Simple Smoothies

Smoothies are a great way to get fruit and even veggies in, and to curb your craving for ice cream treats on a hot summer day. (In theory anyway...sometimes you just need icecream!)

I used to think you needed a little sherbet to make a tasty smoothie like they put in my favorite one at Jamba Juice, but in an effort to be healthier - I cut it out, and don't miss it a bit. If you haven't tried to make your own smoothie before - try these simple recipes. I usually just eyeball the amounts so these are approximations. They turn out slightly different every time, but always delicious!

Favorite Fruit Smoothie

1 cup frozen strawberries or peaches (Pick which flavor you want to stand out)

a few pieces of either strawberries or peaches (other than what you chose for the main flavor)

a few slices frozen banana

small squirt of honey (about 1/2 a tsp)

apple juice to blend 

Note: Sometimes I add a few raspberries or blueberries, or peeled pear slices. You can mix it up however you like. My family does not really enjoy the seedier berries in smoothies.

Favorite Green Smoothie

1 cup frozen green grapes

a few pieces frozen banana slices (about a half a small banana)

1 fresh pear washed and cut into slices, core and seed removed (you could do apple slices also)

1/2 cup fresh pineapple or 1 or 2 canned pineapple rings (optional)

1/2 a small cucumber peeled and sliced (optional)

a few baby carrots (optional -adds to the sweetness but does kinda make it a not as pretty green)

1-2 cups fresh spinach lightly packed

small squirt of honey (about 1/2 a tsp (optional))

apple juice to blend

WARNING: These will be big enough to share!

Prepping Your Ingredients:

I pretty much always keep smoothie ingredients on hand. 

I prefer to use frozen fruit and fruit juices to ice and water which I think water the flavor down too much. Fruit is already made up of a ton of water, and I also prefer the texture of frozen fruit to splintered ice. So I like to prep these things in advance.

Freezing bananas:

Slice a banana into circle sections and sprinkle lightly with a little sugar and lemon juice to keep them from browning. I do it on a paper plate and then slide them into a quart size freezer bag. Arrange in a single layer to freeze and they are easy to break apart a few sections at a time to use as needed. 

Freezing green grapes:

Wash and remove grapes from stems. Pat dry with paper towels or let air dry on your counter for a little while and store in large freezer bag. Don't worry too much if they are not completely dry - grapes are less apt to have problems sticking together.

Most of the other frozen ingredients I buy prepackaged, but when peaches are in season I sometimes pick some up and peel and freeze them in slices pretty much the same way I do bananas.

That's how I do smoothies! 

P.S. Follow the directions of your blender - Make sure the liquid gets down to the bottom, frozen items in small chunks next, and lighter items like leafy greens on top. Never stick your fingers in the blender! ;) 

Tiny Bubbles

I love this kid! Does she have to go to kindergarten this fall? I will miss her too much!

Spring At Last!!!

The snow is almost completely gone from our little neck of the woods. Our bulbs are pushing up through the soil. And I can't even tell you how nice it feels to back out of our driveway without having to worry about the enormous piles of snow that were closing us in on every side! Yay for springtime and sunshine! Though we've only had a few days of real sunshine and tons of rain - even the rain is welcome if it melts the snow!

Sierra and I took advantage of the sun the other day (...knowing a full week of rain was to follow), and got outdoors to work and play. The snow was so heavy this year it matted our grass down completely flat and there wasn't any sign of it popping up so I went through and raked it all up, and rejoiced over the bulbs we planted popping up all along our back fence. We have a few little perennials we planted that are turned to black mush so I'm thinking we'll have to replace them...but now we know which ones are the hardiest!

We pretty much just wear green to celebrate St. Patrick's day - no gift giving leprechauns over here thank you - and we're not really into corned beef and cabbage either, but we do like the color green and get a kick out of going around town seeing everyone dressed in it. 

Mike even got into the spirit and wore green this year, and stepped it up by making cute shamrock shaped green pancakes for the girls. (I even saw a pretty rough looking guy walking down the street in a lucky charms shirt with a green kerchief tied on his head - walking, or swaggering...? But it's the kids the mostly make me smile - mine especially :) 

This year I just bought some plain green shirts & paints to make our own designs on. Lily wanted to do hers all herself and Sierra picked out her design and I made a stencil and we did it together. It was a fun idea that turned out to not be as fun as I thought mostly because sometimes I can be a little bit too controlling, and so can Lily...but we got through it, and aren't they darling? these daughters of mine!

 For kids that don't want their photos taken they sure can pose cute!

We do get a little bit excited about holidays!

 

Lily's shirt turned out pretty cute! Good job, Girlie!

 The Relief Society (the women's organization in my church) was having a birthday celebration so I made some cupcakes to bring and left a few at home for Mike and the girls.

They turned out pretty cute if you didn't look too close.

 Lily decorated one of her own that turned out super cute!

We love having holidays to break the monotony and give us an excuse to celebrate life and be silly. I was not the brightest Mom and scheduled Sierra's kindergarten booster shots for today...Poor girl got poked even though she was wearing green! ...It's been a rough week for her with a dental filling, a blood test, and then shots! But I was prepared with distractions and tootsie pops and she did great and we got through it! I think she kind of enjoys Dr. visits because they are one of the few times I just let her go to town on my Ipod. 

