Going Green

With spinach. Now that Judah is a "little man" with big opinions and big tastes, he much prefers fruit and complex carbs....anything with a little extra sugar....who can blame him?! Don't get me wrong, I am a very fortunate Mama as he enjoys a variety from every food group and refuses very little~but I do have to work to keep the veggies (especially greens) a plenty. So I ventured into the world of green smoothies. Internet search warning: "green smoothies" (milkshake-like drink with raw greens) are a movement, made popular by granola-crunching adults. Thus, there are some complicated recipes out there with some special/rare ingredients. However, I found one that is very simple and kid-friendly to begin with....the "Groovy Green Smoothie," courtesy of mamaiscookin on AllRecipes.com...

1 banana, cut in chunks

1 cup grapes

1 6 oz. tub of vanilla yogurt

1/2 apple, cored and chopped (I peeled as well)

1 1/2 cups of fresh spinach leaves

Mix in blender. (I added a little ice.)

Our little J LOVES to cook and help in any way he can in the kitchen, so I thought I'd get him involved. While he was napping, I prepared the ingredients in small paper cups.

Judah was so excited to be in the kitchen after his nap. Let's go Mommy! 

Although he wasn't too sure about the spinach.

No need to hide the ingredients, though, as long as it involves dumping and pushing a button that makes a loud noise. 

It was a huge hit! He quickly slurped down the first glass and asked for seconds. This one's a keeper so I thought I'd share. You really don't need a recipe, though...just a little encouragement to add a little raw greens to your favorite smoothie combo. Go ahead...it's groovy.:-)

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Okay, so maybe there is a reason for Judah's current obsession with baseball. 'Tis the season, so he recently attended his first MLB game a few weeks ago, thanks to an invite from his best girl Marilyn and her sweet Mama. Even if you're not a huge baseball fan (ahem, that's me), it's hard not to love our local team. After all, we represent all things American here in DC.

Go Nationals!

A beautiful new stadium along the river, and oh yeah~you can see this on one side...

And this on the other...

Judah was more than excited!

He thought having a ticket for admission was the coolest. 

Checking out the field. 

Look at Judah's little cheering arm...he was saying "Go Nats." This took a little work, though, thanks to all the Boston fans there. After hearing all of their very loud cheers, he initially said "Go Red Sox." Oops. Wrong team, little man.

After all of the cheering (for both teams :-), participation in the "wave," and a little singing, it was time for a hot dog!

Yummy!

And messy!

Go Nats! We'll be back to see you soon! Keep up the good season!

Egg Hunt-Beach Style

I did not forget about this promised "part 2" post. Our computer has just been too busy trying to crash, so we've been shopping for a new one and trying to transfer all we can over to an external hard drive. We haven't made our new purchase yet so for now (i.e., today at this very moment), our computer will turn on and boot up but honestly I probably shouldn't be blogging from it currently. However, our Spring is proving to be a busy one and I do want to continue documenting...before Summer is here and gone! Alas, this post was originally going to be much more clever. However, in the interest of time, it will mostly be just pics from our Easter Egg Hunt on the beach after church while vacationing in North Carolina (see post below). The pictures really speak for themselves. Miles of sand. Beautiful crashing waves. Endless sunshine. Two very happy toddlers. Oh yeah, and colorful plastic eggs.

I will tell you that Judah was much more interested in "digging" the eggs out of the sand with his "wand." (i.e., random light up toy stick with sports balls I bought for him at CVS for a few bucks).

He thinks it's the coolest. At one point during the hunt, he told me he was playing baseball. We try to tell him it's more like hockey, but he refuses to believe us. Baseball > hockey, according to Judah.


Anyways, if you ever get the chance~hiding and finding eggs in the sand with a gorgeous backdrop is highly recommended :-)

 All of the digging and hunting made Judah very tired. Right before this picture, he said "Night Night."

Daddy couldn't resist and joined in for a little rest time, too...

Hope to be back soon, from a shiny new Apple :-)

#3 with the Geer's

Meet Amy.

She's on the right...so many people confuse us as sisters. While she is not my sister biologically, I sure do love her like one. God brought her into my life August 2007 while working in Greensboro, NC, and although we've been friends less than 5 years~sometimes it feels like I've known her for a lifetime. She was a tremendous friend as I suffered heartache while trying to expand our family, and one of my biggest cheerleaders who prayed Judah home. Thus, it was so neat to see the Lord make us mothers of boys only a few months apart. We are blessed.

This was our third beach trip with the Geer's. The first (pre-kiddos) = staying up late, sleeping in late, more margaritas, lots of card games and Wii, loud fireworks, and doing whatever we pleased, clearly...

The second trip, while still tons of fun, was drastically different, as we were new moms with a 4 month-old and 7 month-old. This trip included VERY little sleep, lots of spit-up, more coffee, too many minutes of "new mom talk," and pacis on the beach?!

Cannot believe how little our two munchkins were here (notice Carson is not even sitting up independently) so I can't help but insert this comparison now...

They had so much fun playing together and needless to say this trip with toddlers was also different!

I'd like to think they remembered each other...

"holding feet" on the beach in 2010

 but they became fast friends regardless. 

holding hands in 2012

This time around, our beach trip included....

A trip to the aquarium

Lots of beach time!

I'm not sure who had more fun playing in the sand...Judah or Jeff?

And Judah even got to fly a kite for the first time! 

And perhaps the coolest was our Easter Egg Hunt on the beach. It was beautiful and so much fun! Gotta run, so I guess the Hunt is going to get its own post. Until next time...