a walk in the woods

Yesterday we tried to get ahead of the days heat, and take the kids for a little hike in the morning. Rain cooled the air a bit, but by the end of our trek, we were sticky and hot.
No matter, we had fun and saw wild turkeys, squirrels perched on logs eating found nuts, beetles with pretty shells, dragonflies circling the pond, and pollywog's favorite observation, ants.
CJ is growing up so fast and I am are making sure to connect with him each day. The memories we have made with him running through the trees, out in the desert discovering oasis, sand dune streams, mud baths (he always finds mud), star guided hikes, fishing with sticks in secret creeks 
Pollywog finds so much joy in nature as well. She has the curiosity and kindredness that reminds me of my grandfather. Nature knows her and she is home in it's midst. We called her river when she was still in my womb. Each body of water she passes is noticed and spoken of. She is quiet and inquisitive. She loves to sit and watch a bug crawl, look for hidden birds singing in the distance and feel freedom under her wandering legs.
Glee is abundant in the outdoors and even more so when shared with the ones you love.

Dancing Queen

This girl loves to dance. I have never seen anything like it. It doesn't matter where the music is coming from or even what type of music it is- when she hears it, she starts grooving.
And by grooving I mean, spinning in circles, falling, tapping her feet with her arms behind her back, falling, bopping her body up and down then, yep you guessed it falling.
You think hitting the floor over and over might deter her- but- no, when she hears the beat she has to move her feet.

kinda busy...

The Green Smoothie Challenge is going good. I am remaining active and eating healthy.
Even between taking CJ to Jr. Lifeguard training and his (many) social activities and playing with my pollywog, I have stayed up on my challenges... which were
1. organize art/school room and paint, paint, paint
2. work-out and get up early
So far so good. The art/school room is a mess. I have slowly been going through my house and continuing my downsizing project. I love it! As I get rid of stuff we don't need or use, and eliminate clutter- I notice my mind feels clear tool. Each room in the house is simple, clutter free and much easier to clean,(yipee) ... with the exception of the art room. Here is an embarrassing picture.

Everything is on the floor as I look for shelving. I need lots of shelf space to store school and art supplies. This is just one corner. I will spare you the rest of the room. It's been difficult to find the shelves I'm looking for so I am going to create my own. I also went to a local shoe store and they gave me a bunch of empty shoe boxes, (who knew- re-use!) I am going to decorate them and they will be my storage bins. I also purchased an Ikea, kids craft table on ebay. Only 24.00- and I sold pollywog's old pack-n-play and highchair for over that amount so I didn't even really spend a penny- I will keep you updated on the progress in this room.
Quick side note- I mentioned selling the highchair b/c pollywog is officially at the big table. It's so cute and she feels so big. She enjoys getting in on the dinner conversation.

I have also been painting ~I am trying to utilize my time wisely and not make excuses. Even when I don't feel like it I make myself and then I start getting into it. My goal is to finish a series by the end of July and show them locally.


I have still not made it to the sunrise cycling class- but- I have been working out and juicing...
speaking of juicing...to ensure the kids get enough fruit and veggies I made my "Famous Popsicles." (okay, they aren't really famous but they should be)
In a blender I mixed bananas, blueberries, mango and sweet potato- and made a set of pops

Also in my juicer I juiced carrots, apples and beets. I swear by this juice. It is high in iron, builds immunity, gives you lots of energy and taste good...No really they do. They make the prettiest frozen pops too.

I hope all of you are enjoying your summer, your children, your special someones, and your days. Tomorrow I hope to share some tips with you and a recipe of this awesome..........you'll have to wait and see :)
I'd love to hear about your summer days... I heard yesterday that the sacred is found in the mundane...mmmm

Busy girl

(Here are some images from a busy girl's day.)
I have been planning to make pollywog a dolly. She is so loving and is always hugging and kissing her stuffed animals. Yesterday while at the store, she spotted a baby doll. Just like a little girl, she was oohing and awwing...she held her (while in the box) kissing her. I caved and bought her the dolly. I still plan to make her one, but this is her first official baby doll. Do you think she likes her?




Our morning ritual that delights her...


Getting to go in brother's room, is always a special thing for baby. Getting to watch him play video games, or even play with his Leggos, now that is exciting! (can't you just see the excitement on his face...) ...(I highly recommend the magazine, Breakaway that you can see in the last picture, if you have a teen boy- there are ones for girls too.)

are bunnies grumpy?

What a grump bunny I have been lately. I can't seem to get myself out of the "grump funk."
I don't know why. I really don't have any good reasons, i guess.
I wake up feeling good, and then slowly I'm up to my knees in irritable.
Pollywog is at a stage right now that is sometimes tiring. I try to do fun, age appropriate crafts, but her attention span is still small. We read, we build with blocks, we dance, we play outside- watching the birds and filling the birdhouse with seed (this is her all time favorite thing to do)-


but she will at no point let me out of her sight. While I am trying to cook, or fold laundry, or go to the bathroom, she is below me arms waving begging to be held. Most of the day she is just plain cranky too. She is perfectly content to lay in my arms snuggling and nursing. She is cutting teeth and I tell myself this is just a phase. If I happen to sneak into the other room she is quickly looking for me, "mama, mama" and I cannot resist her sweet, little voice and she always runs to me arms outstretched like she hasn't seen me for days... gosh, when you think about it I guess its not all bad...I am actually pretty lucky...so I am officially done being grumpy...for now.

poolside...

