Do your kids take vitamins and mineral supplements?  I’ve never been that great at remembering to take vitamins myself.  My husband is much better at that type of stuff.  I can’t even remember to take my daily medication.  My children have both become quite fond of taking their vitamins though thanks to Shaklee Kids Incredibites and Mighty Smart supplements.

Both my 8yr old and my 3yr old ask for their vitamins every morning while they are getting ready for school.  It’s (finally) become part of our morning routine.  This is the season in Florida when vitamins can be very helpful for keeping my kids healthy.  The Florida weather can be bright and sunny and 80 in the afternoons – or it can be chilly (for our standards) and 40 in the morning.  Perfect weather for our little ones to get sick.

Have you heard of Shaklee before?  It’s not a new brand or company.  In fact, they have been around for over 50 years and are a very environmentally friendly company.  Here are just a few random eco-facts about the Shaklee Corporation:

• They created one of the first biodegradable household cleaners back in the 1960′s.
• They have never, and will never, test their products on animals.
• They were the first company in the world to go Carbon Neutral, meaning they have net zero impact on the environment.
• They rescue and recycle one ton of other companies cardboard.
• They have a long history of environmental stewardship awards from several state agencies and from the EPA.

Today they have a full line of healthy home, healthy beauty, and and nutrition products including the Shakleebaby line.

Five things I loved about the ShakleeKids Incredibites:

1. No artificial sweeteners,
2. No artificial colors,
3. No preservatives,
4. Contains 23 essential nutrients, and
5. My kids ASK to take them!

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GIVEAWAY ALERT!!  Enter to win some Tom’s of Maine Toothpaste below.

Let’s talk about teeth today!  What do you and your kids use to brush your teeth?  One of those ‘popular’ kids brands of toothpaste in those fancy princess or character wrappings?  Have you ever wondered what makes those toothpastes so tasty that your kids choose to eat it instead of brushing their teeth?  I just looked at the back of my tube of Crest Kids and it doesn’t list the ingredients (aside from the active ingredient) on the actual tube (it probably did on the box) but here is the link to the Environmental Working Groups list of ingredients for this product.

Active Ingredients: Contains: Sodium Fluoride (0.15% w/v fluoride ion)Inactive Ingredients: Sorbitol, Water, Hydrated Silica, Trisodium Phosphate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Phosphate, Xanthan Gum, Flavor, Sodium Saccharin, Carbomer 956, Mica, Titanium Dioxide, FD&C Blue 1

Do you see anything that that would be of concern to you?  Maybe the Xanthan Gum, Flavor, and perhaps the FD&C Blue coloring.  Why do we need to give them these artificial sweeteners and colorants to brush their teeth?  Defeats the purpose of brushing their teeth if you ask me…

We did a Silly Strawberry Swap this past week in our house! We switched out our regular kids toothpaste with Tom’s of Maine Silly Strawberry toothpaste.  I’ve used a small sample of Tom’s for myself but haven’t made the official swap in our house…but it’s on my list…now if only I can convince the hubs to try it!  I like the regular Tom’s so I was certain my kids would like the Silly Strawberry.  I left both tubes in the drawer because I wanted to get their true reactions and see which one they reached for in the morning/nights.

Results?? My daughter LOVES the Silly Strawberry!  She’s only 2 (almost 3) so it’s not hard to convince her to try something as long as it looks, smells, and tastes fun.  She picked the Tom’s every day this week and even said, “I want the Silly stuff mommy!”  My son on the other hand tried Tom’s one day and went back to his Crest the rest of the week.  At 8 yrs old he told me he didn’t like the taste of the Tom’s and that his breath felt cleaner with his regular toothpaste.  So what did I do??  I tried it myself!

I have to tell you I like the regular Tom’s (adult variety) myself because you still get that minty fresh taste in your mouth that makes your breath feel fresh.  After using the Silly Strawberry I didn’t get that minty or fresh feel.  It didn’t leave that ‘clean’ feel in my mouth.  Maybe I should stick with the adult Tom’s for my son since he’s concerned about his breath these days (you know…all those girls he talks to each day…hehe).

Want to know more about Tom’s of Maine??

