mcklinky

A good linky system is great asset to your blog if you want to run a contest or a blog carnival. Unfortunately, they can tend to be unreliable and sometimes slow your blog down. Well our "friend" Mckmama and her friend Brent came up with a great, new, simple, and reliable linky system called MckLinky!! You can check it out and implement it on your blog a www.mcklinky.com. I had a chance to actually use MckLinky yesterday at My Charming Kids, when I wrote my Not Me Monday post and linked to it on her site. Now I am so excited to try this out on my blog that I am thinking of turning this weeks Friday Favorites blog post into a carnival where you can all write your own Friday Favorite and link it with MckLinky.... what do you think about that?! You better start brainstorming a favorite product to write about on Friday, I want to know what you're lovin'!

do you play with your food?

Bubbie has recently taken an interest in cooking. I had purchased the Kids in the Kitchen cookbook a few months ago and he loves to look at it and pick out things to make.. If you aren't familiar with Kids in the Kitchen, I highly recommend their site! It's a great program put on by the Junior League all over the country. Yesterday, when I was preparing lunch he wanted to make "spider" sandwiches. I wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about until he pulled out the Kids in the Kitchen cookbook. I was already making peanut butter and honey sandwiches so I thought, sure, this will be easy! And it was! He did most of it himself.


I quickly remembered my sandwich sealer that I had bought from Pampered Chef years ago. I hadn't ever really tried it out. Well I'm glad I did! We will be using this again! It works to make your sandwiches just like those uncrustables at the store. I let him spread the peanut butter and squirt the honey. Then he assisted me in cutting the sandwich with the sealer ( I did have to flip it over and cut from both sides). I then just gave him some pretzel sticks and Crasins on his plate and let him have at it! I think his sandwich came out soooo cute, don't you?!

not me monday

Not Me Monday is brought to you by one of my favorite blogs, My Charming Kids. This is a place where blog mamas can unite together and confess all their imperfections as moms, you know... all the things we would NEVER really do! ;)


This past week we most definitely have not been swimming all around town in different friends pools. I most definitely have not arranged as many play dates as possible at pools just to submerge my pregnant, overheated self in a nice, cool body of water. And I absolutely have not counted swimming as baths for more than one day in a row this week. Bubbie totally had to have had more than one bath between Wednesday and Sunday morning when I didn't realized it had been awhile and threw him in the shower quickly before church. Not me, I would never let my children count swimming and sprinklers as bathing!


Sass had absolutely hit all four of her food groups on Saturday between the birthday party we attended and the baseball game we went to that night. Her meals definitely did not only consist of chips, juice and cupcakes for lunch and popcorn, dip n dots and frozen lemonade for dinner..... oh and she didn't drink a chocolate milkshake in between those meals either. Nope, not me!Not my child at all!


Now head over to My Charming Kids to see what everyone else has "not" been doing and if you are brave enough, maybe even you will confess!

scared to try cloth....

A sweet friend of mine asked me a few months ago if I would be willing to do a cloth diaper workshop with her to tell our friends all about how cloth diapers work. There aren't really any cloth diaper shops in our town and very few people use them so I thought this would be a great way to get the word out!

Well tomorrow we are hosting our first ever Cloth Diaper Workshop. We will both have our stash there for you touch and feel and ask all the questions you may have! If you live in my area and you would like to attend you can email me at greenkiddos.com (at) gmail.com and I can forward you the evite. The workshop is from 2-4 tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon! I would love for you to come

Besides learning lots about cloth diapers, I have some very generous "friends" who have sent me a sample diaper to raffle off, so you just might be able to win some new fluff while you are there. I'm going to do a special post on each of these people at a later date, but wanted to go ahead and give them thanks now! If you are ever looking for a place to buy cloth diapers, these are my "friends" that I have personally used and recommend!

friday favorites - melissa and doug toys

Wooden toys get a lot of play time at our house. It amazes me because grown ups automatically assume that kids will want the bright plastic stuff that lights up and sings and does stuff but that is so not the case. Those toys get played with right at first then shoved to the side, but our wooden toys get played with daily. Unfortunately wooden toys come with a higher price tag most of the time. The most affordable option I have found are Melissa and Doug toys and I know that their is a lot of conflict of opinion on them because they are made in China and are painted, but my children are past the stage of chewing on them so I feel confident allowing them to play with them. You can read their safety statements here.

