So that goes on for about 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, she’s sometimes dressed, sometimes not.  I am frustrated and stressed already at 7:15 in the morning!  Meanwhile, she could care less that she might be late because she is 6.  There’s really no concept of time and urgency to a 6 year old.  I KNOW that, however, it hasn’t seemed to connect in my head until recently.

Here’s my epiphany that happened this morning:

As I’m getting breakfast ready and I’m about to say my usual spiel, it dawns on me that I never let her live in the moment during our morning routine.  I talk about living in the moment, not worrying about the past or future to clients, but I’m not letting my daughter experience the present.  I initially felt like a total reject mom, but then I started to feel grateful for figuring it out at her age of 6 and not her age of 16 when it would be harder to change and there might be some resentment from her.  So, instead of saying things that we needed to do in chronological order way in advance, I just simply gave her breakfast and let her eat….and enjoy the food.  We sat and ate and chatted about the book she read, the penguin she just sewed (more about that later!), and how her brother was trying to take her stickers.  All things very important to her at that moment that I could have easily missed out on.  After our breakfast, she got ready on her own and we were out the door on time.  What a simple change that created a calm house instead of a chaotic one.  Most importantly, I feel she was empowered today with the practice of living in the present and not worrying about the future.  Yeah for us!  Today was a victory for my “good mom” side.  I love days like that

1. I love the anticipation leading up to my day, like the anticipation of an upcoming holiday.  It is a holiday- MY holiday!

2.  I love waking up and thinking,” wow!  30….something years ago, my mom gave birth to me!”  I can really appreciate this thought since giving birth to my own 2 children.  Thanks Mom!

3. I love the homemade cards from my kids and hugs from them.  I’m not a collector of stuff, but those I will keep and cherish!

4. I love all the many many phone calls, emails, and facebook messages reminding me how many beautiful family and friends love me and actually take the time to stop their day to wish me well.

5. It’s my day!  I can use the excuse “….because it’s my birthday!  That’s why we are going for a walk in the bitter cold at 8am! Grab your coat and bundle up.  And I don’t want to hear any complaints…because it’s my birthday!”

6. I also love my birthday because it’s close to Christmas.  As anyone who knows me knows, I LOVE Christmas season!  My birthday gets highlighted by Holiday lights, decorations, festivities, parties, crazy people at Costco….oh wait. I could do without that last one!

SO, my point about birthdays is: Enjoy your day!  You only get so many birthdays in your life, so instead of focusing on how “old” you’re getting, focus on the celebration of YOU!  Spend as much of your day as you can doing what you want to do.  Personally, I can’t wait to go on a hike and enjoy a little Happy Hour  Happy Birthday to Me!

Best Guacamole Ever

4 ripe avocados

2 tsp ground cumin

1 medium/large tomato

1 small onion

1 small can of diced green chiles

1/4-1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves

4 tbsp lime juice

Optional 2 tbsp. chopped jalapenos- fresh or from a can

How to Make

Scoop out avocado into a bowl and add all other ingredients.  Gently mix until avocado is smooth with some chunk and the rest of the ingredients are mixed in well.  Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes or serve right away.

Tips

Adjust the amount to suite your personal taste.  Omit what you don’t like

Tastes great with chips, chopped vegetables, or chunks of whole wheat bread.  You can also use it as a spread on sandwiches instead of mayo or plain avocado.

Kids love to squirt in the lime juice and tear the cilantro leaves.  Keep them involved!

Black Bean Chili- my older child doesn’t even like beans and loves this dish!

1 pound ground turkey (or you can omit this and make it a vegetarian dish)

2- 15oz cans of black beans (preferably organic)

1- 7-8oz can green chiles

2- 14oz can diced tomatoes, fire-roasted or regular

3 cups diced zucchini

1 cup frozen or fresh onions, diced

1 packet chili seasoning

1- 2 cloves garlic (frozen pre-diced from Trader Joe’s make this super easy)

Diced avocado for garnish * optional

How to Make:

If using ground turkey, cook in a skillet until no longer pink. Drain any liquid.

Put ground turkey and all other ingredients (except avocado) into a crockpot and set on low.  You can put it on high for 1-2 hours if you want to eat it earlier, or put on low for 4-5 hours.

Tips: You can use whatever vegetables you have in your fridge or freezer that sounds good.  You can use frozen or fresh corn, fresh or frozen spinach, kale, cilantro etc.  Using what you have will help you actually cook it!

Incorporate your kids into the cooking process.  Have younger children tear spinach or herbs into a dish.  Older kids can help set the table or help put the ingredients into the crockpot.  Please always keep an eye on your kids in the kitchen.  It’s awesome to teach them how to cook and make it a family event, as well as the importance of safety.

Huge Healthy Happy Family Salad-

I am not a fan of measuring out everything when I cook.  As I got better at cooking, I learned to “eyeball it”.  So, here is the approximates of my salad recipe.  Feel free to omit or change any of the ingredients to fit your family’s likes or dietary restrictions.

1-2 heads of romaine lettuce chopped to your liking

3-4 handfuls of kale or spinach chopped finely

1 cucumber- thinly sliced

1 cup grated carrots

2 green onions- thinly sliced

1 avocado

2 handfuls sliced almonds

1 can (or 1 1/2 cups) garbanzo beans

How to Make:

Throw all your diced and cut up ingreadients into a bowl and gently mix.  The avocado will mush and cover the whole salad.  Super easy!

Tips

Buy a mandolin vegetable slicer to make the thin cutting quick and easy.

Buy a large Costco or Sam’s Club bag of sliced almonds to have on hand for all your salads.

Buy pre-cut bag of lettuce to save on time.

The more finely chopped the vegetables, the more likely your kids are to eat them

Kids-Beg-For-Me Dressing

1/3 cup water

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tbsp. tahini

2 tbsp. soy sauce or Bragg Liquid Aminos

2 cloves garlic (or 2 cubes TJ frozen garlic)

1/2 tsp honey

How to Make

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Tips

You can use this dressing on salad, tofu, stir-fry, wraps, etc.

Feel free to modify to your liking.  Once you find a way that you like it, you can make extra to use during the rest of the week.

Store in the fridge for up to a week.