A Week of Birthday Fun

Confession:  I always say that my birthday is not a big deal but in fact I really do look forward to it.  Not for any profound reason its just that its MY day. I think Hannah summed it up really well in the car the other day.  We were discussing my birthday and and after the conversation was over Kaitlyn says:

"I love birthdays" and Hannah replies, "Yeah, cuz you get cake".  A girl after my own heart.  

This week was my birthday but also my husbands birthday.  His birthday was Sunday and I was so happy to see that his troops helped him celebrate with:

a nice birthday sign,

delicious (so I hear) Pancit noodles,

and of course a care package from home.

Wednesday was my birthday and while the morning was spent at a doctor's appointment and the evening at the girls' Girl Scout meeting, in between was a little celebrating with: 

birthday cupcakes with my favorite girls,

a wonderful visit from a friend that brought me a present and turtle cheesecake,

a wonderful surprise gift from my husband,

a delicious dinner of Garlic Citrus Roast Chicken and

these really yummy potatoes that my daughters go crazy for.

On Thursday the celebrating continued with a trip to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival.  Head over to my friend's blog and read about our adventure.  We always have a great time and sometimes it is at the expense of other people's hard work.  To our defense we do appreciate the time and effort that is put into these quilts but sometimes you just have to say "Really!"

To wrap up my birthday week, today I was treated to a sushi lunch with 3 amazing ladies.  We had sushi and seaweed salad and laughed until it hurt.  It doesn't get much better than that.  

Until next birthday...

The Week In Lunches 2/18-2/21

This has been a very busy week around here. Lots of activities and birthdays.

Here are the girls lunches for the week.

There was no school on Monday but the girls had a field trip with their Girl Scout troop to the food bank.  They toured and learned lots about the food bank and even helped stock the shelves.  After the tour the girls headed to a local park for lunch and a little play time.  I packed the girls a PB & Apple butter flower sandwich, veggies sticks, yogurt with frozen raspberries, a cereal bar and a few marshmallows.

On Tuesday I packed the girls a toasted PB & apple butter sandwich stamped with one of our toast stamps, pretzels, blueberry breakfast cake, a GoGo Squeez, and a Mini Dipper with Nature's Bounty and Dark Cocoa Almonds from our Nature Box.

Wednesday the girls had a PB & apple butter sunshine sandwich, sour cream and onion corn puffs, cucumber slices, grape tomatoes, apple sauce with frozen raspberries and a Mini Dipper with Nature's Bounty and Dark Cocoa Almonds from our Nature Box.

Thursday I packed the girls a basic lunch of PB & apple butter sandwich cut into 4 squares, veggie sticks, yogurt with frozen strawberries, Blueberry Nom Noms from our Nature Box, marshmallows, and a GoGo Squeez.

Mama got a lunch on Thursday too.  A friend and I went to the quilt show (more to come on this) and while they offer concessions there I feel there is a time and place for a hot dog and a quilt show just isn't it.  Baseball game for sure but not a quilt show.  I packed myself a chicken salad sandwich, pretzels, a cutie and a cereal bar.

On Friday the girls got chicken salad, crackers, tulip shaped cucumbers, grape tomatoes, yogurt with frozen raspberries, and a cutie.  No PB & apple butter you ask?  Well, I will tell you my girls are not picky eaters, in fact they are really good eaters and open to trying new things. They just have very specific ideas about what you eat cold and what you eat hot.  Room temperature or cold leftovers is not an option.  If I sent it it would just come right back home untouched.  We are working on a few things thanks to the Momables website and a few new recipes I've come across.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

The Week in Lunches 2/11-2/15

 Here is the lunch round up for this week.  

On Monday I sent my "love bugs" and cute buggie lunch. They each had a PB&Apple butter ladybug and heart sandwich.  I tried to put antenna on the ladybug but they didn't work.  They also had heart cucumbers and heart grape tomatoes, blueberries and blackberries on heart picks.

Tuesday was Mardi Gras so I sent the girls a fun Fat Tuesday Lunch.  They had a PB&Apple Butter "King Cake" sandwich, veggie sticks, yogurt with frozen strawberries and sprinkles, blueberries and blackberries.

On Wednesday I sent big hugs and kisses for lunch.  The girls had PB&Apple butter heart sandwiches with fruit leather X & O's, sour cream and onion corn puffs, cucumbers and grape tomatoes, kiwi and blueberries, 2 cherry yogurt pretzels, and a Mini Dipper with Nature's Bounty snack mix from our February Nature Box.  I also sent them a Vitamin C packed smoothie made with frozen mango and pineapple, a banana, almond milk and a little orange juice.  The flu and strep throat have been going around and I am doing my best to keep us healthy.  

Happy Valentine's Day!  Thursday was a very hectic day for this mama.  I have been having problems swallowing food recently and I had to have an endoscopy done.  I was so nervous, especially without my husband.  I had a really good friend go with me but I was still so nervous.  I did manage to make them a heart filled Valentine lunch.  They had a PB&Apple butter heart sandwich with a fruit leather heart, sour cream and onion corn puffs, heart shaped marshmallows, frozen raspberries and frozen yogurt hearts, a Cutie and a special Valentine chex mix that we made to send to Jef.  There was just a little leftover so I saved it for them.  Not pictured was a sweet note I wrote on a Valentine napkin for them.

