Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day! In elementary school is was the day we always planted a tree. Then there became more focus on recycling. Now it's all about "Going Green".

So I'm watching Oprah today. It was all about going green and what you can do to help Mother Earth. What I loved about the show, was that they offered options for those of us that either can't afford all the organic/chemical free products OR pointed out that you didn't have to do it ALL right now, but choose what you feel you can do now and do it!

I think we all would love to be able to buy all organic foods and products, drive hybrid cars or ride bikes every where. Have homes run on solar power and compost all our waste. However, the reality is, that just isn't possible for most of us and that's ok.

The good news is, there are things that each of us can do to help. We can turn off the light when we leave the room, stop using as many paper products, recycle more and cut back on all the plastic, take advantage of the warm weather (thanks global warming) and dry the clothes on the a clothes line, etc.

So what are we doing at Hokiecrib? I try to buy organic on the crucial things when I can, like produce or at least the ones where we eat the skin (though they had a great solution on Oprah to drastically decrease the pesticides on produce that you can make yourself). We've turned off the lights and other things that take power when we don't need them. We don't buy bottled water. We do have a water service, but we've been trying to use our Eco friendly water bottles instead. We've been much more conservative with our paper products and tonight, I'm really excited about this, I went and bought reusable grocery bags from Trader Joe's. I had a $10 gift card, so I bought 10 bags. They are SOOOOOO CUTE and I love the thought that I won't have to store those stupid plastic grocery bags any more on top of helping to reduce waste!

If you haven't thought about what you can do to make a change, I encourage you to sit with your families and talk it over. Just think of the change we could make if every single person TODAY decided to make just ONE change! HUGE!

http://www.ban.org/

http://www.epa.gov/earthday/

http://www.wecansolveit.org/content/homepage/

http://www2.oprah.com/world/enviro/green/informed/informed_resources.jhtml (for other great resources)

It lifts and separates....

Let's get down and dirty (but hopefully not xrated!). So I've given up on feeding Claire from what God has given me (trying to avoid using the "B" word, so I don't end up on some crazy searches). I just couldn't keep up with the demand. So now I have my "friends" back.

I had an afternoon free and my mom and I decided to hit a consignment sale and a community yard sale. 30 mins later, we were done with BOTH! So what better to do than go shopping for a new bra!!!!!!!!!! What more could a new mom dream of?!?!?!

Macy's was having a great sale, my mom had some coupons, things were looking great! Now of course one of my dilemmas was not knowing what size to shop for. Last time I was measured (totally recommend going to Norstrom, they rock!)I was a 36 G! Do you know how ridiculous that is! Any who, I knew I wasn't that big, but just didn't know. So my mom and I grabbed 34's and 36's of various sizes.

Who thought that trying on a simple bra (or in my case SEVERAL) would be so exhausting! I got really hot, very thirsty and even ended up with a few scratches! WHAT? No I wasn't playing flag football, I was trying on about about 100 bras (No joke!).

Thankfully in the end I bought 5 bras (Yes! A mere 5 out of 100.) and they were all on sale. So I got them for a whopping $50. You would even have a hard time doing that at Walmart.

Now I can proudly flaunt my "friends" as my beautiful bras helps to lift and separate!

Make new friends, but keep the old......

I've had so many friends in my life. Some that are still part of my life and others that have moved on.

I never cease to be amazed by how I meet people these days. One of my dearest friends I met in a birth class of all places! Another I became friends with because we were the last couple to be married at the church. Another I met on freecycle, shoveling river rock out of her back yard. Thanks to these wonderful ladies, I have met several more phenomenal friends. How AWESOME!!!!

I sometimes find myself lonely and then I stop and think about these incredible people who impact my life in such inspiring and uplifting ways!

Today, once again, thanks to freecycle (which I would know nothing about, it it weren't for Bounceriffic!), I met another wonderful woman. She was in need of an exercauser and I had just the one for her darling 4 month old. We started talking and found we had a lot in common and even workout at the same gym!

It's amazing the community God will offer to us, if we will just stop and take the time to open the door! I find myself incredibly blessed and full......but never too full for a new friend, and ALWAYS holding the old ones close.



Friends are God's way of taking care of us.- Author Unknown

Side by side or miles apart, good friends are always close to the heart.- Author Unknown

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.- Author Unknown

Friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.- Author Unknown

I love you all!

My spring beauties

So I haven't posted anything in a while. The past several days have been crazy. Planning my cousin's "after baby shower" (which turned out great!). Wood has had a bout of the stomach flu, Kate always seems to be sick and now poor little Claire has joined the party. Knock on Wood (his head is kind of hard), I haven't been blessed with the sickies!

Despite all the "excitement", we did take a moment to enjoy the great weather and all the blooming flowers. When Kate was around 6 months old we took a great picture in our front yard that to this day is still probably our favorite.

