kids will surprise you

Each time I have the kids for a full weekend we're given a grocery list and need to get everything on it before the weekend starts. My list last weekend consisted of granola bars and frozen lasagna, spaghetti and frozen garlic bread, and all sorts of other things that really can't be good for the kids. As I also mentioned before, I got yogurt for smoothies. I realized later that the cheapest yogurt is the worst yogurt. It has a ton of HFCS. But we only added a small amount compared to the amount of fruit and fresh OJ so I guess it wasn't that bad.

Friday night I had my partner take our older girls to the grocery store to pick out what they wanted for the next day. I know they're healthy eaters and nothing healthy was on my grocery list. These girls are all 12 to 15 years old. The bought supplies to make two different types of salad. All I can say is WOW! We had a spinach and dried cranberry salad and a traditional dinner salad with chicken. At that age I would have chosen spaghetti or pizza anytime over salad.

Next time I might just hold off on the grocery list and let them help out more. For the first time in weeks we didn't have bacon and hashbrowns for breakfast or PB&J for lunch. Its very exciting to see what kids choose with a little bit of freedom.

new food

Today I went grocery shopping for my kids for this weekend. I've noticed the older girls are becoming more aware of their health. Last weekend I took a bunch of them hiking and I'm hoping I can do the same this weekend. We've been bringing along fresh fruit and trail mix. Most of this is their idea too which I love to see.

So as I was shopping I picked up extra yogurt and frozen fruit so we can make smoothies. This is very exciting for me. Though I'm a fan of the PB&J, did you know that it contains about 400 calories of almost all sugar?! Some of our kids are all but allergic to sugar. They have extreme behavioral changes when they eat that kind of sugar.

The fresh fruit is really going over well right now. What I'm looking for now are more ideas for dinner and lunch. I always go for the easy stuff to fix. I don't have much of a choice most of the time. Does anyone have any ideas for things that are easy to take on outings? Maybe something we can make the night before and pack for lunches. Its hard to come up with new ideas all the time.

I'm enjoying having the kids get so excited about their health. A few of them got a little sad when the found out I wouldn't be there to take them running last Sunday morning. These were the ones who complained when they heard we would be hiking on Saturday. Sometimes just engaging them in these activities and showing them how to make these choices on their own can do them so much good. And I can't even express how rewarding it is for me.

House...

Though I work with children who have behavioral problems, I got my BS in Microbiology. While I was going to school I loved the show House. Its surprisingly medicaly accurate. They focus more on the illness than the drama of the characters. I took an immunology class that I loved, and the professor would give us cases for different diseases and we would have to figure out what parts of the immune system were working. She'd give us take home exams that would coincide with House marathons on television. It was so convenient how that show would get my mind going just enough so I could get everything right on the exams.
These days I can hardly watch it. I'm not sure why. Sometimes its because its too much. When I worked at the hospital it was my favorite thing to spend time with the patients with the worst injuries or illnesses. One kid had aplastic bronchitis (which is a little crazy) and I adored him. Mostly, I miss that and would love to have it again.
I guess my point is that ER and Grey's went south with all the drama. House remains true to its nature. You gotta love it!