just a quick dip

before our tire rotation, oil change appointment...it's all about balance ;)

Let's FLY!

idea my neighbor found, for future reference...hmmmmmm, I like it!

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

Then and Now----Snow Bunnies

2004 Little Angel

2005 Little Angel age 1

2005 Little Fairy age 2 months

2006 Little Angel Age 2

2007 Little Fairy

2007 ages 3 and 2

2008 age 4

2008 Little Fairy age 3

2010 ages 5 and 4

I See the Writing on the Wall

And I don't like it! My dining room and living room has been loaded with the girls' new unassembled bedroom furniture, for a couple of weeks now (we've been waiting for everything to arrive). Once the mattresses and box springs arrived, the girls decided it would be fun to use them as their play ground (they are leaning on their sides)--not safe, and not good for VERY expensive organic mattresses. We recognize they will be used and abused once their beds are set up--but while they are leaning on their sides is not ok with me:) So after several times of asking and telling them to stop, I sent them to their rooms. They asked if they could go into one room together, and naive me said "yes." And above you see the results of two little girls, close in age, having a "time out" together in one bedroom. No they aren't twins, and I don't know what that's like, but I really don't think this is much different than what having twins (at this stage) would be like! My lesson has been learned--and J's too (for leaving crayons in Fairy's room!) Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is waiting to get to work (and two days later, still waiting--this is going to take awhile:) I think we should get a couple of more and put the girls to work!