Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Snack Pack Lunches----SUCCESS!!!


Either I recently experienced a stroke of pure genius, or I'm finally starting to get the Mom thing!  EVERY mom has been through this!  The meal struggle; and of course it's exaggerated when you have growing kids who go through varying stages of pickiness.  And that struggle is even more intesified when you have a very slim little girl who pretty much refuses to eat anything mom makes, with the exception of dessert (ok, she will eat broccoli and she'll drink chocolate milk, but this vegetarian kid needs more protein!)  I've tried everything!  The biggest problem, she likes something one day and looks at it like it's Satan's spawn the next!  The next struggle is one that only the stay-at-home mom gets---you do need to provide all the meals for your children.   I have a previous neighbor from up-north who intentionally left her children in daycare longer so that she didn't have to provide breakfast or lunch!  And the beauty of it is, she had at least 3 hours to herself each day.  Of course I'd LOVE that, but I still wouldn't trade what I have for anything.  I know how lucky I am.  Then the next challenge is, we are homeschooling, it's real now!  I know I know, make meal preparation part of the homeschooling experience--great learning opportunities.  Well, the reality of it is, when you have two children close in age, it's not that easy--but once n awhile, we'll bake together or do simple things.  We are vegetarians afterall; which means I'm often using butcher knives for chopping and dicing-- I'm not interested in any unintended slicing (and I mean me--I need to concentrate:)  And they are still a bit young for stove top work--but we're working towards that.  In fact Daddy's taken this on with Saturday morning cakes and eggs (or is that eggs and cakes:).  Also, once school's done, these girls are hungry!  Anyway, more later on Kids in the Kitchen--we shall revisit this, as we found a really neat Goose Berry Patch cookbook for kids when we were in the Smokies.

So, what is this blog posting about?  Where was my sheer genious?  Snack Pack Lunches!  I saw these lock n lock plastic containers which have optional dividers (as seen in the photos above), so that you can change the size of the inside as needed.  What I started doing was during the week, preparing some healthy appetizer type items, that I pack up each night into these containers.  So that when school's done--lunch is ready!  Also, I've been spending WAY too much money (and calories) on eating out, when the girls and I go out on our little excursions and field trips.  Voila, these lunches were packed the night before, I can just throw them in a cooler for our trips!

Do you know what else is working!!  Fairy Girl LOVES this--I don't pack the same items everyday--so it's a fun mystery--and she actually eats--they are both very excited for lunch time!  I could put all the same stuff on a plate, and I believe she would snub the same meal!  I've carefully researched and prepared a list of ideas for my lunch (and yes, I actually put my list onto an excel spreadsheet, along with a general grocery list--it's a big time-saver, which we need.  You'd think that as a mom who doesn't work outside of the home, it would be easy--but I am their full-time teacher--so it takes organization.  Below you will find a list of some of my ideas: 
Main Side dessert other
roasted red pepper hummus and pita chips celery sticks filled with cream cheese fig bars smoothies w/whey
veggies and dill dip celery sticks filled with peanutbutter/raisins cookies
Nacho Bites apples and peanutbutter granola bars
egg salad with crackers bananas pudding
hard boiled egg dried fruit 

deviled eggs candied nuts

cottage cheese with chives or garlic seasong mini muffins

bagel bite crisps with cream cheese string cheese

cold ranch veggie pizza cheese slices and whole grain crackers

mexican snack squares trail mix

fruit burriotos parmesan popovers

taco rollups taffy apple salad

mexi dip and chips party snack mix

savory cucumber sandwiches nutty carmel apple dip w/ apples

Italian-style pasta salad marinated mozzarella bites

crostini w/ hummus roasted pumpkin seeds

white bean dip w/pita chips mini frittatas


walnuts, grapes, cheese cubed

We Owe Some of You some Thank You's!



