Last weekend our local store, Buttonwood Market, held a fruit and vegetable art contest to celebrate their first year in business.  Buttonwood Market has been a favorite place of mine, that I have been frequenting more and more lately.  It is full of fun, healthy foods with a selection of organic, non-organic and locally grown/raised foods.

All of my girls wanted to create some veggie art and here are the master pieces!

Meg created The  Princess and the Frog out of raisins, green peppers and spinach.

Mita used lentils to make a “Peace and Love” mosaic.

Enu made  unicorn out of carrots.

Elle (with mama help) made a dog out of a banana!

Here are some places to check out some fun playing with your food projects you and your kiddos might like:

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Photo Basement

With any luck, some of the fruits and veggies will end  up in your childrens’ bellies and they may not be so afraid of the healthy stuff!

It was great fun and Enu and Elle won $20 Buttonwood Market gift certificates for winning their age groups.  I made them both buy me a jug of milk with their winnings, since I made the initial investment in fruits and veggies!  They have had fun spending their winnings (pop corn, ice cream, ice cream sandwiches, chocolate cake mixes!).

If you are local I encourage you to check out Buttonwood market. You may find Ethiopian coffee on sale right now!  Elle bought some for her daddy…shhhh, he doesn’t know yet!

(I received no compensation for my mentioning of Buttonwood Market. I just really like this place!)

Whoever said that  little girls are sweet and rosy smelling has never met my four daughters.  They have to have the smelliest feet  the world has ever smelled.  At least that is what I tell them anyway. I’m sure that there are other children that smell worse, but I really don’t plan on entering them in any contests to find out!

At a Girl Scout event I learned of a way to  keep down the shoe stench is using baking soda and some mis-matched socks.  I don’t know about you, but I have a few hundred socks with no mates in my basement and some of them are really cute Littlest Pet Shop or Wizards of Waverly Place socks.  The cuter the sock the more fun they have with this project.

Simply fill each sock with 1/3 cup of baking soda and tie tightly with a string or a rubber band.  I also tie the sock in a knot just to be sure.

Place filled socks into shoes to keep them fresh and clean!  These sachets can also go into drawers or sports duffel bags.

Notice who is still in her pajamas!

Enu was home sick for the day, so I put her to work.

Ahhhh...fresh smelling shoes...okay..Fresher smelling shoes!

This makes a great rainy day or lazy day project before the hot summer heat hits your house and their shoes! 

Some baking soda will ooze out of the sock if the sock is used as a weapon to hit with..not that my children would ever do such a thing…but I consider a little baking soda on the carpet deodorizer, so this works for me!

For more Baking Soda ideas check this out.

A lot of times recycling can be a bit boring.  Lets face it, sorting trash isn’t the funnest thing on Earth (feel free to disagree and tell me why you love to sort trash!)  Recycling can also be time consuming or tricky if you are making something out of an old something else and you are not particularly creative or crafty (aka me!  I cannot even use a glue gun well).  A few weeks ago, however, Hubby came up with a great Reuse idea that really worked well.

Our school age daughters, Meg, Mita and Enu, love to play tether-ball at school and were asking Hubby to get a one set up at the house last week.  His green light-bulb moment happened rather quickly as he remembered that we still have the four poles from our old trampoline!  These poles are from the net enclosure around the trampoline to keep the kids from falling off.  These poles have hooks on them to hold up the net.

Hubby quickly set up two separate tether-ball poles and purchased the balls and ropes at a local sports store.  Having two for us was a must  with the four kids. I didn’t want to hear the whole taking turns battle that would have for sure erupted.  For about $40 and an hour or so of time we were set up for action and the kids have been playing during every free moment is seems!

To Hubby, his idea may have been more about saving money than being green, but as it often is, we win both ways!  I have seen tether-ball sets from $25-$65 online and that is just for one and the trampoline poles seem much sturdier than the poles for sale are.

We gave the other two poles to my brother and sister in law, and the recycling just continues.  So go look for a old trampoline on Craig’s list or a yard sale and make some tether-ball poles!  It is a great way to keep your kids active and busy and OUTSIDE.  Oh yeah, my kids like to bend the rules a bit…here are the rules to tether-ball if you need them!

I would love to hear other ideas about reusing kids toys in creative ways!

