shine on

Friday, 30 January 2015

3 Yummy Smoothie recipes - by kids for kids

Welcome to our kitchen.

Today we made 3 different delicious smoothies that my girls love.
They had so much fun putting everything together.

As an advice for you mums out there, once the child sees what go's in their smoothie and the whole proces,s they will be more open to try it.

We bought the smoothie maker thinking the girls will love it...boy were we disappointed. They wouldn't come near to it. Once they had a go at making one...guess what?

It does take longer and it will be messy, but you get to feed them healthy smoothies full of vitamins for their growing little bodies.

Purple smoothie

1 banana

a handful of strawberries

a handful of blueberries

1 tea spoon of chia seeds

1 teaspoon of hemp seeds

add soy milk to the max line of your blender and blend.

Chocolate monster smoothie

1 chopped banana

a handful of Brazil nuts
2 teaspoon of organic pure cocoa
2-3 spoons of pure maple syrup
Add soy milk to the max line and blend.

The green smoothie

a handful of washed and chopped kale
1 half of a banana
1 half of a juicy mango
a handful of blueberries
1 table spoon of hemp seeds
Add coconut water to the max line and blend.

Enjoy.

If you are on a look out for a juicer/ smoothie maker, we use NutriBullet and so far we love it. You can check out one of my favourite coupon sites : ChameleonJohn and be on a look out for a coupon for one.

Thank you for reading.

New Year Family Resolution / Goals ideas

Every first of January we make lists, plans for the new year. Things we would like to change or improve, things we would like to do more of or not doing them at all.It's a fresh start, a blank canvas. As me and my husband thought about the year ahead of us I decided to write a post were I share some ideas to inspire your list. Some of these things we already do and some are new to our list.

                                                       Enjoy the outdoors more.

My girls really like going on "adventures" every time we go to a nature park. Pretend they are chasing and fighting dragons or discovering new things, like a hollow tree.
   Living in UK, our outings are very much conditioned by the weather. So our plan for 2015 is to face the bad weather, get our rain boots on and enjoy the great outdoors no matter the weather. We just need to put together a bad weather day kit or something. I appreciate any suggestion! :)

                                                                     Read together.

       Read with your children, to them or let them see you reading. Just surround yourself with books. I love books, reading them, decorate with them. I dream of a huge library in my home one day. Just surround yourself with knowledge. I often tell Big Sister : If you don't know the answer to something, someone, somewhere wrote a book about it. And children always learn by example, so pick up a book and read.

Cook together.

There is a saying :" Letting your child help you with something is the fastest way to discover you are the world's biggest control freak." Especially in the kitchen. But it is such a great way to bond and make some beautiful memories together. And the girls really like helping me in the kitchen.

                                                                    Go on picnics.

     We love picnics. It's one of our family tradition, as soon as warm weathered kicks in we go on a picnic almost every other weekend. It's a great way to spend time with your loved ones without spending any money, just pack your lunch, grab your blanket and find a grass patch.

                                                           Questions of the day.

    Every night, after bed time story, when we put our girls to bed for the night, before we pray together we ask them three questions:

Could you tell us something that made you smile today?

How about something that made you sad?

Did you learn something new today?

I have read about this idea somewhere on Pinterest and we have been doing it for the past few months. It is already part of our bed time routine and the girls look forward to it. It sparks some interesting and funny conversations :)). It is just so good to end the day as a family and on a positive note.

Random acts of kindness.

Practise gratitude as a family. Go out and clean a park. Help out a family member or an elderly neighbour by doing something for them around the house like cleaning and preparing their garden for spring.

Donate something you don't use anymore. Have a clear out, look trough their toys or clothes together and let them decide what they want to give. And just remember to donate clean and nice things, something that you would buy allover again if you saw it in a charity shop ( and needed) .

Set a weekend day aside to go for a walk around your city and look out for street artists ( we have plenty here in our neck of the woods) or street beggars. After you find them go into the nearest food shop / McDonald's and get them a hot drink or a meal. When you see the surprise on their face and gratitude, it gives you the best feeling in the world. I want my kids to feel that and think about others. The world is so big and full of people in need, when you change your focus from your problems to other people problems you realise you didn't had a problem in the first place. You become so much more grateful for what you have.

