Green Living GirlsLiving green

My family treated me to a wonderful mother’s day. The day started with the kids presenting me with gifts they had made at school.  Both my little ones surprised me with thoughtful and beautiful cards, poems and flowers. My heart swelled with love for my children who have given me the best gift ever – being their mom.

Now that the kids are older, I have been wanting a bike to ride around the neighborhood with them, cruise the peninsula with my husband and make little trips with girl friends. While the kids could not contain their excitement and let slip on Saturday that a bike was indeed in my future, I was still surprised and excited when they presented it to me the next day – complete with a bow on top.

We spent the day with my family having brunch and watching the kids play. That afternoon we played miniature golf, enjoyed some frozen custard and then played outside till dinner. I even took a little bike ride around the neighborhood with my daughter.  It was a perfect day surrounded by those I love.

Instead of a traditional mother’s day gift, my sister and I decided to take our mom to a cooking class at Frankie and May.  The three of us are going to Girls’ Night Out:  Perfect Picnic Foods. I cannot think of a more fun evening than sharing a bottle of wine and enjoying some fun foods with my mom and sister.

For Rich’s mom, we went the more traditional route and opted to send flowers since she was out of town on Sunday and we were once again at a loss as to what to get her. We wanted to make sure the flowers we sent were sustainable and the company socially responsible. We’ve ordered from Organic Bouquet before and decided to use them again.

“Organic Bouquet is the largest online provider of eco-friendly, organic floral gifts. All flowers are grown in an environmentally friendly manner, follow strict growing practices, provide for environmental benefits through our participation in Carbon Offset programs and use sustainable, biodegradable, green packaging that is both innovative and stylish. All of Organic Bouquet’s products, from floral arrangements and gourmet gifts to unique home accessories, have been certified by third-party agencies, such as USDA, Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance.”

Another reason I love using Organic Bouquet is their Our Flowers for Good™ program which helps not-for-profit partners. 5% of your purchase is donated to the individual charity. Charities currently partnered with Organic Bouquet include: PETA, National Wildlife Foundation, American Lung Association, Action Against Hunger, Health Child Healthy World, Breast Cancer Foundation, and many others.

Whatever the occasion, Organic Bouquet has a beautiful flower arrangement, plant or gift to send to your loved one. Plus, you can send your gift knowing you are choosing a company that is socially responsible and they guarantee overnight delivery to ensure they arrive fresh.

Now I’m off to take a spin on my new bike. Hope your family spoiled you on Mother’s Day.

~Lori

It’s finally beginning to warm up again where we live.  The flowers are blooming, the kids are out playing and gardens are being prepped.  Which also means it’s time to break out the sunscreen.  Environmental Working Group has once again compiled their list of the safe and best sunscreens to use and those to avoid.  Their site is easy to use and full of information.  You can search for your current brand, view of list of the “best” sunscreens and view their “Hall of Shame” at http://breakingnews.ewg.org/2012sunscreen/

There is even an app you can download to your phone to reference while out shopping.  If you have last years ap, make sure to update it so you have the latest info.

This past winter my skin really took a beating.  Not only was my skin extremely dry, but somehow it was still oily.  Awhile back, on the recommendation of a friend who has amazingly, beautiful skin, I purchased a Dr. Hauschka sample kit for oily skin.  Included in the kit were travel sizes of the cleansing cream, clarifying toner, normalizing day oil, facial steam bath and the cleansing clay and rejuvenating mask.

All Dr. Hauschka products use natural botanical preservatives (without chemical additives), has for the past 45 years been 100% completely natural and not a single ingredient in any of their products has been tested on animals.  Additionally, on the company’s website you can find a complete list of their ingredients.  I love that the company is very transparent and prides themselves on not only offering superior products, but educating their customers as well.

Over the past couple of weeks I experienced a series of breakout that I tried to combat with some heavy duty acne medications.  While my skin’s appearance improved, the active ingredients in the treatment really dried out my skin. The only thing that helped calm my skin was the Normalizing Day Oil.