Reduce, reuse, recycle.  These are familiar concepts to almost everyone now. What was once a mantra for “tree huggers” (a term my father still uses!) is now a way of life for many families, if not for environmental reasons, then for economical ones.

The other day I was feeling quite proud of myself.  Needing curtains for Mita and Enu’s rooms I shopped at Gabriel Brothers and dug for the matching curtains I needed.  I saved a lot of money with that little bit of digging.

Then Elle and I were off to the Good-Will to see what treasures we could stumble upon.  As we walked into the store Elle was confused as this was not the Good-Will she was familiar with.  I explained that I often dropped off things we didn’t need anymore at the Good-Will drop of near our house, and that the store we were going into was the place were every-ones donations were sold.  I then proceeded to over-explain  for my five year old’s age level and discussed how this was a form of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and it helped people find jobs.  Not thinking anymore about it, I went shopping and I scored some Timberland shoes for Elle at $1.99 and some brand new Girl Scout shirts for adults for $1.99 each.

The next day I was wearing my “new” Girl scout shirt when someone commented on it and said, “Where did you get that?”.  Before I could answer Elle jumped in and said,”My mom got it in the trash.”

So much for my lesson. All that fuzzy-good-for-me-feeling was gone as my attempts at being earth/people friendly were reduced to an episode of dumpster diving!

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September is a great stock-up month.  I have this issue withclearances, I see something on clearance and I think I need it or I come up with an idea to use it for the next year.  This has saved me money over the years, but it can also be a bit of a clutter problem (ask Hubby).  This year my goal is to not clutter up, but buy responsibly.  So far, so good. I got Elle’s next years safetyswim vest for $13 with free shipping from Land’s End and Stainless Steel water bottles on sale with $2 shipping.  I am trying to cut out the cheap plastic… but steel is pricey!  I thought I would share a few of my go-to places for saving money and starting on Christmas and Birthday gifts for the next year.

Check out the Dollar General and you can get kites, bubbles and more for around $0.30.  K-Mart often has bathing suits for under $5 so I can stock up for next year.  Disney.com has really nice beach towels for super cheap.  Of course school supplies are just screaming to be picked up and stored away for the cold winter months.  Towards the end of September you may find great buys on backpacks, water bottles and more high-end school items.  These can make great Christmas or Birthday  gifts!  The big wheeled back packs aren’t often great for school but make good overnight suitcases.

Land’s End has a lot of free shipping offers right now and their swimsuits are on sale as well.  Soon they will have all those cool back packs and lunches boxes on clearance! I bought all of my girls backpacks from there in colors that will stay “cool” for a few years.  I have not bought Meg a backpack since the First Grade (she’s in 4th this year, Yikes!)  and it is still going strong.   Mita and Enu also have Land’s End back packs that are in their second year of use.  I learned early to not buy characters or really trendy backpacks and lunch boxes and it has saved me a lot of money.  This  year I will be eyeing deals for Elle’s Kindergarden back pack (sob sob).

I don’t do the while “school shopping” thing.  It is still warm when school starts and the kids grow overnight, as you well know!  Jeans, long sleeves T’s and shoes will hit great prices once the Holiday items come out (October!).  TheChildrensPlace.comhas a flat shipping rate of $5 and monster sales for shirts especially.  They have great quality clothes and are pretty affordable.  Beware of the bright T shirts with Hibicus flowers on them though, they bleed horribly which is unusual for them.  Hopefully it is an odd occurance!

To save money and to be green, I have re-usable sandwhich bags and buy snacks in bulk.  Those 100 calerie packs have some much packaging.  A re-usable 4 oz. Rubbermaid or Tupperware container hold is a great way to save on pakaging and is usually about 1 serving size or 100 calories.  I like to find my sandwhich bags on Etsy.com.  Don’t baulk at the prices…you will get your money back. I am using the same bags I bought last year and believe me they are used a lot!

Before buying anything on-line I do a google search for coupon codes.  This normally works pretty well and cuts down prices and often shipping costs.

This is what I do in September to save money.  Now give me your secrets!

Photo Credit

Elle raises her arms for Breast-feeding!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am passionate about babies and the feeding of babies. Both Meg and Elle were breastfeed into toddlerhood and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It is so empowering to grow a baby!  Professionally, I have chosen to pursue my certification in Lactation to help other moms and babies during this time of their lives.