~princess pollywog's first time in her pool~

Manic Monday...long, probably boring post

Today was a breezy, beautiful, dare I say summer day (i know it's spring, but it felt like summer) Today was the kinda day that you dust off your box fan and get'r running. So that is exactly what I did. I cleaned it up and turned it on.
I love the sound of a fan. It has such a peaceful hum. It reminds my of my grandmother's house.

The day hummed along like the fan. The breeze gently lifted the kitchen curtains all day. The sun was bright in the clear sky. Birds chirped around the house all day and I spotted our regular friend Mr. Cardinal and Mr. Bluejay, eating the seeds pollywog and I put out the day before. The house was peaceful, and filled with natural light.
Although the day hummed, it went by more like a breeze. Here and gone.
While CJ finished his chores- I quickly picked up the house and threw some laundry in, which had piled up in a matter of minutes. (When CJ cleans he tends to throw all cloth items into his laundry bin- gotta get that thing outta his room)...

Once pollywog went down for her nap (more like closing her eyes briefly as of late)...CJ and I decided to make pizza dough for dinner tonight. (more like I begged him to hang out with his poor mother...why do i keep saying, "more like"?) He must've felt pity for me, b/c he agreed. We measured, mixed and kneaded our dough and let it rise in the warm kitchen. I got the recipe from, "Moosewood Restaurant New Classics"- its a goodin'.
He actually cracked a smile while hangin' out with his ol' mom, and it was nice to spend time with him. He is growing up so fast...(click on pics to enlarge)







He was having so much fun that he agreed to do a craft with me. I saw this craft on another mom's blog and thought it looked fun. We basically unwrapped all of our crayons and sorted them by colors, broke them up and put them into a muffin tin- then baked them for about 20-25 min. on 200, let them dry and popped them out. He is an artist like me, so we enjoy colors and projects. He loved the blues and said the different browns made him think of the desert.




Just about that time we were really getting into it, CJ's friend came to see if her wanted to ride bikes, and I was left at the table to finish the craft. Well it was fun while it lasted...teens. Sometimes I wish he was little again, but I'm pretty proud watching him grow up too. They did turn out great though, and pollywog colored with them, stacked them and showed the birds outside the window.





...and the pizza was a hit...





"its just another manic monday, ooohhhhh ooohhhh"

does your Toddler eat like a birdy?

If you have a toddler that is picky like I do, here are some ideas that have worked for us.
First let me add that she is still nursing and that we are pretty choosy about what she eats. She doesn't really drink juice, or eat sugary foods. We try to stick to whole foods (grains, fruits, veggies) and expose her to a variety of foods.

Toddlers in general are picky eaters. I don't just mean in terms of only eating"certain foods" and not others, but I mean they pick at their food. This is normal and healthy and fine. They are grazers. Not all of them, but a lot of them.
This stage is a time to expose them to all sorts of foods and let them explore fun ways to eat.
If I am stressed about her consumption at meal time, or make eating a "stressful" time, this will make her/him a picky eater- they dread meal time, rather than enjoying this Family Time... (this comes from someone who spent their entire adolescents sitting at the dining room table till nightfall-did I mention I was stubborn?)
I want eating to be a time with laughter and a time to nourish, not a time of stress and forcing foods
If they're hungry they will eat- old saying but so true
So get creative!
Preparing food for my children has given me a renewed joy for food. It's the simple foods that we forget about that are, oh, so good. Yummy fruits and crunchy veggies.

Ideas:
-Multi-grain cereals: We sneak lots of yummy goodness in her night-time, multi-grain, cereal. (we just started giving her warm cereal at night in the last couple months to up her iron and slow down the night feeding, worked) In her multi-grain organic cereal (which daddy feeds her while she sits in her bath, spoiled?) we add mashed bananas, flax meal or oil, cinnamon, and Flora Baby (a probiotic...not always just random for a week at a time) Sometimes if needed, we sneak some prunes in there.
- Kefir Pops: she loves frozen pops so for both kids we make Kefir pops. We blend various frozen fruits, with non-sweetened juices, and Kefir and freeze. Kefir as well as the probiotic treatment are important. If the gut is healthy the overall immune system will be strong. They love these pops sometimes we sneak in sweet potatoes. I
-Soups: We often give her soups (she loves veggie soups and pasta soups) , this is another great place to "sneak in" some flavors and goodness. We'll mash in sweet potatoes and add garlic cloves. We freeze leftovers and break off pieces throughout the week.
-Garlic: This is something we give her especially if she is getting a cold or around other sick people. Raw garlic is not usually high on the toddler's palate, so we roast the garlic and spread it on her pasta noodles at dinner or whatever else she is eating. She doesn't mind the sweetness of it roasted.
-Dips...Toddlers love to dip. Rather they are dipping crackers, steamed veggies, fruit, bread or their little fingers- great dips are Guacomole, Hummus, blended fruits, Laughing Cow cheese (her fav.) and yogurt.
-Smoke Salmon and Cream cheese on crackers- I love that she loves this- its the Oregonian in her.
Please share your tips.