After School Snacks

~C~ 

Hey y'all! Hope you're having a great week! I know that a lot kids around the country are getting ready to start school back soon or have already started back. I thought it might be fun to share some fun after school snack ideas.

The first on is a banana tree. Now, I don't like banana's but I do/help with  VBS snacks at our church and one of the things that we did this year for the little kids was a banana tree. Peel the banana, cut up and apple for the leaves or branches and then sprinkle raisins on top. You could attach the apples to the banana with peanut butter but we didn't because so many kids have peanut allergies.

Another fun one is 2 slices of apple and mini marshmallows. Make sure the apple is red, spread peanut butter on one side of both apple slices and place mini marshmallows in between the apples. It makes them look like teeth!

Another one is trail mix, go to the grocery store one day a week and buy your favorite things to put in trail mix. For me, that would be pretzels, M&M's, craisins, peanuts, toasted chex cereal with seasoned salt (toasting bagel chips with this is yummy too) , and cashews. Mix up in a big bowl and put a serving in 5 little snack sized bags and they're already made up for the whole school week. (Monday-Friday) This is a sack that you might make on Saturday or Sunday.

Another make ahead snack is granola. At my house we don't really have a recipe for it. We use oats, chocolate chips, craisins,  flax seed (not much), slivered almonds and honey. Put in the oven at about 300 or 350 let it roast for a couple of minutes and then get it out stir it around and then put it back in for another couple minutes. Let it cool and place in snack sized zip lock bags for the week.

Laughing cow cheese... where do I start? This stuff is so good!! I love to put it in tomato soup, on my quesadillas, on grilled cheese, I have quite a long list that I could go on about. But for a snack... putting laughing cow cheese on fresh vegetables is so good! I use the creamy swiss garlic and herb. (It's in the purple package)  

Just plain fresh fruit is also a very good snack!!

Ham and cheese roll ups (again laughing cow cheese is perfect for this!)

Fruit smoothies are really good too! When we make them in our house we use Greek yogurt, frozen berries, frozen cherries, frozen peaches, cranberry juice and Juice Plus vanilla compete powder. We don't really have measurements we just do it until it looks right. It so good and refreshing! Of course you could always add frozen bananas to it or what ever kind of fruit you want but that's just what we usually put in ours. We usually have them for breakfast but they would can also make a good snack or you could use it as a substitute for a milkshake too.

I hope you enjoyed these ideas for after school snacks (or snacks for anytime really)! See ya next time! ~C~

Let's talk about Friendship

~C~

Hey Y'all! Since tomorrow is Friendship Day I thought it would be appropriate to talk about friendship. We all have have friends right? Some closer than others... Yes, that would be true. Some live in other states, some live in different towns, some go to different schools or churches. But you're still friends. Most of us have a group of friends that if we need to talk about something or share something with them that's going on with you that is who you go to. I mean friendship is a very important thing! It's having someone to laugh with you, talk with you, even sometimes cry with you. Yes, family does this too but, this is someone outside the family. Now, some friends can be so close that you call them family even though their not blood related. I have several very dear and close friends that I see as adopted family. An adopted grandma, adopted sisters, adopted aunts and uncles, etc.  I have kinda of classified different "friend groups."

1. Acquaintances... people you might know and say hello to in the grocery store but that's about it... You really don't do very much with them and might not really know them that well.

2. Friends... People that you might do a little more with. Maybe go out to dinner together on occasion or something like that but you're not super super close.

3. Good Friends... A person who is loyal in the friendship and you do a little bit more with. Not to say that the friends aren't loyal but the good friends have had more of an opportunity to show it.

4. Best Friends!... They sometimes have you wondering "What would I do without them?"  You share a lot of memories with them. They can work with you, be goofy with you and you can be honest with them... If something is bothering you and you want to share it with somebody it might be one of your best friends. This is really probably the group  I was talking about earlier that we talk to the most often and share things with. They laugh with you, cry with you, ect.

5. The Bestest Friend!... There is usually only one very rarely is there more. They sum up all the friendships above and more.

What do all these people have in common or at least 4 out of 5 have in common? Your trust. Hopefully you trust your friends. I think it's very important that I be able to trust my friends and I do. I want to be able to tell them something and know it's not going to go all the way around the world. Sometimes trust can be broken... When it is it hurts and takes a long time to heal and be made right again. When your trust has been broken not only does it make you very very cautious around the person that broke your trust with them  but it can also make you cautious around the others that didn't break your trust. Being careful to not trust someone to quickly is actually a good thing. If you trust someone to quickly it can sometimes lead to your trust being broken more quickly. Not always... but sometimes.

I have a very dear friend that only lives a couple of hours away that I only get to see a couple times a year. A couple other really good friends that live out of state. Yes, not seeing them but once a year is challenging... But when you do get to see each other it makes you so happy and grateful! Thank goodness for emails, phone calls, texting, normal mail and face-time!

Anyway, I think that Friendship Day is a perfect time to celebrate your friends. The ones that live in your town, go to your church, go to your school, live in your neighborhood, the ones that live in different states, the ones that live a few hours away and the ones that you don't get to see very often. Let them know that you care about them. Give them a hug, send them a text, give them a call or even better send them a card! Thank them for being there for you! For the ones you don't get to see very often or live far away... tell them you miss them. Thank them for putting up with your crazy silly ideas. I mean we know everybody has them! :) Really just thank them for being them and being your friend.

 


I hope y'all have a great day!
~C~