Fun with family and smoothies

I actually have a moment to post earlier than a week since my last one.It seems there is always something to do with 3 active children around.Also right now I have 3 kittens which are 10 weeks old and getting into everything.We are still looking for homes for them,but in the mean time we have as many cats as people in our house plus a chihuahua.If I didn't have my high tech air purifier I wouldn't survive.It is amazing what that has done to prevent allergies in my children who could never handle pets before.It has also kept all our animals from shedding along with a holistic diet and vitamins.Yes even my dog is a healthnut.His favorite snacks are steamed broccoli and banana chunks.Now I've gotten sidetracked with what I was going to talk about.We went to my aunts church today to here my sister A sing and her brazilian boyfriend play piano.They did a beautiful job,someday you will see thei CD's in the store.Then my baby brothers girfriend was graduating today so we saw her graduation which just made me think about how little time we really have with our kids and that someday it is going to be them up there.I want to cherish every moment with my kids and not be so busy with cleaning all the time.That is so hard for me because I am a neat freak but it takes a lot more time to keep up with it then it used too and I have to make time for other things as well.The kids are getting old enough to help out too.I haven't been real good at enforce it because I had to work so hard as a child and I want them to be kids as long as possible.But we do have to maintain balance.Well I have officially gotten off track again but it has been kind of an off track day and besides my husband says I am not open enough about things and that I need to let myself out.Anyway we went to my parents house and had a delicious brazilian dinner which was pretty healthy except for the pies.My mom knows how to make some good pie and I broke the rules and had one piece.I could barely even finish it because I have been away from sugar long enough it tasted too sweet to me so I was pretty happy about that,especially b ecause conquering my sweet tooth has been my biggest challenge.We all got a little crazy and wild as can happen when you get us sisters together so we hope we didn't scare the new boyfriend off.We all date and marry these shy quiet guys who have to adjust to our huge,boisterous family.They must really love us.My nephews Big andLittle mister are recovering from thechicken pox quite well but they were pretty speckeled looking.Somehow we ended up running relays,I think my husband started it because he used to lead exercises in the military and he was working them military style.Even the kids were tuckered out.Needless to say they conked out pretty easy tonight.Now about the smoothies,one of the things a former ice cream addict does a lot is make smoothies.I also like to take advantage of their deliciousness to stick in a few very healthy ingredients.I always keep frozen bananas,berries,sweet potatoes,and frozen spinach or broccoli on hand.By having half your ingredients frozen it makes it creamier and more like a milk shake.I also stick carrot juice and barley green or acai berry concentrate in them.Stevia,honey or maple syrup taste great and help sweeten the ones with more veggies in them.Also kefir or homemade yogurt are very nutritious additions too.One of our favorites is an apple pie shake with frozen apple slices,half carrot juice and half apple juice,apple sauce,yogurt,sweetener[maple syrup is good] cinnamon and vanilla protein powder.I do almost always add some form of protein powder to keep the blood sugar levels steady.The sweet potatoes make a great smoothie for those who love sweet potato pie and ice cream.Take frozen sweet potatoes,frozen banana,apple juice ,yogurt,vanilla protein powder and pumpkin pie spice and blend.Avacados alsoadd creamy body to fruit smoothies.The broccoli and spinach work well in any of the berry smoothies,trust me it really tastes good.The neighbor kids come here after school just for my smoothies and I always make them healthy.Anothe thing I have added is glutamine powder to them as that really helps the stomach and the brain and also helps with sugar cravings.It really helped with my Tinkerbells stomach issues and gluten sensitivity and it is flavorless.When my kids are sick I make a sweet fruity one and throw in about 10 1000mg vitamin c.You need to add a little extra honey to this one and bananas help too but they do enjoy it.I hope these ideas have helped in finding ways to sneak in healthy things for your family.Just let your imagination go wild and your taste buds guide you.Spend time with your family and drink smoothies to your health.