gigi's favorite treat - organic lollipops

Gracie is what I call sweet mischief. She gets into (or out of!) everything. My new way to keep her in a high chair while we are trying to finish our meals when we go out to eat is to allow her and her brother an organic lolli. I like that they are all natural and made from fruits and veggies and that my kids have no idea. Granted they are still a lolli and do not take place of regular nutrition, but they sure do make a great treat, especially when I am in a desperate situation where I need them to stay quiet and in one place! I buy the bags of these at Babies R s, but you can also go to Yummy Earth's website and purchase them there. Just make sure you take baby wipes with you!

Here is a picture of Gigi eating one from a few nights ago....

a healthy popsicle

Well, it's not really a popsicle. Really it's a YoKids Squeezers which is organic yogurt in a tube. I found a mom at the beach last week that was freezing "go-gurts" and giving then to her kids at the pool. She was sweet enough to share one with my kids and they loved eating the yogurt like a frozen popsicle. I did not love the artifical flavors and colors though, so I was off to find a healthy version, which lead me to the YoKids Squeezers. My kids love them frozen and they aren't near as messy when you freeze them. They make a great yummy treat, that is much healthier than any popsicle or ice cream!

MIA

So I know I have been totally MIA these past few weeks. Here is what has happened: first we went to the beach for a week. Then I got back to immediately start having to teach VBS for a week with my kids. That was last week, which during that time, my hard drive on my Mac crashed ( I thought Macs weren't suppose to crash). Anyway, my incredible husband has gotten the mac running well enough for me to post, but I have lost everything. So, this morning, being the sweet man he is, he ordered me a flamingo pink dell! I am super excited that i will have a pink computer but totally bummed that I will no longer be a Mac girl. My husband is a total PC man and now that I have been through two Mac laptops in less than 5 years, he is over it and wants me on something he knows how to fix, so bear with me as I am learning. Hopefully my new laptop will be here this week and I will get back on to regular posting. Please don't leave me! I promise more green info coming soon! (teaser..... I have a GREAT tip that I learned at the beach!!)

PS. Does anyone else feel like when one thing in your life breaks so does everything else. We have had to get so much new stuff lately due to things breaking it's ridiculous!!! Oh well! Good thing we store our treasures in heaven!

my experience returning bottle to BRU

So yesterday I only had my little one with me because my mom took Charlie for the day, so I thought, "this will be easy, I'll just scoot in and return these bottles real quick!" HA! What was I thinking.

BRU did take back all my bottles, but just so you know, they take 33% off if you are missing the nipples (who saves old nipples??). So here is how my experience went.

The first girl I approached told me I could return them in exchange for anything on the feeding wall (meaning sippies, pacis, spoons, whatever). Sweet! But then she is quickly corrected by the assistant manager that is next to her that I can only exchange bottle for bottle. I have no need for bottles right now, so I wasn't exactly thrilled with that news.

So, they tell me I have about $30 worth of credit (they won't tell you the exact total until you are up there with what you want to buy). So determined to out smart the system, I pick up a handful of the Nuby 3 Stage Nursers because each of these "bottles" contain a sippy spout inside of them.

So I get back to the counter and am ready to do my exchange when another assistant manager is there and he corrects the first saying I can get anything off of the feeding wall. So I keep a couple of my Nuby sippies that I have already choosen and go back and get a Foogo Thermos Cup and some of my favorite Sassy spoons for Gracie.

So I am finally ready to check out. I have four Nuby cups, a Foogo cup and a set of spoons. The girl at the register says "These don't say BPA free". I'm like, I know, but they are. I start rattling off a list of the BPA free cups and she looks at me like I have a third eye. She's like, "don't you want to just get BPA free bottles". So I attempt to explain to her that none of my current children are using bottles at this point, so I would rather use the credit for things we can use now and buy BPA free bottles when we are ready for them. She is highly annoyed with me at this point, so I quickly (HA!) finish up and then annoy her some more by asking her to just reuse my plastic bag that I brought the bottles in.

So that was my experience. I know this post was long, but not near as long as the forty five minutes I spent in BRU trying to return those bottles!

chemical free sunscreen

I started off buying Aveeno Baby Sunscreen for the kids this summer because I had to use up Matt's flex spending and it was the most "natural" looking sunscreen I could find. Well, after researching it, I found out while it doesn't aggravate Charlies eczema, it is not all that natural either. So I am on the hunt for a great, chemical free sunscreen that will actually work. Burt's Bees was the first one I discovered, but a friend of mine has tried it and said it was hard to rub in. So, faithful readers of mine.... whatcha lathering your kiddos up in this summer? Leave me a comment with suggestions, reviews, professions of love, what ever! We leave for the beach Saturday so I appreciate your help!

Babylegs are Sew Golden this month at MonkeeMoos. Babylegs have specially marked packages from today until July 15 full of great prizes! Sew Golden Babylegs are only sold at participating retailers, so you can't get them everywhere. I will feature different prizes each day this week so be on the look out! Get your Sew Golden Babylegs before they are all gone!