Here are some favorites that get played with on a daily basis at our house:


the pizza party
Sass and Bubbie love to make me pizza. They love "cutting" the pizza with the roller. All the wooden toppings and slices stick together with Velcro. This pizza has gotten tons of love around here and is served up on a regular basis!

shape puzzles
Bubbie got these for his 2nd birthday if I remember correctly. They are still today a favorite and both kids love them. We have taught shapes and colors using these. Each puzzle board is two sided so there are tons of options of what they can put together. These puzzles are by far played with more than any others we own. I love that both Bubbie (4 1/2) and Sass (2) can both play with these and enjoy them!

pattern blocks and boards

These are one of the newest M&D products I have purchased. I bought this a few weeks ago to take on a trip for Bubbie to play with in the hotel room. It kind of seemed like a step up from the pattern block puzzles above. So far he is still in the exploration stage of these and enjoys making things out of the pieces more than trying to coping and cover the boards. We have made pattern trains with the pieces and he seemed to like that. Sass wants to do these and understands the concept but doesn't have the fine motor skills to not knock the pieces off as she puts on new ones! This seems like a toy that they will both grow into.

stacking blocks

Bubbie received a set of these his second Christmas from some cousins. These are played with a lot! Both kids love building tall towers and knocking them down. They stack and sort and love to hide things in the boxes. A great first birthday present!

I have found a great place to purchase Melissa and Doug toys is at stores like TJ Max or Homegoods. Our local Homegoods has a huge selection of them and they are a good 25% - 50% cheaper than the toy store. Also Toys R Us tends to run good sales on them, although I avoid that place like the plague!


*disclaimer: Friday favorites are not sponsored, payed for or in any other way endorsed by the company. These are products that we have purchased (or given to my kids as gifts like some of the products I mentioned today!) and really use. They have not been given to me to review and post about.*

briar.claire hairclip winner!

congrats to

ASHLEE!!

Random.org picked your post number as the lucky winner of the briar.claire hairclip! Please email me your address to greenkiddos.com (at) gmail.com and I will get it sent out! Also, I officially am requiring a pic of cute "m" wearing the clip once you receive it! (nothing like strings attached!).

great deal!! 6 gdiaper covers and liners for $40!!

Are you familiar with gdiapers?? These are great if you are curious about cloth but not sure you want to jump right in. Gdiapers are a cloth shell with a biodegradable insert. The insert can be flushed, composted, or tossed if needed because there is no plastic in them and they will break down quickly.

I have wanted to try gdiapers for years now. They are what first got me curious about cloth, but the cost of the refills always scared me away. Well, now the lovely friends at gdiapers have come out with gcloth, a cloth insert that can be washed and reused. I love the idea of using a cloth insert at home and a biodegradable one when out and about. That makes the whole concept much more affordable.


You know what else makes it more affordable.... this great code for $30 off! I am now a "gmum" and have the code g1378swanson which gets you the everday g's six pack for $40!!! This is a great savings because the 6 pack normally retails for $70!! I just ordered it to try g diapers out with new baby. The pack comes with 3 vanilla bean covers and 3 great orange covers, 6 liners, a swish stick and a guide explaining how to use them. Each cover normally retails fro $16.99 so this is an incredible deal! And apparently you can use your prefolds in a trifold inside the diapers too!

I am so excited to give gdiapers a try. They have some great resources on their site, so if you are curious but want more info on their diapers, click here. Oh and I've been told that you can best deals on refills at amazon.com or diapers.com with their $10 off coupons.

