Kid Friendly Smoothies

Been a long time since I’ve posted a cooking post.

My daughter is not a fan of veggies or even fruit. Smoothies though, she’ll drink, so are often a way I try to get her to eat at least fruits.

The key to a good smoothie is frozen bananas. The rest can be modified or changed, but you need the frozen bananas. I tend to buy them just ripe, or green and let them ripped. I peel them, cut into smaller pieces and freeze together in a ziplock bag. The smaller pieces make it easier to remove from each other once frozen and easier for my little single serve blender to blend, resulting in fewer whole banana chunks in the final smoothie.

Right now her smoothies get bananas, frozen strawberries, frozen cherries, frozen blueberries, often a spoonful of peanut butter or nutella, whole milk and often some chocolate syrup.

For the solid part after the needed frozen bananas you can add any other frozen fruit as well. Or fresh fruit, although the frozen adds to the thick texture more. I find it easier and likely more cost efficient to buy the fruit frozen. I don’t do it as C is not a veggie fan and I’m allergic, but frozen or fresh spinach would likely be another good addition. A spoonful of peanut butter or nutella can up the protein and creaminess. A bit of yogurt can also make it creamier.

For the liquid you can add milk, but also fruit juices or even veggie juices. Cold coffee can also be added to make a caffeinated frappocino-ish drink. Chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup or even things like hot fudge could be added to make it more milk shake-like.

I am horrible about portions when I cook and just add according to what I know looks right. For a single smoothie I add frozen fruits and such to about the 10 oz (300ml) line. For a thinner smoothie that C finds easier to use with a straw I generally fill with liquid to almost the same amount of fruit. For a thicker smoothie for me I’d add less. You can always add liquid, so be limiting and add more to thin. I like C’s shakes to be able to easily pour from the blender. Much thicker and she has a hard time drinking them easily (thus just won’t).

As no ice is added to make these smoothies they will keep cold and not melt much for quite awhile, good when getting on the go kids to drink some. They can even be refrigerated for later, but will then separate out some.

Recipe:

C’s nutty fruit smoothie

approximate amounts

1/4 cup frozen bananas

1/4 cup frozen strawberries

1/8 cup frozen cherries

1/8 cup frozen blueberries

1 tbs peanut butter

3/4 to 1 cup whole milk

Mix in blender until a smooth easily drinkable consistency.

April is Month of the Military Child

I’ve been busy, but I can’t let April pass me by without a few posts about military children, especially as I have a few of my own and as they rack up moves and changes and underways.

 

“The official flower of the military child is the dandelion. Why? The plant puts down roots almost anywhere, and it’s almost impossible to destroy. It’s an unpretentious plant, yet good looking. It’s a survivor in a broad range of climates. Military children bloom everywhere the winds carry them. They are hardy and upright. Their roots are strong, cultivated deeply in the culture of the military, planted swiftly and surely. They’re ready to fly in the breezes that take them to new adventures, new lands, and new friends.
Experts say that military children are well-rounded, culturally aware, tolerant, and extremely resilient. Military children have learned from an early age that home is where their hearts are, that a good friend can be found in every corner of the world, and that education doesn’t only come from school. They live history. They learn that to survive means to adapt, that the door that closes one chapter of their life opens up to a new and exciting adventure full of new friends and new experiences.”
Author Unknown

 
I so love this idea, and these words. It sums up what I hope for my own military kids. I want them to be a bright flower standing tall in a spring time lawn, welcoming the new season. Like the blowing seeds, I want them to be able to travel to new places and new adventures and conquer them no matter where they may land. Like those dandelions, I want them to be hardy, tested and strong, able to handle what life throws at them in childhood and beyond.

Then I hit send

This is not parenting or kid related at all, but the other thing I write is fiction, mostly science fiction, horror and dark fantasy. I’ve been playing at it for a very long while, and at least I like to think I’m not too bad at it. I have in the past made a few small short story sales. I have likely typed up 100,000’s of words. I have completed a few novels, and revised about three of those.

Today, I finished up a novel query package. Man those synopsises are difficult to write. Summarize the whole novel, give away the key plot points and ending and try to make it still have action and interest. And I hit the send button and it is off in the ether to an agent for consideration.

I’ve done this enough with story submissions, I know the likely answer will be a “no, thank you”, or “not quite what I’m looking for”. It doesn’t mean the book is bad, as much as it means that it wasn’t the right book with the right agent at the right time. Not a stub against me, or even possibly the novel itself. I can hope in the politeness I can tell she liked the idea and wishes it well elsewhere. Likely best case is she asks to get another query for another one of my completed novels. But, fingers crossed for the bestest case where she asks for a partial to read.