Online:  http://www.tomsofmaine.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TomsofMaine
Twitter:  @TomsOfMaine

Want to win a tube of Silly Strawberry for your family to swap out?  Enter using Rafflecopter below.

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure:  A tube of Silly Strawberry toothpaste was received to review.  This review was made possible by Mom Spark Media. Thoughts are my own and do not reflect the thoughts of Mom Spark Media or Tom’s of Maine.  Giveaway fulfillment through Tom’s of Maine.

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Have you ever tried to sit down and explain to your kids what a blogger is?  Why you spend all day on Facebook?  Why you have parties on Twitter? Then you need a copy of “My Mommy is a Blogger” by Sommer Poquette (Green and Clean Mom).  I finally broke down and ordered my own personal copy and decided to keep it for my kids for Christmas so they haven’t read it yet.  While they haven’t read it I had to sneak a peek for myself.

OMG – I was laughing hysterically as I was reading it.  I was afraid that I was going to wake up the kids and they’d see me reading it and want to see what was so funny.  Sommers’ kids are about the same age as mine so I think I’ve had some of these same conversations with my kids (and my hubby).  I think next year for the Great American Teach In I’m going to convince my kids teacher to let me come in and read “My Mommy is a Blogger” and explain to them what I do for a living.

If you are a blogger and have elementary age kids I think your kids would really enjoy this story.  It’s well written and I love the cute illustrations.  If you order now there may still be time to get an autographed copy sent in time for the holidays.  If you order from her website, Sommer will package your book herself in recycled paper (I think mine was in a brown bag or shipping paper).

I can’t wait to read this with my kids and get their reactions!!

To find out more about Sommer and her book:

Green and Clean Mom blog

My Mommy is a Blogger

Sommer on Facebook

Disclosure:  I paid for my copy of the book and was in no way influenced to write this post.  I am an affiliate for the book so if you make a purchase using the links above I earn a small percentage of the sale to keep the lights on around this blog.  Thank you in advance if you choose to make a purchase using my link.  XOXO!

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When I was little I always had dreams of being an art teacher. I was very creative and still suffer from the creative bug quite often (just not as often as I would like).  My son has always enjoyed crafting with me but never fully L-O-V-E-D it like I did as a kid.  I’m so excited to see a little bit of my craftiness in my daughter.  She can sit at a table and play with dough for hours.  Her teachers tell me that she is the only one who sits still for painting and begs to keep painting when the project is done. Yes – I think she’s my child!

There are a few craft related blogs that I read often to keep my mind creative even if I’m not actively crafting myself.  I absolutely love Make and Takes blog by Marie LaBaron.  She usually gives simple craft idea for kids or for the home that don’t require the obscure materials.  I still have quite a craft stash in my closet and there is never a shortage of glue!  You can imagine my excitement when I received Marie’s new book in the mail a few weeks ago.

Make and Takes For Kids is her first book and it’s filled with 50 craft projects, recipes, and fun activities for kids (or moms) of all ages.  The book is divided into chapters by month with a few themed projects for each season or holiday.  This weekend the kids and I will be making some edible art – Oat Cereal Wreaths – to nibble on for the holidays (think Rice Crispie treats with Cheerio’s – yummy!).

You know what I absolutely love about many of the projects in this book? You can use trash or found items from around the home!  How eco-smart is that?  We are always looking for projects to make using toilet paper rolls, scrap paper, scrap fabric, cardboard (cereal mostly) boxes, aluminum cans, and milk jugs.  The book is loaded with ideas like:

• egg carton sea creatures
• milk jug bean bag toss
• bubble wrap raft

With Christmas just a few weeks away this would be a perfect additional for any school teacher, home schooling parent, or general crafty mama looking for fun projects to create with their kids.  I think my son would be excited if I gave it to him – even though he’s not my creative sprite! He still has fun and likes to find new uses for household items.

More about Make and Takes for Kids: http://www.makeandtakes.com/book
‘Like’ Make and Takes on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/makeandtakes
Follow Make and Takes on Twitter: https://twitter.com/makeandtakes

Here is a picture from our most recent crafting day where we were playing with homemade playdough (recipe not in the book but she does have it on her blog).

Homemade Playdough

Our "Snowman"

Do you like to craft with your kids?  What household items do you save from the landfill for those crafty days?

