Smoothie-topia

I am so lucky to have a great group of women here who are really interested in healthy eating. Not the lame fat free kind of diets but just an emphasis on eating whole foods. We meet once a month and share ideas. We even have a blog to keep all the recipes in one place. Last week a lady came and taught us how to make water kefir. She even shared some grains with us and mine is brewing on the counter now.

I've also been checking out Green Smoothie Girl for awhile and have started to adopt some of her smoothie ideas. I've actually never been that interested in the traditional fruit smoothies because I feel like fruit is easy to eat and I don't need to blend it up to get my kids to eat it. But vegetables are another story. I truly didn't believe that a shake with spinach in it could taste good. It DOES!

So here are my three favorite smoothies. It helps to have a powerful blender, especially if you're adding kale but you can definitely make them with a basic blender. In fact I was using my $20 hand held for several months before I got a better one.

Blueberry Smoothie

1 naval orange, peeled
1 banana, peeled
1/2- 1 cup frozen blueberries
2 cups spinach
1/2 cup of crushed ice (you don't need this if the banana is frozen)
1/4 cup water kefir or just water
Blend and enjoy! Curtis loves this one for his ride to work

Cilantro Smoothie
I know this one sounds crazy but it is seriously so fresh and delicious. Recipe can be found here.



It's Easy Being Green Smoothie (from the vitamix cookbook)
1 cup green grapes
1 orange (peeled)
1/2 cups pineapple chunks
1 banana, peeled
1 carrot, halved
2 cups spinach
1 apple, seeded
6 cups ice cubes

This one is really delicious and I cannot believe it but my kids actually like it. Daniel and Lucy wouldn't drink any of my smoothies for the first 2 months but they just started and were actually fighting over the remnants of this one the other day. :)

Overscheduled?

Curtis and I both believe in downtime. Non structured quiet, family downtime. We like to play games or just sit out in the backyard. We need time to read or watch TV together. But trying to reconcile that with all the worthwhile activites out there has got us stumped.

We have a pow wow several times a week about how to juggle it all. Basically there aren't enough hours in the day. A few extracurriculars we're committed to:

1) Piano- I just don't know anyone who plays and wishes they didn't. But I know tons of people who wish they had learned. And let's face it, learning as an adult is way more difficult. I think one of my brothers says that his kids don't get their driver's license until they can play 25 hymns. I love that idea. So far Jonah and Isaac really enjoy it. Daniel is starting this summer. I know it's going to get rough, probably in about 2 or 3 years but I'm really hoping we can stick it out.

2) Scouts- I think it's a great program and want all of our boys to earn their eagle. I know several boys at church who earned theirs by the time they were 14 or 15. That way they are done before they get super busy with high school.

3) Sports- Both Curtis and I love to play sports. For Curtis it is the only way he enjoys exercise. Team sports offer all kinds of great lessons and I want my kids to have that exposure before they are awk pre teens and too self conscious to learn. Right now we are in swim team and we love it. The boys are really improving and have many good friends on our team.

4) Church acitivies- Sunday meetings, Family Home Evening every week and daily scriptures and prayers.

But now Daniel really wants to play flag football in the fall- actually they all do. And then Curtis and I have talked about letting Daniel be in a play at the local theater. And then of course there's lacrosse, which Jonah played last year but now we're thinking of bagging it because it is WAY more contact than I remembered. Turns out that I like the sport way less when it's my kid out there getting checked instead of my old high school buddies. :O Oh and Jonah wants to play the trumpet in the band at school and Isaac's been begging to try basketball or karate... arghh.

I remember listening to a talk in college at BYU about prioritizing. The speaker said that God allows us to have too many options (and I mean good options) so that we are forced to decide what's really important. I don't think I can get rid of any of the 4 above. I wish the school day could be shortened. I mean we all know half the day is wasted standing in line. But I don't see homeschool in my future, so... for now I guess we will just keep trying to juggle all the activities. I'd love to hear how other families manage things, especially those with older kids.

And now for your viewing pleasure:

Happy Flag Day

One of my favorite things about my neighborhood is that six times a year almost everyone in the neighborhood has a flag placed in front of their house. It's all organized by a boy scout who lives here. He collects $35/year from anyone interested, stores the flags and poles, puts them up and takes them down on: Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Presidents Day and Memorial Day.

I think it's the perfect project for a scout and as a homeowner it's really convenient. And driving through the neighborhood on these special holidays puts me in a good mood. Happy Flag Day!

And if you're like me and sort of wonder why we celebrate Flag Day, click here. :)

A Tribe Called Quest

So school is out! I'm so happy and of course so are the kids. Lucy's glad to have the boys home to play with (and order around) and the boys are looking forward to taking it easy. This was a great school year. I still get a little sad when I realize that basically the minute school gets out the weather becomes super unpleasant. Wish they would give us our "summer" break in January! :O But I have all kinds of plans on how to keep busy this summer. I really want the boys to learn how to type and hope we can keep up with piano and reading and math. I swear we're gonna be regulars at the library this summer!!

Swim team will keep us busy for another 3 weeks. Speaking of which, today we had our first swim meet! It was long and super hot but awesome. Turns out that all three of our boys like the Butterfly. I'm so impressed with each of them. I've tried that stroke and it just looks like I'm drowning. Our team worked really hard and won the meet. There were a lot of close races and it was so exciting to watch.

So this link is dedicated to my old g-mates. Apparently there's a movie coming out about "A Tribe Called Quest." Dang it's R but it looks so good. Didn't Tara introduce us to this great tune?

I Left My Wallet in El Segundo

I'm gonna have to add that one to my ipod. Tonight I tried running with music. Okay, that's way more fun. I think I shaved several minutes off my time. Any good workout music suggestions? Please? Happy Saturday Night

PS: Someone teach me how to make a photo collage!?! :)