Please know, my intentions are VERY good to get this thank you card out to those who so generously sent my Fairy Girl birthday gifts---everything was very well loved!  But, please also forgive me if this card seen above shows up impolitely late:(  That is not my intention.  I have many excuses I could use: we just made a MAJOR relocation from the top of the country, to the bottom; when we moved down here, we didn't really have a house to move into--we "wung" it--which caused us to live in a 500 sq ft cottage for the first week; then we moved into a 2300 sq ft house that we sort of picked out on the web--but that house had way too many issues, so we then moved back to the 500 sq ft cottage.  Then my husband was traveling to OH on business for a week and I didn't want to be alone in the cottage with the kids, so we looked ON July 4th, and made a two minute decision on the house we are now renting, and we moved again!  This house is fine for a rental, but we are tight on space---it's a 1700 sq. ft home--not much bigger than our old house--but we had twice the space up north because of a full finished basement--so, we are rather cluttered here; which leads me to (why do I suddenly have "When You Give a Mouse a Cookie" going through my head?:D) why I'm having a hard time getting the thank you's out--I'll get back to that:D  I could also use the excuse that I'm homeschooling my girls and putting a lot of work into lesson plans now--because one of them is of compulsary school age, for the first time ever---i.e.  it's REAL now.  Or I could use the excuse that we just returned from a week in the mountains; or that the weather is just too darned nice now!  Well, all could be true, and valid--but the fact of the matter is, we are tight on space, and my photo printer is still sitting somewhere in a box; and I'm just too darned lazy to find it and plug it in! (it would literally have to sit on the floor with our current set up:/)  I'm a few months behind in printing out my scapbk pages too.  Soooooo, I will get these out--they will be late--possibly very late--I'm sorry.  But please know, Fairy Girl loved every gift she received (and I'm digging this sock monkey mini and want to know where he came from--she won't let me have it--but that's the one gift we let her open VERY early on her bday---like 2am, because that's when we arrived to our spontaneous trip to the Smokies---and she doesn't do well at 2 am--so that gift saved us from NO sleep:D)

That's it--done rambling--thank you from Fairy Girl!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Five Years Ago, around this time....



My Little Angel--1.5 yrs; the day before her Fairy Sister made her debut into the world.  (The little tractor came into the family at the same time:)


And this is My Little Fairy, aka Baby Flip.  She was head down week 39, but did some acrobatics in week 40 (yes I felt it:); and a version hurts far worse than the c-section did:); thus coming in to the world via c-section (be grateful I'm not posting px from the c-section--my hubby took some very details pictures:).  The neat thing was, Little Angel was a natural birth--(meaning, no epidural)---it's difficult to "be in the moment" when you're working so hard.  By contrast, I didn't feel a thing with the c-section--I was literally laughing and joking around with my O.B. and anesthesiologist (they were college room-mates, and they were FUNNY!).  And then all of a sudden, the laughter stopped, when this beautiful gift from God arrived!!!  

But for now, she's still four--we have a little over a day left of her being four--so she's NOT FIVE YET!  And yes, I'm feeling a wee-bit nostalgic:)

Fat Bird Art

It's Hard to Believe...


That just a year ago today, my baby girl was still a three year old; and in just 1.5 days, she will be FIVE???!!!  How did that happen?

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Friday Flashback--a day late:)

can you guess who is old enough to have been born in black and white:)
And who is young enough to have been born in color:)
Since I saw some wonderful grandma pictures on my niece's blog; I wanted to share my Grandma Marcie with you.

Friday, September 17, 2010

"Story" of the week: Our Amazing Human Bodies, and the Things We Do



As promised, we are going to *attempt* to create a story each week, where I pick a general topic.
Unfortunately, our goals fell short of what most would define as an actual "story."  Rather, we have a topic, followed by some statements and observations by the girls.  There is a topic: the body.  However, we lack characters, settings, plot, conflict, and theme---so I guess we failed to write a story.  I'm not sure if we're ready to move beyond the world of mermaids yet.  But I know we'll get there.  Anyway, here is what we did produce--ideas--and I'm good with the girls learning how to brainstorm and produce ideas and working with their streams of consciousness---keep those creative juices flowing!
 



Miss Angel:
I like to stick my arms out, and stretch them!
I like waterfalls; they feel good on my body.
I like to think about words and letters and birthday cakes (because the cakes are yummy!)
I like to stand on a stool; I feel TALL!
I like to play.



 I like to go under the water, put my feet up and flip over, when in the pool.
I want to go to outerspace and see aliens!


 I would like to be a flower girl in a wedding, throwing flowers, wearing a pretty white dress.







 When I grow up, I'm going to be a rockstar, on stage; playing guitar and singing!



   Fairy Girl:
I like to put my body in the water, for swimming.
I like to put food in my body: broccoli; breakfast pizza; and I like to drink water.
I like to keep my body healthy.
I like to do cart wheels.
I want to fly.
I like to exercise.
I like a comfy seat for my body.
I like to watch a rainbow and maybe find a pot of gold with my eyes.  I'd like to find a beautiful rainbow that stays forever.  I will find a pot of gold and go to the grocery store everyday!

**note from the editor: last but not least: look at these marvelous creations of art my girls created with their bodies:)

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Charleston Tea Plantation












Guess how many people work this plantation?