Disclosure:  I received a copy of Make and Takes for Kids for the purpose of a review.  No other compensation was received.

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I’ve always wanted to get Lil’ B one of those cute indoor playhouses (like these) but I try to stay away from too many plastic toys. I know that for the most part they are safe but the environmental cost of making too many plastic toys and accessories will make your brain hurt if you think about it. First their is the petroleum use, the transportation from some unknown factory in some foreign country, who may or may not ethically treat their employees…you see where I’m going right??! Not to mention the cost of disposal and the lifecycle of such products. Most of these houses end up at a garage sale or in the local dump where they rot for hundreds of years to come.

We are also quite limited on space in our house and if your kids are like mine they usually only play with their toys for a short period of time before they get tired of it and move on to something new. That’s why I was excited to review a new trend in playhouses, the cardboard playhouse by Cascades.

When the box arrived I have to admit I was a little overwhelmed – it was HUGE! I contemplated waiting until Christmas to open the box and give it to the kids for Christmas but I just had to see what was inside this rather large box.

Once the kids arrived home from school we started to assemble the house in my bedroom when we suddenly realized it was too large to fit through the doorway. Thankfully we do have a nice size living room (even though the rest of the house is small) and we quickly found a spot to place the house.

We placed all of the accessories upon the house; the window awnings, the mail box, and the chimney. Finally the moment came where it was ready to play with. We decided that this would be a perfect place to put Lil’ B’s kitchen and all of the felt food that I made her last Christmas. It’s actually quite perfect because the playhouse has a door that we can pull shut to keep the dog away from the toys (he likes to eat the felt food).

Here are a few pics from our first night playing with the house: (excuse the iPhone quality images)

Yes, even daddy and the dog tried to pay our newest homeowners a quick visit. The house is quite spacious and has plenty of room for multiple children. We’ve had the house for a few weeks now and it’s a favorite hiding place for when mommy needs a time out!

Now, I just need to get my creative juices flowing and decorate the house (or let them decorate it).

Here are some cute ideas I found on Pinterest. I’m sure after adding a few over-sized pillows and using a box of markers or paint our little house will become a truly unique home. I’m thinking about adding some curtains too with some scrap fabric from my sewing stash. How would you decorate your cardboard playhouse?

Where to buy: Cascades’ ecological products Boutique
Retail price: $48.00
Facebook: Boutique Cascades’
Coupon Code: THEECOCHIC valid until Dec. 31st, 2011.  Save 25% off!!

Eco-Benefits: Sure cardboard doesn’t last as long as plastic but that’s OK for this product. The cardboard is made from reclaimed cardboard and is 100% recycleable once it can no longer be used. Depending on how well your kids take care of it this playhouse should last for several months – or longer. To view the Cascades’ environmental policy statement click here: http://boutique.cascades.com/us/en/cascades-environment/

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With Thanksgiving and the holiday season quickly approaching I thought I would share with you some tips on traveling with cloth diapers.  I’ve written about traveling with cloth before but as I get more experienced I change my suggestions a bit.  Here are some recommendations and tips:

Tips for Traveling with Cloth Diapers

By car: This mode of transportation is the easiest way to travel with cloth diaper because the only limiting factor is how much available space you have left in your car after you’ve packed all of your luggage.  As you already know, babies require a LOT of extra luggage depending upon what resources are available at your destination.  Any type of cloth diapers can be packed when traveling by car and you can stuff them in any open space that is left.  I found that reusable shopping bags from the grocery store are a good method for packing cloth diapers by car because they are open and easy to access when you need to grab a diaper.

By air: Traveling by air can be a little more challenging primarily because you are limited by the number of bags you can bring with you.  Since most air carriers are charging for luggage you’ll want to pack as compact as possible.  Most air carriers will allow you to check your car seat for free – purchase a car seat bags (like these) can be used to protect your car seat but they can also be used to stash some of your cloth diaper stash without having to pay for an extra bag.  (Tip provided by Kim @ Dirty Diaper Laundry)  Trimmer diapers are best when packing with limited space.  Many people prefer to travel with AIO’s, flats, and covers due to their ease of use and trimness.  When traveling by air you can always pack less and wash more if you have to.