Of course I thought it would be fun to try and reproduce the same picture, but wouldn't you know I can't find the hat and that would require me diggin out the swimsuit, etc. Too much work! LOL! So I pulled out the cute outfits that I got from Target for the girls, matching of course. The result was Wood, Kate and I making all kinds of crazy sounds, making fools of ourselves, all to get the attention of one little cutie, with our neighbors wandering if we should be committed. After close to 200 pics....NO JOKE....we didn't get something quite as "Gerber" worthy, but it was a fun memory!

Guitar hero.....what?

You don't have to be a musician to appreciate this guy! All you guitar hero wannabes don't have nuttin' on this dude! = )

This is the way the baby rides......

I love watching Kate and Claire interact. Kate loves the fact that she can play with her little sister now and actually get a response. Yesterday she tried doing her version of "This is the way the baby rides...." Its a song that my mom used to sing with me as a child and now I sing with my girls. By the end you are riding like a cowboy, bouncing all around, giggling up a storm! Of course by the time they got to the end of the song, Claire was no longer sitting up, but pretty much laying down (Kate needs to lift weights if she wants to actually hold her heavy weight sister!). Oh well! They both had fun! In that moment I took a second to reflect on what I thought sisterhood looked like. Being an only child (though my cousin and I always claimed to be sisters), I really didn't know what to expect. In that one instant as I watched the two of them looking into each others eyes, letting out pure, uncontrollable squeals of joy, I could see that bond that they will have with no one else. That place in their heart that won't be filled by anything or anyone else. Part of me is incredibly jealous, but then I think.....how cool that I (and Wood of course) created that. Then I realize, I'm the luckiest person in the world!

Growing up too quickly?

Though Kate technically was in trouble for getting into my makeup, I just couldn't help but laugh and had to take a picture.

Why is it, do you think, kids feel the need to be like us, like grown ups? Don't they know they have it good? Snacks all day without affecting the waistline. Afternoon naps wondering what the next grand adventure will be when you wake up. And having not a care in the world expect "when can I watch Caillou?"

If only the knew how good they really had it!

Where does the time go?

So I couldn't resist the opportunity to take this picture of Claire today! I was getting her ready for nap and was trying to pull her fleece over her head and it kind of got stuck. She thought it was grand fun. So I snapped 20 pics in hopes of getting the perfect one. Of course there were several that were cute. Then I had a sort of "deja vu" moment and realized that I had done something similar with Kate when she was younger. Actually she was almost 7 months old vs Claire's 6 months. I remember exactly when I took that picture of Kate. We had gone for the weekend to visit my dad and me being my usual silly self, stuck her pants on her head. To this day it's one of my favorite pics, because her hair looks PINK! So is it really possible that 3 years later I'm doing it all over again? The thought of that almost makes me faint! It's amazing all the things that we have experienced in 3 years and yet, wasn't it just yesterday? I guess it is true, "time flies when you're having fun".

Spring is in the air!

So today after getting up early and taking the girls to a kids consignment sale, we decided to have an impromptu trip to Frying Pan Park. The sign coming in said there was a new calf and lamb. We saw all the animals, especially the stinky pig and all her cute little piglets. It was great to be outside, to see all the families out with their kids and to see the baby animals. Spring is finally here and though it may still be a little cool, you still know winter is a thing of the past! Alleluia! Of course, since it's still cool, there is always room for a little chili and so we ended our family outing at Hard Times Cafe, eating a good 'ol yummy chili dog!

What kid wouldn't like "Dirt"?

So here is my first chance to "brag". We had a big party at our church to kick off our renovation. Since the theme was construction, I decided to attempt a dirt cake. I mean how hard could it really be? It's supposed to look like dirt. Who cares if it looks messy! I have to admit, I was quite pleased with how it turned out. And believe it or not, the kids had to fight the adults to get any! Yum Yum!

*Editors note : I used chocolate pudding instead of vanilla!

The latest addition to the family!

ASHLEY GRACE HURST

Megan and Brad had their baby!!!!!!!! It was a little girl! 7lbs 14oz, 20.5 inches long! She is so cute and so tiny.

Of course everything seems tiny to our little Buddha Claire! (Mind you there is 6 months between the two!)

Megan, Brad and BG Hurst are doing very well. Keep them in your prayers! Welcome to the family little one!

Hokiecrib is up and running!

It's official! Hokiecrib has joined the blogging world! Wood and I have always wanted to set up a blog and be cool like everyone else, so we've finally taken the plunge! Though I imagine it really will become a place about the girls, I'm sure every once in a while Wood and I will have 2 cents to share about something!

* A note from Kate, the editor - (I'm going to type my friends names) k3ll3n ch3rly 3steban ales