proud mama!

I Love 4 yr old art...makes me smile, hope it makes you smile too!

Shiny Toy Guns - Rainy Monday

Happy Rainy Monday bunnies.

Forever Hollywood Cemetery screening!

I have been waiting for this time of year to come around. I can not tell you how excited I am to go watch movies at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I love packing goodies in my basket, sitting with friends on a blanket and relaxing while the sun sets. Sipping a glass of wine while the movie plays. All while enjoying the outdoors in a part of LA that is truly beautiful. It is too bad that you usually have to die to spend any time in the cemetery. So this is just wonderful and such a celebration of life! Happy Weekend!

fun fun its FRIDAY!

So we all like to have fun. One thing that I enjoy is eating ice cream! But unfortunately we all know that eating ice cream is bad for your health and probably not a great idea for the little bunnies. So a trick that I am loving right now is freezing StonyField organic strawberry yogurts. The bunnies go crazy for them and they actually think they are getting a ice cream treat, while I know they are eating a organic yogurt that is good for you and has a blend of active cultures:) Yay for making my life a little easier! Happy Friday:)

Family photos

Jordana Hazel is our friend and an amazing photographer here is a sneak peak of our family shoot from Monday morning (before Addison's Dr apt) so considering the condition we were in, you are amazing Jordana. Thank you soo much for capturing our family!

There must be more than this provincial life!!!

Belle has to be my favorite Disney princess,( If you HAvE to pick one to like.) She reads books and wonders about foreign places. She even turns down an engagement that any other girl would kill for in her little town. Wow that is some good roll model stuff compared to the other Disney princess'.
So what main stream roll models do our daughters have to look up to?
On the way home from the park I saw a billboard for the Sex and The City movie. (I know this is not aimed at them nor are we dealing with these sort of issues yet, but believe it or not those years are sadly coming around the corner faster!) So, Sex and the City.. I used to LOVE that show um about 10 yrs ago! Is it a little ridiculous now or is it just me? One person I heard say "it is a movie about four shopaholic whores". pardon my french! Well are they whores? Or are they just sexually liberated urban chika's with strong affiliations to designer goods? What does it mean to be a strong liberated woman? As a mother I find myself torn between the ideas. I don't like the double standard that condones the same acts by a man calling him a stud while the girl is judged harshly. I certainly do not want my daughters to be called names for their personal choices and I definitely do not want them engage in risky behavior. (do not place me on the same soap box with a religious zealot I am not going there:)
I want my bunnies to be smart about their money. Is a closet full of Stuart Weitzman and Jimmy Choo shoes while you live in an apartment and have no health insurance really the best of choices? (Don't get me wrong I have a soft spot for some nice and pretty things) but I try to balance these things. Will my bunnies see this balancing act or will they just see my nice things? If they only see the things I would throw them all out right now (well sell them on e-bay) lol So is a Louis vitton what is going to make you feel good inside and out?
So I find myself only left with a few solid role models and none of them come form the media. Another good reason to get rid of cable!! :)
I am afraid that I will have to be that role model for my girls. I am up for the challenge but that means "do as I say not as I do" will not cut it on any issue! They are going to be and already are bombarded with images of "dumb girls". I am afraid that I sound fuddy duddy, but I really want my girls to look past labels and expensive things, past the color of skin and really get to know people for their inherent qualities, to be happy and to contribute to society. Is that too much to ask?? lol
So I have to say I am very fortunate. I have a lot of women around me these days that I believe are strong role models! Thank you ladies for enriching my life in so many ways. So there must be more than this provincial life?
If you have a favorite role model please let me know about them. I would love to hear. Happy Thursday my bunnies! xx

Sharing is so hard to do.. (Tricks of the trade)

Sharing is hard to do. What if someone came up to you and asked if you would share your wedding ring? WTF you say? even if you are my BFF?!! Ha can you imagine? Well it is like that with every little thing for our little bunnies. It is really hard to share when you have only evolved no further than a egocentric cave dweller..
But there is hope you can teach them to share or at least I hope you can!
One trick that I have found helpful is not calling this "sharing" but rather "taking turns". It implies that the toy will be returned rather than given away. So try this next time there is only one shovel at the playground. It works for me.. well sometimes!! Happy Homemaking my domestic engineers!
..by the way in this picture with my 2 little bunnies is Asia's perfect little bunny who is turning 2 in a few weeks! We can't wait for that fabulous party!!

Memories...

These are pictures that never cease to make me smile. I hope you enjoy a glimpse of my little bunny.
"If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time". ~Edith Wharton
Happy, Happy Tuesday bunnies!!

Monday rhymes with funday:( mother's rant

Today was supposed to be a fun Monday following Mother's Day. Instead we woke up sleep deprived once again, after a night of my 4yr old bunny coughing in her sleep. She looked like a zombie with bags under her eyes, but she never once has complained. I have to say she is one impressively tough bunny.
So off to the Dr. and what do you know she had not one, but two VeRy bad ear infections (again) and was having what resembled a form of asthma (we will just call it reactive airway for now)-because I am having trouble wrapping my head around this. My poor baby.
She never had a single ear infection the first 3 years of her beautiful precious life and now we have a a spout of bad luck..or is it?
I am feeling a certain amount of guilt that maybe moving to the polluted city of Los Angeles was not the best of ideas, but unavoidable.
So I started to think was this preventable? I remember reading a few articles stated some crazy number of kids have asthma in that live in LA...you know like the one in three people have herpes? lol (I know so scientific) The point, It was above average as far as cities go and I apologize for not having a link to this so called article, I am just having a mothers rant right now..
So my worst fears have arrived..The environment is effecting my children's health in a very real way. It is no longer intangible. It is here and I feel about the size of a little ant right now. We are killing ourselves with all of these pollutants. It is in the food, it is in our air, it is in our water the list goes on infinitely. Geez.. am I going to have to rise up against the "man" to save the earths children and the earth..(sounds a little too tree huggie for me) I really just want to sit pool side sipping my martini and discussing swim lessons and summer camps and wonder about what great things the bunnies will do with their lives. (let me have this one, it is a nice fantasy)
Well it will have to be tomorrow if ever that I do more
..but for now I am enjoying listening to the silence of my home while all of my bunnies sleep soundly.