Disposable – Hybrid – or 100% Cloth Diapers? Which should I take with me?  This really depends on where you are going, how long you are going to be gone, and what your washing facilities will be like.  Disposable diapers were actually invented to make diapering while traveling more convenient.  I will admit that I have resorted to using disposable diapers in the early days when we traveled because I wasn’t brave enough to try 100% cloth.  If that is what you choose don’t feel bad or guilty – feel proud that you use cloth diapers the rest of the time and know that you will appreciate them more when you get home.  Hybrid diapers (like the Flip and GroVia disposable inserts) are a nice option that blends cloth with disposables.  You can use your favorite covers or shells and simply place a very trim disposable insert in the cover.  The GroVia disposables are actually the trimmest insert that I’ve tried.  Hybrids are nice to use the night before you leave after you’ve washed all of your cloth diapers.  Depending upon how long you will be gone for you don’t want to leave dirty diapers at home if you can help it.  On one of our last trips when my daughter was 1.5 yrs old we took both hybrid and cloth and it worked out well.  I ended up using cloth the majority of the time because I’m so comfortable using it – no learning curve.

100% Cloth Diapers with Flats & Covers: This is by far my favorite method for traveling with cloth diapers.  For starters flats are very trim and absorbent.  They are inexpensive and very versatile.  They are easier to launder and if you absolutely must – they can be hand washed very easily and dry within a few short hours.  They don’t take up much space in your luggage either.  If you can wash every night or every other night you will only need to pack 12-24 flats and a set of 6+ covers.  One of my favorite articles on traveling with flats is from Heather McNamara of the Real Diaper Association – she traveled to a rain forest in Panama with her cloth diapers!

Laundry options while traveling: This can be the most stressful or challenging part of traveling with cloth diapers – determining where to wash your cloth diapers.  If you are staying with family or friends you simply need to let your guests know that you’ll be needing to borrow their washing machine while you are there.  It is courteous to have this discussion ahead of time so they aren’t shocked when you ask to launder dirty diapers in their machine.  If you aren’t lucky enough to be staying at a place with a washing machine there are still some additional options:

• Hotels, cruise ships, and resorts often have laundry facilities on-site.  Some will let you use their machines while others have coin operated machines available for guests.  A phone call in advance can help you plan your wash routine.
• Resorts will sometimes have washing machines in the room.  It may be worth the extra money to choose a resort over a hotel.  When traveling with small children resorts are nice because most of them also have kitchens which will help you save money when feeding those little tummies.
• Coin operated laundry.  You may need to resort to a coin operated laundry if there aren’t any other options on-site.  Remember to pack some quarters.
• Hand washing – don’t be scared to use the sink or tub to wash your diapers in the evening.  If you are traveling with flats they are the easiest cloth diapers to hand wash and will only take about 30 minutes in the evening.  They will dry quickly over night and will be ready to use when you get up the next day.

Don’t forget the laundry detergent! Regardless of where you launder your diapers don’t forget to pack some sample packages of your favorite detergent.  You don’t want to spend your holiday stressing out over detergent – especially when most stores are closed on the actual holiday.

Question: How do I ensure that the washing machine I will be using doesn’t have build up from detergents or fabric softeners?  I’ve heard that they can transfer to my cloth diapers.

Answer: While you can’t ensure that the machine you are about to use if clean and hasn’t been used with fabric softeners you can easily do a hot water wash cycle with no clothes to quickly clean the machine.  If you have other laundry to wash you can wash them without fabric softeners to provide a cleanse on the machine.  While 1 cycle may not remove everything it will help prevent most problems that you’ll encounter with cloth diapers.  When you get back home you may want to strip your diapers really well to ensure that you remove any foreign substances that you may have brought back with you from the machine.

Diaper Services: Another often overlooked option when traveling is to research diaper services in the area you’re traveling to.  Most diaper services have short term plans just for travelers.  They don’t normally advertise them on their websites so you may need to call them to inquire about the rates.  With diaper services you normally need to bring diaper covers with you and they supply you with prefolds and a wet bag.  You can arrange to have your diapers delivered to a hotel or wherever you are staying.  When you leave all you have to do is pack up the dirty diapers and the diaper service will pick them up for you.

