I decided the night before that my kid deserved a Yes Day.

You’ve heard of these, right?

The concept is simple — you just say yes, or even just not no, as much as possible (factoring in safety and other real-life concerns) throughout the course of a day.

It’s a good reminder of how often, as parents, we find ourselves saying no or stop, or not now, or get down, or in some way discouraging normal kid business.

My son turned 7 this past Saturday, and it seemed like a little extra gift I could give him to say yes as much as possible that day … and this is how it went:

A little before 8 My son wakes and I tell him Happy Birthday. (Perhaps I sang a little. Just a little.)

“Can we have a ticklefight?” he asks.

Yes.

He proceeds to jump on my head 25 or 30 times. It ends when I rip his socks off and tickle his feet and he can’t stop giggling, so he calls a time-out for breakfast.

8:30 “Mom, can we have waffles with strawberries and blueberries today?”

Well … I respond, usually on your birthday we have pancakes with blueberries, so we actually don’t have strawberries. (Not a no.)

“OK. I forgot!” he says.

9 a.m. “Mom, can we do the egg experiment?”

Yes!

I put an egg in a jar of vinegar. It literally takes less than a minute. (The kids check on this project at least 10 times throughout the day and they laugh and jump every time.)

9:15 a.m.“Mom, can we play Qwirkle?” (Which he received as a gift for his birthday, but we hadn’t actually played yet.)

Um … yeah … just let me read the directions.

9:45 I actually figure out how to play the game correctly.

9:50 “Mom, can I put this piece here?”

Uh … I think it says to build on like this instead. That isn’t a no, is it?

11:30 “Can we have pizza for lunch?”

Yes. 

(A year ago I would have HAD to have said no because of dietary restrictions, so this is a hearty yes.)

12:30 He runs some errands with his dad. I stay home and look at the things we will be learning in the next few weeks. I try to imagine saying yes more to the things that interest him, even if they aren’t on “the list.”

More Geronimo Stilton books? Yes. More animal study? Yes. Buying him a bird whistle? Why not.

2 p.m. He returns home. “Mom, can I look up baseball stuff on the computer about the ball I got for my birthday?”

Well … not everything on the Internet is always OK for kids. How about if when Daddy has a minute he can help you and until then you can work on your book?

“Yeah! That sounds like a good idea!”

3 p.m. “Mom, will you play with us?”

Yes.

We play with logs and animals and their little houses. I realize it has been days since I have sat on the floor and played. Last week was so hectic  – dentist appointments and doctor’s appointments, playdates and general busyness. Has it been a week since we have played? Even for a few minutes?

“Mom, you are in SUCH a good mood today,” he says as I make a sign for the animal tower.

And I see that he’s right. He’s definitely right.

5 p.m. “Mom, can we go anywhere I want for dinner?” he asks. “Can we get ice cream too?”

Whoa. Last year at this time, we ate steamed vegetables and plain rice noodles in a little Thai place. When the owner offered a birthday dessert, we had to decline because of allergies.

Still, this is dangerous territory.

But birthdays come once a year …

Yup. Anywhere you want.

He chooses burritos and ice cream for dessert.

But when we get to the ice cream shop, he is overwhelmed with options.

“Can I get 3 kinds?” he asks.

How about one kind today. (We compromise at two.)

“Can I get anything I want on top?” he asks.

How about just one thing … but pick a good one.

He asks to try my ice cream.

Sure!

(I remember how last week when we got sushi rolls he saved one of each kind for me — a little kindness that came so unexpectedly. It was such a 7 kind of thing to do.)

8 p.m. We are home. It is almost bed time, and we go upstairs to put on pajamas.

“Mom,” he says, with a mischievous look in his eye. “Wanna wrestle?!”

He dives at me and I realize he might get riled up right before bed …

But then again — maybe he won’t.

Ahhhhhh! I scream as he tackles me.

A little while later he climbs on my back and we head downstairs. He takes his vitamins, and drinks a cup of peppermint tea. And then he brushes his teeth without a discussion about the merits of dental hygiene.

We say goodnight, and he heads upstairs.

But before he goes, I ask him something I have been wondering about all day:

So … did you have a good birthday today?

“Yes!” he smiles, and I can tell that it’s true.

So did I, kid. We’re going to have to do this more often.

