Green Smoothie

Sunday afternoon, Daddy and Andrew were having an afternoon out so AJ and I were fending for lunch.  I made waffles (lots and lots of waffles.  Our freezer is stocked for while). 

I also asked AJ if wanted a smoothie.   On Pinterest lately, I’ve seen a lot about Green Smoothies.  Smoothies that claim to taste great and be full of nutrition, even if they look a little funny.  The green is caused by the handfuls of fresh spinach thrown into the blender along with frozen bananas, peanut butter and milk.  We always have spinach on hand as we supplement almost all our meals with a salad… even if the boys usually only eat 3-4 leaves each time.

So, I tried this on AJ, using soy milk and adding a squirt of chocolate syrup as well. Since I had never tried it myself, I erred on the side of sweet.  I blended until nice and smooth and tasted it before I gave it to him and I admit… it was really, really good.  Not sure just a tolerable way to “eat” spinach, but a really delightfully, rich treat.

I made sure I gave it to him in an opaque cup, with lid and straw; hoping he wouldn’t notice the green until AFTER he tasted it.

AJ loved it!  LOVE IT!  Once he was half-way done, I showed him my cup and the ‘green-ness’ of what he was drinking, claiming it was a Shrek Smoothie.  He didn’t seem bothered one bit it was green, even thought it was a little funny that we had green tongues. 

Then he asked for seconds.

I think we have a winner here with the green smoothies.

It’s fixed.

And we are the proud owners of a brand new garbage disposal.

How we are spending our Friday night.

Figuring out why our sink is leaking.

Meal fit for a kindergartner.

He chose a banana with peanut butter, cashews, baby carrots, & goldfish crackers.

on my Boys Bedroom Door.

Hmmmm… does this mean they are going to start doing their own laundry and changing their own sheets?

The downside of Upwards

The downside of Upward is making itself known fairly early.  The boys did not get the same practice night.  In all of the sporting activities we’ve done, this is a first, really.  So, with games on Saturdays, we have 3 days of the week where we are heading to the gym.

Plus, the Saturday games aren’t at the same time or even back to back.  So we could have a couple hours between games on Saturday with either a little or a lot of time to kill.  Again, fortunately, we live near the gym and can go home if time allows.

Throw AWANA (and any other social events) in this mix and it means the next couple months will equal crazy meal schedules, rushing homework, late bedtimes, messy rooms, and generally trying to stay one step ahead of things.

We’ve only finished one full week of our schedule with 7 more weeks to go. Our first games tomorrow.  Those will be interesting and I’m looking forward to it, and of course the boys are super excited to play on a real team with real games.  We’ll see how we survive the next couple months.

The Upside of Upwards

We started basketball!  We’ve done camps before and different local park and recreation programs before, but never have we had the boys in an actual league with actual games. 

We chose the program Upwards because we have heard nothing but amazing things about the program.  Plus, it’s located in a church gym not too far from our home.

The boys are on separate teams.  AJ, a Gerbil (we aren’t thrilled with the team names, but what can ya do?), plays with other kindergarteners.  They are so cute and I guess if the coach can get them dribbling in the right general direction, I’d count it as a win.   However, the coach, an ex college player told me on the phone that AJ will learn fundamentals before it’s all said and done.  If that happens... bonus.

Andrew, a Wolf, is with 1st and 2nd graders and as usual he is by far the biggest kid on the team.   Marc is the assistant coach for his team.  It will be fun to see how Andrew fairs in an actual game setting vs. drills and practice.

The nice thing about Upwards is that in the middle of each practice, they stop and have a little devotional for the boys and the boys will be asked to learning a Bible verse each week as well.  And they even have their very own team jersey. 

Every parent we’ve talked to mentioned what a great program it is and how we’ll find that we are having as much with it as the kids are.  We shall see but so far we’ve been pretty impressed.

Snow Day = Super Secret Fort

Last Friday was the first snow day of the year!  I was supposed to go into the office that morning, but am so blessed to work somewhere where I have the opportunity to work from home when days like these arise.

So the boys stayed home with me and while I worked from home they played some Wii, and built with Legos, had a snowball fight outside and built a Super Secret Fort.  We even grabbed McDonalds for lunch while we were out getting a few needed groceries.

Of course, since it was Friday we ended the evening with “Stay up late basketball and pizza night”, our family’s favorite night of the week.

In love with Legos

This is what the boys accomplished today. It was a Christmas gift we were saving for a quiet day at home. They spent a good portion of the day on it and we now have Radiator Springs In our living room.