It was nice to do something writerly. This blog is writing, but never gonna get my name on a book anywhere. It reminded me I need to work on my fiction writing more. Put completely new words on a page in new works. Work through revisions on those other few novels I have completed. Type in the hand written novel revisions on the third novel I wrote and revised. And write a few more synposises for more query letters. Hit submit on a few more emails off to markets and agents. Remember that I enjoy escaping to someone else’s world and problems for a bit.

Princesses and Raising Girls: Part 2

While I’m not a tomboy, I myself have never been a girly girl, or even understood them. I have gained an appreciation for skirts, especially long ones, and bonus if they have pockets. When I taught I did wear at least some makeup daily, not that I’m a huge fan of it or very good at applying it. I do dye my hair, first because I liked being red instead of mousy brown, these days because I’m rather gray if I don’t dye my hair. All this said, my own daughter being a girly girl who likes pink and frills and insists on only wearing dresses and skirts and already wanting to put on a “little” make up when I do, is not something I completely get.

At the first princess post my mother-in-law’s response was that she’s a girly girl who she likes to think is also strong. And she’s right. C does come by her like of dresses and such honestly. My mother-in-law is the type that likes dresses and pink and frills. She raised two boys before adopting my youngest sister-in-law who is also a lover of all things girly. I said no pink for my baby shower, and most kept to that, but forgot to tell my mother-in-law that the request didn’t apply to her. C might be her fourth granddaughter, but I had no issues with my pink loving mother-in-law buying cute girly clothing.

My mother-in-law is a rather strong woman, likely stronger than she often gives herself credit for being. In their fifties with grown kids, she and my father-in-law took into their homes and hearts her then 2 year old grandniece. They started all over with a preschooler and have raised her into a strong woman herself (and currently fellow military spouse). More than 5 years ago when my father-in-law died in an accident, she proved herself much stronger than she thought by learning to live her life again without him, while raising a teenage daughter.

So, I don’t think that girl things mean weak. You can kick butt in a tutu. It is not girl colors like pink or purple, or dresses and skirts, or wanting to wear makeup and fix your hair, or anything like that which I have issues with. The main reason I said no pink at my baby shower was because in my mind, especially at the time, pink leads to princesses, and princesses leads to Disney, and while some newer Disney princesses aren’t so bad, many of them have ideas I don’t like.

If you take the more classic Disney versions of fairy tales there are many anti-feminist views in them. The princess needs to be saved, she needs the love of her prince, she is not complete without her prince, the princess herself is often rather passive in the story. And the older woman is often the evil villain, as old women who do not find true love turn evil and bitter. Newer Disney princesses from Ariel onward have been better. And Frozen, one of C’s favorite stories, is about sisters not about finding a man, it has two characters that are the heroines, even if Anna is a bit bumbling at it.

Still, I worry about what Disney is telling her. How she might internalize some of the more anti-feminist messages. I worry about her thinking she must look pretty and done up to catch the boy’s attention. That she needs a man in her life. That at the end of the story the princess marries her prince. That you need a perfect dream wedding. That she does not need to be an active participant in her own story (The last would be hilarious to see, as C is too active to not do nothing, and is rather opinionated about just about everything.)

How do I counter all those ideas? I can call her strong and smart, which she is, instead of pretty. Luckily she has not taken much interest in boys, yet. But, she is always talking about weddings (I can blame this partly on My Little Ponies too, her other media love.), but she is not always aware weddings mean you are then married to someone. It’s all still abstract to her. I can model myself being strong, handling the house all by myself when her father is gone. I can show her examples in our family and through friends of other strong women. I can show her what a healthy marriage looks like, me and her father respecting each other and listening to each other. We can read books and stories with active female protagonists. Oddly I chose between two Disney princess books a few years ago as one had the princesses in active roles, despite the title of the book indicating possibly otherwise. And something I need to do more of as she gets older, is we can discuss things she sees in media.

I suppose I do not have all the answers yet on how to counter what Disney might be telling her, and what society and other media might be telling her. I do know that her love of pink and dresses is not the problem. And her love of Disney and princesses may not be either as long as I am aware of its flaws. There is still discrimination against women in the world and I want my little girl to have as much equality as she deserves and to be willing to fight for that equality when she might have to. Because every little fairy princess deserves to be as valued and equally treated as the handsome prince.