Regardless of how you decide to travel with your diapers remember that you don’t want to spend your entire time away stressing about them.  Do what works best for you and your family.  A few minutes planning before your trip will help you travel stress free.  Have you traveled with cloth diapers?  What system worked best for you?  Do you have additional tips or tricks to share?

To read my past articles on traveling with cloth diapers:  http://www.theecochic.com/2010/11/16/day-4-30-reasons-to-love-cloth-diapers/

Photo source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1192087

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A few days ago I told you that I was going to my sons school for the Great American Teach In.  On Friday he came home with a handful of Thank You cards all decorated by his classmates.  I wanted to share a few of them with you:

Dear Mrs. P, Thanks for visiting. I never new that glass dose not disinagreat, thats so cool. I’ll tell my step mom about the re-use able dippers. Sincerly, Marissa

Dear Mrs. P, Thank you for helping our class how to reycle. Sinsily Jaquan

Dear Mrs. P, Thank you for speaking and for teaching us about reduce reuse and rescyle aslo refuse. Sincerly Chloe

Dear Mrs. P, Thank you for teaching me all about reciciling.  My most favirt part was that it can take a straw 500 years to incinegret. Sincerly, Jimmy

Dear Mrs. P, Thank you for coming to teach about recycling. Sincerely, Peter

Dear Mrs. P, I never knew dipers could be reused! I though one baby could use less than 20 dipers a day! Thank you for teaching me! From Abby

Dear Mrs. P, Thank you for all the things you tote us but my favorite was when we talked about the straws.  Thanks, Sincerely, Kali

Dear Mrs. P,  Thank you for teaching us about your job. Thank you very much. Sincerely, Sarah

Dear Mrs. P, Thank you for coming in the room and the part I liked the most was when you said glass was recycled. Sincerely, Jordan

Dear Mrs. P, Thank you for teaching us how to rycicle glas, plastick, and all those other things. Sinsirly, Harold

Dear Mrs. P, Thank you for tiching me how to yous stuf. If you recyle you can make new thies and what i lern is that you can make things out of recyle. Thank you. Sincerly, Hope

Dear Mrs. P, Thank you for thaching me of how to recaikle prosas. Sincerely, Tyler

Dear Mrs. P, Thank you for teaching us about recicling. I learned about the 4r. Sincerely, Paris

Dear Mrs. P, Thank you for teaching about resikaling, and glass never gos awhy. Sinsely, Noah

These all made me smile.  I especially love the few who said thank you for teaching them about reusable diapers.  The children are our future.  We should teach them well.

I copied their words exactly as they were spelled since I think it adds to the charm.  This is from a classroom of 3rd grade students.

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I’ll admit it, my kids aren’t perfect!  It’s so easy to talk about their strengths and brag about their achievements because that’s what we do as parents.  But what about when your kids misbehave, lie, cheat, and steal?  Do we go around talking about that or do we just sweep it under the rug and hope that no one will find out?

I don’t want to go into all of the details because this blog is not my place to embarrass or humiliate my children (after all, one day hopefully they will read some of this) but I want to acknowledge that my children aren’t perfect.  This has been a challenging week as a parent.  My son got caught cheating.  He is a very competitive academic and puts a lot of pressure on himself to do good.  When things don’t go as he thinks they should he gets very angry and doesn’t know how to react properly.  He’s always been sensitive and tends to over-react when he gets angry, that’s nothing new.  I’ll take full blame on the sensitivity issues because I tend to over-react myself (although none of my friends ever see that side of me).  He ended up receiving a punishment that I think will discourage him from cheating again so hopefully the incident will have a positive influence on him.

Then tonight my 2 year old got her first lesson in lying.  She damaged something in my room tonight and instead of admitting that she did it she blamed her brother.  Two year old’s aren’t the best liars so I had a feeling she was lying to me but I couldn’t guarantee it.  She was upset when I punished her and gave me her dramatic tears.  I asked her one more time if she lied to me and finally before bedtime she admitted that she ‘did it.’

I think I was harder on my son at this age because I knew I was teaching him a lesson.  With her, she’s our baby and our little princess who can do no wrong.  With 6 years between them it’s amazing how different our parenting strategies are with them.