According to the product description, the day oil is a light, clean blend of pure plant oils that nurtures and soothes, sending signals of balance and protection to oily skin. Oil production is calmed and over time the skin achieves a balanced, beautiful state.  Though it might seem counterintuitive to apply oil to an oily of blemished complexion, it’s actually the most effective solution.  Your skin is smart – it knows whether it’s sufficiently protected, producing more oil when skin is dry and less when it’s balanced.

Having used the product for about a week each morning, my skin is now back to normal – blemish free, moisturized and the dry patches have disappeared.

With two kids I am always looking for great safe and eco-friendly products. We are very diligent about what we put into their bodies and need to be equally careful about what we put on them.  I’ve complied a list of the products we are currently using. As their needs change so will our list.

HAIR

California Baby – Calming Shampoo & Bodywash, Conditioner and Detangler

My daughter has long, thick hair that is easily prone to tangling. California Baby – Calming products not only help manage her tangles, it leaves her hairy silky and shiny. The following information was taken directly from California Baby’s website.

Age: Newborn and older
For Use: Use for baby’s first bath! For hair, face & body.
Scent: Calming aromatherapy blend that includes French lavender and Clary Sage to promote calmness

Product description:California Baby® Calming Shampoo & Bodywash gently and effectively cleans hair, body and face using all -natural vegetable glucoside cleansers that are non-stripping, sulfate-free and extremely biodegradable. This must-have staple, is lightly scented with California Baby®’s light and fresh Calming essential oil blend that helps to promote calmness, making bath-time stress free and fun! All of our Shampoo & Bodywashes are allergy-tested, tear free, non-drying and leave hair and skin soft, shiny and manageable. For best results, partner with California Baby® Calming Hair Conditioner. This 19 ounce bottle dispenses the perfect amount of product every time and has a lockable pump to put a temporary stop to enthusiastic little hands! Don’t forget to refill with our half or one gallon sizes.

Benefits & Features:

• Contains organic and sustainably grown vegan ingredients
• No Sodium sulfate, DEA, or numbing agents
• Concentrated and biodegradable
• No synthetic fragrances. Scented with aromatherapy quality essential oils
• No tears, non-irritating, non-stripping formula. Safe and gentle
• Two products in one – use head to toe. May be used for hair, face and body
• Great for babies, kids, or adults with chemically sensitive skin.

California Baby also has bubble bath, lotions, creams, massage oils, diaper ointments and sunscreens in a wide-variety of scents.

 BODY WASH

 There are a ton of organic body washes out there and we don’t have a favorite one.  However, most of the time we simply use the California Baby Shampoo and Bodywash as the kids’ soap. But we also like: Little Twig Organic Extra Mild Baby Wash, Episencial Playful Foaming Wash , Erbaorganics Baby Body Wash, Avalon Baby Gentle Tear-Free Shampoo & Body Wash, and Earth’s Best Organic 2 in 1 Shampoo & Body Wash.

BUBBLE BATH 

 California Baby Bubble Bath 

Benefits & Features:

• Contains organic and sustainably grown ingredients
• No tears
• No Sodium lauryl sulfate, DEA or numbing agents
• No synthetic fragrances
• Our aromatherapy essential oils are tested for purity
• Non-stripping of delicate mucous membranes, which can lead to yeast or bladder infections
• Bubbles with soapbark and yucca

TEETH

At our house we flucuate between Jason Kids Only! and Tom’s of Maine.

