Happy Earth Day!

We spent most of this week planting trees and gardening. So I felt really guilty today when we really had nothing"green" to do.

However, every day we try our best to live pretty eco-friendly. How?

* We cloth diaper.

* We recycle just about EVERYTHING that can be recycled. And yes, I am that crazy person who goes through the trash and says, "Why was this thrown away? It can be recycled!"

* Instead of paper towels we use cloth napkins and washcloths to clean up. At least I do. Mike's still catching on...

* I make just about all of our cleaning products. Even laundry detergent. Yes laundry detergent. And no, it isn't hard.

* We do not buy bottled water. Here's why: The Story Behind Bottled Water

* We use reusable grocery bags.

* We garden.

* We bathe the kids every other night (unless they need it) to conserve water.

* We try to remember to unplug electronics when not in use.

Now we still have a lot of things we can change and we are not 100% perfect on all of these all of the time but we try our best. And we're getting better each year.

Hopefully if my birthday wish comes true I'll get a composte tumbler. Kind of a weird thing to ask for a birthday gift but that's me. I would also love a rain barrel. I'm just throwing that out there.... :)

Today at work Mike also got two more sapling trees to add to the 10 other ones we got from the Arbor Foundation. So that's 12 new trees that we will be planting in our yard this year!

I guess in a way the kids and I did do something a little on the enviormentally friendly side. We added two more chicks to our flock. And we will probably be adding two more in the next few weeks. I blame this obsessive behavior on my dad. (You would agree it came from you, right Dad? Just incase I need to remind you-- I think you had a little obsession going on with some fish just a couple of months ago!)

I should have some pictures of these little guys soon. They're called Silkies. They're a pretty goofy looking chicken if you ask me. They're more of an ornamental bird as they are not very good egg layers. But they are small, good with children, and very friendly.

Did I mention that I think two of my chicks are roosters? Yep, I'm afraid it might be so. We got the Silkies staight run too (not sexed), so hopefully those are hens. We're most likely going to get two Buff Orpingtons (these are known to be very friendly and good with children also-- and on the plus side they lay a good amount of eggs!). They will be about 12 weeks old when we get them and will be pullets (female) for sure.