Cheesy Bean Quesadillas: Easy Organic Living Challenge #2: Invent a Snack

If your kids are picky eaters like mine, it can be a challenge to find snacks that they like and that are healthy. My fail safe snack is fresh fruit - all of my boys love it. The older 3 that are in school half days get a fruit salad sent in for snack time every day. But obviously they can't eat fruit all day long so I had to come up with some other ideas.

This week over at the Easy Organic Living community we are moving on to our second challenge: invent a healthy snack. So I have decided to share a snack that I have been using for a few years now. Three of my four boys love it so its a win in my book.

Cheesy Bean Quesadillas

Ingredients
Whole wheat tortillas
Refried Beans
Shredded Mexican cheese blend



Please note that I used a quesadilla maker for this but you could also do this in a skillet on your stove.

1. Place one tortilla on the machine. Spoon on a thin layer of refried beans, of with a generous amount of shredded cheese then place a second tortilla on top.



2. Close the lid and let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Usually when I hear it start to sizzle that means the cheese has fully melted and is reaching the edge, so I take it out. You want it to be a little crispy but not burnt. :)

3. Transfer to a plate and use a pizza cuter to slice into 6 triangles. Let cool for a few minutes, the inside is VERY hot.



EXTRAS
Serve with several dipping cups filled with salsa, sour cream and guacamole. If you think you can get away with it, you might want to try hiding some veggies in between the beans and cheese, like Kale flakes.

I am participating in the Easy Organic Living Blogger Challenge however I was not compensated for this post. I will be receiving a goody bag for my participation. The challenge is co-hosted by BabyCenter.com and Healthy Child Healthy World and sponsored by Stonyfield Yogurt.

Wordless Wednesday: Lighthouse Art

I love when my kindergartner comes home with artwork. This is his drawing of a lighthouse.

Connecticut Daily Deal Websites

With daily deal sites like Groupon doing so well, more and more similar sites seem to be starting up. I recently discovered that there are a couple of daily deal sites specific to Connecticut out there.

SavingsClique.com was started by two Connecticut residents and entrepreneurs and recently launched is February 2011. This deal site offers 50% off deals on local Connecticut businesses. The first deal they offered was for a Bishop's Farm Market in Guilford. I don't think I have ever seen a daily deal for a farm market before so I thought that was pretty cool. This is a great way to discover and support a local business while saving some money. At the moment SavingsClique.com has deals along the shoreline but they are hoping to expand to cover all regions of Connecticut. It is free to sign up and you can earn a $5 credit for every friend that you refer who makes a purchase. NBC Connecticut did a news piece on SavingsClique.com earlier this week, you can watch the video to learn a bit more about the site.




The second site I found is SaveNowCT.com, which seems to be associated with The Hartford Courant newspaper and FOX CT. The deals are mostly in and around the Hartford area.




Of course the bigger daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial also offer Connecticut deals, but I like the two above because they are specifically for Connecticut only. With Groupon you can find deals in Hartford and Fairfield County and with LivingSocial you can find deals in Hartford and Southern CT. LivingSocial also has a Southern CT Family Edition which is great if you are looking for something to do with your children. Both sites have free smartphone apps so you can check deals when you are on the go.

This post contains referral links.

Playful Planet Storyland Yoga DVD Review

Yoga is always something I have been interested in but never really learned to do. My only experience with yoga is my few attempts with our Wii Fit, and it was quite pathetic. Always in search of some rainy day activities to keep both myself and the boys moving, the Storyland Yoga DVD by Playful Planet caught my attention.

"A wonderful way for families to enjoy “organic” time together, the video connects kids and nature while providing them with the benefits of yoga: health, clarity, and calmness."

I really liked the idea of yoga for kids because it would be something that I could do with my children plus it would be easy for me as well since I am yoga challenged. Storyland Yoga also has an environmental aspect about it as it teaches about endangered animals. There are two stories to choose from, Condor Trek and Save the Whale, and in these adventures children do easy yoga poses while helping the animals.



