haba farm set steal

I am all about wooden toys for my kids. I love any toy that doesn't take a battery and requires some imagination to be played with. Well today on www.babysteals.com, they have this awesome wooden farm set for sale. It retails at $39.99, but is a steal today for $19.99. This would make a great Christmas present or to put away for birthdays!

Baby Steals is a great site to get awesome products at reduced costs. They have organic baby clothing on there occasionally so keep an eye out!

slacker menu monday

My menu is really slacking this week as we are really busy and not eating at home much but here goes!

Sunday- leftover pizza, applesauce and grapes
Monday- fend for yourself night
Tuesday- I have small group dinner. Family will eat annie's mac and cheese and fruit. I am making homemade yeast rolls for small group and making chicken pot pie and pumpkin bread for a friend who just had a baby.
Wednesday- I have my monthly dinner club. Family will have grilled cheese on whole wheat and soup
Thursday- Chicken Pot Pie ( I will make a double batch of the filling tomorrow so I just have to throw ours together on Thursday)
Friday- We will be having dinner at a friends for a Halloween Party. I think I am going to make corn bread and heath bar apple dip to take with us.
Saturday- some sort of pasta, maybe chicken pesto??

So, sorry we have a busy week. I am not so full of good ideas this week. What are you eating this week??

what do you think about this fox news article?

It states that non organic is no healthier than organic... share your thoughts before I share mine!!

click here to read!

trader joe's pumpkin bread mix

As I have mentioned before my kids are in love with pumpkin bread and what better time to make some then on a rainy cold fall afternoon. Last time I was at Trader Joe's I grabbed some of the Pumpkin Bread and Muffin Mix. For $2.99 I figured it was worth a shot. While nothing will ever top homemade, this mix was pretty tasty and quick to throw together. Lots of dumping and stirring which my four year old loved. We decided to make mini muffins instead of bread which are great for preschooler and toddler hands. I would recommend this as something to keep on hand for a rainy afternoon or when you need something quick to make and don't want to have to worry about having all the right ingredients on hand.

why should you choose organic foods for your kids

A lot of people think I am a little over the top or too controlling over what I feed my kids (personally, I think I am pretty lieant). They don't understand why natural and organic foods are so important to me. Here are 5 reasons I want my kids to have as much natural and organic foods as possible ( I could go on and on so I limited myself to 5!):

1. Artificial Hormones- I don't want my children fed tons of unnecessary hormones in the meat, cheese, milk and yogurt.

2. HFCS- High Fructose Corn Syrup- Despite what the lovely ads say, HFCS is not natural. Sure once upon a time it was corn, but that does not make it natural. If my kids are going to have sugar, I want them to eat real sugar, not chemically derived sugar.

3. Artifical colors- Blueberry yogurt should be purple not neon razzmatazz berry blue and lime green yogurt shouldn't even exist! I want my kids to eat healthy foods and not be bought into the advertising/marketing schemes that food companies ploy on kids.

4. Real food- I want my kids to be exposed to real food and lots of varieties of it. I have very picky kids. Sure they would love to eat french fries and chicken nuggets for every meal, but I am their mom and it's my job to expose them to as many healthy choices and varieties of food as possible. Many will be refused, but eventually their paletes will expand and they won't be fearful of things that are actually food, and not just processed junk. (And believe me, my kids are not deprived their nuggets and fries... everything in moderation).

5. Pesticides- pesticides scare me. If they are meant to kill things on fruit and veggies what good could they possible do to my child's insides (or mine for that matter!). With different cancers popping up all around us,I want to prevent as many chemicals as possible from going into my child's body.

If you are interested in exposing your child to more organic food or want to just understand why some of us stand so strong on this issue I highly recommend this article from Dr. Greene. He explains so many of the benefits of natural and organic foods.

pumpkin apple muffins

I found this yummy sounding recipe on Testosterone Times Three today. I can't wait to try them. I am going to use half whole wheat flour and half all purpose. I have found when you split the two you can't really tell the difference. I might cut some of the sugar too. If you tweak this at all and they come out good, share with us what you did!



INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups finely chopped peeled apples

TOPPING:
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter or margarine


DIRECTIONS:
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Combine eggs, pumpkin and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apples. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. For topping, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; sprinkle 1 teaspoon over each muffin. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

marvelous menu monday

I am all about meal planning to conserve food and save money, so I am going to post my menu every Monday. Let me know in the comments if you want any of the recipes and feel free to share your menu!

Sunday- Chili and cornbread
Monday- Peachy Pork Picante and brown rice
Tuesday- Leftovers- mama's going to the movies!
Wednesday- Spaghetti and salad and homemade bread
Thursday- chicken pot pie
Friday- Family Movie night- hot dogs (nitrate free), tater tots and baked beans

what are you eatin' this week??

30 days to natural

I found this great website sponsored by GreenWorks last night. It is called 30daystonatural.com. Basically you can sign up on their site and they will send you either text messages or emails with ways to make your home more natural. It's a great place for beginners to get started with out being overwhelmed. I have signed up to see what kind of tips they give that I am not already doing and to encourage me in the things I know I should be doing.

There is also a diary section that follows three moms and their journey with more natural living. I love hearing what real people are doing so I am going to be checking that section out in more detail.

Check out their site, plant a virtual daisy and start getting some great tips. Let us know what you think about the project in our comments!

smashies, mmm mmm good

Our sweet friends at Smashies sent my two little ones some samples of Smashies Organic Squeezable fruit to taste test and let me tell you, they were a big hit in our house.

