Oh my darlin,

Oh my darlin,

oh my darlin Clementine!!

We love clementines! They are the perfect fruit for little hands and little mouths.  Most kids can peel them themselves, they normally do not have seeds, and two of them have 100% of the RDA for vitamin C (with only 70 calories!)  Which is good news to the flip flopper who does not like the sour taste of vitamin C tablets. She prefers two clementines.  Which is totally her choice.

Besides a good diet, vitamin C, an immune booster, has kept my children healthy through the winter.  We seldom have sick days.  My husband has not taken a sick day (or been sick) from work in the whole 12 years we’ve been married.

Hooray to my mom for reading my blog and taking note that I wanted a tortilla press!  Because that is exactly what I got for Christmas.  I was so excited to use it.  We know whole wheat tortilla’s are superior to white, lard filled tortilla’s.. but I don’t like store bought whole wheat tortilla’s. But I really like this recipe for whole wheat tortilla’s.

I have been contemplating things the kids can do in the kitchen lately.  A few weeks ago, as I was getting ready for a date, I called to my 10 year old to make some noodles for dinner.  I told him to fill a pan of water, and start boiling. 

With confusion on his face I asked, “Have you ever made noodles on a burner before?”  (He’s made Ramen in the microwave several times). 

He said “No“, and I felt like a failure. 

“We better get started!”  The thought of sending him to college or on a mission and never having boiled water before was killing me!!!

We have so much to do in the teaching department as parents.  Its so much easier to do things for them! My husband is better at this.  He teaches the shoe tying, the bike riding, the hair washing, all the things I am too lazy to teach and just rather do myself instead. 

But back to the tortilla press:   Kids can totally help with this, and they like to.  Plus, it takes a lot of muscle to get it flat enough.

Here is another helpful post for mothers with toddlers by Emily, The Toddler Expert!

Let them work for exercise, even if they are only half dressed.

One day I was a really bad mom.  It started in the morning, when I got my one-year-old son out of his crib and strapped him in his highchair for breakfast.  He was freed from his highchair only to be buckled into his carseat.  Then into his stroller while I helped at the school, and back in the car again.  The next stop was the grocery store where he rode in the cart.  And home for lunch (back in the highchair) and then to his crib for a nap.  Which means that in FOUR HOURS his feet never even touched the floor. 

As life gets busier, it is so easy to just strap my little ones in and go, go, go.  But kids should be running, dancing, exploring and just being kids.  They don’t deserve to be strapped in like prisoners all day.  When they play well, they sleep better.  They eat better.  And I feel better.

I should have woken mine up a bit earlier to play before the busy day began.  I should have saved the grocery shopping for another day and left some time in between stops for him to run around.  I should have hired a nanny to run all my errands. 

Okay, maybe not the nanny part.  But it would be nice…

Other Posts by Emily

Distraction Makes the Food Go Down

Let Your Kids Win

Feeding Toddlers Christmas Morning

Another post by Toddler expert Emily;

I hope you all have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!  We’ll be back Monday with some great ideas!!! Stay Tuned!!

Other Posts by Emily

Distraction makes the food go down

Let Your Kids Win

The ladies over at Little Nummies are so creative!  Whether its a sandwich shaped like an elf, Christmas  ornaments from an apple, a Rudolf pancake, or my favorite; the Snap Pea Christmas tree!  Not everything is Super Healthy, but everything is Super Cute!  Sometimes with the right presentation, kids are willing to try new foods.  The younger they are, the better this works of course.  I spent hours looking at all their posts and pictures, so go check them out.

We got 8 inches of snow yesterday! And 4 of it fell within a 2 hour time period.  While I just want to sit around doing nothing on a snow day, my kids were outside the entire day!  Then after my husband got home and decided they should make a snow fort, they were out again until after 8pm!!

Come back tomorrow for another Toddler Post by Emily!!

The best way to add more vegetables to your families diet is to remember the 4 S’s: Soups, Salads, Stir-fry, Sandwiches. Its easy to add veggies to all four of these classics.
Sometimes however, ketchup boy just doesn’t care.  If we say the word vegetable, he is very cautious. 

It has been snowing a lot here in Utah.  The other night, my husband had all the kids out shoveling the entire neighborhood, so I decided to maket some warm soup,

1. Corn Chowder,
2. warm rolls,
3. and hot chocolate.  It was ready when they came in, starving and cold from working so hard. 

Ketchup boy doesn’t care for soup, so he only had a bite or two.  Cereal boy only ate what was required of him, although he told me he liked it. He’s somewhat of a people pleaser like me, so I never know what he really thinks.  And the flip-flopper had two bowl-fulls. I thought it was great. Recipe is here.

Hooray for Christmas break!  Life gets a little chaotic on school days, so I’ve been looking forward to the break, where my kids can sleep in.  During school I have to wake them up at 7am.  Flip-flopper complains and complains that she is still tired.  Sat. Sun. and this morning, she should have slept in. BUT, she of course has been up by 6am every single morning!  It’s truly making me crazy!

I still haven’t had any diet coke, but the “saying no” to the holiday treats has not worked out so well.  And the scale shows it. But today is a new day, and I will not put myself in the face of temptation.

Thanks Cathy AND Liz for naming Super Healthy Kids in their fabulous blog list.  I’m not good at blog tagging because I always forget its my turn. So I thought I would do this one before I forget.

My 5 addictions:  My husband, my faith, running, anything you could buy in a bakery, checking Email.

5 Fabulous blogs: (or more)  Cake Wrecks, A Life Less Sweet, Liz Rosenbaum Fitness, Workout Mommy, Meal Makeover Mom’s, Picky Palate, My Favorite Recipes, The Organized Mom, Sweat Peas And Pumpkins, Dishing with Debbie, and Simply Healthful.

