water savers!

We got our faucet aerators today- yay! We got them here.
They have lots of simple products you can use to save money, water and energy in your sinks, toilets and showers without noticing any difference in how these things run. We already have stuff on our showerhead, and we have an efficient toilet, so now the faucets can join in the fun. How exciting!

Pizza Time!

While Polly was out at gardening class, Unity ordered a pizza! Yum!

standing...kinda

spring! sophie!

a beautiful sunny day at the park with heather and sophie.

the garden in March

The big picture, saying hi to the chickens, daffodil, the view along the garlic, Chris and his laurels...
New compost bin, Unity's cherry tree is budding (hi Uncle Bruin!), a tulip!, the new veggie plots...

Happy Easter

This morning Unity and I went with our friend Megan to the Unitarian Church we sporadically attend. The Easter service was held in a beautiful Japanese-styled garden and the older kids had an Easter egg hunt afterwards. Unity spoke up during a very appropriate and moving part of the sermon, about being connected to something bigger than ones self, which prompted smiles from many of the other attenders. Then we had tasty fruit and grilled cheese.

Turning the Tide

I know that you don't look at this blog to read a polemic. But I have to share what's on my mind so much lately. Being a parent can give one an intense sense of vulnerability, realizing that someone small is depending on the choices one makes. This is true not just on a personal level but on a global level. We are at a turning point in history and the choices that all of us make in the next years will have an enormous influence on what kind of a world Unity and her friends will live in.


There is a website I strongly urge you to look it. It's called the new American dream and it is focused on ways we can live more sustainibly right now.
They have a list of nine things you can do towards this effort, plus lots of ideas to help you do them.
http://www.newdream.org/tttoffline/actions.php
Here's the Nine Things:
1. Skip a car trip each week
2. Replace one beef meal each week
3. Shift your shrimp consumption
4. Work towards getting less junk mail
5. Replace four standard light bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFLs)
6. Move the thermostat 3 degrees
7. Eliminate lawn and garden pesticides
8.Install an efficient showerhead and low flow faucet aerators
9. Inspire two friends.

Some changes are easier than others, and there are lots of other things we can be doing as well like buying local as often as possible and lobbying our leaders for good climate policies. But we have to start somewhere.

Here's your incentive:

sleepy...almost

March Madness

The Community Birth and Family Center is a very germinal place in our becoming parents. Unity was born at the center, which is now being rebuilt. They also host weekly support groups called First Weeks and Next Months, led by amazing and dedicated women;Judy Herrigel and Ann Keppler. These groups were priceless sources of information, support and friendship in the early days when all of our lives were being reformed. due to the structure of the groups, we met many people whose children were within a few weeks in age, or at most a few months. We decided to have one big March birthday gathering, to celebrate our children's first year and our own first year as parents. So here we are, a little more rested, a little calmer, and a little teary, watching our babies grow. Time to celebrate for: Gena, Stephen and Cooper, Alex, Chris and Nathan, Oliver, Gita and Ashwin, Tarah, Dylan and Hiram, and almost time to celebrate for Heather, Brian (not pictured) and Sophie, and Megan, Sasha (not pictured) and Finn.

party part 3

party part 2

party!

Hurray for Grandparents!

and their cameras, books and blueberry muffins, and being able to spend time with dear ones.