Crafting Wednesday

This Wednesday, another rainy day here in the pacific northwest, we did somewhat spontaneous crafting. I have the book “150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids” by Asia Citro and my daughter C loves to look through the colorful pages and wants to do ALL the things in it. The other day she found the puffy paint page, which showed a colorful cake. The paint is basically a mix of equal parts school glue and shaving cream with coloring added. We’ve actually done this one before, although so long enough ago she doesn’t remember. I had the shaving cream and food coloring, and we were going to the store anyway so grabbed some cheap on sale school glue while there.

We cut up cardboard from boxes in the recycling to make the top and sides for the cake, mixed up the paint, cleared off an area at the table for her to work on, put on an old t-shirt to protect her dress and laid down some wax paper to protect the table (not that our old table would be harmed by this activity). Lots of creative rainy day preschool fun ensued. Less destruction of my house from afternoon over-activity, no screen time, and I got to write while she painted and baby napped. Win win all around for the day. Better yet, the puff paint cake will now be a play item for her. And as we are always having parties and it is always someone’s birthday, should be well played with.

About the book. I’ve really liked what we have tried in it. The instructions are clear, the pictures are good, and each activity is well labeled for which age it’s best for, allergies, and being taste safe or not. We’ll certainly be using that last one soon in case baby is around. Today’s activity was not taste safe and would have needed to be done away from tiny hands and mouths.

They’re always watching

For good or ill, those little eyes are always watching and usually catching a lot more than you think. At our last duty station me and my daughter regularly went to a running group called Stroller Warriors, a great and supportive group of mostly woman and mothers. She saw me and them being active and running twice a week. She saw that bodies are not perfect or always thin, but they can still be strong and able. She saw me get out there and conquer all the hills around our house. She saw us exercise after the runs, doing squats, sit ups, push ups and burpees. She saw that it didn’t matter how fast you ran, we all ended and started at the same place (because the group does out and back timed runs). She saw all the encouragement given for having just come out, having just laced up, having just been active however that was. She saw me continue to walk throughout last summer as I grew more pregnant with her little brother and she ran alongside me more often than not. She saw the joy in being active. She saw the strength in encouraging words and actions.

We’re no longer near that running group, and if we move near one again she’ll be off in school and miss the regular workouts. Hopefully, those lessons her toddler self learned will stick. Hopefully, me getting back into exercise and running after baby will continue displaying that being active and not giving up is important. Hopefully, she’ll know fitness is not about a dress size or numbers on a scale, it’s about feeling better and being healthier. Hopefully, she’ll learn that she is strong and able, because she already is.

Couch to 5K

It’s been 3 months since having a baby. It took 8 or 9 weeks after a C section for me to feel mostly whole again. Then, it was the holidays and I knew we’d be traveling for Christmas, so I just decided to delay getting back to exercise until after the New Year. Two weeks ago, I got out my cheaply bought well used double Bob stroller and did week 1 day 1 of Couch to 5K.

In the fall of 2016 after we’d settled from our move from Japan to California, I did Couch to 5K with the local Stroller Warrior running group. I had run some in the past, mainly around the time that my husband got into the Navy. Running was part of the exercise he did to lose enough weight to join the military (almost 30 lbs). When we were in Yokosuka Japan I ran pretty regularly with our more active dog. I even managed a base half marathon. Then, I got pregnant and we moved to northern Japan. I kept up with running at a somewhat slower pace until about 18 weeks pregnant, then switched to less impact gym workouts. After having my daughter I used the gym during winter and didn’t get back out to try jogging until the snow melted almost 6 months post postpartum. I found that I really wasn’t able to run like I had before, and was convinced that I was no longer a runner. So, gym bike and walking with the stroller became my go-to’s for aerobic exercise.

Then, we moved to California and I joined a running group. They were and are the greatest and most supportive group of people (Stroller Warriors really needs their own post). When they started their Couch to 5K program I saw no reason not to try it. It was voluntary, I could quit and go back to walking at any time. So, at my slow running pace, keeping intervals when in the later weeks it called for longer running, I completed C25K and ran a base 5 K, while pushing a strollerfull of toddler.

I found I loved running. It was such a different workout than the gym. I felt like a lot less effort did a lot more working out of my muscles and joints. So, at the age of almost 40 with a toddler in a stroller, I found I was again a runner, and I loved it more than ever. Stroller Warriors and my once or twice weekly meeting with them was part of that love. Being able to share it with my daughter was another. She got outside time, got to see me working on being healthy, got to run along with my walking while I was pregnant this summer and got just as much socialization as I did.