Plastic is not fantastic!!

I am a total nerd for documentaries..I love love love them. If you know me and my family at all, you know that we do not have cable. We try to limit our television exposure for not only for the little bunnies, but for my sanity as well, but that is another topic all together. So documentaries are sort of my dirty little secret, like reading romance novels or peeking at People mags while getting a pedicure. Sometimes I want to learn, but I am lazy. Yet instead of reading I just want someone to inform me, while entertaining my lazy worn out mommy brain! In the past few years I have to say documentaries have become so much fun!
(yes I am a total NERD!!)
So I am very excited about this new documentary Tapped! It looks great.
So Tapped touches on an issue that my hubby and I have tried to be very cognizant about. Plastic eeack. A couple of years ago our family decided that we would try to use the least amount of plastic in our daily lives as possible. We started this for selfish reasons, not really to save the earth. We do want to "save" the earth as well, but sometimes the personal issues can help to change habits. I know that sounds bad, but I want to be honest. I am not exactly an activist, I am just a regular mommy trying to make the best decisions for my family. Not using plastic while I was pregnant became very important to me because of the very vulnerable bunny I was growing inside of me. Now with more and more information it seems to be a very wise choice for your health and the environment.

Did you know Bottled water typically costs more than 1,900 times more than tap water? wow talk about cost savings!
Lets just touch on some of the health issues. When drinking bottled water you need to think not only about the water but also about the bottle itself. Plastic is not an inert substance as its manufacturers would like you to believe. It contains chemicals like BPA and phthalates, which mimic hormones in your body.

Even tiny concentrations can cause problems such as:

* Structural damage to your brain
* Hyperactivity, increased aggressiveness, and impaired learning
* Increased fat formation and risk of obesity
* Altered immune function
* Early puberty, stimulation of mammary gland development, disrupted reproductive
cycles, and ovarian dysfunction
* Changes in gender-specific behavior, and abnormal sexual behavior
* Stimulation of prostate cancer cells
* Increased prostate size, and decreased sperm production
wow if that is not some scary stuff!!??
Thank you Dr. Mercola for these great facts!
(I'm not sure yet how to fully give credit to others for facts I get, so please if you have any advice please let me know)

I will blog later about how you can make a difference in your daily lives with ideas like installing a reverse osmosis system like our family. So enjoy this great trailer.

mamma, mam, mom, mother

This is a picture of my home water birth when I became mommy for the second time!

Mother's Day is an important time to honor moms everywhere.

May 10th, 1908 was the first celebration of modern American Mother's Day. Anna M. Jarvis, whose mother tried to reunite families splintered by the Civil War, campaigned for an official day set aside to honor mothers in America. That tradition still continues today.

Wow can you even imagine a civil war? Blows my mind, to think how lucky we are to have an "economic melt down" instead of a civil war!!
On another note this will be my 4th Mother's Day celebrating as a mother, but more important, this is the 4th Mother's day that I have truly understood and really deeply appreciated my mother!! Growing up I just didn't understand my mother and I am not going to lie I sometimes still do not understand her. But I have a deep appreciation for all that she has done for me, and continues to do everyday. She is my wonder woman!
So I am going to come up with a few Mother's Day ideas this week just in case you forgot and are hard up for some last minute gifts...

mickey mouse club...

Tonight I had the chance to get a baby sitter and visit my hubby at work. He was working on VH1 Storytellers that featured Christina Aguilera. Well to be honest I was less than thrilled that she was being featured. I am not into her music. I'm not really into pop music for that matter and could probably list about a million artists that I would have preferred to have seen on my "ME" time night out. But when life hands you lemons you make lemonade or something. She was mostly boring and the same old vocal "acrobatics" that I find just horrifying, but she did say a few things that got me to start thinking. I'm not talking about some Einstein stuff here, but I started to think.
What did she say you ask? Mixed in with a lot of nonsense...Well, she spoke a lot about the "scars of your past". What we all went through as young woman, young girls, shaped us into the woman of today. (I might add that I just articulated her speech much more eloquently than she did.. haha Im just saying) So I started to think. What significant bruises have changed my life. Which bumps have made you a stronger woman? Which bruises do you flat out wish had never happened?
The funny thing about becoming a mother, I mostly think about preventing the bruises for my daughters. At some point I stopped thinking of me and started to apply my fears onto them. How am I shaping and changing their lives? How are the people around them changing their lives? I can't prevent all the bumps and bruises for my two daughter and it started another thought, would you even want to take all those things away? Would we still be the same people? We are not the strong woman we have become by living through all the happy times. The Mickey Mouse Club times (I had to tie her back into this somehow) lol We are who we are because we made it through the hard times. So thank you Christina Aguilera, because of you, I have lived through your concert and I am now a little bit of a better person!! Just a thought bunnies...