These are some of the things on our list for this new year. I hope it inspired you to make a change or encouraged you to keep doing what you are doing! I wish you a Happy New Year and days filled with laughter no mater what challenges you might face!

Psalm 127:3-5 Baby Shower

Last month I organised a baby shower for a sweet friend from church. At the time I was reading 20 kids and counting book and Psalm 127:3-5 is one of Michelle Duggar's favourite Bible verses.

So it just clicked. I chose that verse as the party theme.

I'm sharing with you a quick blog post with some pictures from the party.

Sorry for the phone pictures,the quality is not that great, my camera is still dead.

I was looking to print and frame the verse but because of the size of the print it was a little over my budget so I just DIY-ed it...is that a ..word?

Anyway , I painted a sheet of metal with chalk paint and wrote the verse using chalk markers.

Being November...I used Autumn colours and some woodsy decor things.

For the banner I used some burlap fabric, twine, small pegs and a marker.

Everyone brought a plate of /desert and we managed to surprise the mum to be.

She already welcomed her blessing!
Congratulations sweet mama!

Thank you for reading!

MOM'S SURVIVAL TIPS - for the holiday season ...for life!

Holiday season gets very busy for everyone, especially for moms.

I put together some tips that helps me put everything in perspective and prioritise what is important for me , to enjoy life really..not just the season, with my dear ones with no minimum stress .

Plan it. Set goals for yourself. For your day or week. Long term or short term goals.
I like making lists, organise/plan the next day on paper but most of the time in my head. If I don't have some kind of plan for the next day , it tends to be a hectic day. I plan the meals I'm going to cook, the activities I will do with my girls or things around the house that needed to be done. Plan it, pray about it and then give your day to God. I almost never cross everything off my list the next day, but it helps me to keep it together :).

Here we went to visit Coombe Abbey...it was beautiful and so romantic...and best of all...free! :)

Make time for your spouse. I can not stress enough about this. Put time aside and go out on date night or just for a walk. Have a date night at home, you don't have to spend a lot of money, you just need to be intentional about it and make time for it.

Make time for you. Friday night I take a few hours for myself and have a SPA night at home.It's my time to relax and recharge for the weekend. A good book or a great blog post to read and a cup of coffee does it for me.

Do not compare yourself to others. Be grateful and happy with who you are and what you have. Comparison is the thief of Joy. Appreciate this and now and don't wish your time away dreaming of better days. Live your life to the fullest as it is.

You don't have to do it all. I know I said to plan it all, but it is to help you and give you some kind of structure to your day not to stress over it. Do what you can and prioritise things. Don't sacrifice your time with your kids or your husband over a clean house or a project. Sit down and play, your dirty floor and dirty dishes will still be there.

If you have other tips please feel free to share them in the comments sections below.

Thank you for reading. I hope it was useful.

My Beauty Must-Haves - skin care

When it comes to beauty, I'm not very complicated. I wish I had some sort of fancy skin care routine because It’ll probably save me a whole lot of wrinkles in a few years, but I’m also kind of lazy and always in a hurry in the morning and can’t handle more than five or ten minutes in front of the mirror with my routine.

I DO NOT have perfect skin, it might look like I do in pictures but I don't.

I have tried lots of different things so far, but for about a year this is what I use, this is what works for me right now.

My skin type is...well...complicated, let's just go with dry/normal skin with occasional breakouts.

Today I'm sharing my daily skin care routine.

I used the same three products morning and night.

The Body Shop vitamin C micrdermabrasion I only use once a week, but I included it because it made such a big difference for my skin.

During the last pregnancy I had really bad hormonal acnee. I could not use any of my regular acnee products because of the Salicylic acid and other ingredients that is best to avoid during pregnancy, so I went with a more natural approach: The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil. It's not amazing but it does the job. I like it that it doesn't dry out my skin.

I started using Dove soap one night because I ran out of my regular make-up remover and loved it ever since. This combination of products really helped me with my acnee and scarring.

The vitamin E face cream is just amazing! IN LOVE WITH IT! It's light but very moisturising! I just wish it would have a higher SPF. The vitamin C face cream from the Body Shop has SPF 30 but its too heavy for my skin, I like this one better. By the way, this is not a sponsored post by the Body Shop,( I wish) just my honest opinion. :)

I will share my make-up must haves in a different post, so if you care to read that, please come back.

Thank you for reading.