Things Add Up

"For just one day, we'd like to unite as many of the millions of bloggers around the world and speak about one issue - the environment," said Collis Ta'eed, an Australian blogger from FreelanceSwitch.com, and a cofounder of Blog Action Day.*

This is a picture of Brayden in one of his Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers


These are two of the kid's favorite cereals by EnviroKidz. Just recently, this company downsized their cereal box to conserve thousands and thousands of gallons of water and other resources used to distribute and provide these cereals.


Kalen and Brayden are holding up a couple of our cloth napkins. I wanted you to see that they don't have to match but can be fun and cute. Our napkins bring character to our table (as if we don't have enough, hee hee).


These are just some of the products we use that are natural.


These next two photos are of Julian and Madelyn. They made posters this morning after we discussed what the environment acually is and how people effect it.




It seems overwhelming when you think of how one person or one family can truly make a difference with helping the environment. I believe it is possible to make a difference.

Our family has made several changes over the past few years. We have attempted to be more thoughtful about the way we live in response to the effects that we, as people, have on the environment. We have learned a lot from other families (many thanks to the Kruideniers), the Internet, articles and books. Our family still has many more ways we could help out with preserving our Earth. It is a process and our lifestyle is ever changing. We believe that we should never be content with the way we are living.
A friend of mine asked me the other day, "Where do I start?" I would like to share some of the changes we have made. I am not reporting this to you to toot my own horn. I am trying to create an awareness. If we, a family of six with small children, can do these things . . . you can, as well, if you are committed, ready and willing.

We use cloth napkins instead of paper ones~ i just wash them and we reuse.
We bought a lot of plastic plates from Target to use for parties and gatherings, instead of using disposable plastic ones.
When we go to restaurants where we use plastic silverware, we bring them home and wash them to reuse.
We use cloth diapers, Fuzzi Bunz, and dry them on a drying rack (we do use some disposables).
We use eco-friendly cleaning products as much as possible; such as ECOVER and Seventh Generation.
We recycle.
We don't eat meat or dairy.
We reuse as much as possible.
We do not put harmful fertilizers or pesticides on our grass or plants.
We eat locally from our farmer's market (when we can).
We eat naturally and organically and shop at Whole Foods.
I use make up that is not derived from animals and chemicals.
We compost most of our leftovers instead of throwing it in the trash.
We drink water mostly.
We try to take a tupperware to restaurants when we think we may have leftovers, instead of using disposable containers.
We like to buy and support companies like EnviroKidz, Kiss My Face, Natures Path and Annies that produce products that are earth friendly.
Scott takes his lunch to school in Tupperware instead of baggies, we wash and reuse.
We are raising children to appreciate wildlife and preserve it.
We are raising vegan children.
Just recently, we have made two changes. We bought a bucket from Lowes and we are saving our bath water to water our plants.
Also, we just bought a drying rack to dry our cloth diapers. This saves 80 minutes of drying time with our machine.