All Jason Kids Only! products are free of harsh chemicals and contain an abundance of natural essential oils and extracts to protect, hydrate and soothe. Additionally, they are:

• Paraben and Sulfate Free
• Wheat and Gluten Free
• Tear and Phthalate Free
• Fluoride and Glycol Free
• Mineral Oil, Lanolin and Petrolatum Free

Tom’s of Maine uses naturally sourced calcium and silica abrasives to gently clean teeth. Plus, it has a natural fruit flavor. Additionally, they pride themselves on:

• No animal testing or animal ingredients
• No artificial colors, flavors, fragrance, or preservatives
• Share every ingredient, its purpose, and its source at tomsofmaine.com
• Sustainable practices are a priority in every aspect of our business
• Strive to maximize recycled content and recyclability of our packaging
• 5% (12 days) of employee time to volunteering. 10% of profits to human and environmental goodness

(While both toothpastes work well and do not contain harsh chemicals, the Tom’s of Maine tube does tend to crack at some point which can lead to leaking.)

NAILPOLISH

My daughter loves to put on makeup and paint her nails. But, she also has a tendency to put her fingers in her mouth. Hopscotch kids comes in a TON of colors and is safe for even the youngest nails. “Hopscotch Kids™ WaterColors is the premier non-toxic, kid-friendly alternative to solvent-based nail polish.”

• Vegan
• Cruelty-free
• Gluten-free
• Fragrance Free
• Toxin Free
• Paraben Free
• Hypoallergenic
• Biodegradable

If these products are not available at your normal grocery store or drugstore, you can easily find them online at:

www.amazon.com

www.diapers.com

www.drugstore.com

 ~Lori

This month I want to explore a bunch of different topics.  Some of them include:

• Kid-friendly personal products
• My favorite beauty products
• “Green” Halloween
• Kid clothing options
• Local Farm – Skelton Farms

These are just a few of the topics I have swimming in my head right now. I promise to get back here and share my ideas and thoughts.

~Lori

Fall is here! Along with the dropping temperatures and changing leaves, the holidays will be soon be upon us. Halloween is right around the corner and then BAM! it’s December and then Christmas and Hanukkah. With the abundance of decorations, candy and costumes assaulting us in early September – it’s easy to get caught up in all the “stuff.” While I personally love Halloween, I don’t love the excess and all the candy. 

How do you keep your footprint small during the holidays?

Besides reusing decorations each year, we try to avoid the over-priced store costumes. Last year, our daughter was a classic witch. But instead of buying the corseted-stripped witch costume (really?) being tauted in all the Halloween magazines, we bought her a black dress, purple and black stripped tights and then added a really cool witch hat from Chasing Fireflies. Besides being extremely cute, her costume was functional and reusable. The dress was worn again and the hat now resides in our dress-up trunk. Our son, who was two at the time, wasn’t too keen on dressing up at all. Instead of buying a costume we weren’t sure he’d wear, he was a Penn State Fan. He wore a PSU football jersey and a ball cap. He loved his costume and he still wears all the pieces. 

This year our daughter is going as a cheetah. Together we picked out a cute cheetah print skirt and matching top at Children’s Place and purchased the tail and ears at Target for $5. She’ll wear white leggings, her dark brown EMU boots and paint on some whiskers – costume complete. Our son on the other hand wants to be a dinosaur. I’m still trying to figure a way out of buying that costume. Which reminds me, I should go on Facebook and ask my friends if anyone has a costume we can borrow.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Happy Fall!    

School is back in session! At our house, we are beginning to hear slight grumblings of wanting more say over what is packed in the lunchbox and how many times per week school lunch can be bought.

As a mother of a six year old with very distinct opinions and likes and dislikes, it can be challenging to say the least to satiate her wants and my desire to make sure she is eating a healthy and nutrient-rich lunch. 

I get it – I do. It’s fun to buy your lunch. It’s fun to stand in line and chat with the other kids buying their lunch, to choose between the regular milk, chocolate milk, vanilla milk or the forbidden strawberry milk, to carry a tray up to the register and give your name so the cost of the school lunch can be deducted from you account. It’s very enticing and exciting for a six year old. Plus, if cookies are on the menu – bonus!

