Both girls have ear infections right now.  I awoke to screaming kids tugging on ears.  I'm thankful over and over that we live immediately next door to a Pediatrician and a Psychologist....very helpful resources at times.  He took a quick peek at both girls and confirmed my suspicions.  This is the first ear infection either of them have ever had.

Adley seems the least disturbed, Elyse's must hurt quite a bit more.  I warmed some garlic oil and placed a few drops in her sore ear and it really seemed to help.  It must have provided relief for about the same amount of time an anti-inflammatory would because she came to me asking for the drops again about 8 hours later.  It was refreshing to offer an alternative to medication and even more wonderful that it worked for her.  We'll see how tonight goes.

Sometimes, though not terribly often, I'm just tired.  Even with adequate sleep, I'm exhausted.  The  5-7pm window around here is something fierce and I constantly try to evaluate how to make this smoother for us.  Kids are dirty and hungry, once their fed and clean, the kitchen is a mess.  Today was even worse because we had just gotten back from a jog to the park so we were all extra messy.

I skipped my workout video today to give myself some down time but then decided in the afternoon a 3 mile jog to the park and back would do us all some good.  We're finally having some great weather around here.  Well, I hadn't jogged with both girls in awhile and pushing 75 pounds intimidated me at first.  Once I got going though, I realized how much better shape I was in this time than the last.  I handled the run quickly and hardly broke a sweat.  It's so rewarding to feel the fruits of the hard work I've put into this but it's a daily challenge to keep up with it.

Side note, I have a recipe to share that is definitely worth making.  I took them as dessert to a friends house this weekend.  Everyone knew they weren't your typical brownie, but no one had any idea they were actually healthy!

Chocolate chip blondies!  

• 1 1/2 cups chickpeas or white beans (1 can, drained and rinsed)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• level 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar (can also use honey)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (first time using my own!!!!)
• 1/4 cup ground flax or quick oats (20g) (I used flax)
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• optional: 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend all ingredients (except chips) until very smooth in a food processor (not a blender). Mix in chips, and scoop into a greased (or tinfoil-lined) 8×8 pan. Optional: for “prettiness” you can stick some chocolate chips on top of the batter as well. Bake for around 30 minutes. They’ll look a little undercooked when you take them out, but they firm up as they cool, and you don’t want them to get hard.

My side dish was cauliflower mac n' cheese using 100% whole wheat pasta, greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and homemade bread crumbs leftover from the seed loaf below.

I post this because my kitchen got trashed twice in the process (well, we also made lunch in there) and prior to that day, I had no idea what I was going to bring to the get together.  I made the side and dessert with what I had around and they were still made with real, whole food.  Still fed 8 people.  Still tasted so good.  So once again, through my mess I smiled.  Healthy beats tidy any day.