5!!!  (are you seeing a pattern here:)  The tea here is not handpicked as it is in most countries (which I assume provides jobs for many), but rather is collected at the hands of THE GREEN GIANT!!!!  (btw, after we got off the trolly ride of the plantation fields, we were headed back to the shop and factory to take a tour.  My girls were PETRIFIED to go back; because they were afraid of The Green Giant, that the tour guide spoke of:O  It was then that I walked them over to introduce them to The Green Giant, below.   They felt much better:)
This is the ONLY tea plantation in the entire Unitied States; another interesting fact, no pesticides are used on the leaves of tea plants, as tea leaves are very hardy and resistent.  However, this is not organic tea, because nitrates are still used in the soil.  The plantation is working on other methods to make their tea organic.

  











Did you know, it takes five pounds of tea leaves to make one pound of tea?  (there's that five theme again:)

Angel Oak Park

The oldest live oak in the entire state of South Carolina.  This thing is MASSIVE!  I'm sure you're wondering just how old this tree is?  Take a guess!!  Click on this link to find the answer and let me know if you even came close!!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

We Toured a Kazoo Factory


My personal Favorite kazoos: tuba and chocolate kazoos:)




We took a tour of a Kazoo plant/warehouse/museum today!  How many of you can say you've ever done that:)  These are top of the line kazoos (as far as kazoos go:).  This plant molds them, assembles them, stamps them, packages them, and ships them.  They are able to make 1500 kazoos per hour!  After the tour, the girls and I were given the three kazoo components, and were taught how to assemble our own.  We even got to pick our own colors for the body and the bell (Angel Girl picked pink and purple, Fairy Girl: all blue, myself--orange and yellow.).  As we left our little tour, the gal told the girls there was one very special rule though.  They are not allowed to play the kazoos in the car:)  (ya right:)  Oh, I almost forgot, they even sold electric kazoos and amplifiers! Oh, and geeze, I'm really getting forgetful in my fourties!  I wanted to mention, they only have FIVE employees!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Scrap Page: Hilton Head Biking

Hit The Trails in Hilton Head























We were thrilled to find out we were relocating to South Carolina----summer here will be our "tough" months--tough being, hot and humid.  I looked up the average temperatures here:
Table view of average temperatures by month
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
Min39.341.648.454.863.470.374.173.268.857.448.741.756.8
Average48.951.858.665.373.279.282.681.276.867.058.851.366.2
Max58.461.968.775.782.988.091.189.284.876.668.960.975.6         

 Our average ANNUAL temperature is 66.2 degrees!!  The normal high is rarely above 90 degrees during the summer; but I'm getting that this summer was an exceptionally hot summer!  And it was--it has been in the mid to upper 90s since the day we arrived.  It's finally cooling down to low 90s upper 80s during the day--and we do have wonderful breezes off the coast all the time!  You will NEVER see me complain about the heat--in fact, I did not complain about the cold in Wisconsin winters--although I was not a big fan of the snow cleanup; what I did complain about was how gray and colorless it would become for months on end!  Just for kicks, I looked up the average temperature of the coldest month here--January--take a guess!!!  48.9 degrees, the lowest being 39.3.!!!!  I can handle that!!!  Now, just for further kicks--I looked up the average temperatures from where I've spent the last 41 years.  The average annual is 48.2 degrees.  January average: 19.5 degrees; minimum temp in January 11.4 degrees---I have to disagree--I can't tell  you how often I've seen it well below zero--not including windshield! 

So, my point here is (yes, there is a point)---I won't miss winter!  Not even one bit!  AND---we can bike ride almost year round if we care to.  However, what I will miss will be the beautiful rail trails of Wisconsin--the very first rail to trail was developed in Elroy-Spart, WI.  Guess how many rail trails we have in South Carolina---ZERO!   There are almost NO off road bike paths here.  That is very disheartening, considering our hobby!  But I did realize Hilton Head has 50 miles of multi use paved trails.  So we tried it out last night (since it's the off season and a lot less crowded); and although it's not the same as the peacefulness of a rail trail, it works, and is better than none.  We road our bike to a restaurant (pictured above, with another photo showing our bike train next to the tiki lights:)  But, we got a late start heading down yesterday, and darkness was coming quickly---so we thought it best to go find our jeep (forgot to charge our headlamp).  J was VERY worried about the ride--however, the Divine quickly took care of his concerns, for we turned onto a bridge when I heard a LOUD CRACK---like a firecracker.  J asked what that was, I wasn't sure, but I said to stop incase it was a tire--and sure enough it was:)  Problem solved:D

So this next photo is just a pretty photo of a church as I enjoyed a long solitary walk back to collect the jeep--so peaceful:)