going green for christmas!

well, now that Thanksgiving is over... the race is on... at least for most people! i think that im going to try something different this year......SLOW DOWN..... i mean try to remember the real meaning of Christmas and teach my kiddies to do the same. we all need to sit back make some cookies and make some simple homemade gifts for our friends and family. i have been reading Little House on the Prairie to my kids and we just read how they would make gifts or buy very simple ones(except for mothers stove), but you get the point. wouldn't that be nice to teach your kids new crafts and sit around and eat yummy treats and make gifts or ornaments. well there are lots of other ways to go green besides making gifts instead of buying them
there is recycling your wrapping paper or using some nice material to wrap your gift in, or something i do is use my old atlas to wrap presents or let my kids draw or paint on old paper bags, it gives it a personal touch, and my children feel proud of themselves.
something else i love to do is find the perfect item at a thrift or yard sale. that special gift that would show someone you really were thinking of them(like something they collect or have been looking for).
there are so many things you can do to try and be a little greener this year and every year. i also just read about the big tree controversy....a real tree or a plastic fakey. both articles i read said... get the real thing, the real tree is grown especially for Christmas and the tree farmers plant trees to replace the ones they cut down and you can recycle your tree after Christmas verses the plastic ones that will be used for a couple of years after they are all shabby, then thrown in the landfill to stay there for, who know how many hundreds of years. besides who can resist that great pine smell of a fresh tree, that really gets you in the spirit of Christmas!!! SO GO GREEN THIS YEAR

parties are such fun...

i love going to parties. we just went to a surprise GI JOE 40th birthday party. my kids of course loved it, and i just love,,, the food!!! well and the friends too, lol! since we are homeschoolers, i always think its great to get the social thing in there(although we are never to short on that, but its a good excuse).

and then there is the whole, getting dressed up for the party. tonight it was all in camo and gi joe gear, and thats always fun. my daughter loves getting her party clothes on.(which could be anything from shorts with rainboots to a princess dress with sneakers... shes 3).

its just a good time, to get together with good friends , good food and laughter.

the poor 4th child...

well what i mean to say ... i have 4 children, and the poor thing... she just gets all the used up stuff...my friend was here, tonight and looks at the baby, she is 10 months but will always be "the baby", she was eating in here high chair and noticed its does not even have a cushion on it... i mean nothing, just the hard plastic chair. the poor thing, oh well,she will be a tough cookie, that's for sure.

she also gets all the hand me downs, which really, i love, i have not had to buy her a thing. she will always get the old bikes, the old toys, strollers, clothes... and the high chair minus the cushion.

well, the 4th child does get alot of good stuff too! lots of fun with all her brothers and sister, always entertained, and never a dull moments in her sweet little life. so... guess one does not need a cushion on their high chair to be happy.

yippeee... its almost halloween!

i just love dressing up for halloween.... i mean really... how often can you or do you pretend you are totally someone else. i mean that is so cool. for one day out of the year you can be what ever your little heart desires.

this year i finally talked my husband into actually dressing up as a couple( i beg him every year) so this year we are dressing up as SONNY and CHER. oh wait.. i forgot.. i just remembered that we were tonto and the lone ranger.. one time.

GROOVY...UH?

well, im really excited, not that alot of people are going to see us... the neighbors, and oh,, the people at the library oh,, and a couple of friends we invite every year for chili and corn bread before the kiddies are stuffing there faces with candy. we take our kids trick or treating around our neighborhood and im taking the kids to the library for a costume party, so that should be fun.

how do other parents deal with the candy situation?.. so you let them go for it and just eat it all up... do you limit to a couple a day? id like to hear how others deal with this...??? happy halloween

yeah... its..pumpkin bread time!!!

i am very excited about this time because my darling children barley eat any vegetables.... so i love making them pumpkin bread, because i feel at least there getting something in there.... right? i mean i do the sneaking in of the carrots and onions in my spaghetti sauce(chop them super tiny with my pampered chef chopper), and then i try to make carrot muffins and pancakes but am sometimes they don't pass the inspection of the vegetable police and then only i eat them!!! and i do not need to be eating what my children wont eat.. i would be as big as a house.

so the pumpkin bread is a hit and everyone eats it.... yippee and i cant see making in the dead of the summer when its 115 degrees outside so now that its only 85 degrees it seems appropriate...lol. no really it is that temp during the day, but it finally has been getting cooler at night. there is a hint of fall in the air.

i did just hear about Jerry Seinfeld's wife's new cook book, ( I'm not sure of the name)where you can puree vegetables and sneak them into lots of things... I'm going to have to purchase that one... i will be so sneaky...well enjoy your pumpkin bread !

here is some pics of our recycled grocery bag bags...

are they not the cutest!!!

bags from bags...

well... i think that i am, pretty much making the cutest bags from trash, that you have ever seen...what??? yes, i am recycling my plastic grocery bags and crocheting them into, new super cute purses and bags and what not. how GREEN can i be...

