Joy To The Fishes In The Deep Blue Sea

Well, its Monday again.  Not a bad Monday, just a Monday.  There are many things happening in our little family right now and my brain seems to be on overload.  I don't know about you, but when things get to be too much for me I try to find something else to concentrate on.  It sounds like I'm ignoring the situation but really I'm just taking a brief time-out.  I think that is why I love making fun lunches for my girls.  I get to use my creative side but it also lets me and take a quick break from reality.   Here is the girls lunch (a.k.a sanity moment) for today.

The fish looks a little like the fish on The Cat in the Hat cartoon on PBS, don't you think?  I will have to try to remember that when Dr. Seuss's birthday rolls around.  Today the girls had 2 fish PB&J sandwiches with candy eyes and fruit leather smiles, goldfish crackers, and mandarin oranges with a seal pick. 

It's A Dog's Life

It was an early morning for us today.  Kaitlyn woke my husband around 5:00 this morning because she heard a noise in her room.  Kaitlyn, like me, is not a heavy sleeper.  This is not the first time that she has heard something in the middle of the night and come to report it.  These wakings usually end with a grumpy parent stumbling and mumbling back to bed. Last night she came back a little later because she had found the cause of the noise.  Apparently a big, nasty cockroach had crawled into her lego bucket and was trying to get out.   I HATE cockroaches!  Especially the mutant ones we have here in Virginia.  There is so much water around us we get the supersize water bugs.  So GROSS! It makes me feel like my house is dirty, which it is not.  Thankfully my husband took care of the situation and everyone went back to bed.  Not to sleep, but back to bed.  I got up shortly after the bug fiasco and started on their lunches.  This lunch was fun to make and they were really excited when they saw it.

The dog sandwich is PB&J with candy eyes and fruit leather nose and mouth.  The have Trader Joe Sour Cream and Onion Corn Puffs (the girls said that it looked like his dog food), cucumber slices and baby carrots.  I added alphabet letter cookies to spell out "Ruff" and a Go Go Squeez. 



   I am off to clean legos and find the bug spray. Wishing you a great day!

Last Days of Summer

In honor of these last days of Summer I packed the girls a summer lunch.  I hope it reminds them of all the fun days we had this year.

This summer lunch contains flip flop and sunglasses PB&J sandwiches, Trader Joes Sour Cream and Onion Corn Puffs, yogurt with sprinkles and a frozen yogurt bite on top, and fresh pineapple.  I decorated the sandwiches with fruit leather and added a hula girl pick for fun.

Enjoy your last days of summer because a new season is upon us.  A season of many changes in our house.  I will be back soon to tell you about these changes. 

Friday Morning Fog

As I made my way through the house to the kitchen this morning I notice the fog was quite thick in my head.  It probably had something to do with not getting enough sleep the last two nights. Not to mention, the school cooties have descended upon our house and Hannah is at home with me today.  But, the day must go on and I still have Kaitlyn to get ready for school.  While waiting on the coffee to finish I started making her lunch. 

Kaitlyn has a PB and pumpkin butter bear sandwich, goldfish crackers, and applesauce.  I also sent some dry cereal as a snack in a reusable fabric snack bag. 

As I worked on her lunch my sleep deprived mind started to busy itself.  I began singing "The Bear Went Over the Mountain".  I then started reciting Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle and The B Book by Dr. Seuss.  I decided I was having too much fun and needed to share with my husband. He stared at me like I had lost my mind but eventually joined in.  I can't tell you how many times we read both of those books.  Chants of "Again! Again!" always followed the words The End.  I miss those days.

So I leave you today with a video of Hannah when she was 2 with another favorite book.  I hope it makes you smile and helps to clear the Friday morning fog. 

Have a great weekend!

Manic Tuesday??

Yesterday may have been Monday but it felt more like it this morning.  This was one of those mornings where a cattle prod may have come in handy.  You know the mornings where at least one of your precious offspring has decided to stir the pot.  They woke up and when their feet hit the floor they were on their own time schedule and in their own little world.  This, as you well know, means that at some point someone is going to raise their voice.  I know we all try as parents not to raise our voices but when your child is standing in front of you only half dressed and you need to leave in 5 minutes, someone is going to snap or go to school naked. Somehow in the midst of all of this I managed a really cute lunch for them.  So here is the girls lunch for today.

The girls have PB&J sandwiches cut with a cupcake cookie cutter and decorated with fruit leather and chocolate covered sunflower seeds.  Yogurt with sprinkles, a mandarin orange flower with a grape center and pretzels.  I also packed 2 cupcake shaped marshmallows as a special treat.

Thankfully we made it to school on time and everyone was completely dressed.   

Manic Monday

It's that dreaded day of the week.  I did NOT want to get up when the alarm started wailing this morning.  So here's a cute lunch to start the week off.

The girls have a peanut butter and jelly silly face sandwich with veggie stick hair (and a few under the sandwich), yogurt with sprinkles and grapes.  Not pictured is a homemade granola bar using this recipe.  If you haven't checked out the MOMables website you should go there now.  It is a great resource for healthy lunches (and more) for your kids.  It definitely helps when you get in a lunch packing rut.

So, make a silly face at Monday and go empty the dishwasher. (Sorry, trying to motivate myself)

Back to School

Yesterday was the first day of school for the girls.  3rd grade!  It's so hard to believe that my tiny 12 week premature babies are old enough to be in the 3rd grade.  I feel like I missed a few years in there.

The look so grown up here.  Maybe it's the socks?! :)



The first day of school requires a fun and healthy lunch.  Here is what I packed for them.

They had 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut with an apple cookie cutter. I added fruit leather cut 3's on top.  Trader Joe's Sour Cream and Onion Corn Puffs, yogurt with a few sprinkles and grapes with a fun rainbow baran on top. All of this was packed in their Easy Lunchboxes.

We are looking forward to an exciting and busy year.  This will be their first year for SOL testing and letter grades.  I hope that everyone that started back to school yesterday had a wonderful first day.