confidence

you know you have done at least one thing right in the parenting book when your children are brave enough to stick up for themselves. last night jeff took ashton to soccer while i took maggie to gymnastics. molly and carson chose to go to soccer because there is an outdoor playground there. while ashton was practicing they were outside playing. jeff said there was an older boy out there being a bully to all the other kids on the playground. he kept throwing a ball at their stomach, chest, head and then yelling - think fast. one girl went in crying. he laughed when molly got friction burn on her hands after sliding down the metal pole. he then chose to throw the ball at carson. it hit him in the stomach and he yelled - think fast. carson picked up the ball and zinged it at the boy's head. the boy ran up and pushed carson.
carson pushed him back and knocked him to the ground. he didn't say a word, just looked at the bully. the bully then got up and ran inside. ha. i will always be in support of my child defending themselves and their siblings. not taking the aggressive side, but defensive is perfectly acceptable in my book.

at the same time, maggie and i were at a different playground waiting for her gymnastics to start. she went to climb through a tunnel, but two big chunky older girls were laying across it blocking the way. they told her, sorry - no room we are in here and you can't come through. she turned to me and said, those girls are being mean mommy. i said, yes some girls are nice and some are mean. she went back to the tunnel and the girls wouldn't budge. maggie shoved her head in and climbed right over the top of them. stepping her little boots across them the whole way. she got to the other side and exclaimed - i made it! ha.

ch - ch - chia

so im always on the hunt for the next most nutritional thing i can sneak in my family's food. it is now chia. as in the chia pet. the seeds are a nutritional powerhouse boasting more calcium than milk, more iron than beef liver, more antioxidants than blueberries, more omega 3's than salmon, and so on. they also hold 9 times their weight in water, so you can put a tablespoon in 4 oz of water and make a gel within 5 minutes.
chia gel, yummy. you can mix it with milk and have instant chia pudding. it just kind of looks like frog eggs.
i got mine from amazon today and made super healthy and surprisingly yummy chia chocolate chip cookies.

my recipe is as follows:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (i use white whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup chia gel (about 1 tbs chia to 4 oz water - let soak x 5 minutes)
1/2 cup fat free plain greek yogurt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) chocolate chips (i used half a bag)
3 Tbs chia seeds - more if your willing - i started with about 3-4.

mix first four ingredients in one bowl, mix next 6 ingredients in separate bowl.
add chocolate chips and dry chia seeds and stir. if mixture looks too wet, add another handful of oats. this is how i bake.
spoon them onto cookie sheets and bake for about 10-15 minutes.



my next plan is to serve them in oatmeal and sneak them into my flax/oat brownies. i have been told you can cut the hair right off your chia pet and toss it in your salad also. hmmm....