These boots were made for sharin'....

Scene: Rainy Friday morning, getting ready to head to the library for our weekly storytime. Everyone is dressed and headed toward the door for shoes and jackets.

Abby: *saddest voice ever* "Momma...I set my galoshes beside you at Gran and Grandpa's so that you would remember to bring them home and you didn't!" *cue tears*
Me: "Abby, I'm so sorry that I didn't grab your boots. I know you are upset and wish they were here. Let's think of something else that you could put on your feet this morning."
Abby: "I don't want to wear anything else! I don't want to wear my snow boots!"
Me: "You certainly don't have to wear your snow boots. Why don't you look through the shoe basket while I go get the library books and let me know if you need help."

Less than one minute passes; I return down the stairs to find:

Abby: *grinning from ear to ear* "Elise is letting me wear her galoshes and she's going to wear her snow boots instead!"
Elise: "Momma, I didn't want Abby to be sad."

And away we went - a happy little trio without a worry in the world. :) Happy rainy Friday - may you have people in your world who would give you the boots off their feet, or vice versa. 

Oh, and since it's Friday... how about a little food??? Muffins... again. I love baking and muffins are so easy to health the heck out of. They are also great for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Did I mention that I like making muffins? The girls also requested them for breakfast this morning... which leads me to another brain-invading thought today. Early childhood "people" are well-versed in the theory of "child directed" and "child led". I buy into that approach - children know what they enjoy, they seek out what interests them and those choices serve for ideal teaching platforms. I feel insanely fortunate that I can provide our girls with child-directed days. John and I were just talking about how powerful (and wonderful) it is that I can wake up on most mornings and say "Girls, what do you want to do today?". Their choices, their preferences, their interests create the foundation for how we spend the majority of our time. The other part of our time is obviously spent baking muffins. :)

Raisin-Apricot Whole Wheat Muffins:

• 1 1/2 C organic whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 C organic whole wheat stone ground flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 C maple syrup
• 1/4 - 1/2 C organic coconut sugar (I used less than 1/2 C but maybe not quite as little as 1/4 C)
• 1 organic banana; mashed
• Organic unsweetened applesauce added to the mashed banana until amount equals 1 C
• 1/4 C organic plain yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 large organic local egg
• 3/4 C milk (I used a combination of homemade almond milk and organic 2% milk)
• 1/2 C organic raisins
• 1/2 C organic apricots; chopped
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees; grease muffin tin with coconut oil
• Mix dry ingredients; in a separate bowl mix wet ingredients except for milk
• Add wet to dry; stir in milk; add raisins and apricots
• Bake for 20 minutes - makes 1 dozen muffins