Owen’s Spelt Berry Breakfast Pancakes

1 cup whole spelt flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)

2 tablespoons evaporated cane juice (or sugar)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup almond milk (or any milk)

2 tablespoons light oil

1 cup blueberries

Mix dry ingredients together and stir well. Add in egg, milk and oil, and mix thoroughly. Carefully fold in blueberries. (If batter seems too thick, add a little more milk to thin it out.)

Grease pan with a small amount of light oil. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into pan. Cook pancake until it bubbles, and flip. Continue to cook until both sides are golden brown and pancake is cooked through. Repeat with rest of batter. 

Serve on birthday mornings (or any other happy day!).

It’s not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can’t tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself. ~ Joyce Maynard

An assortment of recipes, books, blog posts, or other things that inspired me this week.

Gratitude Dance

Felt Car Play Mat House Project 

Being Practical Isn’t All That Great from The Organic Sister

Making plant watering globes out of recycled bottles

Adorable Hedgehog Rolls!

What is inspiring you this week? Please tell us about it in the comments below!

There are a few things that help me get through the cold winter months — two winter birthdays; knitting; and garden planning.

I spend the days after Christmas up until early march thumbing through seed catalogs, dreaming of long afternoons spent outside and home-grown tomatoes.

My dad always said growing up that “there’s nothing in the world like home-grown tomatoes,” and I’m inclined to agree.

We grew our first vegetable garden the first summer after we got married. We were renting a cute little house that had a sunny spot. We enlisted my dad’s help and ended up planting things that neither of us had ever heard of.

But it was a fun project to do together. It was a fun way to spend many Saturdays in a row — drinking lemonade and digging in the dirt; grilling for dinner after a long day’s work.

The following year we moved to a farmette on 3 and 1/2 acres. It was so perfect, it felt like something magical hand landed in our laps. For three years we grew rhubarb, asparagus and even grapes. Some days I would look out the window and gasp at how beautiful it all was.

But then we had to move. We didn’t want to move, but it made sense. About a week later, a Super Wal-Mart went up across the road and we realized that our peaceful little home would have been lit up by neon lights 24 hours a day anyway.

But we had a baby by then, and so there was a lot less time for gardening.

Our first garden here consisted of three tomato plants (because my dad is right.)

The next year we added an herb garden. Just the basics: parsley, oregano, mint and enough basil to make a vat of pesto.

Soon we dug out a patch in the sun, and planted a variety of interesting vegetables.

We still basically got tomatoes and basil. I say there are worse things in life.

The past few years we have been able to devote more time to our garden, with the exception of last year, when our garden time was spent picking at a CSA.

That is one of the reasons we are skipping a CSA this year — so we have many hours to devote to our own backyard market.

There are a few things I have learned in all of our seasons of growing:

• Plant what you like. Around here we take better care of food we actually plan to eat.
• Don’t plant what you won’t eat. Sure — it sounds good to say you are growing your own turnips, but if you don’t actually eat turnips, they are just taking up valuable real estate.
• Plant tomatoes and basil near each other — it heightens the flavor of both.
• Stagger your crops so there is always something to pick.
• Find a mentor — it is really, really hard to look at something wonky a plant is doing and to try to find that same wonkiness described on the Internet.
• Make a plan, but then write on the plan what is actually planted where so you know when to harvest what.
• Don’t start too early — your plants will die. Don’t start too late — your plants will die.
• Give kids a little area of their own, so you don’t have to hover. Or just work together on the garden and realize that a baby plant or two might get stepped on; things might get slightly overwatered; or once in a while you might get presented a bright green tomato by a very proud toddler.

But I would eat it anyway. There’s nothing in the world like homegrown tomatoes.

I am so glad that yesterday’s post about our home situation resonated with some of you.

Your comments were such a wonderful reminder that we are not the only ones who dream that someday soon, our situation will be a little different.

I think the current economic situation has caused a lot of us to put plans on hold and just go into day-to-day mode. The problem with day-to-day mode, though, is that it can keep us from moving forward.

So my goal from here on out is to keep my focus on making a home instead of just making do.

Because it is a possibility that we could still be in this same place in 5 more years. That’s not what we want, but when things are out of our control, we basically have to options: wallow, or do something.

I’d rather do something. It sounds more fun.

***

In other business, there is a neat give-away going on right now that I wanted to share with you. But first, a funny story …

When we were brainstorming names and taglines for this blog, one that really stuck with me was One Family’s Small Steps Toward an Organic Future. It was something like that. I recall it had “small steps” in it because as much as I liked that tagline, it always felt a little off.

