Lovely friday!

It started with a not so great breakfast-
buckwheat cereal. I just dont think I like the texture at all.
Here it has honey, strawberry puree, almond butter and a few walnuts added... i was trying desperately to add something that would make it better.

I just kept wishing I had oatmeal with all these yummy ingredients.

then we had some friends stop by and that always sparks the kids up!


liv copying her contortionist sister....


Ira in her spaceship....


later- the spaceship became a theatre... a finger puppet theatre for her favourite stuffed cat and dog....


liv was insistent that we dress her in princess gear and walked around listening to everyone's heart with my stethoscope!


princess keira in her throne- she made it all herself- I love it. And can I say how awesome it was to find that dress at a thrift store for $3!?!
After our friends left, we went to the bookstore- I bought myself a new copy of wuthering heights by Emily Brontë because I am a sucker for having multiple copies of books? or because I loved the new artwork on the front? probably a little of both, because I also bought this new copy of pride and prejudice by jane austen

ira loves her new book about unicorns... how sweet is this???

A full thursday!

Liv took a really long nap and so keira and I decided tospend some quality time doingthings that are harder to do when liv is awake and joining in!

We put together a unicorn puzzle.....





Played with a geometric puzzle set that we have had for a while.... Ira was really into this last year and it saved me right after liv was born... she would spend so much time making new designs.

Today we named andlooked up the names of the shapes- that led to a pretty lengthy discussion of trapezoids, parallelograms, hexagons, etc.






Then we made spelt pitas for the first time!
it was so much fun!
The recipe:
3 cups spelt flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbl baking powder
2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 c.hot water

mix together, form a ball


cover with damp cloth for half an hour


this is keiras own dough covered....lol


roll out to desired thickness... I use parchment paper- less sticking ...


toss into dry pan until bubbles start forming



then flip and cook on other side for maybe a minute....

this recipemade approx 15-20 pitas... depending on size and thickness.

they were super yummy!

Yummy oatmeal!

Our new favourite breakfast!

Oatmeal
Honey
cinnamon
raisins
diced apples

amazement

I tend to say, "thats amazing!" quite often.... but I really mean it. I really really really mean it.

When I said it last night- I meant it A LOT.

We were talking about apples... and I said we need more because we only have enough for her and olive to have one apple for a snack.

Then she says, "oh, and if you want one we need 3 and if daddy wants one we need four. And if we all want more than one we need MANY!"

:)

Just like that. She adds.

No drilling her, no coaxing her to do worksheets, nothing.

She just did it, because it was the topic of conversation and she was interested and capable.

Might seem weird for me to get this excited over addition, but two years ago I really and truly believed that she wouldnt learn anything unless I was very vigilant in teaching it to her. For me to watch it unfold... years before I would have thought to start "teaching her math"... well it is inspiring to ME.

AND, olive said YUMMY and AGUA for the first time last night.

love these kids. love. these. kids.

salad.... mmmmmm

I never can get enough of this particular salad.




spring greens
broccoli sprouts
raw walnuts
balsamic vinegar
evoo
s&p

I added a slice of farmer's market fresh artisan kalmata olive loaf.... super yum.

monday, monday

Yesterday was a doozy.

I ate cheese on sunday, and paid dearly.... I tried to offer up an apology to my stomach....
[that there is two key limes juiced, an inch of freshly grated ginger and sea salt in some water]

it didnt work.


We made a kitty bed, and pretended to be kittens.....


Ira went into the kitchen to wash her hands and then I hear, "mama, I am going to clean so you dont have to while you are sick"
I think... that sounds like trouble.

I walk into the kitchen to find that she has emptied about 1/4 of super concentrated DAWN into the sink and on to the floor.

We take this opportunity to pretend to be maids and scrub the floor and dishes and walls.... anything to use up the dawn instead of just rinsing it away.

[no pics of that... it was a "mama is barely able to stay in the moment and gentle with her loving helpful and sweet sweet sweet daughter" moment]

After many attempts at pretending- mostly me pretending to be okay... I made the girls playdough and laid on the floor until my husband got home.... lucky for me, playdough is a sure fire way to keep my girls completely happy and involved for a long time.