OATMEAL RECIPES! 

During the big Quaker weekend, the bloggers were allowed to come up with a unique oatmeal recipe to be included in a new cookbook, and get an all expense paid trip to the Oatmeal Festival in Colorado. I didn’t get chosen, but here are the entries.

A post for mom’s.

I’m a Yes girl!  And I like it. I will say yes to 99.9%  of the committees or projects you ask me to be on.  And I want to say yes. I enjoy being busy and being involved.  BUT, I also say yes to food I should say no to, 99.9% of the time.  As a woman who gains weight easily, this is dangerous. 

If a neighbor brings us cookies, I will eat them immediately.  If I bake some bread, I will help myself to enough pieces to stuff myself.  If I start on a bag of trail mix (the kind with raisins and m&m’s), I will continue to munch on it ALL DAY.  If I go to Subway, I will always get the cookie that goes with it.  If I stop by my mother-in-law’s house, I’ll always help myself to a mini-payday candy bar.  This is what is going through my head:

• I deserve it.
• If I don’t eat this now, I’ll never have a chance to eat it again. It will be gone tomorrow.
• I shouldn’t forbid myself to eat food!  Its not healthy.  If I eat well 80% of the time, I can enjoy a treat once in a while.
• Or I don’t think at all! I just mindlessly eat it without thinking.

Why is this a problem?  Well, did I mention, I gain weight very easily.  Here is proof.  I’ve lost weight twice in my life.  And at the time, I said no to many foods that were in front of me. You couldn’t pay me to put a potato chip in my mouth.  I never had dessert. 

Well, today is a new day!  I could stand to lose a few pounds, but mostly I’m doing it to take my healthy habits to a new level.  To emulate healthy behaviors to my kids, and to keep my pants from getting any tighter than they already are.  Last night a neighbor brought us Christmas cookies.  The me before yesterday would dig right in!  The new me, put them on the counter and walked away. I’ll let the kids have one in their school lunch and I will not have one. If I have one, I’ll want two. Then I’ll want the whole bag.  This realization that I do not deny myself anything in the form of food, that I’m a yes girl when it comes to food is empowering to me.  I have some red-light foods that I can not start on. These are the foods that when I eat one, I want more.  When I’m not hungry, I will eat them anyway because they are there and I love them. 

My red-light foods:  Cookies, homemade breads, cashews, trail mix, candy bars, granola bars, vanilla wafers, graham crackers, caramels (especially homemade ones). 

What I’ve done well.  Its been two weeks without diet coke.  I actually don’t miss it at all.

My kids know their way around a toaster better than our television remote.  They eat whole wheat toast almost every morning.  I love it because they don’t need my help.  But the choice is always the same for them.  Cinnamon or honey.  So which is better?  Cinnamon has some healthful properties, but of course we mix it with granulated sugar.  I started encouraging honey however because honey has some great things to offer!

Honey has been used to improve health for centruries.  During a recent visit with an allergist, she recommended buying local honey.  She said local bees using local flowers carry the antibodies that fight local environmental allergies.  Genius!  Luckily, local honey was easy for me to find considering my friend has some hives on her property.  You can find local honey at your farmers markets, or small locally owned grocery stores.  There are more reason to eat honey however.

• According to Cecelia’s top 10 foods, she says Honey has been used for anti-fungal, anti-viral, and anti-microbial properties.
• Honey stabilizes blood sugar rather than causing spikes and quick falls as table sugar does.
• Honey is full of anti-oxidants and vitamins!  This is possibly the most important distinction.  While granulated sugar carries no anti-oxidants or vitamins, honey has magnesium, potassium,  calcium, and all sorts of vitamin B’s.
• The anti-microbial properties help soothe raw tissue.  You know this if you are a singer.  It is throat soothing.  You can also put it on cuts to prevent infection and promote healing. 
• Use honey as a facial mask (for mom’s)
• Honey may help lower cholesterol.

There is no question honey is more healthful than granulated sugar. Let your kids have some on whole wheat toast.  Other ways you can use honey at home:

• Use in Oatmeal instead of table sugar.
• Make Peanut Butter Balls
• Give a Honey Bear filled with honey for your teacher gifts this year!
• Replace honey for sugar in bread recipes.
• if you drink tea, use honey as your sweetener

What do you use honey for?

I try to make our lives more simple by getting rid of stuff, and not accumulating new stuff.  If the house starts to get messy and cluttered, I know we have too many things.  My kids don’t own very many toys, most books we try to get at the library, and when we get new furniture, we try to get rid of old furniture.  We actually won a flat screen TV at my husbands work party this weekend, so we had to get rid of our current TV.  I don’t need 3 televisions!  Your family will be healthier and happier with less stuff to clutter their minds and lives.

Anyway, I have a point here…. consumable Christmas gifts for friends and family! Here are some yummy ideas:

• Spices!  OK… I would love these.  I saw some cute small baskets with spices at Ross the other day.
• Vinegar Jars!  I actually saw these at Ross too. But here is a recipe for Blueberry Balsamic Vinegar I found that sounded really great!  There are some gorgeous jars you can put this in. Its decorative AND consumable.
• Nuts!  Everyone loves the Christmas Almonds.
• Wooden Salad bowl with special dressings.
• Food storage! I love this idea.  Take any food storage Item and dress it up.  Put scrapbook paper around a #10 can full of wheat, flour, sugar, or beans.  This gift will be appreciated by anyone affected by the recession.

Any other ideas for neighbors, friends and family?  Keeping it healthy!