my baby girl shower

last weekend journee and beth threw me a baby shower. they made every detail a secret, so when i arrived home after church in time for the party, our house was transformed into a sweet "green" themed shower for me. the invitations were even hand-made with recycled materials (so cute!) here's some other details...

"garden" cupcakes! peas, carrots, lettuce and radishes

we have a juicer at home and we make fresh juice every day (can't get much healthier than juicing!), and so all the drinks were fresh juiced-- apple/carrot/cucumber, watermelon/pineapple/blueberry, and watermelon juice. so delicious!

fresh, homemade vegetable Borsh--YUM!

homemade whole wheat rolls

lovely flowers

a garland i will most surely use for all of this baby girl's birthdays (made with the left-over fabric scraps that were used for the invitations)

it was a blessing, and and i am thankful for the sweet women that i have in my life here. someone commented after the shower that i just have the nicest group of friends:)
and i feel like i have just about everything that i need for this baby now. i even had my first dream about birthing her the other night and she was so beautiful, so now, i just can't wait to hold her for real!

plastic yuckiness

the sneaking suspicion that plastic might not be very good for us has only just begun. we all try to buy BPA free now, right? well now they are saying you should also search for EPA free. and now studies are confirming that ALL plastics (including our beloved BPA-free plastics) leak hormones that mimic estrogen. the list of harmful chemicals in this substance that we've sadly grown far too dependent on, probably goes on and on....

so in our household we've thrown away ALL of our plastic kids plates, bowls and cups and replaced them with stainless steel (glass and ceramic are too fragile to trust with little hands). we bought every kid this set

and so, i'm the first to admit, this is only the first, tiniest step. i would love to make our lives as plastic free as possible. and yes, i'm still guzzling my 80-100 oz of water a day from my plastic Camelbak. but i do plan to purchase Camelbak's stainless steel version as soon as i can! (yes, for all you Camelbak fans out there, i saw one at the store the other day!)

but the first steps i wanted to take where with my precious little love. the mother in me wants to protect my children as best as i can....i feel much better already:)

some day i would love to....

this is so inspiring! i would love to be able to make this my reality...

dad makes fun happen

that's what a picture frame in our household says, and boy is it true! our music man came home last weekend and this weekend as well, and when he is home, we cherish our time together as a family!

last friday we took him to the movie theatre for the first time. and what movie would it be besides Justin Bieber: Never Say Never!!? yes, this little family does in fact have Bieber Fever. i have to admit i was the last one to catch on--music man gave it to little man when he gave him a Justin Bieber doll for Christmas and started watching youtube videos of him before he was famous. and eventually, little man gave it to me. and now, even at my age, if i met him in person i might go into a screaming/crying fit and pass out....haha, but seriously this kid is SO incredibly talented, and comes from a very strong Christian background (his mom goes to church with some friends of ours in Atlanta and she requested a meeting with music man, so he got to sit down and talk with her one time), and so i am totally rooting for this kid--for him to succeed and for him to succeed with all his morals and values in tact. i used to think he might just be famous for a minute, but after seeing the movie and reading a vanity fair article on him, i decided he might just surprise us, like justin timberlake and usher both did....

so our son is totally obsessed with him. i have to listen to his music (ok so yes i sortof enjoy it) all day while he dances and sings, and he'll even start pretending he IS Justin Bieber....he'll fall down and say "Justin Bieber fell down!" or he'll talk about the 'Justin Bieber coat' that he's wearing or the 'justin bieber shoes' that he's wearing....it's a hoot.

the next night we all went to eat sushi-our favorite meal. they kid-rigged his chopsticks for him, and it worked--he ate with chopsticks for the first time




after that, we made a last-minute decision to go to a professional hockey game! i figured there wouldn't be anyone there, but it was packed! who knew?!

this weekend...it has rained the entire time, plus mama is sooooo tired! we managed to get him to an indoor play place yesterday.

today we went to church and then lounged at home all day (ahhhh). and we get one more day with daddy tomorrow, so who knows what kind of fun we'll get into!