Its in my emergency arsenal bag of tricks.

my recipe is
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. salt
1 1/2 c. water
2 tbl cream of tartar
1 tbl veg oil

combine in pot


stir over medium heat.....



keep stirring until it starts to come together into a ball....


i leave it in the pot and spread it out a bit for about a minute after it turns into a ball... then I knead it for a couple minutes until its at a good consistency.

we added food dye.....





but I couldn't find my rubber gloves and we don't really use plastic baggies, so we only had 3 left from the last playdough session. This pic in no way shows how really really really hot pink my hands are.


Liv decided she was really into cleaning up.



When my husband came home, I was lying on the floor next to them crying a little and snapping pics.... it was by far the funniest scene he has walked into in a while.

His words were, "Why are you on the floor crying and why are your hands neon pink?"

classic.

saturday mornings

we received a surprise package in the mail! Italian cookies from aunt pauline!



Ira was very preoccupied with being a super hero.... but she decided that she could, in fact, stop for just ONE cookie!

the girls and their babies!

we were cleaning up the playroom and these girls went baby crazy.
There was rocking, singing, dancing, strollering, slinging, ironing while rocking babies!!!!!
Good thing they like them so much.



i snapped this one because I love that liv is already playing with the dollhouses... she watches everything ira does and then does it. So cute.

Park Day!

Breakfast in the grass.... really really really early in the morning!




and a macaw

snapshots of the day

Just another fun day "stuck" inside....


boredom? no way! she was an underwater explorer-


Ira learned to weave...

Miss Independent

take that better maid....

I was seriously craving better maid bbq chips..... I told my husband andhis answer? "Make some"

his idea was to use the slicer blade on the food processor and the deep fryer.... but I am too lazy to pull all that out.

What I did:

3 potatoes cut in eighths length-wise and then sliced as thin as I could. ( i thought I was HUN GRY- I could've made less ;) )
put into large bowl and toss with EVOO to coat completely, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, smoked paprika powder, onion powder (although I was out and it was good)
bake on baking sheet at 415degrees for 15 minutes, then high broil for 3 minutes.

take out, toss with 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce and salt to taste.

OH MY GOOD~ness


so good.

so so so good.

***disclaimer- i am pregnant- and crave level was high- equal satisfactory NOT guaranteed****

more transitioning recipes....

I am cutting dairy completely and trying to eventually be vegan again. But the eggs are proving to be the last soldier. I am having a hard time replacing them and getting results I *enjoy* and I am having a hard time convincing myself that cutting eggs is necessary. I buy organic & free range from a place that I think treats their chickens as ethically appropriate as you can in the sonoran desert. I mean, there are lots of coyote roaming these parts and my friends that keep chickens have a hard time keeping them completely free range AND alive.

So I am working on my thought process....


I forgot to take a picture of tuesdays's vegan meal... It was super yummy.

I sauteed zucchini in EVOO and a couple tablespoons of my homemade dressing... which is a mixture of fresh squeezed lime juice, basil, fresh ginger, honey, mustard, balsamic vinegar and evoo. Then I wilted swiss chard in the zucchini and put it all over quinoa. So Good! Even the husband agreed. My ira would not eat the zucchini- she prefers her greens in a shake/smoothie. But liv ate. it. UP. So far the girl actually seems to prefer things like kimchi, sauerkraut, chard, kale and onions. Which is cool with me. Just funny to see a little baby shoving all that in with such excitement and no silly faces.

Last night we started with a salad of mixed spring greens and chopped parsley with heirloom tomatoes and the remainder of my dressing- but there wasnt enough so I added more lime juice and evoo to make more of a vinaigrette.




Then, I made some whole wheat pasta(also vegan... woohoo) and added fresh pesto with some basil I got at farmers market on sunday.



My recipe- which turned out quite well...

1 small bunch fresh basil
3 cloves strong garlic
palmful of raw walnuts
palmful or more of nutritional yeast (to taste)
combine in food processor

then add evoo while processing until at desired consistency.
Salt to taste.

i did not miss the cheese at all. until my dear husband pulled out the aged asiago and added it to his.

Asiago is my favourite cheese. I missed it- but didnt indulge. I will not eat dairy. I will not eat dairy. I will not eat dairy.

:)

Mmmmmmm..... dairy free pancakes... made with hemp milk and coconut oil in replacement of cow milk and butter. I used one egg.... so not vegan *yet*. Baby steps. Used Coconut Oil to cook them in as well. Very Very Yummy!

We also wore mardi gras beads and listened to putumayo kids folk playground.