Why is it harder to talk about their weaknesses and failures than it is to talk about their achievements?  I feel like I could have written a post 10X longer and more well spoken than this if I was bragging about his mad math skills.  Instead I’m admitting that my children lie and cheat!  They aren’t perfect!

Are yours?

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It’s that time of year again, the Great American Teach-In is this week and I’ll be talking to my sons class about How to Be Green.  I’ve talked to his class every year since Kindergarten and each year seems to take a slightly different turn.  I have 30 minutes to spend with them on Thursday and I have to decide what this years message should be.

I always talk about the 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) but I don’t think I’ve ever talked about the 4th R (or first R).  REFUSE! We can all practice this one in our daily lives and I think if we teach children at a young age that it’s ok to refuse wasteful items we can train them to be even more eco-friendly and green than we are.

5 Examples of ways to refuse:

• Refuse a straw at a restaurant and drink from the edge of the cup instead. Or use a glass straw like glass dharma – they are kid friend
• ly and guaranteed for life.  We have one but I always forget to take it with us.
• Refuse bags. Do we really need a bag for everything?  Even if I forget my reusable bags when shopping sometimes the item is  easy to carry without a bag.
• Refuse your receipt at the gas station. Unless you need a receipt for tax purposes do you need to have a receipt for all of your gas purchases?  I’ve even noticed more restaurants asking if you need a receipt for your purchase.  As long as I don’t plan on returning an item, giving the item as a gift, or verifying that the prices are correct I always just thrown them away anyways.  What a waste!
• Refuse more than one napkin – or refuse them all and bring your own.  When you are at a restaurant do you really need more than one napkin per person (unless you have small children the answer is probably yes)?  Sure if you are eating ribs or chicken wings you may need more than one but for the average meal one napkin is plenty.  General rule of thumb – we may need 5 napkins but I doubt we need 25 of them with your Happy Meal.  Be honest, how many have you just thrown away unused?
• Refuse bottled water. Bring your own refillable water bottle and fill it in a sink or faucet.  Whenever we visit friends or family away from home I will usually try to bring at least one bottle or cup with us.  Those new reusable plastic cups with lids and straws are the BEST yet!  I actually use them more than the bottles – and I remember to bring it more often.

The best part of talking with the kids is that I open up the conversation.  I don’t want to be all preachy and tell them what they ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ do.  I ask them to brainstorm with me and come up with simple ways they can Reduce, Reuse, Recycle…and now Refuse!  I always love hearing what they come up with.  Last year I even talked about reusing cloth diapers and the kids loved it.

The final part of my presentation is always a quick craft project using found items.  I think the project they liked the best over the years was making bookmarks from cereal boxes.  I had them pre-cut and ready to decorate and they each got to take home a ‘brand new’ bookmark at the end of the day.

I need to look through our junk collection and plan our a project for this year.

Have you ever spoke to your kids class about your job or passion?  What are some ways you can encourage change by getting kids to start problem solving at a young age?

Photo source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1191196

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Observations from the road trip:

1- My son can’t say ‘pecan’ or ‘cotton’ properly! Even being raised in the South he must not hear me say them much. At 8yrs old he says the ‘pekin’ and ‘coddin’ – I need to record him saying them.

2. Why are pecan trees always spaced out so evenly in rows?

3. When traveling with a dog your only options for food is fast food and I’m SICK of fast food!! I’m dying for a real meal!! The closest I got was a Wendy’s baked potato; however they forgot to put the butter in the bag so even that didn’t satisfy me.

4. Kids can fall asleep anywhere!

5. I don’t like driving my husbands car because the left arm rest is too high and is uncomfortable. Since he drove most of the trip I’m not complaining.

6. Foursquare thinks my husband’s my BFF because we spent the last 3 days checking in together. Awe!

7. Cars need to come with power strips these days! We had a total six items all fighting for the 2 plugs in the car.

8. My kids get along sooooo good! It wasn’t until the last 30 minutes that the were loud, cranky, and annoying. Why is it that every rhyme, song, and joke they tell one another has to include pee, poop, underwear, or eating brains?

8. My cat had a party, got drunk, and threw up around the house!

I’m glad to be home! What things do you learn when you travel with your family?

Published from my iPhone!

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