Mixing it up!

I started this blog calling it "All the Life". It was originally going to be a way to remember all the events that go on in my life. My journal essentially.  Ok, so that didn't really happen past March! It is now August! So I am mixing it up. I renamed the blog. It has a new purpose. Hopefully I can keep it up this time!Now the purpose of my blog will be to record events from my life, and to document the smoothies I make.
In January 2012 I decided to change my breakfast habit. I dislike a "normal" breakfast. Oatmeal, yuck! Cold cereal, ewww. Eggs and pancakes, I would rather have for supper.  If I was to eat breakfast it would be tea and toast or a pastry. Not the healthiest.  So I decided that my breakfasts would change to be a smoothie. I have kept it up and have a smoothie most mornings.   Some of the creations are interesting. I have been putting a post on my Facebook account, but not the recipe. Here I will try and post the recipe.
The new name of my blog, Blended, should nicely bring everything together. "Blending" life events and my smoothie blog together.
As I sit and type this morning, I have a smoothie by my side.
Smoothie of the Day: SOTD

Mango Melon Pina Colada

1 banana

1/2 cup frozen pineapple

3/4 cup coconut milk (from a can)

1/4 cup frozen mango

1/4 cup fresh honeydew melon cut in chunks

1 T ground flax seed

1T wheat germ

2 T uncooked quick oats

Soy milk

Blend and add enough soy milk to be the consistency you want.

I made too much today. I would need to cut down on the amounts next time.  I try and make about 4 cups each day, 2 servings of 2 cups each, my husband gets the other one. 

Enjoy!

Blended Iced Coffee

Skipped the morning breakfast smoothie today. Had some yogurt and tea.  However, I decided I would make an iced coffee for an afternoon treat.  I have made this before, but I added a twist with the Greek Yogurt today.  It changed the flavor a bit, but still very good.

Blended Iced Coffee with Greek Yogurt

2 cups coffee, room temperature of chilled

8 ice cubes

4 T Southern Butter Pecan Creamer

2 T sugar

1 T Chocolate Syrup

2 T caramel coffee syrup

1/2 C Honey Greek Yogurt

What a Beautiful Day!

Inspiration: Chris Cagle song What a Beautiful Day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5qQfGv6p-I
I meant to post something March 1.  It was my first 7 year anniversary.  Yes the first one, the second one will be June 26.  My husband and I got married twice.  Long story, maybe for another post.
Back to the song. Makes me think about the days I have had with my husband.  It will take some thinking but I am going to try and figure out some of the highlights, and struggles of our life together.
 August 20,2003- meet for the first time
 August 26- first date (coffee at Urban Stampede)
 September 9- We decided to officially date
September 10- His sister was murdered
May 15, 2004 got engaged!
March 1, 2005 got married in GF
June 26, 2005 got married in AB
June 28-July 15- Honeymoon in Hawaii
September 27- Guess what, I am pregnant!
June 2, 2006- Welcome baby Zorryn Lyle, Lyle after Troy's Grandpa
June 30, 2008- My mom dies
July 7- My mom's funeral
September 19- my cousin dies
January 15, 2009- I am pregnant!
May 5,2009- Found out it is another boy
September 19,2009- Welcome baby Ryker Walter, Walter after my grandpa
January 7, 2011- I am pregnant!
May 5, 2011- found out it is a girl. I cried.
September 8,2011- Welcome Baby Cadence Louise, Louise is after my mom.
March 1, 2012- 7 years of marriage. 
There have been ups and downs, and of course I skipped a lot of information here, but I am thankful for the man beside me that rejoices with me, cries with me and for me, and is with me every day.
I hope we have many years together.  My grandparents have had 73 years of marriage,  I would be so blessed to enjoy that!
But, for today, I am thankful for the beautiful day we had today. Walking with our family together, enjoying the AMAZING spring weather in GF! Truly a beautiful day in many ways.