My boys were very excited to give this a try. We cleaned up the toys in the family room and got to it. First we did the Save the Whale story. Yoga instructor Ahmed Fahmy is setup on a beautiful beach and he leads you on an adventure to save a beached whale. My kids had a blast paddling on their imaginary surfboards, avoiding sharks and eventually pushing the whale back into the ocean. There was a whole lot of giggling coming from the 3 year old so I knew he was having a good time. When it was over, they asked to do the second story as well, Condor Trek. In this story, Fahmy takes you on an adventure through the forest to return some lost Condor eggs to their mother. Along the way you meet up with a wolf, bear and other forest animals.


Riding bicycles during the Condor Trek.


Stretching.

Now my youngest is only 15 months so he didn't participate, but my 6 year old and 3 year olds loved it. Every day since we first did this they have asked me to do it again. I think it is the perfect activity for days when the weather keeps you in the house. Because it is fun and relaxing with some exercise mixed in, it can also be something you incorporate into your daily routines. This is definitely a big hit in our house.

Storyland Yoga is recommended for children 3 - 8. It is also fun for parents to get down on the floor and participate with their kids.

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The Playful Planet Storyland Yoga DVD is available at Amazon.com for $14.99.

Please note that the opinions and views expressed in this review are my own and based on my personal experience with the product and/or company. You may encounter a different experience with this than I did. I received a copy of the DVD for review. This post contains affiliate links.

5 Phases Shatter Resistant Glass Baby Bottles

BPA and phthalates are toxic chemicals that we want to keep far, far away from our babies, kids and ourselves. They can be found is plastics like food storage containers and bottles and can leach into the food or drinks we consume. Many baby bottles are now manufactured without these toxins, and will indicate it on their packaging, but who's to say that we wont discover another toxic chemical in plastics a year from now? Your safest choice to avoid possible chemical exposure are glass baby bottles.

Since I only use bottles on rare occasions I don't have any experience with glass ones. I opted for a few "safe plastic" bottles over glass because I was afraid of glass bottles breaking. The new 5 Phases Shatter Resistant Glass Baby Bottles eliminate that fear.

The unique design of the 5 Phases Glass Baby Bottle helps to make them shatter resistant. The glass insert sits inside a plastic sleeve which gives it that extra cushioning from drops and spills. If by chance you do have a bottle shatter, it is contained inside the sleeve instead of having glass all over the floor or ground. All pieces are BPA, PVS and phthalate free and are dishwasher safe.

5 Phases was started by mompreneur Christine, a mother of two. Her son was born with a birth defect which is what motivated her to create a safe, toxin-free baby bottle. I encourage you to read her inspiring story of how her family found natural treatments to help her son.

All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own. I was NOT compensated for this post nor did I receive a product sample. I was simply inspired by this mom's story and wanted to share it with my readers.

Hollandia Nurseries Spring Garden Expo 2011

Hollandia Nurseries of Bethel, CT will be hosting their Annual Spring garden Expo from April 1 through April 10. During this event they will be offering FREE seminars and discussions at both of their Bethel locations. Seminars include "Organic Gardening", "Vegetable and Herb Container Gardening", "Cooking with Herbs" and many more. There is bound to be one that interests you! They all sound great to me.

For complete details, visit HollandiaNurseries.com where you can download the Expo flyer and seminar schedule. Reservations required.


* * *
With Spring finally here and temperatures warming up (hopefully) I will be searching for more green events throughout Connecticut to share with you. So stay tuned!

Earth Hour: March 26, 2011

Can you give one hour to the Earth? This Saturday, March 26, 2011 is Earth Hour - where millions or people around the world pledge to turn off all of their lights for one hour from 8:30pm - 9:30pm, local time. I'm looking forward to participating once again this year. The lights, TV and laptop will all be turned off.

This year another aspect has been added with Beyond the Hour. Why should raising awareness be limited to just 60 minutes? At Beyond the Hour you can share the small acts you are doing throughout the year with the world.

Will you participate in Earth Hour this year?

Green Giveaway Friday Linky 3/25

Happy Spring everyone! We've had a chilly and snowy first week of Spring here. I'm hoping it warms up soon.

