Soccer and Blackmail

Luke started playing soccer this week. He loves it. His coach is really creative and makes it fun for them. They played soccer red light green light which Luke just thought was the greatest. Poor kid is the only one out there without shin guards, which Luke soon figured out when he got kicked in the shin with the ball (he gave me a little piece of his mind).

I was babysitting a friends daughter and they were playing dress up. Now I have blackmail for eternity!

At the library with her friends Tyson, and Craig

Green Smoothies

We have been on the Green Smoothie wagon for a couple years now. I seriously make these ever morning and feel good knowing my kids have had at least a little bit of nutrients to start the day off with. These are great for breakfast on the go!

Here is how I do it
I fill the blender up about 1/2 way with fresh spinach (Costco has big bags for a decent price)
Add in frozen / fresh fruit the rest of the way up (we get our frozen at Costco. Usually we have whatever is in season for fresh fruit)
I add a little vanilla, ground flax seed (so we can get those Omega 3 fatty acids), and vitamin C
Also if we have it I will throw in some soy milk or juice (apple, orange, pineapple)

And Wah La! There you have it. Usually its green but the blueberries turn it purple. The kids love it and I love starting the day out right!

Steel Cut Oats

I like a website called fatfreevegan.com . She always has super yummy recipes that compliment the way I like to eat. I was reading how rolled oat have been cooked and processed a couple time before being packaged so some of the nutrients have been cooked out, she said that steel cut oats are more nutrient packed. So I decided to try them. I like them so did the kids and James.

Boil water.
Pour desired amount of oats in bowl them pour boiled water till covered. They will absorb the excess. Thats it for the oats.

I like to top them with banana, raisins, nuts, cinnamon, and other fruit depending on what we have (fresh pear is one of my fav). We try and stay away from sugar and honey but I know a lot of people like that. Also we have recently stopped buying Soy Milk so I just add a little extra water to make up for it and no one has noticed a difference.

Fruit Leathers

I try really hard not to buy processed food for my kids. I just don't think it healthy and strongly feel its contributing to a lot of the health issues Americans are facing. Now I am far from perfect. I give in at the grocery store and grab a bag of Cheetos and give it to my kids just to keep them busy so I can finish shopping. The point is I do try.

Its also really hard because my kids will hold out for the junk food. When I say that I mean they will skip entire meals waiting for me to offer animal cracker and then they will eat the entire box. I have over time learned we just can't have that kind of stuff in our house. I saw this recipe and thought hey I think they might eat these. So far Bella loves them and I am still working on getting Luke to try em.

Ingredients:

• Fresh Fruit
• Water
• Lemon Juice
• Spices (such as cinnamon and nutmeg (optional))

1. Cut up fruit (remove core/pit). Place it in pan with 1/2 C of water for ever 4 C of fruit. Simmer covered until tender.
2. Put in blender and blend up until smooth. Add in lemon juice and spices until its the desired taste
3. Use a rimmed baking sheet spray with cooking spray cover in plastic wrap.
   
4. Pour fruit mixture on 1/8-1/4 in thick (make sure none of the plastic wrap overlaps fruit or it won't dry out)
5. Put in over at 150 degrees (I did 170 cause mine wouldn't go that low and it was fine) bake until its firm to the touch and not sticky (took about 14hours for mine over night is good)

Make sure the plastic wrap doesn't touch the over rack.

At first I rolled them up in plastic wrap but that was taking to long so I just cut them up on the plastic they baked in, stacked them, and put them in a zip lock bag. I think they turned out great.

Kids Bathroom

Remember this?
Click here for the whole story

Well its finished!

We actually finished this back in Dec before James mom came. We wanted her to have a place to shower and its nice to have to bathtubs again. This is the kids Bathroom (or guest bath). I still have a couple things to do in there but its good enough for now.

Spring Break

James had a work trip in San Antonio again last week and when we found out his Brothers family were planning to head down to the beach for the weekend we decided to join them! So much fun. I had no idea the beaches in TX were so nice. I really think they are a hidden treasure. The water was nice (not to cold not to hot) and the beaches weren't crowded.
Going for a drive (on our way down to SA James had to stop for a meeting in Dallas) me and the kids hung out in the car. The pic of Bella below cracks me up

The weather was in the 80s so we took advantage of the pool and the large hot tub at the pool.

My dad just happened to be in town this week to so we got to meet up with him and my Aunt Beverly. I forgot to take pictures.

Royce was so cute in his little swim outfit I had to take pictures. This is pretty much his attitude all the time except for when he has a messy diaper or is about to fall asleep. Such a sweet boy!

Poor kid. This is what Royce did pretty much the whole time we were at the beach. I didn't want him to get sunburned or sand stuck in those baby rolls.We got to ride on a ferry on our way to Port Aransas so fun. It was only like 5 minutes long but still very cool!

Behind James and Luke are James brother Joe's (tall guy) and his wife Lisa (red sweater)

This is all she wanted to do the whole ride

Bella really liked this hole.

Daddy taking Luke boogie boarding. He liked digging in the sand and jumping the waves with daddy.

Luke making what he called a "Sand Angel"

Cousin Sadie, she is about 7 months younger than Bella. They were BFF on this trip

Shark shop we got souvenirs at. From left to right we have Royce, Taylor, Hunter, Bella, Luke, Sadie

These birds were crazy! They would swarm you if you had food and fly down and take it right out of your hand. I am just glad we didn't get pooped on.

James being made into a sand Avatar. They later attached a long seaweed tail to him.

Bella said her favorite part was going out with Daddy and jumping the waves. James later told me she just kept kissing him over and over again while they were out in the water.

I went out in the water a little. It was really nice. For the most part James went body surfing and I got to hang out with my babes making fun sand sculptures and search for sea shells.

It was a great trip and I hope to do it again.

He loves taking silly pics and then looking at them! Funny kid.