wedding, trees and choices.

my dearest lovely friend wanlass is amazing. she is a great wedding planner and we attended a wedding on sunday to help. polly of course had a great time running and playing with her "new friend kate" and i had lots of a good time helping creativity come together and making new friends. great conversation with great people and great food. it was great.

of course there were photographers so out of consideration for them, even though it could have very well been one of the most difficult things i have ever had to do, i kept my camera tucked away. for a brief moment they were no where to be found and my little beauty queen was being cute like she knows how... so i whipped it out and snapped a few.

strawberries and pink lemonade.

with crazy eyes.

later in the week we ventured to our friends house in bountiful. 

we went on a walk and stumbled upon a nice little orchard. duh. pictures.

while my little is so very girly, intensely loves anything pink and frilly, she is still a huge fan of "boy things" im proud of her well rounded-ness.

 to mention only a few examples of this, she loves bugs.... 

and dirt.

 but to be true to her pink side, she loves secrets.

 and walks.

 saving her best friend from falling to her imminent death... 3 inches.

they sword fought.

L: why are we killing each other?

P: i dont know. we just need to be princesses.

this guy. he is a comedian. to the untrained eye, this may seem to be a caught a strange lazy eyed bad picture. to one who knows him, this is a typical theodore "im being funny" face.

on the way home, there was a big hill. 

 then we went to the play place. 

he is a thrill seeker.

my guy.

 #1 in my book.

i love nature; lately i enjoy capturing all of the beauty it has to offer.

teddys favorite things lately are the soccer ball and skate board. he runs around yelling "soccer ball! kick it!" or "kaaa boar! kaaa boar!" he also likes to say "peace out" any time you try to get love or get him to do anything. he is a stink pot. also he loves music and to dance. my kinda guy. he definitely got his sweet, less rhythmic moves from me. 

i try to make my children aware of their power. their ability to make choices and the results of their choices. did that make any sense at all? probably not. its late and i really shouldnt do anything at this hour. my brain shuts down at about 9. oh well, i understand me.

they, even being little have great power. polly knows very well that she is very capable of making her own choices and although she is only 4 and still learning, she understands. what? again, too late. she more often than not, makes very good choices. 

ex: 

1. after the wedding, while walking to the car, she wanted me to carry her purse. normally i would cause its not a big deal and i am a large fan of the words "pick your battles" cause i know she will win some and id rather it be the small ones, but my hands were full. so i told her "nope, you made the choice to bring it so you have to carry it."

2. at the store, you can choose to be happy or sad. we can be happy and grateful for the toys we have and how lucky we are, or we can choose to be sad about what we dont have. she knows it makes our "hearts smile to choose to be happy" and vice versa.

3. she knows that if a friend is being "rude or bossy" she doesnt have to listen to them and can choose to go play with someone that "makes her heart smile" or tell them "im a big girl and i can make my own choices."

etc.

the reason im telling the world this, is that while i really love her understanding, it backfires from time to time and makes for a good story....

I: please pick up your toys

P: i dont want to, they are my toys and its my choice to leave them there.

or

P: you are being bossy and i dont like it!

i promised we would go to joanns so she could pick some fabrics to make her new pillow cases.

i tried to steer her in a direction other than the one she was headed in...

I: ooh! but what about these? these are super cute! probably the 4th time iv said that

P: but moooom... its my choice and i choose these!

even though i didnt get my way, i was proud of that one. i applauded her, paid for the ones she had chosen and we wr on our way.

she is a true sweet heart and always wants everyone to be happy. 

wants to make them happy.

wants to share.

wants to give love.

wants to say nice things and lift others up.

needless to say, i am proud of both childs.

words that i really love lately:

"I sometimes wake in the early morning & listen to the soft breathing of my children & I think to 

myself, this is the one thing I will never regret & I carry that quiet with me all day long." 

-i forget who said this. 

again, its late.

good night.

pollys secrets

as of late, polly has been a secret teller. fortunately, with her being such a love filled being, they are sweet little whispers that fill our hearts with joy. while sitting around the breakfast table, these are the words she chose:
"you are my best mom. thanks for playing with me."
"you are my favorite dad. thanks for playing with me."
"i love you, you are a good brother. thank you for playing with me every day."
then loudly states "we are so lucky cause we love be-chother!"
she is apparently very grateful for all of the time we spend daily hourly, playing with them.
i am proud. of her, and us. we are doing something right.

zucchini and pitas

the valentines window clings were getting old.

so, we got new spring time ones and of course the kiddos had and still are having a blast placing, re-arranging and pulling them apart.

polly made 2 princesses. the small-ish things on the tops of their heads are their crowns.

she's electric!

do do do do do do do do 

new cook recipe book that i surprised myself with and am really excited to dive into.

 i had a ton of zucchini, as the organic stuff was on sale shortly ago. i stocked up then didnt use it for a while.

so this eve, while trying to come up with something quick and easy for din din, i decided id do it up...

rinsed mint leaves.

zested a lemon

added it to a portion of the chopped mint leaves.

cut the zested lemon.

added rest of mint and a squeeze of lemon juice to plain yogurt and some diced onion for dip.

suck in fridge.

washed and grated these.

then added this and a few other things.

shmoooshed it with my hands as to make sure all was incorporated.

tried to fry them up like pancakes or something.

called fritters and they did not work out.

apparently when you make these, you are supposed to pat and dry the grated pot's and zucch's so they actually cook nicely and stay together. i realized this waaaaay too late in the game, when they werent cooking up like i had hoped. so, i instead scrambled them all around, turned the heat way down and let them fry up for a bit to dry out and get nice n crunchy. they ended up more as zucch hasbrowns and were still just as tasty as i had imagined they were going to be!

so i slopped them on some plates, added a blob of dip and some grapes.

dinner. was. served.

they passed the child test.

so i rewarded them with some of those raw date brownies for dessert.

chopped up they kind of look like deer poo.

yum.

his favorite thing lately is a hat. of any sort. he will wear it all day. i like it.

he was disappointed when they were all gone.

so he decided to lick his hand in hopes of savoring a few last scrimules.

she is cute.

he is cute.

then later that night i busted out my trusty old bosch and dough i had soaking since the previous eve.

then made our beloved little soaked dough, whole wheat, flax pitas.

i usually make a bunch and keep some in the fridge and some in the frizzer since they come in handy for so many things!

and this morning we had some warmed topped with coconut oil, cinnamon and some of grandpas honey.

rolled up it was a "treat burrito!"

your kitchen could look like this when the day is at end.

but hey, if my kids can call healthy food treats, happily eat it all and ask for seconds, thirds and fourths... i'd say its plenty worth it.

goodnight.