It's time to end the work week with some featured Green Giveaways that I have found around the blogosphere. Please add both your green and non-green giveaways and contests into Mr. Linky below so we can do some blog hoppin! Be sure to include the expiration date. Thanks!

You can also submit your green giveaways to me during the week for me to feature on Fridays.

Family Focus Blog
$100 Visa GC 4/11
Organic Liquid Soap 4/7
Dinosaur Egg 4/4
Vet's Best 3/28
Schleich 3/28
$25 Kroger GC 3/25

Just Another New Blog
Cocoa Absolute Body Scrub 3/25
Good Night, Little Sea Otter 3/30
Set of Lip Balms for Kids 4/1
Simply Fido Nap Mat and Toy 4/2

The Shopping Mama
Piggy Paint Nail Polish $15 GC 4/1

So Easy Being Green
Doodle Dypes Fitted 3.29
Three Happy Trees Wool 3/29
Babee Greens Fitted 3/29
Eucalan Wool Wash 3/29
Wee Expressions Fitted Snappi 3/29
CCBaby Wool 3/29
Green Scene Diapers Fitted 3/29
Nifty Nappy Lanolozing Potion #9 3/29
Bootyful Baby Boutique Fitted 3/29
Sustainablebabyish Longies 3.29

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in Connecticut

As more and more electric cars start hitting the market and hopefully the roads, the need for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations will grow. Though there are not that many registered electric cars here in Connecticut, as of December 2010 there were only 24, there are already some public charging stations available with many more planned. In 2009, former Governor Jodi instituted the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Council and one of the council's goals is to get EV charging stations installed.

I am still not sure how I feel about electric cars since traditional electricity still uses oil. I would without a doubt be 100% for them and ecstatic if these stations were all solar powered. All of the existing ones in Connecticut are not, but let's hope that many of the new ones will be.

Here is a list of current EV charging stations located in Connecticut. I will update as new station open up.

Charging Levels:
Level I = 120V
Level II = 240V

Berlin
Northeast Utilities
107 Selden St
Level II / 2 stations
Limited public use, by appointment (860-665-5900)
Free

Darien
Whole Foods Market
150 Ledge Road
Level I / 2 stations
Public / Free
Open to customers during store hours

Hartford
Northeast Utilities
56 Prospect St
Level II / 2 stations
Limited public use, by appointment (860-728-4600)
Free

New Haven
Propark America Garage
260 Crown Street
Level I / 1 station
Pay to use parking facility, free charging

Norwalk
Maritime Garage
Level II / 2 stations
Public

South Norwalk Train Station
Level II / 2 stations
Public

Yankee Doodle Garage
Level II / 2 stations
Public

Plainville
GE
41 Woodford Ave
Level II / 3 stations

What Would You Do with $304 Million?

Today I was chatting with some great ladies on a mom forum about the current $304 Mega Millions jackpot and what we would do if we won that much money. Fantasizing about winning the lottery can be so fun and I think it is something everyone does at some point. So I though about what I would do with all of that money. The first few things that came to my mind were the pretty practical ideas of paying off debt, paying off our mortgage, giving money to our families and donating to our favorite charities. I would also love to build an eco-friendly/sustainable house for us to move into, one where I wouldn't have to have 3 kids sharing a room. (Insanity!) Our current home I would fix up a bit and give it to a family in need.

Then I started getting a little more adventurous and thought how wonderful it would be to travel to Europe. I have already been to Italy but I would absolutely LOVE to visit Spain! Spain is someplace I have always wanted to go. Of course I haven't read or spoken a word of Spanish since high school, so I would need a Spanish tutor to help me sharpen my skills before the trip. Then I could put those four years of Spanish classes to good use! After Spain we would head over to Italy because I just love it so. Yes I can practically taste the Tiramisu Gelato right now. Next can be France and England and on and on. Of course my husband will also want to visit every Masonic building in every country as well. Yes, this summer my family and I will travel all over Europe. What an amazing experience that would be for all of us. I guess I should go buy a lottery ticket tomorrow.

So what would you do with $304 million?