Smashies come in a neat little squeezable container that your little one can squeeze applesauce right into their mouth. This is a super invention for my 18 month old because she loves applesauce but isn't so good at keeping it on the spoon yet. I loved that I could give it to her and let her eat it up, with out bathing in it. I acutally prepared my entire dinner one night while she slurped her applesauce right down.

Snappy Apple is the only flavor they have out right now, but they are promising three more by the end of this year and three more by next summer. I will definitly be on the look out. These handy little guys make a great, healthy and organic diaper bag snack, something that is not easy to find! You can currently purchase Smashies online by clicking here and be on the lookout because they are coming to stores near to you soon!

smelly cloth diapers in an HE washer.....

About two months ago our washer died and we decided to get a top loader, HE washer. My biggest concern while washer shopping was how cloth would wash up in them. Well, two months later and I don't feel any better about my wash routine. I am using Tide Free and Clear, and I feel like no matter what I do, they still still are a little stinky when they come out of the dryer. I also feel like there is never enough water in the machine to get the diapers good and clean.

So, all you cloth diapering mamas.... send me some tips! What is your wash routine?? What HE soaps work for you?? Please help me out!!

eco show in atlanta!

This is an awesome show going on this Friday in Atlanta. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend due to running around like a crazy person finishing the last details of big boy's birthday party, but you totally should go! Please come back and leave comments telling us all about how awesome it is!! Click on the picture to see the image larger. Check out www.lauraseydel.com for more information.

wonderoos sale

This came in my inbox today from Blueberry Diapers:

For those who have been using cloth diapers for a while, you may be familiar with the diaper brand called Wonderoos. It was the original one size pocket diaper which is now owned by Hip Hip Baby, a company in the UK. Swaddlebees/Blueberry is currently the distributor of Wonderoos in the USA.

Beginning October 6, we are holding a Buy 2 Get 1 Free promotion on Wonderoos diapers. Diapers will include two 3-layer microfiber inserts. This offer will not be available directly on Swaddlebees or Blueberry, but will be exclusively available from the following retailers:

Tree City Diapers
For the Monster
Diaperco
Heiny King
Child Organics
Envirobabystore
Natural Baby Source
The Natural Mothering Shop

Detailed information about the diapers is available on Wonderoos.com. The sale will run for 10 days and ends on October 15th.

and ps.... we are back on the wagon today!! now just need to find some better liners!

veggie breads

Fall is officially here and I am looking for some good veggie bread recipes. Pumpkin, zucchini, hit me with your best bread and muffins recipes. My kids love any kid of muffin/bread, so this is a good way to get more veggies in them with out them knowing. Oh, I would love a great apple bread recipe too if anyone has one! I will try them out and post my/ the kids faves.

You can email me recipes at stephanieswanson at mac dot com, or you can post them directly in to the comments.

Ready, set, go!

are they serious......

Have you seen the "high fructose corn syrup" advocate commercials yet? I seriously had to rewind on my tivo because I couldn't believe that I just saw that. Did you happen to notice the endorsement from CORN REFINERS at the bottom?? Do they think we are that dumb? Do they really believe because something was once corn that it is natural, despite the chemical processing they have to do to it to turn it in to a sugary substance. Do they not realize that with HFCS comes artificial colors and tons of other unhealthy substances that are being poured into our children, the fatest children this nation has ever seen?

I can't even collect my thoughts clearly enough to let you know exactly how much the commerical infuriated me. And I feel for all the children of parents who will fall for this stupid gimmick of a commerical.

And one last thing, how bad must the stuff really be if they deem it necessary to make commericals about it to try and get this cheap, artifical sweetner into our bodies.

Okay, rant over! Tell me what you think about it? Did this make anyone else as mad as it made me??

ETA: here is another great blog on this stupid stupid commericals....

fallen off the wagon

So as you know if you have read my past posts, I am a huge cloth diaper advocate. Well, I am here to confess all my sins, and I have totally fallen off the wagon. We stopped using cloth when we went to the beach. I don't like to travel with cloth if I don't know what my washing set up will be like and boy was I glad because it was an awful washing machine! Well I had every intention of getting back into cloth when we got back and I did for a while, but then Gracie started getting some HORRIBLE rashes. She would be clear and clean one change and angry red and blistered at the next. We took her to a pediatric dermatologist and he put her on a prescription diaper cream, which of course, stains cloth diapers, so back into sposies she went.

Last night as I was buying a case of LUVS, the guilt was overwhelming me. I love cloth diapers. I love her in cloth diapers. I love the benefits of cloth diapers and my child is currently wrapped up in paper with Blues Clues all over it. UGGHH!! I have been such a slacker!

So I figure confession is the first step. I need some encouragement. Also, (TMI warning), Gracie's poop has gotten super soft for some reason and explosive, so that is a whole other reason I have backed off as those are the WORST diapers to clean.

So, please, pull me back on the wagon. I just washed diapers last night. I need to get back into the habit of putting them on the girl!

worst blogger every award goes to......

ME! I am so sorry I haven't been blogging. I need to get back into the habit. I hereby claim today as getting back into blogging day. Please forgive me and if you see any cool green products or tips, please forward them my way and I will post about them. If you are a vendor and you want me to write about your product, please email me at greenkiddos.com at gmail dot com and we will set something up!

I'm back and I promise to start blogging on a regular basis again!!