Color Me Green!

It started slowly. When Jim and I got married, we lived within the city limits and we were only allowed two bags of trash, but we were provided with a recycle bin and free recycling. We started recycling and noticed that our trash fit in one bag. So I started looking for other ways to cut back. I started using old rags to clean with instead of paper towels. Then I replaced our paper napkins with cloth napkins. I am really cheap and appreciate a good bargain. And the fact that I was helping mother nature was simply another plus. I was saving money and saving the planet, a win-win for all! Then I discovered craigslist and freecycle. Both are great places to pass along items to a new home. I have found a few items and I have re-homed a ton more. Then, when the twinners came along, we decided to give cloth diapering a try. We don't do it 100% of the time (more like 60-75% depending on the week) but it has helped cut down on the amount of diapers we use, which in turn saves us money.

In the past few weeks, I have decided to take my Green outside. We have planted a garden. It's small and has flaws, but I am excited none the less! We took dirt from an oddly placed flowerbed to fill it with and used scrap board from my dad. Emily helped me plant the seeds and get them started, then we moved them to the raised bed.

Garden

We also have cilantro. The other half of this window bucket is supposed to be oregano, but we haven't seen any yet.

With Stacey's help, I sawed down my gutter and put up a rain barrel to water the garden. Fancy, isn't it? My in laws gave us this.

We have also added a composter for all those garden scraps. Although, it smells mainly of coffee since it is about 50% full of coffee grounds. What can I say? I like my coffee!

This stuff (minus the pink flowers) is all weeds, but don't they look nice? =) 

Cherry Tomato Plants

It's not much but every little bit helps. Plus, Emily enjoys helping me take our banana peels and coffee grounds out to the composter, and she LOVES to help me fill our water cans from the rain barrel and water all the plants.

Cherry Tomatoes

We are also growing basil. The basil has some prime real estate alongside some awesome weeds!

And today we sowed the first fruits of our labor, 1 cherry tomato. Dinner is served!

And this is my 5th post this month. Which is the same number of posts I had all last year. 

Missed Opportunity

Today we were at the Library checking out books to knock out list One of our Summer Reading Program. Maybe I had a case of the Montuesdays (which is a case of the Mondays when your first "official" day of the week starts on Tuesday due to a Holiday) but I was feeling a little short-fused. A woman stopped us to ask if Kate and Audrey were twins, which usually doesn't bother me. Who doesn't love babies? And two of them? By all means, I love to hear how cute my kids are- but today I politely stopped for a moment, thanked the woman and proceeded on in. Emily is 3 and has been acting it lately. Not that she is bad, she's just 3 and I have to remember that. I just wanted to get the Library trip done and back in the car.

While in the children's section checking out books, I saw other mothers. Mothers who had patience, mothers who were reading and doing puzzles with their kids. All of which made me feel like the Bad Mommy because I simply wanted to get our books, get home, and not make too much of a scene with 3 children age 3 and under (which, as it turns out, is darn near impossible). As we walked around and got our books, I noticed a little boy (I would have guessed about age 2) with his dad. This little dude had one arm that ended at his elbow. I didn't notice it in a negative way but in more of the same way when you notice a child has curly hair, or lots of freckles, or is short/tall. I simply noticed. And if we hadn't almost mowed him down with our train stroller, I probably wouldn't have noticed him at all.

The theme of this post is 'I just wanted to leave', in case you hadn't picked up on it. But, when Emily asked if we could stop and do some puzzles the aforementioned Bad Mommy Guilt crept into my head and I told her she could do one puzzle. Emily sat down and ended up sitting across from the little dude who was almost our ninth first stroller casualty of the day. Emily is waaaayyy into other kids right now. She says 'hi' to anyone and everyone, asks me if we can go to the houses of people we pass while driving, and gets genuinely offended when the kid 3 cars over doesn't see her wave. While doing her puzzle, Emily looked over at Little Dude and said to me, "Mommy, why is his arm like that?" Now, this is a moment I had practiced over and over in my head. Not all scenarios were kids, but I practiced what I would say to Emily when she did start to notice that people are different and what I would say when she pointed it out. When I practiced in my head, the scene would start much like it did today. Emily would take notice of someone who was not like her and point it out. Not in a bad way, but simply in that innocent child way- much like asking 'why', she simply wanted to know. In my head, I would tell her that God made us all different, and because of these differences we are all very special. We would go on to talk about how if we were all the same the world would be a boring place. In my head, she would ask questions "Can he throw a ball? Does it hurt?" and I would explain that he could do everything she could do. It doesn't hurt, he was born that way and he was perfect, just like she was. In my head, I had all the right answers.