Wordless Wednesday: My St. Patrick's Day Hooligans

St. Patrick's Day is also my husband's birthday so we made sure all the boys were dressed in green, snapped a few pictures, and then sent the older 3 off to school. Of course only 1 out of the 4 is smiling, but at least they are all standing there.

Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids, Book Review & Giveaway

One of my Green Goals for this year was to spend more time outside with my boys. We had a little taste of Spring over this past week and I am happy to report that we have gotten out 9 of the last 12 days. One of the most difficult things for me is coming up with activities for the boys to do outside. Sure they will run around for a bit or ride their bikes, which is great, but they do get board. Plus sometimes I need something a little more compelling to get them out the door. So when I first read about the book Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids, by Rebecca P. Cohen, I thought this would be the perfect tool for me.

"What if you got outside every day, and what if you could get your kids to come along? It sounds modest, but the effects, as dynamic outdoor spokesperson Rebecca Cohen herself can testify, are profound. This inspiring collection of activities gives families an idea for every day of the year, requiring little planning, no expertise and relatively little resources (time, cash, or patience!), no matter where they live. Simple and inspiring, this book is bursting with hundreds of easy ways to get your family out into nature a little bit every day."

I opened this book to start reading and very quickly fell in love with it. The ideas are broken up into months and then there is one listed for each day of the month plus extra tips throughout. What I really like is that the author's ideas are not these big elaborate things that you couldn't realistically do. These are simple activities for you to do with your children from ages 2 to 12. One activity Cohen suggests is to find and track animal prints in the snow. I adapted this a little and instead we found some deer tracks in the snow that we followed. Let me tell you, the kids looking for the tracks. There are also some good gardening with kids tips and activities that I want to try out once Spring really kicks and it warms up here.

I also do not like to be outside in inclement weather so when its raining, snowing or just super cold you normally won't find me bringing my 4 boys out. OK, never. I mentioned getting the kids outside 9 of the last 12 days - well those 3 days that we missed were due to rain. Once I can pick up some inexpensive rain boots for everyone and armed with my book, we can get in a little bit of outside time even on rainy days. Yes Cohen even has plenty of rainy activities like puddle jumping. I realize that puddle jumping might be a parents worst nightmare, but just think how much fun it could be for the kids!

I truly have enjoyed this book and it has already been so helpful for me to get my little men out of the house more. If the sun is shining, they'll eat lunch out on the deck. Or we'll stand up there and count the squirrels we see. Last week I posted about us all going for a hike in the woods. Well that was without a doubt inspired by this book. And just because there are 365 activities in there doesn't mean you have to do all of them. Some may not work for you while others you'll find you can't get enough of. You just need to have fun with it and choose the activities that you know our kids will enjoy. As a great supplement to her book, Rebecca Cohen also has two free downloads on her site: 50 Outdoor Activities Guide for Busy Families, which you can post by your door and Outdoor Classrooms Guide, which may be something you can share with your child's teacher.

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Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids is available at Barnes & Noble in paperback or in Nook eBook.

Giveaway CLOSED
One (1) winner will receive a paperback copy of Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids, by Rebecca P. Coehn.

Mandatory Entry
Leave a comment telling me what your family's favorite outdoor activity is.

Extra Entries
- Head over to RebeccaPlants.com and tell me something you learned about Rebecca, the book or anything else. Worth 3 entries so leave 3 comments.
- Visit the Rebecca Plants Blog, leave a comment on any of her posts and then leave me a link to your comment. Worth 5 entries so leave 5 comments please.
- "Like" Green Mama's Pad on Facebook. Please leave me your first name and last name initial to validate. If you leave a comment on my wall you can give yourself an additional entry.
- Join the Fans of Rebecca Plants Group on Facebook. Please leave me your first name and last name initial to validate. If you are feeling inspired, you can tell them I sent you. :)
- Share this giveaway on Facebook. You can do this once daily. Leave link in comment.
- Follow Green Mama's Pad publicly on Google Friend Connect.
- Subscribe to my RSS feed in a reader or subscribe via e-mail. Your email must validate or it will not count.
- Add my Green Mama's Pad button to your sidebar or add Green Mama's Pad to your blogroll. Leave your blog link.
- Follow @GreenMamasPad on Twitter and and tweet this giveaway. You can tweet twice daily, at least 3 hours apart. Leave link to tweet in comment. You must have at least 50 followers. You can copy and paste the following:
#Win book Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House & Connect w/ Your Kids. #giveaway @GreenMamasPad http://bit.ly/emUfFL
- Stumble one of my non-giveaway posts and tell me which one. Worth 2 entries so leave 2 comments with your ID.
- Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts and tell me which one.

