healthy child

Greg showed me a cool website called "Healthy Child Healthy World" at www.healthychild.org
It talks about going green in your home by using natural cleaners and buying sustainable organic food. Several months ago I stopped using harsh chemical cleaners in our home. I now use a homemade cleaning solution of water, borax, vinegar and dish soap. I clean the floors with vinegar and water and I clean the toilets with borax. So far I really like the results. We are no longer exposed to toxic chemical fumes and the homemade cleaners work just as well.

I am still here

I know it seems like I may have abandoned my blog, but I have not. I think about it everyday, but I just have not felt like writing anything. Not much has happened since my last post. On Saturday Greg took Morgan on an impromptu trip to Mt Lemmon to play in the snow. They stopped at Windy Point and ate icicles and Morgan made a very beautiful snow angel. From the pictures you can see that Morgan did not have snow clothes on and she was soaking wet and cold to the bone when she got home. The cold does not bother her that much so she did not seem too upset. She will jump into the freezing cold water in Sabino Canyon without a second thought, so the cold snow does not even faze her.

The U of A lost to Stanford again. The officiating was horrible. I am the first to roll my eyes when spots fans complain that the officiating cost their team the game. I have to say though that the refs made horrible calls in this game that in my opinion cost U of A the game. Greg was so angry that he emailed the Pac10 commissioner about how terrible the Pac10 refs are. He said there were a ton of posts about the terrible officiating for that game, some from people who were not U of A fans. Of course there were other factors in the game such as Budinger's missed free throws and unimaginative offensive plays after timeouts, but the 17 foul calls for the Lopez twins alone has to make you wonder what was going on. I hope we make it into the tournament. We need you Nic Wise.

I got this new cookbook written by Rick Bayless and his daughter and I tried a recipe last night. It was really good! Chicken breasts with mustard sauce over the top. Delicious! It is always a good sign when the first recipe I try from a new cookbook turns out to be good. If it turns out bad, I am usually reluctant to try the cookbook again. For example, my Martha Stewart cookbook. For some reason, whenever I try a recipe from that book, it just does not turn out quite right. I like Martha, so I keep trying recipes from the book. Maybe if I lived on the east coast the recipes would taste better. Oh well, for now I will stick with Rick Bayless.

Messy Party

I know it has been over a week since my last post. I had to drop everything last week, including laundry and home-cooked meals in order to finish my quilts and throw a Birthday Party for the girls. Now that those things are behind me, I can resume my normal routine. I think I made myself physically sick from stressing about all I had to do. The minute we came home from the party on Saturday I started feeling sick and I did not feel better until Monday. Stress wreaks havoc on my body.

The party on Saturday was a lot of messy fun. The kids (at least mine) were speckled with pudding, frosting, cake, chalk, sand and whatever else they got their hands on. Morgan kept telling us how much fun she had. Taylor I'm sure was in heaven because she had Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Karen doting over her the whole time. Thanks to everyone who helped with the party.

Birthday pics!

Here are pictures of Taylor's Birthday parties at our home and Grandma and Grandpa Gorby's.

Taylor's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Taylor! Taylor turned 2 today. Unfortunately, she didn't have such a happy birthday. She started the day crying and it continued until I put her down for her nap. She woke up in a good mood and she ended up having fun at our family party for her. Her face plant into the carpet that resulted in rug burns on her nose and forehead put a temporary damper on the fun. Grandma and Grandpa Gorby came over to help us celebrate. She had a pink ice cream cake that Greg dubbed "Pepto Bismol pink". I thought it was cute and most importantly, Taylor thought it was delicious. We gave her more wooden train tracks to add to her IKEA train set and Grandma and Grandpa gave her books. Morgan could not keep her fingers off Taylor's presents and she ended up opening at least one. Taylor did not seem to mind, she is so good at sharing. Stay posted for pictures of the party.

Frontline

Did anyone watch the Frontline about kids growing up online? I am so disturbed after watching it. I know this sounds naive, but I did not know how much time kids spent online. I did not realize so many of them had alternate identities online. I am terrified for my children to grow up. I have no idea what to do when they start going to Jr. High and High School. How do you keep track of what they are doing while at the same time allowing them some freedom to make choices? I am all stressed out. I should have never watched it. I do not think I can handle the teen years. I know I sound totally ridiculous, but I cannot help it.

Taylor got out of bed tonight at least 20 times. She refuses to go to bed these days. She is wearing me down. At the end of each day I feel like I have been beat down physically and emotionally. Sometimes I wish I was done with the toddler years because I somehow think it will get easier. Then I realize it is only going to get harder. Morgan already sasses me like a 16 year old. How much worse is it going to get? Maybe she will be a sassy child and then turn into a mellow teenager. Yeah right.

Quilt #1

I finally have pictures of my first quilt. I am sewing the binding on tonight and it will be finished! Then I have to start another one. Now that I kind of know what I am doing, maybe it will be easier. Probably not.

Why do kids always want your undivided attention when you try to talk on the phone or type on the computer? Right now Morgan is asking me 20 questions. I am very distracted as I type this so I apologize if it does not make sense. Now I cannot even remember what I wanted to talk about. Maybe I will try posting a message later tonight when the kids are sleeping. Thanks to everyone who has posted a comment.