now i try to live by the REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE concept, which i have been preaching to all my friends for years, and then, what do you know, one of my favorite singers writes a song on the very subject, Jack Johnson, (great mind think alike,lol)... i also wrote a speech, way back when, in my college public speaking class on the 3 R's...anyway i try to do my part to save the environment and what better way, to make something new out of all the trash that we produce. oh... and actually i really use canvas grocery bags at the store instead of plastic, so i have to beg my friends to give me there's for my projects.

well my good friend and i have been making these purses and such and let me tell you that everyone that sees them are quite smitten with them, they just cant believe what kooks we are... just kidding!

so i am trying to think up a good name for our little bags, just in case we decide to become rich and famous selling them or something...lol, so if anyone has an idea for a name, send me a post... oh and i would also love to see anyone else who has been making trash into treasure... and see what other fun ideas people have on recycling...BE GREEN!!!

what i always said... i would never do as a mom

i remember... before i had kids, i would see other moms and think..."when im a mother ...i will never do that" like, i always said, "i wont let my kids watch tv, oh... i will never let them have sugar, thats just plain crazy!

and i did pretty good with my first child, made all his cakes and snacks with no sugar til he was about 2 1/2 and really no tv until the second child came around...then little p(my then 2 yr old) went to his first birthday party.... and it was over and to get anything done with the new baby i had to keep him occupied.

now... 800,000 episodes of Dora later, i no longer feel the way i did way back when... sugar?.. no problem.. have that lollie pop for breakfast, while sitting in front of the tv...lol well im also have 4 children now and it just got harder and harder with each one.. so sometimes you just got to say " go for it." all kidding aside, you have to do the best you can, but don't be too unfair to yourself by having unrealistic expectations. I don't think my philosophy of child rearing has changed and I don't think I have sold out. remember when you were expecting your first and other veteran parents would tell you that you will love your child even more than you think you are capable? and as soon as your child was born it was like a light went on and you thought.... oh yeah, thats what they meant. well, i now realize that flexibility is one of traits of a good mom and if that means i get to say "yes" a couple more times a day, im all for it.

to SOCCER MOMS everywhere... WE ROCK!!!

i mean ...seriously... to be able to get up early, fix a healthy energizing breakfast, find all of the soccer shirts, socks, cleats, shorts, shin guards, fill water bottles, brings the snacks for the whole team, get everyone loaded up in the car and buckled, without forgetting anyone and get to the game on time while lugging chairs, extra jackets, diaperbags, etc. all on a saturday morning(supposedly on our day off).

WE ROCK!!!!!!

its always crazy around here, on sat. morning, two different teams having to go to two different locations at two different times.... its nutso.. but fun!!!

well it is actually that time of the morning so i just thought id write a quick blog about it... but now im off to the games... so enjoy.. all you SOCCER MAMMAS!!!

i was green...before green was cool!!!

i really think i was, i really don't remember the exact moment i became green, i just know it was before all this... i do remember recycling everyones beer bottles at parties, and then in the morning going out to breakfast with my $ that i has gotton from recycling the cans and bottles. i also remember begging my dad to hang one of those can crushers in the garage so i could crush all the cans, i thought that was so fun... wow, im kooky!
so now im really glad that everyone is finally catching up. maybe i started the whole trend...lol, i have convinced some of mi amigos to start recycling and using canvas bags at the store instead of plastic or paper and changing your light bulbs to those curly ones... so i guess every person can make a difference...yippee and be green!

yeah, its getting to be alot like autumn

im so excited, its finally cooling off!! living here in az we welcome the cooler weather after a long hot summer....like im sure most of us do. we are taking down the pool that my parents got us for the summer.... and let me tell you that i will NEVER have a job as a pool boy. i stink at it... i actually should not even call ours a pool... its the pond, i told the kids we should of just bought some goldfish to keep in there and maybe they could of fished all summer, or it could of been a science experiment for one of our homeschooling endeavors, because we were growing all kinds of algae and water bugs, my kids did even ask if we could get some ducks. they would ask me why our neighbors pool was so crystal clear and clean so i had to tell them mommy can do alot of things... but taking care of a pool is not one of them. well, they got to swim most of the summer, when i finally just told them to pretend we are down at the creek... and you will be fine. happy autumn

oh...my.. goodness..im blogging!!!

i can't believe it.. i have been reading other people's blogs for a while and never thought i could do it. but today... i said " i am going to just do it" im sure know one will ever read it, but oh well it might be fun to do in my spare time... oh and i have so much of it... maybe 1 to 2 min. a day... haha, because raising 4 kids, homeschooling them, being a mom, wife, being the cook, the launderess, the driver, the soccer mom, the housekeeper, the maid, the butler, accountant, gardner, recycler and trying to stay sane, i have tons of time to blog. but i will give in a try... so heres to my first entry... yippeee yahoo!!!!!