This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ only and will end on Tuesday, April 5 at 11:59pm EST. One  winner will be chosen at random using Random.org and will be posted on the Winner's Announcement Page. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. Please leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

Please note that the opinions and views expressed in this review are my own and based on my personal experience with the product and/or company. You may encounter a different experience with this than I did. I received a copy of the book for review. This post contains affiliate links.

Easy Organic Living Challenge #1: Shift & Save!

Organic living does no have to be scary or difficult. BabyCenter.com and Healthy Child Healthy World have teamed up to create the Easy Organic Living community. Sponsored by Stonyfield Yogurt, Easy Organic Living was launched to educate moms on the importance of organic living and provide them with steps to do so easily.

To kick things off, they are hosting a series of 4 organic challenges. The first is the Save a Dollar Here, Shift a Dollar There challenge where for one week you are tasked to use some money saving techniques and then shift those savings to purchase organic products. Here are some of their great tips on saving money on groceries:

- Buy in bulk and save up to $500 a year! Head to Costco, BJ's or Sam's Club to buy some things in bulk (I love Cosco's organic peanut butter). If your grocery store has a bulk aisle, take advantage of it!

- Eat all your leftovers. Here is a scary statistic: 14 percent of all the food that we buy ends up in the trash, equaling up to almost $600 thrown away each year, according to the USDA.

- Drink more water. Instead of buying soda or juice, drink free tap water and save. And please, STOP BUYING BOTTLED WATER. Bottled water costs more than gasoline and creates a tremendous amount of waste. Invest in one reusable water bottle for each member of your family and both your wallet and your planet will thank you.

- Purchase whole chicken. When you buy boneless skinless chicken breast, you are paying for the meat and for the time it took the butcher to cut it and clean it. A whole chicken is cheaper per pound and then you will have leftovers to make chicken sandwiches or maybe even chicken soup.

- Buy fruits and vegetables when they’re in season. Out of season produce will cost you more and has a bigger carbon footprint because it has been shipped in from another part of the US or even another country.

- Eat less meat. Try and replace one meat meal per week with a vegetarian one

So what do you say, are you ready to try this challenge with me? Let's do it!

Now to be honest, I do a lot of these already. But there is always room for improvement so I took a harder look at these to see what I cold try a little harder at. Here are some changes that I have personally been making over the past 2 weeks.

- I love to drink a big glass of apple cider every morning with my breakfast. However since I am the only one that drinks it, it really is not a necessity. Now don't get me wrong, I miss my morning cider. Somehow breakfast feels incomplete without it, but I am surviving. And at $5.00 per gallon that means right there that is $5.00 per week that I am saving.

- With Lent upon us that easily gave me my one meal per week with no meat. We are not big red meat eaters but we certainly eat a lot of chicken. These past 2 Fridays we have made sure not to eat any meat. The first week we did a breakfast for dinner with lots of whole wheat pancakes. The second week was a ravioli dinner. I can't calculate exactly what the savings are on this, but those are two pretty inexpensive meals.

- Shop your grocery store's sale circular. I'm not so good with menu planning, but I do try. One thing I always do is check out Stop & Shop's weekly circular and base some of my meals off of what is on sale. If I also see something that we use a lot of that is on sale, I will stock up. For instance whenever they have their Nature's Promise breads on sale, I usually buy at least 8 and then send my hubby back in another day for more. My 4 boys already have big appetites and I go through one loaf of bread per day. So when the bread is on sale for $2.50 instead of $3.39, I go crazy. (By the way, that's 89 cents savings per loaf). Luckily we have a big freezer.