Then one day in the shower it hit me: Small Steps is a toilet paper. That is probably why I got a funny little feeling every time I said it!

(Note: Marcal makes other recycled paper products as well, but we try really hard here to only buy toilet paper and an occasional box of tissues. We use reusable cloth napkins and towels for spills and cleaning – I know a lot of you do too!)

I learned this week that Marcal, the company that makes Small Steps is hosting a give-away that ends this Friday. The company is asking that people nominate everyday environmental heroes.

A winner will be selected in April and will win $5,000 to be donated in their name to an environmental charity of their choice.

The grand prize winner (and the person who nominated them) also win a year’s worth of recycled paper products from the company.

You can find out more information at Marcal’s site.

So go nominate somebody who is making big environmental strides through small everyday steps. We all know someone. Now is the time to win them some recognition, money toward a charity of their choice, and in the right environmental hands, enough toilet paper to last eons.

A few weeks ago, my kids spent the day with a grandparent, and I spent the day cleaning my house.

That doesn’t sound like a particularly fun way to spend a day, and really it wasn’t. But that night, as my kids returned home to find our house looking tidy and smelling like tea tree and lavender, all the hard work seemed more than worth it.

It is so much easier to love a clean house, even if that house is imperfect in a lot of ways.

There are certainly some things that drive me a little nuts about this house. We’ve actually been trying to sell it for three years now.

Our plan was never to be here this long. This was our five-year-plan house. We always imagined we’d sell it by the time our son was old enough to start school.

If we had our way, we would live on a little piece of land somewhere rural. We would have chickens, and maybe a few other animals. We would have a much bigger garden, and our kids would have much more outdoor space where they could roam and play.

That’s if we had our way. But we don’t. Not right now.

So instead, I am trying to focus on what we do have — a warm house that keeps us dry; a place where we are creating some wonderful memories; and a place that, when clean, isn’t really that bad at all.

It’s kind of nice really.

I am trying very hard to stop thinking that we are just making do here, and instead I am focusing on making a life here.

That’s all I have control over right now. And I know that someday, when we finally do move, we will be all the more grateful for the waiting.  

***

Stay Tuned: As spring approaches, I’m going to be talking a lot about making your own green cleaners, so stick around!!

We had a double birthday party here this weekend.

It was one of the biggest events we have ever thrown. The kids have each made so many friends in the past few years, and it may not be practical to throw one party for two birthdays much longer. But it sure was fun.

So after the banana splits were eaten and the presents were put away, I did what I always do and I stacked all the kids’ cards into two piles.

This tradition started after Owen’s first birthday. I remember after that first celebration thinking it had been so great to have all of our family and friends with us, but there was no way he was going to remember it.

We had taken a lot of pictures, but most of them, I’ll admit, were of my baby smashing banana muffin on his own face.

So I bundled all of his cards together, poked holes in the corners and tied them together with a ribbon that had come on one of his gifts.

It’s something I continue to do each year for both of the kids. I put the card bundles away in a box for that year — other stuff goes in there too — ticket stubs to events, brochures from places we visited, photos, letters, artwork. It’s hard to be choosy. I used to have two or even three boxes for a year.

I hope that when the kids get older, we will pull out these boxes and can flip through the cards and remember not only the birthdays, but the wonderful friends and family who shared the day with us.

One birthday for two kids may not really be practical anymore. And these little card bundles are just sentimental. But the feeling after that party this weekend was that we had been surrounded by love.

And that’s something I hope none of us forget.

One of my very favorite shows ever is Gilmore Girls. I DVR rerun episodes and watch them after the kids are in bed and for a few moments, I wonder if I just wish hard enough, if my city will somehow transform into wacky Stars Hollow — if I will be granted the ability to speak more quickly, and if my wardrobe will get an automatic upgrade.

The problem with being a huge fan of this show, though, is that the two main characters, beautiful, spunky, successful women, EAT A TON OF JUNK. I have figured out through repeated viewing that their diet consists mainly of coffee, doughnuts, pie, cheeseburgers, pizza, take-out Chinese food and tater-tots.

So as much as I may admire their quick wit, quicker words, and yes, their ability to eat all that junk listed above and never develop acne, diabetes, high cholesterol, food intolerances or gain a pound (oh, um, that’s right — they aren’t actually real people), I do think it’s important to find other food role models.

Many of us need a food hero, so to speak.

In a world where many young kids can recognize the McDonald’s arches, but can’t tell you a French fry comes from a potato, or where soda is sold in cups that hold more contents than the average human stomach, I think it is so valuable to find people out there who make it a point to really nourish themselves so that they can feel their very best.

