Going Green

I must admit I never gave much thought to this whole GREEN thing...or my carbon footprint, but that like everything else, has changed since I've become a mother. Really, it all began as I started to learn that the plastic baby bottles I was using were potentially leaking a chemical called BPA that could be toxic to my children. In the six months since I discovered this, it has become widespread media news. It is now much more commonly known that plastics with a 3, 6, or 7 in the little recycle triangle on the bottom may contain harmful chemicals. How disheartening to think that the people that manufacture baby bottles and serve our children baby food could have this chemical in their plastics.

As I read more, I become even more concerned and more convinced that we really don't know what our children are being exposed to on a daily basis... whether it be something in the food they eat, the toys they play with or the air they breathe. There is a thin line that you have to walk on these issues. Since switching the boys to milk, we have given them nothing but organic whole milk, but we are not so restrictive in our actions that we cannot order milk at a restaurant during lunch or dinner. We try to no let them play with our cell phones and turn off the wireless router in our house when we are not using the computer, but when we walk outside, there are three cell towers within a viewing radius. For us, "going green" has little to do with geopolitical issues. It is about arming ourselves with as much information as we can about the potential dangers in our surroundings and making rational decisions according to the best options we have available to us.

While We Were Out

While daddy was out on the road for 26.2 miles this weekend in Nashville,
and mommy watch and cheered,
our boys had their Grammy and cousin, Abigail, come stay with them to watch some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
They played in the backyard together on their fort.
They laughed and snarled and skinned up their knees.
They became little graffiti artists.
They played with their toys inside, showing their new playmate how things are done around here.
Mimi also came to visit and they all made the trip to the annual City Fest. Parks rarely let Abigail out of his sight,
but when he did the air was filled to pleas for "Abi, Abi, Abi."
Wyatt got to show off his extensive knowledge of all things "Moon Book." We were glad to get back on Sunday & the boys were definitely glad to see us, but they will miss their Grammy and cousin, Abigail, until they come back for their birthday weekend.

P.S. - Check out Todd's new blog, Running Avenue, for further insight on running, triathlons, and a Good Reads section.

Horse's Behind

Prologue: In telling this story, I want inform our readers that Randi and I face our ups-and-down in our relationship as the stresses of life pull on us just like many of you. All in all we still do our best to be Christ-like as we love and respect each other. This is a short vignette when we were a little testy with each other and ended up laughing the whole thing away.

One day Randi and I were in a ill mood towards each other over some dispute. Although Randi might have the reason for this instance on the tip of her tongue, I cannot for the life of me remember what it was. We were playing with the boys, and Parks started playing with his Little People farmyard animals. At this point in time, the boys were pointing at objects and wanting us to them the name of it. We were going along fine, naming the cow, the chicken, the goat, etc. He picked his horse and said "'dis." I replied back "horse," and he mimicked back with his hand the sign language for horse. Next, the horse's tail (see picture above) caught his attention and he again asked "'dis?" Mommy informed him "that's the horse's behind." Adding even more, she chimed in with all her wit that "daddy is a horse's behind."

Parks looked at the horse's backside and then looked at me with the most bewildering look we had ever seen. He then pointed back at the horse's behind and confirmed "da-da."

Easter Festivities

The boys thoroughly enjoyed all of the Easter festivities. They had their first Easter egg hunt on Wednesday at Preschool, another Thursday at Mom's Morning Out, one on Saturday at a local park and the last one at the lake on Easter Sunday. Mimi, Opa, Papa and Grammy all came to town for the community festivities on Saturday and I believe the boys enjoyed all of the attention, not to mention all of the goodies from the grandparents. The best thing about it for this Momma is that they don't yet know what candy is so they would just open the eggs and dump the candy on the floor. Something tells me this will be the only year we have that problem.

Our church had their first meeting in our new facility. It was very exciting to finally be moved in and extra special that our first service was on Easter Sunday.

Here are a few pics from the weekend.