For Friday I was really feeling the need for some warm, sunny weather.  I sent the girls their favorite "snack plate" with pepperoni slices, crackers, a Laughing Cow cheese for Kaitlyn and a cheese stick for Hannah, cucumber slices, grape tomatoes, yogurt with frozen raspberries, a butterfly muffin, Go Go Squeez, and a Mini Dipper with Vanilla Macaroon Granola from our Nature Box.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

The Week in Lunches 2/4-2/8

Here is this weeks lunches for the girls.

On Monday I only had one lunch to pack.  Hannah came down with a cold over the weekend and she needed one more day on the couch before heading back to school.  Kaitlyn had 2 heart PB&Apple butter sandwiches, pretzels, yogurt with frozen raspberries and sprinkles, blueberries and Blueberry Flax Granola from our Naturebox in one of our Mini Dippers.

Tuesday was a hectic morning.  I was ready to send Hannah back to school when she woke up with a mystery rash that started spreading pretty quickly.  I packed Kaitlyn a lunch but to be honest I have no idea what I sent.  I really don't remember much about Tuesday.

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On Wednesday I still had one lunch to pack, Hannah stayed home one more day just to make sure no more mystery rash appeared.  Kaitlyn was packed a toasted PB & Apple butter sandwich using one of our toast stamps, frozen blueberries with yogurt and sprinkles, a piece of Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake, a GoGo Squeez, and a Mini Dipper with Blueberry Flax Granola.

Ah, Thursday.  Hannah was so happy to go to school that she gave a WOO HOO! and a fist pump as she walked out of the door to the car.  Such a funny girl.  I packed the girls to small heart PB&J sandwiches with sprinkles, sour cream and onion corn puffs, frozen blueberries with yogurt and sprinkles, and a Cutie.  

TGIF! and I mean it.  It was an extremely long week for me for many reasons. The girls had a field trip Friday morning to The Mariners Museum.  I had promised Kaitlyn that the next field trip they went on I would go with her and her class. This child never forgets.  I told her this last year after the field trip to Jamestown when I walked with Hannah. Unfortunately, I had a doctor appointment with a new doctor and I couldn't go.  MAJOR MOM GUILT!  So I tried to pack as much love into their lunches as possible.  They had a heart PB & Apple butter sandwich with a heart fruit leather, pretzels, 2 marshmallow hearts, frozen strawberries with frozen yogurt hearts, and raspberries and blackberries.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Caught In The Act

The other day the girls were outside playing and brought this to my attention.

"Mom, something ripped up your chair cushion!"  

There is a neighborhood cat that roams around and hangs out in our backyard some.  I thought it was probably him until the other day.  The girls came running into the living room yelling, "MOM, MOM, MOM, IT'S NOT THE CAT, IT'S A SQUIRREL!"  Apparently a squirrel decided to tear up my cushion and use the stuffing for bedding for his/her nest.  Dang squirrel!  Today Hannah (who has been home with me all week due to a cold and weird rash) comes running up to me, "Mom, the squirrel is back in the chair!"  So I  grabbed the camera and sure enough this is what we see.

Dang squirrel! I sent Lexi outside to chase him/her away but I know he/she will be back.  I will have to throw the cushion away but its kind of funny to watch for now.  

I think this is a squirrels way of giving a one finger salute.  

The Week In Lunches 1/25-2/1

Here is this weeks lunches for the girls.  The girls were out of school on Monday for a teacher work day so no lunch to pack.

Monday night was a rough night in our house.  Both girls had nightmares and the dog was restless for some reason which means this mama didn't get much sleep. Not enough sleep + coffee in progress = the most basic lunch mama can manage. These are the days when I wish the schools offered a proper lunch for the children but since that is laughable I will always pack their lunch no matter how tired I am . 

The tired mama lunch consisted of a peanut butter and apple butter sandwich with the crust cut off, pretzels, yogurt with frozen raspberries, and strawberries and blueberries.

On Wednesday I jumped the gun a little on a Valentines style lunch.  The girls had a heart shaped peanut butter and apple butter sandwich with a heart fruit leather decoration, pretzels, yogurt with frozen raspberries, and a Strawberry Shortcake Muffin using  this recipe I found on Pintrest.  Its not a very sweet muffin but I like that I could eat more than one and not feel guilty about it.  Muffins are a very loved breakfast item in this house but they can do some serious damage if you are trying to watch what you are eating. They also had a Mini Dipper with Orange Crush Granola from our Naturebox.

On Thursday I packed the girls probably their favorite type of lunch. They love what we call in our house"snack plates". My husband makes a great snack plate with lots of fun finger foods for us to share while watching a movie or TV. The girls had crackers, cucumber slices, pepperoni slices, grape tomatoes and a cheese stick (Kaitlyn had a Laughing Cow Cheese). They also had yogurt with frozen raspberries and a heart shaped muffin.  

Today was the first day of February and the first day of an exciting month.  This month includes: Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, my husband and my birthday, and best of all we will finally be at the half way point of this deployment. WOO HOO!  Today was the girls first official Valentine's lunch.  The girls had a peanut butter and apple butter heart sandwich with a heart cut out and heart sprinkles, yogurt with heart sprinkles and frozen raspberries underneath, and a heart muffin.  

I couldn't end the week without a little sharing. My dear friend over at We Are New Everyday called me this morning and said to meet here after dropping off the girls because she had something for me.  It has been bitterly cold today with strong winds and she knows my issues with that so this was my special treat.

Isn't it gorgeous!  This was actually my first King Cake and oh my was it delicious.  I did show some restraint and save some for the girls after school and there is one piece left for my morning coffee.  Stop by her blog and read about her and her family and check out the the recipe for this fabulous treat here, here, and   here.

Have a great weekend!