ETA: I misread the deal a little.... it comes with 6 covers and 6 snap in liners (not inserts, I wasn't aware that those were different!), you still have to purchase your inserts, either cloth or flushable. I think I'm going to order some cloth ones to try at first!

wordless wednesday - thankful

In light of my friends losing their two year old son yesterday very unexpectedly, today I just feel thankful to have these two little bitties to wake up to and care for.

The words to Casting Crowns song I Will Praise You in this Storm are ringing so true to how I feel and can only imagine my friends feel this morning as they wake and have to bear the reality of their life now.

And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm....

.....I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

please pray....

Some old friends of ours lost their toddler son today. I don't have a lot of details, so I won't go into any yet, but please lift Jason and Angela up in your prayers. This family has been attacked by Satan before when it came to one of their children and we all rejoiced in the miracles we saw God perform. Please help us still praise God through this storm.

Psalm 34:18
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit

back to reality....

I'm on my way, rested and ready to see my babes!

Until then... use these last few minutes to enter the briar.claire contest!! I will update with a winner later and a new post about where I have been hiding the last few days!

hurry.... this cute clip could be on it's way to you later this week!! leave a comment here!

briar.claire contest is extended!!!

I'm too tired tonight to even go through it all, so I will draw my winner after my anniversary with super dad on Tuesday afternoon! So scroll down, leave a comment and enter to win! And tell your friends to enter to win too! Oh and don't forget, for each thing you do, leave a separate comment, so each will count as an individual entry..... ready. set. go!!!

we love you super dad!

This weekend we aren't only celebrating Father's Day for Super Dad, but also it will be 7 years ago that I married this super guy! So what makes Super Dad so super??? Lots of things actually!!

This sweet guy swept me off my feet just 8 years ago... yup that's right... we were only dating about 6 months before we were engaged!! We were then engaged for 10 months and then had the wedding of my dreams! It was so fun! I always say that if I could redo a day just to experience it again, my wedding would be at the top of the list. We had a blast!

Just over 2 years later Bubbie was born and my sweet hubby became a dad. I can't tell you what a great husband and dad he is. I have never met a guy more concerned or in love with his kids. His first thought is always for them and I love that about him. He works so hard so I can stay home and raise our children. He loves the Lord and is instilling his love for Jesus in our children. He changes diapers (even cloth ones!), fixes meals, gives baths and reads bedtime stories! He's quick to tell me "you go rest, I'll take care of them". He's super fun and adventurous and loves to play with his kids!

We are different in our ways, that's for sure. I'm social and always on the go. He would rather stay home and just play with the kids. He loves sports, tennis and mountain biking to be specific. He is super strong. He loves running and working out. He sets such a good example to our kids of what healthy living should look like. He is anything but sedentary!

It's been so fun to watch him grow as a dad. Motherhood was a natural transition for me. I grew up playing with babies, baby sitting, then started teaching school. Having kids to me was like breathing, of course it was the next step after marriage. But he's a guy! I don't think he had ever changed a diaper until Bubbie was born. But you would never know that now! He knows all about car seats and cloth diapers, and pureeing baby food! He can even put hair bows in! He builds legos and plays dolls. He jumped right in and figured it out and is super involved in our kids lives.... this is such a blessing to me!

So this weekend I'm thankful. I'm thankful that the Lord blessed me with a loving and caring husband. I'm thank that the Lord has made him a father soon to be three times over. I'm thankful that we are a priority in his life and that he loves us so much!

Super Dad we love you!! Happy Father's Day and Happy Anniversary!!

friday favorite - the brita pitcher

If your kids are anything like mine, they love juice! I do dilute juice a lot when I give it to my kids, but it is by far the beverage of choice. It's also so easy when we are going somewhere to just throw a few juice boxes in my bag and be on our way, but I know it's not the best thing for my kids and I need to get them to drink more water. I too could use more water intake but I never really cared for the taste of it. I grew up drinking Kool Aid and Hawaiian Punch, so drinking water with a meal was just not the norm for me.