(Not wanting to get her picture taken)

Really, Mom?

I wear my sunglasses at night...

I guess the light in the room was just too much after a long day!

This girl cracks me up! :)

Cold Enough

We have been having a rough winter this year! My in-laws say it is the hardest one they've seen in the 20 years they've lived in this area. It is funny how much our attitude to snow has changed from the beginning to the end. I think part of of it is a before and after Christmas thing, and part of it is post tons of back breaking shoveling, and being sick, and just missing the sun!

Sledding track out front in our massive piles of snow

Before Christmas we couldn't wait for snow and for a while weren't sure we were going to have any for Christmas, but once it got snowing this year it didn't stop! And our city hasn't been very good about the snow removal this year either - it has been a lot to keep up with, but I really think they'd scaled back their efforts this year because the neighborhoods I drive through on the way to take Lily to school were so dense with snow built up from the whole winter with no chance of melting in between (though plenty of chance for plowing) they became impassable for our little car with no four wheel drive. I didn't see nearly as many plows going by this year as in years past and there was a lot more need for it! Apparently a law was passed that the snow plows couldn't plow piles into the middle of cul de sacs anymore because it might make it difficult for emergency vehicles to turn around -- and when the plow did come they pushed huge amounts of snow right in front of everyone's driveway. I was a little bit shocked when the guy left it that way the first time because it was a huge amount of snow for us to try to manage with our one little plastic shovel, and my back is not the greatest --I could only imagine how some our elderly neighbors felt seeing that.

See how high it hits our tall trash cans, and it was wide and long!

But it is our responsibility to move the snow from the front of our property. With only so many places to move it to and only our own manpower - a lot of it ended up out in the street by our house. Our cul de sac grew a lot smaller this winter because of it, so I'm not sure how well emergency vehicles could navigate it anyway - our trash cans had to be placed out 20 feet from the curb at the end of the snow bank. We did not look forward to the snow plows coming because before they came we had it pretty well cleared from our part of the street and after we were simply overloaded. Then we started to get even more snow. When the plows came again one of our neighbors came over with her snowblower to help us and Mike went out with his shovel and the whole neighborhood banded together to clear everyone's driveways so that was really nice to see! 

All the neighbors turning out to help the neighborhood

We have had a few nice exchanges this winter between neighbors on our street helping each other out. One afternoon our next door neighbor's dad showed up in a little truck with a plow on the front and started zooming around and clearing the cul de sac good before the snow plows could come dump it all on us. He pushed it all the way down the road and across the street to another lot where it wasn't blocking anyone in - because we really had no more room to pile it in the cul de sac. It was fun to watch and cheered us up immensely. It was a life saver too because the city snow plows had pushed so much by the end of our street which is the base of a hill - we couldn't have made it up the street if it hadn't been cleared.

I had my first real car accident. I misjudged my speed on a turn and slid on black ice up onto a curb and got stuck in a snowbank on the way to pick up Lily from school one afternoon. With only one vehicle it put us in a real spot. I couldn't reach anyone I knew to go pick up Lily and her friend who was planning on coming to our house that afternoon. Mike found a good neighbor to drive him and Sierra over to pick up the girls, and by the time they got over to me some nice people had stopped to help me dig out and push my car out of the snow. We finally got it out with Mike's help and some traction from our car mats. I feel so lucky our car was only slightly banged up and I didn't run into any other cars!

The sad part of snow melting :)

We had a couple of days of sunshine and I totally got spring fever. I was determined to get some pots and indoor plants to put in front room which is pretty bare and definitely needs some decorating. I'd been thinking about it for weeks and scouting out where I could find some good deals. There aren't even that many available out there yet. The day I went out shopping for them it started to snow....hard. But I was determined, I had to scrape off my windshield in between each store I visited and brush inches of snow off my car. I felt a little bit like a crazy lady buying pots and plants in that weather! :) (30 degrees starts to feel warm after weeks of single digit temperatures)

This last couple of weeks has been the worst. Our whole family came down with a terrible cold, fevers and chills and terrible sore throats. The girls actually had strep and got on antibiotics, but Mike and I just had terrible colds that left us completely drained of energy and which we are still fighting to be over, I can't even tell you how excited we are to see it snowing still!!! (not) We haven't even celebrated Mike's birthday because we just haven't felt good enough to. I have felt like the worst mother this week because I have barely been able to do anything and we have been watching way too much television just to cope with how terrible we all feel. Sierra has been so sweet and comforting to me, doing a lot of things on her own and not complaining when we just don't have the energy to play. And luckily I had checked out a TV series I loves as a kid called Avonlea from the library and Lily fell in love with it and has been watching it a lot so it's not all cartoons! Yesterday Mike's dad slid his truck on black ice and rolled it and Mike got an early morning phone call and raced out to help him. We are so thankful he and his dog were not badly hurt, but unfortunately his truck was totalled! We are so grateful for every little ray of sunshine we get breaking though these overcast skies and praying that spring will finally come! I have been waiting all winter to see the tulips and irises and daffodils we planted come up along our back fence. This cold has made me feel so weak and down and I feel like I'm struggling to come back to life after being dead kind of like those flowers under the ground still buried in snow. We've had enough of this winter!

