Check this Out!

In an effort to make consumer decisions that have positive affects globally, and at the very least not detrimental ones I have sought out new brands of coffee, tea, sugar, chocolate, etc...making sure that these items are fair trade as I purchase them new. I also have been on the hunt for new summer clothes and have struggled to find clothes that are both environmentally friendly as well as sweatshop free produced. Apparently you can either be one or the other but not both! So I read this blog from our local paper - a fashion blog that features lots of coupons and sales and even freebies (like Starbucks, etc). And decided they would probably do better finding some local places than I could - and look they published my question and answered it!

Deal Divas

I also found this site,that well there are many more many sites whose prices start at $50 and go up from there - I just don't and can't spend that kind of money on clothes. I don't think I own a single dress over $100 unless it was a bridesmaid dress.

Fair Indigo has dresses from $40-$70 and tees from $10.50 -$28.00. Each item has the story of where it was made and what that particular project/community is accomplishing!

A Bit of Ordinary

Busy work schedules, work training, baseball games and softball practices, field trips and field days filled this week with lots of stuff but ordinary stuff. The kind you remember as being comfortable and the calm before and after storms. We had one of those weeks. And it was good. We played with dinosaurs...

and we read books...sometimes in very uncomfortable looking positions...

We painted pictures and argued over what silly band we should trade for the coveted red dragon or the hot ticket large bull...

We played on the beach with friends and saw a breathtaking view.

Gambradel.

Compliments of a work training thing I could not pick up the kids from school yesterday. And my brother...he works for my dad...who works for himself. So I figured I could con one of them into picking up the kids and playing with them for the afternoon.

So my brother, the fabulous uncle, picked them up in Big Red (the truck we have all grown to call by name!), bought them slurpees, let them help him run errands and then played ball with them in the front yard. In the meantime he also taught them this "joke" that Tori tried out on Todd at the dinner table.

"Hey dad do you know if you say cheese really slow it will sound like gambradel?"

Dead pan face from Todd.

And then it hits me "Do you know if you say cheese really slow it will sound like GULLIBLE?"

Tori has a new word, sort of.

A Big Day

I sometimes forget how big my little girl is getting but today, as she stood in front of ALL her peers and gave a speech about saving lives and then stepped up to bat with those crazy long legs of hers...it was hard to remember that she's still a little girl.

And despite that they seem to fight incessantly lately over silly things my sweet silly boy was right there championing his big sis today!

Spring Greening

To know me is to know that I like things clean and organized, really clean and organized, maybe even a little obsessively so. So in my house spring cleaning is nothing but fun for me and torture for the rest of the family. But this year we are doing something new...Spring Greening. We have made some positive changes in what we eat - more organic, less meat, nuts and produce from local farmer's market, etc. Next step - recycle. Now I realize we are late in the game but we have no pick up here. So we have to make the effort to not put recyclable items in the garbage but also then deliver them to various recycling centers (neither have all recycled items). But the kids are doing awesome and the sign on our trash can screaming "RECYCLE" helps!!!

In case you did not know you can recycle tons of things - cereal boxes, milk jugs, every bottle and can under the sun, foam trays that meat and cut fruit come on, plastic bags, paper bags, cardboard boxes, jars, etc.

To be greener via planting is a bit hard in a villa where none of your land is actually...your land. But the kids did plant some flowers and have been having fun checking on their progress. Supposedly these cute little greens will eventually be giant zinnias and mixed carnations - kids Walmart picks!

We have environmentally friendly light bulbs, are using filtered water instead of bottled, shutting off lights in rooms we are not in, etc...any other family friendly green ideas for us?

Easter Fun

Okay so the balloon eggs were a total disaster and I went back to my standby holiday project - baking. I hate to cook but this girl loves to bake. And decorate baked goods. And I have taught the kids to enjoy it as well. So with the help of these awesome basket wrappers from Michael's I present the project that succeeded!

And we dyed Easter eggs...because that's what you do. And they also turned out ok though I did learn this: Organic hard boiled eggs are WAY harder to peel the shells off of then my standard boring Publix eggs. So this years deviled eggs were a tad bit ugly but still delicious!

Easter Morning we woke up and had delicious homemade caramel rolls (did I mention I like to bake?) followed by an awesome church service with music that just makes your heart happy. Hope is a really powerful thing.

We took a few pictures in the park and my parents joined us out there for a picnic lunch.

Took a few pictures but this is my favorite - a classic Maddex kid pose. The kids do one of those hand clapping things we all did in elementary school that goes something like "Lemonade, Crunchy Ice, Sip It Once, Sip it Twice....Freeze!" Not sure what comes in between. But at the FREEZE they pose like this and its so funny to see them scrambling to get there backs to each other and it makes them both laugh so you get almost genuine smiles everytime...hence the odd pose!

We played bocce ball, aka lawn bowling, and headed home to play with some of the toys the bunny brought - like this awesome 3D sidewalk chalk. You paired certain colors together, put on the silly glasses and the chalk actually looked like it was floating above the sidewalk!

Life's A Beach

It has been warm here for a little over a week now...but between work and other scheduled things we've only gotten short bursts of outside time. So this Friday with no other plans on the schedule we decided it was a beach day to end spring break. Thursday night I went to bed with that awesome anticipation of great things - you know how you feel the night before Christmas or before you leave on a vacation. I have spring fever so bad and my beloved beach was calling me. So we packed up, got haircuts for the kids on the way only to reach downtown Clearwater and see that the causeway is backed up all the way over it. The chance of us getting to the beach within the hour in that kind of traffic was nil. So we changed course and headed to Honeymoon Island and it was all I thought it would be. Perfect blue skies, warm sand to dig your toes into, and the sun baking the whole beach to that absolutely perfect temperature with the slightest breeze to keep you from being too hot.

Funny I hate feet in general - its an odd phobia like thing. But love kids feet, made all the better covered in sand. The kids love gathering "treasure" at the beach, funny the things they come back with. Sandy toes and sandy treasure - love it!

Loving the new camera and all the fun things I can do with it! Still learning but enjoying the things I have learned thus far.

When we first got to Honeymoon Island it was not too busy - we found a spot with no problems. Three hours later when we left it was...well...busy! Welcome to Spring Break Florida style!