In order to cut back on bottle water usage and the drinking of too many sugary drinks, we invested in a Brita Pitcher a few weeks ago. I have instantly fallen in love. The water tastes so much better! I think it tastes even better than bottle water which has a little bit of a plastic taste to it.

We have also invested in some good BPA free water bottles for the family. I bought both kiddos their own Nalgene bottle which they love, one in pink and one in blue of course! I love them because they are like a sippy with a spill proof valve inside!
Super dad is a fan of the Camelbak bottles, like this one:

But I really like the look of the new stainless steel Camelbaks..... because even drinking water can be cute right?!

Since switching to our Brita water system we are all drinking so much more water!! At first I got a little pull back from the kids, but they have quickly adapted and now are requesting water instead of juice! We fill our water bottles every morning and just take them with us.

The other huge benefit to using a system like Brita is the money savings. Water bottles were costing us a fortune every month and we wasted so much by throwing half bottles away. Plus all the plastic that was being used is such a waste. The Brita pitcher cost us about $25. Filters are about $25 for 4 but each one last you 3 months.... this comes to about $50 for this year and then $25 a year after that... we would spend that much in just a few months on bottled water. We did invest in BPA free water bottles, so that adds to our cost for this year, but you don't have to buy water bottles if you just drink water at home.

This is an easy and inexpensive little change that has big impact environmentally, financially and for your own personal health!

wordless wednesday

suntans
sand pails
salty kisses
sweet memories
summer

donate your cloth diapers

Cloth diapering is a great experience and while it will save you a lot of money in the long run, the initial investment can be steep to put up all at once. Miracle Diapers is a great non profit that has been set up to provide cloth diapers to mamas who want to diaper in a greener way but can't afford to.

If you are at all like me, in your stash you either have diapers that just never get pulled or don't fit just right or are now too small. Miracle Diapers is a great organization to donate those diapers to! Miracle Diapers is also looking to start chapters all of the country so you might be interested in helping to get a chapter started in your town!

I highly recommend you check out this site and pass it on to anyone you know who cloth diapers or who might be in need of cloth diapers!

having a great time in NYC

I flew up to NY with my mom on Friday for my cousin's bridal shower. We are having a blast on on girls getaway weekend, but I'm completely exhausted! We have been so busy. Here are some pics from our first day here.

My cousin has a beautiful apartment which she graciously gave up to us to use while we are here this weekend. This is the view from her balcony. Absolutely breathtaking!

One thing I really wanted to do while we were here was go downtown and see the 9-11 site. Unfortunately so much of it is tarped up due to construction I couldn't see much, but the experience of riding buses and subways around the city still was tons of fun!

Across the street from 9-11 is St. Paul's cathedral. Miraculously through the destruction that took place, not a single window in this church blew out. It was locked up for the day but I was able to snap a few pics through the gate.

Here is the view facing where the towers use to be standing in front of St. Paul's. It's just a big empty gap now, which is so strange to see amongst the massive amounts of buildings down there.

I peeked in any where I could to try and grasp the enormity of the place. It looks like a giant city under construction right now. There was still something solemn about it though. It was nice to stand on the platform peaking in and just taking a few moments to pray for all the souls that were lost there on that day.

After hitting 9-11 we went to visit my cousin Evan who works for an amazing photographer, Peter Lik. I have never seen photos like these before. They absolutely glow, yet there is no light behind them and he shoots with film. His talent is amazing. You should totally check out his site but I don't know if anything can do justice to what I saw in person.

We then headed to dinner and back on the subway and some how ended up just a few blocks from Times Square, so of course despite being up for a million hours at this point, I had to go see it all lit up at night. They have closed the main street in front of Times Square now, so you can walk all around. It was so cool and amazing how many people are out walking around the city so late at night. Now I know why they say it's the city that never sleeps!