We have no running group here sadly, something we both still really miss. But, I have a stroller, I’ll find some stroller friendly running paths, and we’ll going to get back out there and run. It’ll be slow and with intervals and limited times and distances as I have littles who will only last so long in a stroller. But, I’m a runner and hitting that trail again felt so great. Getting back into my old running ability will feel even better. Already planning out a few base 5K races to do this spring and looking forward to many more miles of being a runner ahead.

Long time since I posted…

2016 ended up hitting me harder than I had thought it would. Grief is no fun and 2016 was about the worst year of my life. I found I ended up having little time to do much besides manage, manage to do dishes and laundry and necessary life maintenance, manage to care for my daughter. This blog was not part of that managing. And I did make it through that first hard year.

2017 was just plain busy and tiring. We found out in early March, just before what would have been the 1 year anniversary of our pregnancy loss, that I was pregnant again. Horrible morning sickness and extra tiredness compared to past pregnancies, an opinionated 3 year old to fight with daily, a volunteer activity, a move in the fall, and new baby less than 2 weeks after a move, that’s basically where I was in 2017. Busy with too much to blog even if I had words to share.

2018 I resolve to get back into writing and thus back into blogging as some of the writing rambling about my head is related to parenting, kids, and military spousing. I’m going to do so with an active 4 year old whose as stubborn as she’s always been, a new baby, a new place to explore and finish settling into, a husband who will likely be away more than home this year, and very hopefully without another move this year.

Here’s to hoping this goes, well or not, just that the words happen.

Military Family

Most of them are the best women you may meet, or at least that’s been my experience with the ones I friend. They get the long work hours, the time away, the moving and having to restart, the losing close friends that you may always miss, the joys of seeing friend’s babies become kids through pictures alone, the fact that you can have a support network across the country and even the planet.

One of them was there for me after our miscarriage, just to listen and let me cry and let out my silly thoughts. She actually knew I was pregnant with my daughter before family, because in my hormonal craziness I needed to talk to someone. She was there again on the end of the phone to chat about our possible pregnancy loss before we knew all the facts.

My pregnancy with my daughter was pretty uneventful, but we were also in Japan, half a world away from family. So they were the ones that gave me a in-person baby shower. One of them watched our pets for almost a week until me and my daughter got released from medical. They gave us meals after my daughter’s birth. We had many problems breastfeeding and no medical resources to help. They were the ones that supported me through those many frustrating first weeks until we got my daughter’s weight tracking up well. They were the ones who never commented badly that we had to supplement. The first ones we trusted to watch her as a little newborn. The ones who weren’t offended when my daughter hated being held by any of them when she went through her mommy attachment phase early. They will be the ones who will enjoy seeing her grow bigger and bigger and always remember her as the tiny, tiny thing she once was.

Our current wonderful neighbor and fellow military spouse was a great in person resource to talk through what we were facing while still in the long period of waiting for a diagnosis. She watched our daughter when we went in for the amniocentesis. Without a pause, she then watched her for almost 48 hours while we had to go 3 hours away for the 2 day procedure. It was the first time we’d been away from our daughter overnight.

Many of the military spouses I’m friends with here found out I was pregnant. At first I was worried, because the chance of bad things was as much as good at the time. Then I realized those ladies were going to be the ones beside me if the worst did happen. And so far they have been. The ones to offer a hug, a meal, help watching my daughter, or just kind words for what we’re going through.

The way stations and communities in the military work sometimes you run back into old friends. We already have in our current location. And sometimes these close friends may never be close geographically again. And it won’t lessen how important they’ve been in my life, in my growth as a mother and woman, how close I will always hold them in my heart.

These wonderful ladies get it. Plane tickets are expensive. Emergencies and events happen too fast to plan on family coming. We have drifted into each other.’s lives for the now, and will drift back out just as fast. But for this limited time we’re here to support each other. These lovely fellow military spouses have and will continue to be my family.

Journaling

During my first 2 pregnancies I was much more into keeping journals. At the time of my first pregnancy, which ended in a miscarriage, I was keeping a journal about our adventures in Japan, where we lived at the time. So, I started one for my pregnancy too. I later got rid of that short journal because all those dashed hopes and my ignorance about pregnancy loss hurt too much.

I eventually started a journal for the pregnancy of my daughter and then her infancy. I did not really start it until after I was 13 week pregnancy. After we knew the pregnancy was healthy and we thought that we might actually have a successful pregnancy and become parents. Sometime in the business of parenthood after my daughter got mobile I just didn’t have time to keep up with the journaling.

I need to pick it back up. A quick daily note each day on things good, bad and otherwise may really help. While I know this blog in many ways works as a journal too, these posts are longer, more well thought out and written. I need someplace to just put down my visceral thoughts for the day, or the day before.