We have adopted a general rule that started last year in kindergarten.  Our daughter is allowed to buy lunch at her school once a week. She goes over the lunch menu and chooses the day of the week she would like to buy, we circle the day and then we both know what the plan is for that week. Not only is she an active participant in the plan, she has to make a choice and then stick with it. If she buys on Monday then she is done for the week. If she chooses to pack the entire week than she forgoes buying that week. There is doubling up the following week.

While I would prefer to pack her lunch everyday, I feel this compromise works for our family. Plus, I try to steer her towards buying on days when the choice is pizza from a local pizza joint not hormone-ladden, frozen chicken nuggets and fries. While she is not always happy with this rule, by sticking with from the start of school we don’t have too many arguments over what is being served for lunch.

With warmer weather finally upon us, it is imperative to protect our skin each and everytime we go outside.  The best protection against the sun is a shirt and hat. However, when it is unavoidable to expose your skin to the sun, which sunscreen is best?  Which “natural” sunscreens rub in completely and not leave you looking like a ghost?

Each year the Enviromental Working Group (EWG) updates and publishes their list of safe sunscreens.  Not only do they rank the best sunscreens, they also list their top-rated lipbalms, moisturizers with SPF, and makeup with SPF.  With rankings on over 1,700 sunscreens, their site is easy to navigate and understand. 

The website also has an abundance of information such as:

Best Sunscreens - the top 129 products

Top Sun Safety Tips  - Tips to protect your skin before and after sun exposure

Sunscreens Exposed - The latest science

Hall of Shame – Examples of what’s wrong with the sunscreen industry

FAQs

Another great feature is the abililty to search for your current sunscreen and see how it ranks.  EWG ranks each product with a number from 1-10.  The lower the number the safer the product. 

0-2 = Low Hazard     3-6 = Moderate Hazard     7-10 = High Hazard    

All top-rated sunscreens contain the minerals zinc or titanium, and do not include any chemicals considered to be potential hormone disruptors such as oxybenzone or vitamin A and none are sprayed or powdered. 

You can also download their FREE ap to have instant access to lists and tools on your mobile device.

Some of my favorite top-rated sunscreens:

Alba Botanica – Mineral Sunscreen and Mineral Sunscreen for Kids, SP

Caribbean Solutions Natural/Biodegradable SolGuard, SPF 25

Badger – Unscented, SPF 30

Kiss My Face – 100% Natural White Sun Stick, SPF 30 

Earth’s Best – Sunblock Mineral Based, SPF 30

And remember, just because one product by a company is listed as “safe” do not assume all their products are.

~Lori

         My kids love hot dogs!  What kid doesn’t?   However, I don’t want them eating who knows what, mystery meat, nitrate filled dogs.  On occasion, I even crave a hot dog myself. 

Then Dawn introduced me to Applegate’s Organic Hot Dogs.  They were easy to find at my local Wegmans in the “Natural” section and I happily bought them to try out on my kids.  As with most convenience foods served at our house, the hot dogs were saved for an  evening when Rich and I were going out to dinner with friends.  We boiled or steamed the dogs on the stove top, served them up with some organic Cascadian Farms french fries and a side of fresh fruit and carrot sticks.  The kids happily ate their hot dogs and my daughter even asked for more.  Success!   

Of course, I cut off a small piece and tried the hot dog for myself – as did my husband.  We both agreed that it has a great beef flavor, a good texture, a nice “snap” to it when bitten into, juicy and overall is a very satisfying hot dog.

According to the Applegate website, these dogs are made from 100% organic grass-fed and finished beef, have only 8 grams of fat compared to the average 15 grams in most brands, and are also high in omega-3 fatty acids (the good fat).

They are also:

• Nitrate Free
• Gluten Free
• Casein Free
• Dairy Free
• Low Carbohydrate

Applegate Farms also offers Organic Turkey and Organic Chicken Hot Dogs.

We have only tried these hot dogs steamed on the stove top, but are looking forward to warmer weather and grilling these great hot dogs this summer.   Summer speaks to hot dogs and beer and now my family can participate in this American past-time without me worrying about what my family is ingesting.