Dear fellow sports moms…

Being a sports mom
Dear fellow sports moms,
Lets talk about ways we show our gratitude, because I take this very personally and some do not. And that is ok.
First, let me start by saying “With all due respect”. And as sarcastic as I normally am, I do mean that. I am not sharing my thoughts on this lightly. As a matter of fact this is something that has bugged me in many ways, in various times and places, and on both small and large scales.
The reason I am talking specifically to my fellow sports moms, is because this is happening to me a lot. And its driving me nuts. “NO, I do not want to give you money for a coaches gift”. There I said it, and it feels bad that I even have to say it. But why do I even have to be asked? I get that perhaps you want to express your appreciation to the coaches for all their hard work, as a matter of fact, so do I. But I prefer to thank them in my own ways. And I really hate when people ask me for money. If I wanted to give a gift card to a coach, I would pick it up myself. I don’t feel bad handing someone a gift card as low as $5. But I would rather do something more personal, like offer to host the team party, take pictures all season long and share them with the team, or offer to make a team video, or buy all the pizza for the team party. I often offer to help carpool kids around if they live in my hood. Ok, so the things I am saying some of you are probably thinking “ok Brandi, no big deal, why are you complaining?” Well here is why, not everyone is in a position to give $5. And maybe there are some people who don’t even like the coach. When I worked for a retail company, this happened a lot. An eager employee would round everyone up and ask for money to give to the big guy (The Man) in some shape or form. So that the team could show appreciation. I get it, I really do. And I am a grateful person. But there were many people that either did not have the money, or weren’t grateful. This only happened twice a year. Bosses day and Christmas.
Alright, here’s why its bugging me so much with sports. I have 5 children and 3 of them are in sports. Which in one year we have roughly 6-7 seasons. These are club sports. Meaning, I am already paying for them to be in it. Along, with gear and sometimes uniforms, it adds up fast. Some of the coaches are being paid in some leagues and some are volunteer. My irritation comes from dishing out money year round for my kids to be in the things they love and are passionate about. So why don’t we redirect the gratitude towards them… the kids on the team. Why aren’t we asking the kids how they want to show their appreciation? Why do we feel compelled to monetarily give all the time?? Why don’t we ask our kids to wash the coaches cars, or do some of their yard work? I could go on for awhile on the topic of teaching our kids about service, but that’s for another day.
In closing, please don’t misunderstand my “Oh no, I will not be giving you $5 for a gift card”, for being a party pooper. Please don’t think because I am in my car on my computer working during practices or not there at all that I am not a team player either. I see your expressions. Please don’t read to far into this thinking I am rude, and my intention is not to be mean. Take some time to get to know me, and please let me be grateful in my own ways. Or find better ways to approach me about asking for money so I don’t have to say no. EX: Announces to all the parents at once, “I (because you are the person that had the idea) am going to be purchasing a gift card for the coach/coaches this year. If anyone would like to pitch in let me know by __/__ (insert date).”
And if there are coaches reading this, thank you for sharing your time with our youth. Showing them the importance of both team work and independent critical thinking. What winning and losing is all about, and just generally being awesome. I am utterly grateful to you and I’m sorry if you are disappointed that your gift card was $5 shorter than it could have been. I hope I can make it up to you in my own way.
PS. I do usually donate to the gift card fund. Because I feel suckered into. I just recently started saying no.

New man on campus!

Lewis Hansen

This is Lewis Little Dude Hansen, our new man on campus. He was born Aug 4th, 2014 and joined our ever growing family on Sept 13th, 2014. And he is just as silly and perfect as can be. So that makes 3 dogs, a guinea pig, 5 children, a very manly husband, and a wife (me) that runs around like a chicken with no head. But in all honesty, I can’t function any other way. I love my chaos filled days. I love my wild kids, my messy house, my stinky dogs, I sort of love my quirky guinea pig… often referred to as the “guinea pork” because he is currently larger than Lewis. I love that I can still strong arm my husband into letting me have pets. Even when he knows maybe its not the best idea. You know, puppies pee and poop everywhere! So far Lewis is doing an ok job in that department. But we have our work cut out for us following his every sniff and wander. This was just to be short and sweet, just like our new addition. Hope you love his cuteness just as much as we do!

