Little Buddy.....
Carson is starting to talk more and more and it surprises me how well he catches onto and remembers things. He absolutely loves his cousin Brielle since he sees her the most. He loves playing with all of his cousins but at our old apartment we were five minutes from Brielle. There were days he would scream Brielle's name because he missed her so much and wanted to go play with her.When Keith or I would drop him off he wouldn't even say bye or sometimes he would and then just run off with Brielle, a stark contrast to a year ago when he would still cry when we left. He sure will miss being so close, guess we're only about 25 minutes away from her now. He's starting to talk in sentences and copy words we say. It's so exciting to hear him remember something you teach him and then he repeats it randomly hours or days later. He loves his "big" toy Thomas and the "baby" Thomas. He will carry the "baby" thomas toy around with him everywhere. He loves the mole underneath my chin too, kinda weird haha but he tries to feel under everyone else's chin to see if they have one too, and he always has to keep his finger on it at night to help him fall asleep and if I take it off he goes "NO MOLE!" haha Oh man he cracks me up. He's growing up so fast and I love the precious moments where he wants me to read to him, sit on my lap, hold him, play with him, show him pictures or hold my hand. He desperately wants a baby and insists it's going to be a boy, just like daddy says too. He love and adores Keith and when he's gone during the day he's always asking for Dad-dee. He loves skyping with both grandparents since one set is in New Jersey and the other in Peru. He always asks "gpe ganpa" (skype grandpa/grandma) It's so fun to watch him grow and learn and teach us.
Thoughts.....
Today and last night (adult session) we had stake conference. Our stake president spoke about strengthening and protecting our families. I also remember several talks in General Conference that mentioned this or that were about this topic. I think it is getting even more important that we strengthen our families with the things we do- fhe, scriptures, prayer, church, quality time together. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared for the things my kids will face in their future but I know only Keith and I can prepare them for those things and it's up to us to teach and prepare them to make the right choices in an ever growing wicked world. It's exciting to hear that the Lord's work is hastening with the amount of temples being built and the new missionary age change.
Food...
This is probably the most random post ever but oh well I'm just catching up. So I have a goal for this year and since I got my Vitamix it makes it a bit easier to achieve that goal. I want to eat healthier, to try and cut out processed foods, less fast food, and eat more greens. I've been experimenting with green smoothies and it's been fun because I can get a lot of greens in but the smoothie is actually good and it doesn't take me 20 minutes to chomp on a salad or eat a stalk of broccoli. I even made Keith a huge quart jar today of a green smoothie with spinach, kale, celery, strawberries, mangos and a banana, Carson even took mine away from me and kept drinking it! So I'll share with you the recipe that I got from green smoothie girl. You can use a regular blender it just won't be as smooth and it's harder on the blender if the fruits are frozen.
Robyn's green smoothie template recipe
2 1/2 c filtered water
1/2 tsp stevia (natural sweetner found at grocery store) or 1/4 c agave nectar
1/4 whole lemon ( I didn't add this time cuz I didn't have one on hand)
2-3 TB flax oil (again don't have any need to go get some)
gradually add until briefly pureed
3/4 to 1 lb raw washed greens- spinach, kale, chard, collards, avocado, cabbage, or celery
puree the greens mixture for 90 sec
gradually add fruit until the container is full
banana, strawberries, pears, peaches, apples, mangos etc
One more recipe I tried today and loved is a quick dip that you can eat with bananas or apples or whatever fruit, I preferred bananas but whatever you have is good too!
Creamy Peanut Butter Dip* -one 5.3 ounce container of greek vanilla yogurt ( I buy my yogurt in the big containers so I just added it to taste) -2 tbsp peanut butter - 1/2 tbsp honey -1/8 teaspoon cinnamon Makes four 2 tbsp servings (66 cals)