OK so now you are saving money, but what should you buy organic? I make sure that the things we consume the most are organic like milk, yogurt, bread and peanut butter. Next you will want to focus on your fruits and veggies. Check out EWG's Dirty Dozen list to see which produce you should really try to buy organic.

I am participating in the Easy Organic Living Blogger Challenge however I was not compensated for this post. I will be receiving a goody bag for my participation.

The Toys R Us Great Bike Trade In

Editor's Note: After poking around the Toys R Us Facebook page I saw that someone had called them to see what happens to the bikes that are brought in and she was told by Toys R Us that they are destroyed for safety reasons. So I just emailed them myself to find out exactly what the fate of these bikes are. I was hoping that the ones that are still in usable condition would be donated and the unsafe ones recycled. If they are all being trashed than I will no longer support this event and I will not trade in our bike. I'll just hand it down to one of our twins. I will update once I hear back from them.

Last week the weather warmed up and we dug the boys' bikes out of the garage. We quickly realized that our 6 year old had seriously outgrown his. It makes sense since he has had it for 3 years now. So I began thinking about where to go for an inexpensive new bike and what kind to get him.

Then this morning I turn on my phone and open my inbox to find an email from Toys R Us about The Great Bike Trade In. This totally made my day.

Sunday March 20, 2011 through Saturday March 26, 2011 bring your used bike in to a participating Toys R Us location and receive a coupon for up to $50 off the purchase off a new bike (details apply). In addition to that if you bring in an old bike helmet you will get 25% off the purchase of a new helmet.

This is a great way to recycle your old bikes, though it's not clear what they do with all the old bikes that are brought in. We are going to be heading down to Toys R Us this week to bring in the old bike and helmet and let W pick out a new one. The coupon we will get plus a gift card he received for his birthday should make this a good deal for us.

Toys R Us Great Bike Trade In details.

Natural & Organic Printable Coupons 3/19

Coupons.com has some good coupons for natural and organic products right now. I personally use both the Rice Milk and Coconut Milk and I know how expensive they are so I wanted to share these coupons.

$1.00 off any one Kashi Berry Blossoms Cereal
$1.00 off any one Kashi TLC Soft baked Cereal Bar
$1.00 off any one 64oz or 32oz So Delicious Coconut Milk
$1.00 off any one 64oz Rice Dream
$1.00 off any one Olivia's Organics Salad
$1.00 off any one Bioglan KidSmart Omega 3's

Identity Links Eco-Friendly Promotional Products Giveaway

Way back when before our twins were born, I worked outside of the home for a REALTOR association. Every year we hosted a big trade show with hundreds of vendors. I don't know if everyone is familiar with trade shows but it is about networking, promoting and handing out lots of stuff to people. Pens, paper clip holders, magnets, pens, keychains, stress balls... did I mention pens? Many of which will probably never be used and all of them will end up in a landfill someday. Superb.

Identity Links offers custom printed eco-friendly promotional products so that your business can still use fun things to promote without putting a burden on the environment. They have a really big selection of various items like reusable cups made from recycled plastic, biodegradable pens and recycled cardboard pens, eco-friendly bags and tons more. You submit your company logo to them, fees vary depending on the product, and they place it on the item. I just keep thinking how cool it would be to have a reusable water bottle or coffee cup with my Green Mama's Pad logo on it. Or even some bamboo pens with my logo that I could hand out with my business cards. That would be very awesome.

Giveaway
Identity Links is giving one (1) winner an Eco-Friendly Prize Pack of one of each of these items. All items will be blank with no company logo.
- Recycled PET Cinch Bag
- Recycled Plastic 16 oz. Tumbler
- Biodegradable Pen Cup
- Recycled Cardboard Mousepad



Mandatory Entry
Visit Identity Links Eco-Friendly section and tell me which product you like the best.

