day 11 and my new toy

oh dolly it came.  my early xmas present from my parents.  my dad got one a few months ago and he did a ton of research.  he was close to getting the vitamix, but is sooooo happy with this.  welcome to my kitchen my little friend.

so of course i made smoothies for breakfast today.  last night, i googled and pinned a few recipes for inspo and here is what i came up with this morning.

1st up was the chocolate peanut butter protein smoothie for mac and tommy.  they loved it.

1 banana

1 T cocoa powder

2 T peanut butter (or whatever nut butter you want)

3 T raw hemp seeds (found em at cosco)

1 C almond butter (or whatever milk/non dairy you want)

1/4 t vanilla 

1 T coconut oil (this stuff rocks)

ice (turns out, they prefer it cold)

abbie did not like the boys' smoothie.  thought it was gross.  so i made her something fruity and she loved that, even with the bits of chia seeds (which are small like raspberry seeds).

berry protein smoothie

1 c frozen berry blend

1 T chia seeds (from peapod, but i know i can find them at my local health food stores)

3 T raw hemp seeds

1 C almond milk 

1 pear

ice

can't wait to try more and add veggies soon:)

none of them were able to drink it all, so i have saved it in the fridge for an after school snack.  yea baby.  my dad had done the research on the hemp and chia, did not stumble upon that myself.  thanks daddio.  now for the jokes on pot (which this is not!) and chia pets...

i am getting better at how i get my kids to eat at mealtimes.  one of the WORST things about this change is that my kids whine a little more.  wait, they always whine.  i hate whining.  who doesn't like nails on a chalkboard?  so i took the advice of a few friends & bloggers and decided to change myself.  just let go.  the kids aren't going to starve (repeat many times).  they will eat when they are hungry (repeat many times).

case in point, my youngest just found and ate (from the garbage) his half eaten peanut butter brown rice cake i threw out an hour ago...i guess he's hungry... i need to stop typing and feed him.

we ate in shifts last night because of flag football practice.  dinner was left overs from last night with added in nitrate free, organic hotdogs (if there is such a thing) and more peas.  i know, sweet dinner mom.  

so, here's how last night went with my two younger niños:

kids:  mommeeeeeeee, i don't want this!

me: ok, but you have to try a bite of everything before you get up.

kids:  whineeeeeeeeee...

(after a bit they do it).

abbie:  what else can i have?

me: nothing unless you finish your food.

abbie:  WHAT!!?!?!?  NOOOOOOOooooooooooo 

(crumples in the chair like her puppy got killed)

me:  sorry honey, this is what i made for dinner tonight.

(this happens a few more times and i just stay calm and repeat (holy crap i want to yell), it's totally up to her.)

abbie:  well how much to i have to eat!?

ugh

to make that long screen play short, they both ended up finishing all their food because they wanted some veggie puffs.  see how crazy this is?  my hubby and i let this negotiating shit happen and we're in the process of breaking them out of it.  

we've been trying this for a week and chris and i are still not "great" at this.  we are getting better at breaking "our" habits with them and we are seeing improvement.  

can you believe, nobody asked for dessert.   

btw, today is a big day.  i have a meeting at school for abbie today at 1pm that we set up at the beginning of the month, before the "change".   so i'll have news either way.  hold on to your butts.

speaking of change, this post spoke to me.  loved it my dear.

who do you want to be?