I first “met” Lori when I made one of her recipes for a healthy nutritious treat — Almost Raw Trail Mix Balls.

I am so glad I found her blog and as I continue to visit, I am so glad she is a voice out there, providing really good real food recipes for people like me who often need reminders that eating well is worth the effort (and it can be really delicious too!).

So let me introduce you now to Lori, who was kind enough to share an amazing Spiced Apple Muffin recipe today as part of the Muffin-Up Mondays series:

When I started What Runs Lori, it was to share vegan and raw food recipes with my marathon training teammates. Soon after posting recipes, reading others’ recipes, and tasting recipes, I became completely hooked on the unique connection I was able to have with others via the blog world. I loved sharing ideas, words, and thoughts with whomever was out there listening.

What Runs Lori is my fun way to express my passion for healthy eating, healthy living, and exercise. I am now a certified personal trainer and TRX suspension trainer and enjoy sharing all the information I can about the world of wellness through my blog and the real world.

TVNT: How did you begin writing about healthy cooking?

Lori: I never had the greatest relationship with food. In fact, I thought of food as the enemy. As I got older, started getting more into exercising and researching nutrition, finally learning what healthy eating was all about. I realized that eating can be nourishing, fun, and an amazingly creative outlet.

Through blogging, I have repaired my eating disorder patterns, and learned to be positive towards food. We all have to eat to live, right? Might as well eat good food.

TVNT: What is your general food philosophy? What are some things you think of when creating a recipe?

Lori: Real food is the key. I love creating recipes that are gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free, but that also taste great. I’m not completely rigid in my food choices but I do eat as healthy as I possibly can, while obtaining the best flavors out there.

When creating recipes, I go for whatever is the most creative and flavorful. I look for great recipes that I can develop into even healthier and tastier meals.

TVNT: I’ve read where you talk about learning to make changes to your diet in order to eat better — can you talk a little about some simple changes people can make to improve their health?

Lori: A lot of figuring out about what foods make you feel best is trial and error. I’ve done my fair share of avoiding gluten, dairy, sugar, and animal products. I’ve learned that most people don’t really need dairy or gluten in their diets, and a lot of times some health issues or discomfort disappear after eliminating these.

Simple , health-improving changes one can make are switching to almond or rice milk or even making your own vegan yogurts. Instead of using white or wheat flour in recipes, try using almond meal, gluten-free oats, or a mix of gluten-free flours. Not only do these add a different, and wonderful, taste to baked goods, they’re fun to experiment with, and are often much more nutritious (like with these muffins!)

TVNT: What inspires you to make healthy choices?

Lori: I base a lot of my health on how quickly I can recover from a strenuous workout, my quality of sleep, how I feel throughout the day, and my energy levels. I’m inspired to eat healthy to feel the best I possibly can. Shouldn’t that be motivation enough?

TVNT: What do you think makes a really good muffin?

Lori: Creativity! And fruit. Fruit is the key to a moist, delicious, flavorful muffin.

TVNT: Silly question — lemon poppyseed or pumpkin muffin?

Lori: You’re making me chose?! I have to go with pumpkin because I eat some type of squash ever single day.

Spiced Apple Muffins

Let this muffin be your guide to a nourishing, enjoyable, guilt-free morning, afternoon snack, or dessert.

Dry Ingredients:

1/2 c oats

1/2 c coconut flour (or almond flour, rice flour, or flour of choice)

1/8 cup NuNaturals baking blend (or 1/8-1/4 cup sugar of choice)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 cup shredded, grated apple

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp fresh ginger, diced finely

2 tbsp orange juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Measure and combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, combine the wet ingredients, mixing well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, letting sit for a few minutes to moisten the oats.

Grease 6 muffin tins with cooking spray or coconut oil. Spoon the batter into each muffin tin, filling almost to the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Eat, savor, and enjoy completely guilt-free.

Photos in this post and recipe are property of Lori! Many thanks Lori for sharing them here today!!

Waiting for spring …

An assortment of recipes, books, blog posts, or other things that inspired me this week.

T-shirt Mod: Boxy to Foxy

Under the Snow

We’ve hit another lunch rut, but these ideas are going to help!

I found this series late, but I’m loving ThimbleNest’s Sanity Savers

How to make coconut milk from Nourished Kitchen

What is inspiring you this week? Please tell us about it in the comments below!