The Owie (with a Mouth)

A couple days ago we were over at my parents' house and Eileigh got a small cut on the inside of her Tall Man finger, right along the joint crease. Somehow she always seems to manage to injure Tall Man with any owie she receives and Mike and I have countless immature moments having her repeatedly show her owie to each other.
We had one Hello Kitty band-aid left and although I generally limit band-aid use to serious owies, this one was affecting her silverware use during lunch (more so from dramatic effect than actual injury) so Tall Man got slapped with a Hello Kitty band-aid and lunch continued without further delay.
After bath time and the subsequent removal of Hello Kitty, Eileigh insisted on another band-aid for bedtime since it still "hurt so bad". By this point I had a hard time seeing the scratch so I was pretty sure there was no longer any looming imminent loss of appendage and therefore denied said band-aid request. I explained that we should just air her finger out and let the owie breathe. Eileigh looked at me a little confused and said we didn't have any air around here, to which I replied that yes, actually, it's all over and there will be more than enough for your finger. She thought a little more and then flipped her Tall Man at me and said, "My owie needs to breathe. See, there's his little mouth!!" I looked and I swear that finger was just about grinning at me.

Chocolate Chip Cookies, grain-free edition

Oh my. So technically, these aren't GAPS legal since they include chocolate chips... BUT I'm going to have to go out on a limb here and say they're totally worth the splurge. Eileigh and I made these today and I used them in some shameless bribery regarding specific toilet-training issues. It worked so I'm grinning like the cat that ate the canary... the chocolate canary that is... They taste like a real cookie (and actually remind me a little bit of almond roca). Next time I might throw in an egg or two and see if they get a little more body to them, as these spread out and ended up fairly thin. If you don't feel like baking them up you can just eat the dough but I have to say these really make one delicious cookie. (I doubled the recipe... they go fast around here...)

1 ¼ cup almond flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
few shakes of salt
5 tbsp melted butter
3 tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, set aside.  Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl, add to dry ingredients and mix until well combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Spoon batter onto parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake for 10-13 minutes until set and slightly toasty.  These will firm up as they cool.
Yield: 12 cookies

Pickin' Berries

This year Eileigh and I had mama/daughter time picking strawberries while Mike stayed home with a napping Selah. We met up with a couple of friends out at the farm. One of the girls brought her son Eli, who is a year or two older than Eileigh (try saying those names together five times fast). They had a great time palling around, eating strawberries and decimating as many weeds as they could possibly step on/grab/destroy. Eli also explained to Eileigh that the way to get as many strawberries as the vast number in his bucket were to just "pick really fast like I do". She kind of watched him work and then plucked the biggest one she could find out of my bucket and munched away. After about two hours the sun decided to come out and since in my hurry to get to the farm I hadn't bothered to cover either of us in sunscreen we decided to call it a day and head home. Final count: 30.5 lbs. of strawberries, little pink cheeks for Eileigh and a slight tan for myself, stained hands, faces and clothes and some priceless time spent enjoying life together.

I had to tell Mike about the huge strawberries... this one is not too shabby... but the biggest ones didn't make it home. :)

The Help

Eileigh's piles

Not only do I have a partner in crime (see: chocolate consumption) but I also happen to have a fabulous little helper... on occasion... the best help happening more of when she feels like it rather than a constant desire to clean and/or help her mama. So on this day she was happily helping me with the laundry- washcloths being her specialty. I was actually pretty impressed with how well she had folded them and caught myself as I was praising her for that. I realized that it's not so much the results I care about (e.g., evenly folded towels) but more the fact that she was willing to help me and doing it with a great attitude. So I switched gears and told her how much I appreciated her helping me. She looked quite pleased, gave me a hug and kiss and told me she loved me. How I delight in that little girl.

Helping Daddy wash the truck

Daddy's hat, boots no less than three sizes too small and her rockin' secondhand scooter that she absolutely adores

When Every Day is Mother's Day

Mike's out on a (fairly) rare ice cream run, the girls are in bed fast asleep and I'm contentedly contemplating the day's events and some of the deeper thoughts that stir my soul tonight. I feel as though today could very well have earned the title of "Best Mother's Day Yet" and I have to laugh as I think of what that means to me today. My first Mother's Day (4 years ago) I found myself extremely disappointed from ridiculously heightened levels of expectation. I somehow had envisioned an entire day of carefree bliss and a vacation from any kind of need/responsibility/sacrifice required of me on a regular basis. I had a four month old at the time. Talk about reality shattering fantasy. I remember being frustrated and upset as I declared to myself and to Mike (and probably even four month old Eileigh) that this was supposed to be my day... and yet I was still covered in spit-up, changing poopy diapers by the dozen and eternally hooked up to that necessary evil, my Medela breastpump. The baby still cried and I still didn't obtain a respectable (or even functional) amount of sleep. I was, in all sense of the word: Mom. This day is no different than any other day in that I am needed in a way that no one else can fulfill to the extent that I am called to do. No one else will love my daughters the way that I do. No one else will find their throat constricting and their heart squeezed countless times a day as I share life with my girls. No one else will think them as beautiful, as precious, as breathtaking and as worth every bit of every sacrifice I make... as I do. I mention this only because this Mother's Day was just as beautiful as every other day is. I mothered my children today- in the best sense of how I know the word. And I am thankful that my understanding of that grows as I am continually stretched and challenged. Today wasn't beautiful because there were no tears, no poopy diapers and no food thrown on the floor (there were all three). Today was beautiful because I saw wiping tears, changing diapers and cleaning up the floor as a reminder that not only am I doing what I'm called to be doing but that I have been blessed with two beautiful, feminine little reasons to choose joy in the sacrifice of truly loving. Can there be any greater calling than that? So Happy Mother's Day, today and every day, to every mom who finds herself with tears to wipe, sacrifices to make and an ever-expanding understanding of the all-encompassing Love we share with our children. Happy Mother's Day.

Egg Hunt

So glad she figured out walking this last week! Perfect timing for egg hunting!

Mindi and I were laughing hysterically at his little trashed-out appearance. He didn't seem to mind one bit... other than the usual good-natured scowl thrown our direction.

A bucket and some eggs to fill it with... and then take them out... and then put them back in... and then...

Boone and Eileigh quickly found their eggs and then "helped" the littles find theirs

I struggle with being overly helpful in finding eggs... it's riiiiiight over heeeere.....

Selah excited for her own egg

Easy Potato-Leek Soup

The last couple trips to the grocery store have caught me buying leeks galore. For some reason it's all about the leeks right now. Tossed into an omelet, used to whip up a Bacon-Leek Tart or as the inspiration for my most recent adventure, Potato-Leek Soup. For some reason every now and then Mike will ask me if what I made came from a recipe, implying that maybe I just threw a bunch of ingredients together. I guess the food looks suspicious. And maybe I did. This version of Potato Leek Soup I most certainly made up as I went but it did in fact turn out pretty tasty and now I have another reason to pick up more leeks on my next trip to the store.

Easy Potato-Leek Soup

1-2 Tblsp. butter
1-2 leeks, sliced (white and light green parts only)
1/2 c. white wine
4-5 medium potatoes, scrubbed and chopped, peels left on (or peeled if nonorganic/preferred)
2 c. broth (I used ham but chicken or veggie would be good too)
2 c. milk
1-1/2 c. corn (canned or frozen)
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Shredded cheddar cheese

In large saucepan, saute leeks in butter over medium heat until tender. Add wine and simmer for a few minutes. Add potatoes, broth and milk to saucepan, cover and allow to gently boil until potatoes are fork-tender, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat and stir in corn. Add salt and pepper to taste and heat through. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese for topping.