitchen.

Wildtree's food line contains all natural, no preservatives, no msg, no food dyes, no food additives. Wildtree provides recipes for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, holiday meals, appetizers and other special occasions. Wildtree provides an excellent home based business opportunity for Independent Representatives who want to make part-time money or build a full-time career."  http://wildtree.com/Home/default.aspx

Who doesn't want to put together 10 meals in one hour and know the ingredients are all natural?!? 

So I booked my freezer workshop and started spreading the word, I got a lot of positive interest, which got me thinking maybe this is a company I could work for.  My partner in crime, MK, had a great idea to see if we could get some better meat prices if all of us ordered together.  There was 10 of us, so that is a lot of meat.  (I think it was 100 lbs!)  She called a bunch of butchers, visited them in person, and worked her magic.  We got great meat prices and the butcher cut it just how we needed it and packaged it in the sizes each of us would need! (chunks, strips, boneless)

To prep for the workshop you have to bag your protein and veggies and label the bags with the right number.  I would say this took less than an hour to do.  On the day of the workshop the representative brings your purchased bundle of oil and spices. (I will post a picture below)  And gives you the directions on what needs to be added to each bag.  She also gave us labels to stick to the bags with instructions.  We all quickly got to work and sure enough in about an hour with all had 10 plus meals.  We also were given some side suggestions for meals and the nutrional information.

Note to vegetarians:  The Wildtree rep can give you vegetarian options, I made a few of my meals vegetarian so Nathan would have lots of meals to enjoy too.

Here is what we made:

Garlic and Herb Pork Chops

Italian Chicken Tenders

Herb Crusted Tilapia

Lemon Rosemary Roasted Tenderloin

Opa! Greek Kabobs (I did half mine tofu, half chicken)

Greek Chicken Burgers

Shrimp Scampi (I did mine vegetarian-so the substitute was peppers and mushrooms)

Baked Chicken Scampi and rice (I made mine tofu)

Fajitas (I used Portebella mushrooms instead of steak)

Taco Night (I used lentils, everyone else used ground turkey)

 

Here is the postivie, you have a lot of spices and oils to make even more meals!  So the upfront cost does not seem as bad.

 

work station

Spices and oil

meals all done

What you get in the bundle, this was after I made the meals, so you can see a lot is left.

 

 

Update on life...

It has been a very busy fall.  This time of year seems to be a whirlwind when you have a child in school.  I thought I better do a little update on what everyone is up to.
D-She is enjoying 1st grade and is the new challenges that 1st grade brings.  She is participating in a gymnastics class once a week and starts a walking club on Monday.  We are trying hard to fit an hour in of physical activity for her, as well continuing to adjust her diet.  We are meeting with a nutritionist in a few weeks.  She had to have an x-ray which found enlarged adenoids (her tonsils are fine), she is going to have a sleep study in November to see if they are affecting the quality of sleep she is getting.  We are so very lucky that she has been a very healthy child, so we will take this bump in the road as it comes.
E-is a very busy toddler.  She is beginning to string words together which is fun to hear.  She is finally getting some more teeth, we are up to 8 now!  We still don't know how long she will be with us, so we just take it one day at a time.
N-is busy with work and some house projects.  He has also adjusted some things in his diet and is seeing results.  He has started the couch to 5K program again and hopes to run a 5K this winter.
Me-I am keeping busy with the girls, MOPS, Moms Club, and volunteering at school.  I am still running and going to start a new program this coming week to help me add distance.  (right BFF?)  I am looking forward to a freezer cooking party I am having Wednesday....and will try to blog about that next week!