I can remember the exact location and moment when Lindsay shouted across the street, in the midst of our kid chaos, the idea that started it all.  Born out of necessity (aka seriously grubby toddlers) she said "we need a bib that folds up that we can keep on our keychains!"  Don't tell her, but I thought at the time, great idea "I'm sure someone will do it someday!"

There we were, slightly smarter, wiser, driven and slightly more exhausted with 5 kids total!  But we forged on!  Every day, our dreams (and gallons of coffee)  propelled us to work hard, pray hard, and dream big, no, dream huge!!!



Remember when you were a new parent you "knew it all"??  You had goals, direction, plans and you knew exactly what your child would be doing 10 years from now?  Then crazy enough, and much to your dismay, Jr. doesn't act, do, or follow any of your "perfect plans"?  Well, Earth Monkeys is that child.  We've had moments when we pretty much knew where we were going to be in 10 years, and we had a clear path to get there.  We had our dreams written out, our goals defined, and the hutzpah (love that word!)  to make it all come together!  Funny how dreams change!  Somedays we are amazed at what these two simple, busy, completely slightly crazy moms have accomplished with out even a real college degree between us.. and somedays we feel buried in what we still need to do!  The one thing that never waivers though, is the love we have for the connection we have made with all of you.  YOU make us feel sane, YOU make us feel like we will survive this thing called mother hood, and YOU remind us that we are not alone.  We never dreamed that we could become this passionate about wanting to see other women succeed, to grow and to come together!  We want to see your dreams come true, just like we want our dreams to come true with Earth Monkeys.   We adore getting to "hang" with all of you, we soak it all in and love it all!   Anyway, We are talking about dreams here...



Earth Monkeys as a company has grown, and we thank every customer that supports us, and every mom that uses our products and tells your friends about us!  This last year has been a year of growth as a company, but more importantly, growth personally!  We are in the production stages of our next 3 products and the new direction that we are taking EM feels like a 180 degree turn.  But we are stoked, we are excited to give other moms a chance to jump on board this crazy ride with us...but that is all we can say (for now anyway).  It's a dream, a big hurkin scary dream...we can't wait to tell you what is next for us, but if we told you everything, then you wouldn't have anything to lose sleep over!  (bwahahahah).

It's amazing how beautifully chaotic life is one moment and how the next feels so overwhelming it's almost too much to bear. No matter how hard it gets though, things seem to flow back into the wonderful mess of a life, that's still total mayhem but also comfortable and safe and manageable. Too many days I've settle for manageable over fulfilling or inspiring because it's easier and I'm tired, and I don't think I'm alone in this.



Have you ever thought of something you'd love to do... that you're good at... that you're passionate about, only to put it out of your mind a nano-second later because it seems like too big of a dream...too overwhelming, too time consuming, or too [enter whatever excuse you want here]?? I have, too many times to count.



Last April Gena and I were trying to load our CRAZY(!!!) monkeys into the car after a nightmarishly grueling refreshing trip to the farmers market (FYI if you see us coming turn and run... I repeat, turn and run... it's for your own good) Anyway... we were wrangling the grimy, sticky, wild animals into their seats and I yelled out to Gena, "Hey we need a bib that just clicks to our keychains so we just always have them with us... my kids are disgusting!!" and that was it... she was in... and so the crazy, whacked out Earth Monkey journey began...



Gena didn't even know what a blog was 9 months ago and I have never followed through with anything... EVER(this includes but is not limited to recipes, any sort of directions or crafty projects)!! Still, in spite of ourselves, next week our first line of eco friendly bibs, pacifier holders and changing pads will be here... well they'll be at Gena's house, in her spare room.... all 30,000 of them... hold on I need to go hyperventilate... It's terrifying and exciting all at once.  The past nine months have been a chaotic circus. So many times we just had to look at each other and laugh (to keep from crying) as we designed, planned, reworked and re-reworked our company with screaming kids crawling up our legs. When we'd meet during the day, desperately trying to get things done, our kids would poop on the floor, fight, bite, and pee on each other. We tried meeting at night after the kids were in bed, but our dialog went something like this.... "Ummmmm, hmmmm... I know I was going to tell you something... OH!... no that wasn't it." and the other one would answer with a yawn and a blank stare in a total mommy stupor.  We know nothing about the retail industry, or manufacturing or overseas shipping, or marketing (Thank the good Lord for Google)... but we had a dream and we're a little nuts...  so we just went for it. We haven't sold a single piece yet... we still have what feels like a million details to take care of in a very short mount of time... and I'm sitting here shocked and amazed that this is actually going to happen... it's a great feeling... one I never would have felt if I hadn't let go of my desire for comfort and control.



So today, if you're a stay at home mom... a work at home mom... or a work at work mom... I hope you can think about something you've always wanted to do... and just start doing it... even if you have crazy monkeys and no time to yourself, even if you have no money or resources. Because it's amazing what happens when we stop settling for "manageable mayhem" and just dare to dream... It's a new year and a great time to let go of fears and baggage and be the person God created you to be... so join us here at crazy, and just go for it!



Watch for the Earth Monkeys official launch soon!! Here are just a few of our products, all made 100% from recycled plastic bottles (*carabiners made from recycled aluminum).... Freaking out here... ok I'm breathing again... I guess no one said it wouldn't be scary:)