Drawing by Sierra with lots of letters and her name!

 

Sierra dressed up to play school with Lily on a sick day - I just registered her for kindergarten the other day so it won't be long before she's really dressing up to go to school!

 Lily's crazy hair (braids & twists around pipe cleaners) for Dr. Seuss's birthday at school.

Thank goodness we are on the bus route because I did this and then sent her off and crashed on the couch for a few hours! Can't wait to not feel sick anymore!

Christmas Time

Thought I'd take a little of this lovely post Christmas play time to update my blog and record a few of our memories from this Christmas season. The girls are playing super nicely at the moment (knock on wood!). They even made their own sandwiches for lunch with the tiny jars of jam they found in their stockings yesterday...once they finally stopped playing long enough to realize they were hungry.

Went through and picked out my favorite photos from this Christmas and a few videos too. It's been fun to live where it snows - especially for the girls who don't have to do any snow shoveling. Even I sometimes enjoy that as long as it hasn't hardened yet! And Mike tackles the heavier snow falls most of the time. He does not enjoy the cold, and I don't know that I'd like to have to deal with all the snow when I get old, but for now I am enjoying it's good points. It's so pretty to see the flakes falling and the trees look like something off of a Christmas card. We don't have a lot of lights up like some of our neighbors. but the snow on the pine trees behind our house shines so bright in the dark it's almost like Christmas decorations from the heavens.

 The girls sitting on a snow couch out in front of our house

Mike shoveling some pretty deep snow

I made a little snowman one day last week out on our back patio. I went out to clear the snow off our grill, but it was such perfect snowman snow (up until then it had been too powdery to stick together) I couldn't resist - and I thought about how fun it would be to have the girls look out and see this little guy out their window. I ended up letting Sierra help me decorate it, and Lily was a little jealous, but I'm glad I built it when I did because a few hours later the snow was so hard frozen we couldn't roll a snowman by the time Lily got out of school. And we didn't have to worry about deer eating his accessories up here!

 It was so much fun looking out the patio door and seeing our little friend,,,until it snowed again and turned him into more of a snow monster! Need to go dig out his face and try reassembling him!

The girls dancing like the Peanuts characters - we have a jazz cd with "Linus and Lucy" on it and apparently they remember the moves from the couple of times they watched the Charlie Brown Christmas movie. As Lily says they just do a few moves over and over. After I took this video Lily wanted to dress up and make a split screen video with the peanuts characters dancing and then Lily and Sierra dressed up and dancing like each of the characters on the other side, but I don't know how to do that, and have you noticed how long it has been since I even blogged! - I just don't have that kind of time. But I will share this - I still think it's cute! :)

 We have been missing my family so much -- especially being around our littler cousins. I had some stuff gathered last year to make angel ornaments for our tree - we make a few homemade ornaments every year, but I never got to these last year so I was determined to get them done this year. I made one of each of our California cousins to send to them as part of their present, and one each of my girls too. I let the girls paint the faces of a few and gave some to their Grandma's from them.

Wish the real cousins could be all together like this!

Sierra Angel by Sierra         Lily Angel by Lily

 Lily at her school Christmas program

Lily sang in her school Christmas program this year. Here's a video of her practicing along with one of our Christmas cd's - I enjoyed her version even more than the school performance :)

 The girls showing off a gingerbread house they made with their Grandma Elsie.  

Check out the cool little person in the window Lily is pointing out. (on the back side with the two green eyes)

It snowed a ton right before Christmas so we hopped in the car to go sledding on Christmas Eve. Sierra started singing along to the radio so I stealthily started a video...fulling expecting her to stop once she noticed I was filming...but I guess she had too much Christmas spirit to be bothered by it, and just got more into performing :)

 We had a good time sledding and playing in the snow!

Christmas Eve we kept our traditions: treats and a movie, and reading scriptures and talking about the real reason for the season around the Christmas tree. Sierra did a spontaneous little performance of her own that Mike got on video. Love this kid!

 Christmas Eve

Christmas morning:

I wish you could have seen the first part of her reaction!

Sierra showing off some bracelets Lily made for her and being silly :)

Mike got some good Dad gifts this year:

He needed some new slippers to keep warm in our cold downstairs while he works, and Sierra and I couldn't resist when we saw these! He is such a fun Daddy!

 The gigantic pile of wrapping paper!

Lily loved the magic set from her Grandma and Grandpa. She even got a few tricks ready to do on facetime for them after church that morning. I see many magical performances in her future!

 (She got on a magic performer ensemble (white shirt, starry black and white skirt, black leotard and starry tights) and took it on the road to Grandma's house later in the day)

 Sierra with her Grandma Elsie and a fun toy

Future rollerbladers

We had a great Christmas, though we missed all the family we couldn't be with so much!! Wishing you all a wonderful New Year!