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).

I've never been a really "crunchy" or "granola" type mom... in fact I've never used those words to describe anything about me... except as the food I so very much like to eat:) I've shared before that when faced with the choice between "green" or convenient, if I'm being honest, I don't always choose green.... (insert judgmental gasp here) This probably isn't the trendiest confession to make on Earth Day... it's not very green of me... but it is the truth.



As I navigate this "Great Green Transition"... much like with weight loss and spiritual health... I have to remind myself daily that it's not about the guilt of not being good enough or backsliding... it's about making small choices everyday to be who I need to be...



I live in a 1958, all original, cinder block home... I drive a 2002 dirty old mini-van with a door that will only shut if I put all 160 pounds of me into closing it. My kids live in hand me downs and almost every large purchase we've made (including a house) has come from from craigslist. "USED" is the name of the game at our house... I wish I could brag that we chose this lifestyle because we are urban chic and so "reUsey"... well no I don't that would just be annoying. This is how we live out of necessity... and the cool thing is that it's "Green" by default. The truth is I think we are programmed to buy too much of stuff we don't need. Our lives are filled with excess and waste which then inundates our landfills with huge amounts of packaging and too many disposable products that have been chosen for convenience over eco-friendliness. (I'm talking to me... not preaching at you... I promise:)



So, whether you're a "green" beginner like me, or a seasoned crunchy, granola mom, Earth Monkeys has come up with a challenge for us all. One convenience that Gena and I have given up (for obvious reasons) is to stop using disposable bibs and changing pads. We are well stocked with our own Earth Monkeys Gear and because they are lightweight and compact there is really no reason to buy the disposable products.



Today we're asking you to join the Earth Monkeys ReUse Revival and commit to not using disposable bibs and changing pads... This isn't a sales pitch... Use our stuff or use your own faves... but today in celebrating the beautiful creation we've been blessed with... take a small step with us and sign up to be a part of the revival.  Small steps do make a difference!



Here's the thing... There can be no revival if no one knows about it... so today in honor of Earth Day I will be doing three random giveaways for people who take the ReUse Revival Pledge.... And here's a bonus if you take the pledge and share this post we will send you two bibs OR changing pads OR paci packs (you can choose what would work best for your monkey) 1 for you and one for a friend. CLICK HERE to take the pledge now!



But wait there's more.. ahahaha... no this isn't an infomercial... just a way for us to say thank you for being so great and we love you... Today on our Earth Monkeys Facebook page every hour on the hour until 8 PM tonight we will be posting amazing discounts and deals on all Earth Monkey Gear... Each deal will only be good for that hour... We are really proud of the fact that our gear is made from recycled plastic bottles... we're taking old "trash" and making it something useful... it's our small step to make a positive impact on our beautiful planet. Happy Earth Day!