All You Need is Love

First thing that comes to mind: Beatles. 
http://allspirit.co.uk/allyouneed.html
I have discovered why this song was written.  Someone went shopping for a Valentines Day card and after sorting through all the sappy, cheesy, mushy cards that were out there, they still couldn't find anything that said what they wanted to say.
It sounds like I am down on Valentines Day or Love for that matter. Nope. I have a great man as my husband that bought me flowers for Valentines Day. Never mind that, he is great all year round. See, I could sing his praises for all he does, dishes, goes to work for the family, brushes kids teeth (never mind cleaning kids butts!), and numerous other things that make me appreciate him.  He also loves me, and I know it without the flowers.  So no I am not down on love or this holiday, I don't mind having a day set aside for love.  I just didn't find a card that said what I would want to say to my husband.
So I made my own. It says LOVE on the outside and "All you need is love" on the inside. Really that is all I need to say to him.  I appreciate a lot of things about him, I like a lot of the things he does, I am happy that we have a past, present and future together. Everything those cards were trying to say boils down to LOVE.
I LOVE MY HUSBAND! It's all I need.
Happy Valentines Day!

Little Things

I just received the most exuberant hug from Zorryn.  He is at the age when teeth start to loosen and fall out.  Some of his friends at school have lost a few. My kids are slow with their teeth. They don't get them until later on the timeline of teething, and it appears that they will loose teeth a bit later as well.  However, he came bounding up to me excited with the possibilities of a loose tooth.  Sure enough it looks like one is on the wiggle!  The excitement that resulted from this information resulted in the hug I received. Tight squeeze, around the neck, with a little bit up jumping involved.  Makes me smile, and I don't want to forget that feeling. EVER.

Sleep in peace

Psalm 4:8
In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.

In a strange way, one of my favorite times to be a mom is when my kids have a bad dream.  I am not happy for them that they are scared, I am concerned about why and how come the dream came about. BUT, I love that my presence helps comfort them and that they want to snuggle close to me. I love that. Makes me feel like I am doing something right if they turn to me when they have troubles.  

Last night Ryker had a bad dream. I am pretty sure it came from a movie Zorryn was watching (some Nutcracker thing that had scary rats).  He woke up crying, usually that means he lost NUK or Blue Guy, but giving him those did not calm him down last night. I climbed in bed beside him and snuggled with him, he calmed down. After a few minutes I tried to leave, but he started to cry as soon as I moved away.   I cuddled again and tried to leave again after a few minutes.  Again he was upset.  I snuggled up to him again and prayed.  

 I grew up knowing I had a guardian angel with me. I sang "Angels are watching over me" and "Jesus sends the Angels", in Sabbath School as a kid. I have been teaching my kids these things.  When Zorryn would have bad dreams we would cuddle, sing those songs and pray.  Of course I have carried that over to Ryker.  When they have bad dreams, I will pray that God send their Guardian Angel close to protect them and that Jesus would take the bad thoughts from their mind and fill it with His peace and rest.  I find that this has a 100% effect and does indeed work.  Usually within a couple minutes after I am done praying and finish with a little extra cuddle, the child is back asleep.  It worked with Ryker last night.  As soon as I was finished the prayer, he was sleeping.

I am glad that my children need me.  I am glad my presence is helpful.  I am very glad that Jesus is the ultimate peace for them and does more for them than I ever can!

Pure Joy!

Last night Zorryn's school hosted a family reading/ math night.  Troy and I had fun going to school with our son, eating supper there, reading books on the gym floor and visiting his classroom.  It gave us insight to what his day looks like.  In the classroom, the teacher gave us a quick look at what the morning activities are.  One of them is posting the weather for the day. The teacher has colored coded the thermometer and has corresponding colored boxes to place a tally mark in the box to record the days temperature.  Zorryn kept talking about "today is a purple day or a white day or green". I had no idea what he was talking about, now I do! For January we have had a record number of purple days (wonderfully warm for ND!).

The best part of the night was the drawing for the door prizes. Zorryn, like any child, really wanted to win something.  We were talking him through the drawing and telling him "sometimes we win, sometimes we don't, we have to be happy for whoever wins" etc.  His name was the last name that was called!!! From the back of the gym he goes skip - hopping, literaly clicking his heels! When he gets to the front he stops, does a Charlie Chaplin heel click and gets his gift bag of book.  I was laughing as I was watching all this, so great! But really the joy he emulated by having his name called was wonderful to see. It makes me smile thinking about it now. 
The joy a child freely shows when something pleases them is wonderful.  One of the best things on earth really. As we grow we don't show our pure joy as freely or frequently.  I know someday Zorryn will have things in life that are not as joyful. I just hope that I can provide him with the knowledge and skills to deal with those disappointments.  BUT I also want to foster the pure joy moments, in those I also receive joy.