And in real life, I had a brain-lapse. Maybe it was the Montuesdays, maybe I didn't think Emily was old enough to notice, maybe I just simply didn't think when I saw Little Dude that this would be my opportunity to make my child aware and open to differences. Whatever it was, when Emily asked me about Little Dude, I panicked and said, "He was born that way, that's how he was made." End of explanation.  After a brief pause, Little Dude's dad spoke up and said, "Yep he was born that way. It doesn't hurt him and he can do all the things you can do!"

I was crushed. What I had done? Or better yet, why didn't I do more? I am sure I looked like a crazy self-centered mother in the eyes of Little Dude's dad. And yes, I am sure he answers that question a lot and will for years to come, but I am very disappointed in myself. I know that this isn't the only time I will be faced with a difficult question, but I still feel like I let my kids down. Like I let Little Dude down. I can only hope that next time I am able to summons my inner Super Mom and have all the right answers. That should I flub and get caught off guard I will be able to get back on track and redeem myself. I'm sorry Em. I'm sorry Little Dude.

Outta the mouth of babes

Or toddlers. Emily had her last day of school Tuesday and I thought it would be a neat idea for her to dictate a thank you card for each of her teachers. Alright, so I stole the idea from Jim when they did my mother's day card, but it's still a cute idea!

Annnnyyway, we got the first card done and were working on the second card. Emily was getting bored- which is understandable, I mean she had to come up with three things she wanted to thank her teachers for. So she whips out, "Thank you for everything."
Me: "Uh, how about you try again"
Em: "Thank you for nothing."
Me: "Actually, that's sort of rude. What else ya got?"
Em: "uhhh...... Thank you for nothing."
Me: "Yeah, still not gonna write that...What about thank you for circle time?"
Em: "Yes, thank you for circle time! Mommy, what's rude?"
Me: "Ask Daddy when he gets home."

And yes, if I can't figure out how to answer a question that Emily has, I tell her to ask her dad. That, my friends, is Sane Mothering 101.

My Children...

... are strange. Like REALLY strange. Kate walks around and laughs hysterically at nothing. She walks around with her blankie on her head until she runs into something and falls over. She crawls around with her head on the floor until she bumps into something. Are you noticing a theme here?

Audrey screams. Screams when she is happy, sad, mad, content, tired. You name the emotion and she screams. She scrunches her eyes closed and attempts to walks around. She goes into our bathroom, goes through my drawers, finds lotion/soap/toothpaste/body spray bottles and sucks on them like they are bottles.

Emily loves peas but won't touch corn. She sleeps with socks on, no matter what the temperate is. She refuses to get herself dressed. She declares herself the "tootiest".

Ok, so that last one is Chance, but he is weird too.

Obviously they get all these strange traits and habits from Jim. =)

Neglected

Neglected doesn't even begin to describe my poor blog. Abused is a better word. I had 10 5 posts in 2010, and here is it May 2011 and I haven't posted at all. So, here goes! An update of basically the past year.

Emily- is in preschool, actually she is almost done with her first year of preschool. She loved it! She started out the year a timid little girl who would sit and watch the other kids run and play, and now she runs wild and has to have "one more slide" down the slide in her room before we can leave for the day.
-She got her first haircut (at age 3) and her hair is still curly, curly, curly!
-She has moved onto bigger kid books such as "Fancy Nancy", and she of course loves princesses, dress up, and anything girly.
Audrey and Kate- They are now walking- make that running- all over the place. Usually in opposite directions. They are ornery beyond belief and so much fun!
Jim- Continues to be the only employed person in our family. He also works from home on Fridays, which is really nice.
Me- Gained three lbs since the girls have pretty much stopped nursing. Looks like I will be dusting off my running shoes...

With Chance as my witness, (actually we are dog sitting and in addition to Chance sitting here staring at me, I have Holly, Rocky, and Dude also keeping an eye on me. Guess that is what I get for sitting at the kitchen table and snacking while blogging. Little moochers...) I will pay more attention to my poor little bloggy-blog. Or at least I will give it a good try!