Extra Entries
- "Like" Green Mama's Pad on Facebook. Please leave me your first name and last name initial to validate. If you leave a comment on my wall you can give yourself an additional entry.
- "Like" Identity Links on Facebook. Please leave me your first name and last name initial to validate. If you are feeling inspired, you can tell them I sent you. :)
- Share this giveaway on Facebook. You can do this once daily. Leave link in comment.
- Follow Green Mama's Pad publicly on Google Friend Connect.
- Subscribe to my RSS feed in a reader or subscribe via e-mail. Your email must validate or it will not count.
- Add my Green Mama's Pad button to your sidebar or add Green Mama's Pad to your blogroll. Leave your blog link.
- Follow @IdentityLinks on Twitter.
- Follow @GreenMamasPad on Twitter and and tweet this giveaway. You can tweet twice daily, at least 3 hours apart. Leave link to tweet in comment. You must have at least 50 followers. You can copy and paste the following:
#Win an Eco-Friendly Prize Pack from @IdentityLinks http://bit.ly/eK15L4 via @GreenMamasPad #giveaway #green
- Stumble one of my non-giveaway posts and tell me which one. Worth 2 entries so leave 2 comments with your ID.
- Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts and tell me which one.

This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ only and will end on Friday, April 1 at 11:59pm EST. One  winner will be chosen at random using Random.org and will be posted on the Winner's Announcement Page. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. Please leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

Please note that the opinions and views expressed here are my own and based on my personal experience with the company or products. You may encounter a different experience with this than I did. I did not receive any form of compensation or product for this giveaway. Identity Links is sponsoring this giveaway and providing the prize.

Green Giveaway Friday Linky 3/18

Here are some featured Green Giveaways that I have found around the blogosphere. Please add both your green and non-green giveaways and contests into Mr. Linky below so we can do some blog hoppin! Be sure to include the expiration date. Thanks!

You can also submit your green giveaways to me during the week for me to feature on Fridays.

Family Focus Blog
$100 Visa GC 4/11
Vet's Best 3/28
Schleich 3/28
$25 Kroger GC 3/25
$50 Cymax GC 3/24
Umi Shoes 3/23
$100 Hayneedle GC 3/22

Look What Mom Found... And Dad Too!
UMI Shoes for kids 3/24

So Easy Being Green
Doodle Dypes Fitted 3.29
Three Happy Trees Wool 3/29
Babee Greens Fitted 3/29
Oh Katy Cloth Diapers ends 3/20

Exploring in the Connecticut Woods

I have never been an outdoorsy kind of girl. I don't like bugs and I don't like dirt. However, I am really trying to make an effort to get the boys outside more this year. And lets face it, boys love all of those things that I hate.

Last week Connecticut got a lot of rain. Combined with melting snow, rivers and streams were overflowing. When the rain had passed and I stepped outside, I could hear the sound of rushing water. I knew there was a small brook in the woods behind our property that leads to the reservoir. So I thought it would be great if we took the boys on a hike out there one day to see it before the water subsided.

On Saturday while Grammy and Papa watched the little guy, my husband and I brought the other 3 out. I would NEVER do something like this without him. After walking for a little bit we came to a ravine and at the bottom is the stream. It is a big drop and it scares the crap out of me. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Note: click on images for large size.

We walked to where the incline was manageable for kids and made our way down to the water. The boys were so excited. It was so awesome watching their faces as we explored out there. When we got down to the water's edge we were near the delta; where the stream opens up to the reservoir.




Right away we noticed some animal prints in the mud. The 6 year old quickly pointed out that they were deer tracks.




Then we started to make our way up stream.







Finally daddy helped us all out onto the rocks so we could get a closer look at the waterfall here and the deeper pool it goes into. I would guess it was at least a foot deep. That might not sound like a lot but in the summer this stream dries up into a trickle.




A very quick video of the stream taken with my iPhone. I love the sound of the water rolling over the rocks. So calming. You can hear some excited little voices in there too.




Then we headed back to the house. Going up hill with the kids was a lot more work than coming down hill was. All in all it was an AMAZING day. I cannot remember the last time I had so much fun outside and the boys absolutely loved it. I hope to keep this up as the year goes on. Of course now I am also a little bit paranoid about the huge cliff behind our property. I had no idea that was there.

Do you ever go exploring or hiking in the woods with your kids? Have you made any cool discoveries?