I have recently learned of a piece of legislation in congress that has been written to help protect breast-feeding moms and babies when moms return to the work force.  I encourage all of you to read up on it and write your congressional leaders to support this bill.

The American Academy of Pediatrics wants babies to have breast-milk exclusively for six months and with complementary foods until twelve months of age a AT THE VERY LEAST!  This is not happening and one of the major reasons why is that the workforce is not supportive of nursing moms in general.  Companies are always looking for ways to cut  costs, if they supported breast-feeding moms, their medical costs would be lower, workers would take less sick days and everyone wins!

One of these days people in power will realize that prevention is cheaper than treatment.   Breast-feeding prevents many illnesses and promotes good health both physically and mentally.

Here is the link for more information:

Evenflo Comfort Select Performance Dual Breastpump

As a Lactation Consultant and a mother of two breast-fed children,  one of the most common questions I get asked is, “What kind of breastpump should I get?”  The answer to this question is different with each mother and their situation.  I will mention a few tips in deciding on a breastpump in this post.  I highly recommend going to a breastfeeding class while you are pregnant and getting more information before  you invest in a breastpump.

First I would check and see what your insurance may offer you.  Most medical insurance companies do not pay for breastpumps still.  This is unfortunate, as it would save them a lot of money.  The American Academy of Pediatrics has estimated that if the majority of mothers breastfed their babies the U.S. would save millions in medical costs annually.  If you qualify for WIC or have insurance through Medicaid you will most likely get help with getting a breastpump, possibly getting one at no cost.  It pays to check first!

If you do not get any breast pump benefits, I would recommend looking at your personal situation, what can you afford at the time you need the pump and so-forth. 

If you have a pre-mature infant, a special needs infant or are pumping exclusively I would recommend talking with a lactation consultant as you will need a hospital grade pump.

If you work part-time or full-time outside the home, a double electric pump is preferred by most mothers.  I would go with a well-known breastpump company recommended by your Lactation Consultant.  

Working from home or being away from your baby for only a few hours a week gives a mom more flexibility when it comes to breast pumps.    Some moms like manual pumps, others like the convience of pumping both breasts at one time.

Evenflo has just released a new breastpump that deserves to be looked at by the mother who pumps occasionally, a few times a week. The Comfort Select Performance Dual comes with a double pump, a bag to carry everything in and some free breast pads.  My friend Firemom will be giving one of these pumps away  and has written up a nice review so be sure to check it out!  MomCentral.com is also hosting a giveaway.

So if you are expecting, already nursing and want a pump or know someone who can use it, be sure to enter the giveaway!

Elle with her green bag, heading for the store.

 Two years ago we started to recycle in our home.  That may seem a bit late for the green movement, but we lived out in the middle of no where and I had to sort everything then take it to the recycling place.  Waa, but I finally did it and we cut down our trash by half.

I actually made it into a summer project for my oldest daughter Meg.  We kept track of how many bags of trash we went through in one normal week.  Then we started recyeling for a few weeks and once we had the hang of it, we counted again and cut our trash from six bags a week down to three.  In time I think we improved that number, I just never did another officially count.

The next summer I vowed to now us paper plates/cups/napkins anymore.  I did make a few exceptions (birthday party themes are very important!) but I cut out all paper plates and cups and cut the napkins way down.  I picked up a lot of cloth napkins on clearance.  You can find a lot of post season sales to take advantage of.  Of course my table is a collections of mis-matching napkins, but my kids don’t care and right now either do I.  I’m sure someday they will all match and my house will be clean.  Someday is a long time away.

The next year was our first summer with Mita and Enu home.  I didn’t have any special projects or goals.  I just wanted to stay sane.  I did however start making most of my cleaning supplies out of baking soda, vinegar and lemon juice.  It’s kid friendly and kids love to help out with cleaning as long as they can spray stuff.  I also purchased re-usable sandwich bags that we use the majority of the time.

I must admit I was feeling pretty green.  Then we moved. 

Very busy + four kids+ winter time + exhausted mom = I took a week off being green

That week has turned into five months I’m ashamed to say.  I have yet to figure out the recycling rules for our new house.   I used paper plates the week our dishwasher went defective on me.   When I throw out something I should be recycling the guilt starts.

So as of Earth Day 2009, I am back on the recycling green wagon. 

How do you go green?  I’d love to steal some ideas from you!