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 funny how dreams go...some take years to cultivate while some spring up in an instant.  Some are shared and encouraged by others and then there are those that make people laugh at you.  They can live inside of you and never surface, or they can be lived out in every day life.

     I've had many of them.  Some reaching back as far as my childhood and dreaming of that special toy, my first car, a prom date, my first love.  Going to beauty school to live out my dream as a hairdresser, and rebuilding my life after a devastating divorce.   Now my dreams involve showering ALONE, listening to MY music in the car, drinking my coffee HOT and raising my children to be compassionate, loving, successful adults all while being a perfect wife.  Phew!  I'm tired just thinking about it.

     I want to share with you today one of those dreams that "sprung up in an instant."



     It started on a warm summer day as Lindsay and I were packing up our 5 monkeys and leaving the growers market.  Our kids were all covered in sludge (this is nothing out of the norm) when Linz was struck with a moment of brilliance and yelled out "we need a bib that fits onto our keychains so we always have it with us".  I said "that is an awesome idea!" And this is the "springing" part...9 months later, we had designed from scratch our first 3 products...found a manufacturer, got a patent, set up complete social networking, set up web sight (and when I say "we", I mean MOSTLY Linz) designed logos, set prices, researched till the cows came home, (and that is just the tip of the ice burg)  Within 3 months of releasing our products, we are in 5 stores, and selling online.  We write this blog, we keep in touch with friends on FB and have become passionate about connecting and sharing with other women.  We are driven to help other women succeed.  We love buying from other women, sharing them with others and supporting them in their ventures and hopefully encouraging you all in the process.  We love you all!!!

     That being said, I am going to step out on a limb with another touch of honesty.

     There are not enough thank you's in the world that we could use to express how grateful we are to everyone who has commented, encouraged, shared and "followed" us.  We are excited and appreciative of every order we have sent out and we are forever indebted and appreciate every single on of you!!!  But...

     First of all let me ask you...Do you know about our products?  Do you know that they are "key chians" that turn into a bib, a changing pad, and a pacifier holder...Do you know they are made out of bpa free recycled plastic bottles...Do you know we donate 1% of our profit to children's charities...

Do you know we sell them for around $10!...Do you know we we gift wrap?...Do you know we are the blood, sweat and tears behind this entire company?  We do it all!  Two crazy moms with two crazy lives, working our butts off to bring you the worlds most revolutionary on the go products that every mom needs!

    Someday when Angelina, Jennifer, Jessica, and Mariah are caring around their Earth Monkey gear,  we want you to be able to say "I had mine fist!"...so here is the scoop;  We have given away tons of our product just to get them out there and now we are asking you to support these two tired moms and go buy some.  (did I just hear a gasp?...oh that was me!).  A wise person once told me "the worst thing people can say is no"...so that is why I am asking you.  You can say no, but I think that you now all know that our products are as rad and necessary as we have told you!

Without all of your support, our dream, well our dream does not die, but it struggles.



     The dream for Earth Monkeys??? To someday employ women from all walks of life.  Have our own manufacturing plant, our own shipping location (not my spare bedroom),  and have marketing, and development departments ran by women.  Please help us achieve this goal by passing us around.  If you have little ones, please, pick up Earth Monkey gear for yourself, if you know someone with little ones, find something special for them.  With mothers day and Easter just around the corner, the timing is perfect!  This is all we ask; for your support and love!   If you have been waiting for just the right moment to get your Earth Monkey on the go gear, now is the time!

So here is how it works.  Think of your best MOTY moment (please not the one that would make Child Protective Services show up at your doorstep!)  and post it in a comment below.  And don't forget to have your friends join in so we can laugh at them too!  We will pick the winner at the end of the week based on which one makes us pee our pants the most and you will get to pick out a set of your fav. Earth Monkey products!  Cool!

"Princess" Bib

"the Destroyer" Bib folded to be a "keychain"

"Simeon" Paci-Pac

"Dude" Bib

Check out the all new earthmonkeys.com online store 

where you can get the latest must have eco friendly baby and toddler accessories!!!!!!! 

"Angel" Porta-Pad

"Pumpkin" Porta-Pad folded to be a "key chain"

Oh and not only are we asking you to share us with your 500 closest friends, we are begging you!  We need you, other women just like us to help bring this dream to life!  Thank you so much for  your support...click earthmonkeys.com above or here to order away!!!

My life is probably the exact opposite of that of a superstar. 98% of my days are spent cleaning up "accidents" (of both the bodily fluid and broken lamp variety), wiping bottoms, cooking and then cleaning up more accidents. In between the mayhem I try to work, but only with the brain power and engery that's left after my boys suck me dry. I love what I do... every most mornings I thank God that I can sit down and work in my jammies with my nappy bedhead. Sometimes I do envy friends who get in their cars showered and dressed, with hot coffee and drive away to a quiet office where they can think and go to the bathroom by themselves.... but I know that would bring it's own bag of troubles and worries and like my friend Katie says "The grass is always greener over the septic tank."



Being a mom is hard, whether you're a stay at home mom, a working mom, a special needs mom, a single mom or even a step mom... I look at so many of my friends (who are super star mommies) and have absolutely no idea how they do it. With this in mind we decided we want to start something call "Super Star Saturdays" Although our name was inspired my hero and mentor, Marry Katherine Gallagher, Super Star Saturdays have nothing to do with making out with trees or smelling your fingers after they've been in your armpits...



Starting THIS SATURDAY, we are encouraging you... our EM friends... to post links on the Earth Monkeys Facebook page  to the coolest products/blogs/companies you have come across this past week... you can self promote, promote a friend or just add a link of somthing YOU think is awesome... everything directly related to serving moms and/or kids of course. Our hearts are to create a place where moms can come to check out the newest and coolest of everything every weekend:) We want to promote hardworking moms who blog or own businesses (because we know how hard it is) and mostly we want to help make YOUR life easier ... I can't tell you how many times I see friends with cool gadgets, cute clothes and amazing activities/kids stuff who say they found it all online... so why not pull our resources and list all the goods in one place?? It will help everyone!



Here's the second part... whichever link gets the highest percentage of feedback will get the thrilling, glamorous, highly saught after (ahahahaha) prize of free advertising on our blog for the following week. Hey it's not much, but it's what we got:)



Here's the catch... it can't be anything spammy or we will remove it (no hard feelings... that's just not what we're going for) Also please no viagra, porn links to anything skanky...  let's keep it PG-13 ish:)... Yup that's it... no spam no skankishness ... anything else goes!!



More than anything we just want this to be another way for us all to connect and help eachother out, Lord knows mamas can use all of the help we can get! Can I get an Amen??:) See you Saturday:)

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:)