Sweet treats for everyone. PB Protein Balls

Peanut Butter Protein Balls. So this was my first time making these yummy little treats and I wasn’t quite sure if the kids were going to like them. Geez, I wasn’t even sure that I was going to like them. When we made these, we made two versions. One was slightly more kid friendly than the other. Making the other a little healthier. A mommy version if you will. Cody (the beautiful hand model in all my food posts) has made these before. We found that we do much better when we aren’t measuring things. Does that ever happen to you? As soon as you start following a recipe, all of the sudden it tastes very different from what you are used too? This was the case in making these PB delights.

PB Protien balls ingrediants

The Ingredients you will need for these PB Protein Balls:

  • Oats
  • Peanut Butter (Can be creamy or crunchy)
  • PB2 Powder
  • Protein Powder of your choice (vanilla or chocolate)
  • Honey
  • Agave Nectar
  • Chocolate (optional)
  • Sprinkles (optional)

You will also need a mixing bowl, spatula, & measuring cups and spoons.

For the kid friendly PB Protein Balls mix all together 1 C. Oats, 1 C. PB, 1 scoop of protein powder, 1/4 C. honey. We used vanilla whey protein powder. Added some fun sprinkles and 2 squares of chopped semi sweet chocolate.

For the healthy mommy version we used PB2 powder to make 1 cup of peanut butter, then added 1/4 of Agave nectar, 1 C. oats, and added two scoops of chocolate soy protein powder.

We found these to be quite sticky, you can use any type of flour to make them less sticky. Once you mix it, roll them into balls and place them on parchment paper. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes. Keep them in the fridge. They were a big hit with my kids. And a quick way to enjoy some extra protein for me. Hope you all enjoy!

PB2 Powder

Oats and Sprinkles

PB Protien Balls

Snack time…

This no carb diet plan hasn’t been near as hard as I imagined. I credit that to the fact that I love veggies and snack time. Now I just need to incorporate a more regular exercise regiment. Something I am not so eager to do. I plan to share some of my healthy recipes and meal planning on the blog! But today’s tasty little treat was fast and delicious. Although, I’m not sure that the meatballs are as healthy as I should be eating. But it was protein and I can only eat so many eggs a day.

Sautee your meatballs in a small amount of extra virgin olive oil. When browned and cooked in the middle add some chopped fresh kale. Snack time never tasted so good, and healthy!
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Easy Thai Som Tum

Som Tum anyone? A summer time favorite. It’s super fun to make… well that is if you don’t mind the arm work. And I have never looked at a real recipe for it, I just make it the way my Aunt showed me many years ago. I would eat it a lot more if we had an Asian Market a little closer to home. The one I go to is about a 45 minute drive. One way. So when I do go, I stock up. This is an Easy Thai Som Tum recipe that literally anyone can make!

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These are the things you’ll need:

  • a mortar
  • some thai chili’s
  • limes
  • fish sauce
  • tomatoes (cherry tomatoes are what I like to use)
  • sugar
  • garlic
  • papaya
  • something to shred your papaya

papaya

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smashed
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First put your garlic, chili’s and tomatoes in your pot, and start the bashing. As you can see in the pics, I used 2 thai chili’s. They are small but they sure do pack a punch! If you don’t mind sweating and your nose running for the rest of the day, go ahead and use 2. If you are less tolerant, stick to one. If you don’t care for spicy, then stop reading this post and walk away. And then know that we might not be able to be friends…

Once its all smashed add in some shredded papaya. And squeeze some lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar until your taste buds have been fully tantalized. I wish I had a more accurate way of making this, but I am not one to measure things very often.

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