Lunches for the Queen of Picky

Ok, so she's not exactly picky in the traditional sense.
She's actually a good eater for a 5 yr old, but unlike my other kiddos, a sandwich for lunch will just not do.

She's not a huge bread eater (weird I know!)  Unless it's sweet cornbread or muffins or the like.
So coming up with lunch to send to school has been a challenge.

I've tried variations of the cold cut lunch with ham and cheese tortilla wraps or homemade lunchables.
But they come home mostly uneaten.

So we've moved to hot in a thermos type lunches.
She doesn't really do soup, so I've had to be creative.

So thought I'm surely not alone in this dilemma and would share our current hot lunch list:

Maressa's Thermos Lunches

*Mac n cheese (an obvious choice, but not my fav since she will only eat the neon powdered cheese kind which on occasion is fine, but don't like her to eat it daily)
with a side of bite sized ham to eat with it

*Whole wheat egg noodles and chicken (current fav--directions on how I prepare it at bottom of post)

*chili (bean-and-chunky-anything-less) served with side of shredded cheese to sprinkle on top and sweet cornbread and crackers

*taco meat served again with cheese and tortilla chips

*scrambled eggs and cheese

*grilled chicken pieces with side of bbq sauce for dipping (I don't send breaded chicken nuggets or anything like that due to the fact it gets soggy)

*spaghetti and mini meatballs

So there you have it.  Husband says she's spoiled with these gourmet lunches, but it's often leftover dinner stuff.  Or I make a weeks worth of chicken and noodles at one time to just heat up in the mornings...actually quicker and easier than making a sandwich.  And her thermos is always completely empty when she gets home.  And she doesn't have the I'm still hungry crankiness after school. ;)

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Easy & Quick Chicken and Noodles

Cook wheat egg noodles in water according to directions. 
Drain.
Stir in some butter and sprinkling of garlic powder and black pepper.
Cut up chicken into bite sized pieces (I use a rotisserie chicken from grocery store deli)
Toss and serve.  :)

Mom’s No-Nag Morning Lists

Today was the first day back to school for the oldest 3.

I came up with this genius-ness Sunday afternoon.

In the years past, every school morning was semi-chaotic.  Trying to get all 4 out the door early.
The children are all early risers, but I’m not a morning person.  So they get up before me and they don’t see me til I’ve had a shower, I need them to get started getting ready before I come out.
The temptation of course is getting right down to playing.
So this was my game plan.  I placed each kids cards in their spot at the kitchen table.
I decided to make separate cards instead of a chart, because I could foresee fighting over access to it.
Let me tell you I’ve never seen 4 kids happily busy getting ready on the first day of school.


Here’s Zachary’s list.
Silly as it is, we used to fight over him combing his hair in the mornings and yes, he did whine when he saw it on his list last night, but it was checked off before school today without mom nagging.


Maressa can’t read yet, but insisted she needed her own list.
So I drew a few pictures to help her know what to do.


I used large notecards to make these that I already had on hand.
Then blinged them out a little with some washi tape.
Once I had them like I wanted I used peel and stick laminate paper to cover them.
They use dry erase markers to mark off their list.


This is my 5th grader.  He heads to school earlier than the others.


2nd and 3rd graders.
Apparently it is orange day.   lol


This is why Z man is early to school every day.
As a 5th grader he has one of the coveted safety patrol positions.
Pretty light day as every one walks their kids in on the first day.

Tomorrow my baby starts kindergarten…someone pass the tissues will ya?

Taming the school papers

School papers.  They come home by the stacks.  Now that we have 4 kids in some sort of school, they can get really out of hand very quickly! 

When I saw these double wall files in a catalog I just knew they would do the trick to tame all the papers.  They are metal and a lovely shade of green.  I hung them low enough that the 2 little kids can reach the bottom.  I used wide popsicle sticks, paper and stickers to create magnets with their name to label their file.  When each kid gets home from school, they empty out their totes and backpacks and put their papers in here.  Then later when I have time I can go through them all and then file or throw away.  The little kids especially love putting their papers away in their own file holder.

They hang in our little office not far from the front door.  We are loving them.  :)

A Few of my Favorite Tips for Traveling with kids

We just got back from our lil family vacation to the beach.  We went to Destin and it was just beautiful.  I really hate to think what it will be like when the oil will hit these gorgeous white beaches.

We only travel a few times a year in the car with the kids (usually to visit our families).  They aren't the hardiest of travelers.  We learned the very hard way that our oldest gets car sick very easily.  And Kalla gets a bit uncomfortable too back in the third row.  So we always have to start off with some Dramamine (of which is either a swallowing or chewing pill...both of which Z can't stand, but is getting more tolerant as he gets older).  

But to keep from the never ending 'when do we get there??' I keep a few tricks up my sleeve.  And yes we watch a few videos here and there which is a giant help.  

But this time around I gave them all a little notebook to keep.  Then every half hour if there was NOT any fighting, whining, complaining, crying or 'when are we there's' they got a sticker.  And believe it or not, just marking the half hour seems to make the trip go quick.  But of course there are rewards.  This time was for every 5 stickers they received a silly band.

I brought a couple of packages of silly bandz.  When they received one, they played with them, wore them and stuck them on the windows.  lol  Not sure if this fad has reached your area or not, but those who have know all about them if you have kids in elementary school.  They hit hard here in northern AL last year.

Now this method of marking the 30 mins and rewards works really well for my four.  Z even says it helps it go faster.  Another way I've done this before was I made key chains for the kids using a key ring and plastic string and various pony beads.  I tied a long string to the key ring and added their names and tied a knot to hold it on.  Every 30 mins I gave them a fun pony bead to add if they earned it.  For every 5 beads I let them have a dum dum sucker.  That one I used on a 11 hour trip and it worked like magic!  ;)

Something else I like to do to make road trips special is I make a special trail mix snack.  Simply just some dry snacks mixed together in their own little bowls.  This time I used pretzel goldfish, cheerios, unsalted cashews, mini marshmallows and M&Ms.

As far as actually being on vacation away from all their precious toys and not wanting to pack any of them I just brought a few things for them all to share that all would enjoy.

This moon sand really saved us during down times (when the little kids were napping) and impatient mornings...they wake at 6am every morning so by 7am they wanted to go swimming!  So during those times we played moon sand and blew bubbles off the balcony.  :)

But then I was scolded when they ran out of white paper quickly with the small stash we brought for the car.  So one of the grocery trips we picked up a ream of copy paper and they were happy as clams making all kinds of fun beach scenes.

Anyway, thought I would share some things that worked for us.  Anybody else have some road trips lined up this summer??  For us the rest of the summer will be people coming to us, so that was it for us for a while!

And........you know I have a share just a few of the 265 pics I took in 3 days...lol  :)

Hello Kitty Fans

Target Dollar section alert.  ;)  They have Hello Kitty overload right now.  Littlest Miss is a huge fan.  Not to mention all the stamps, cutsie notebooks and gel pens are totally up the girls alley.  So, I indulged and for under $8 a piece I got both the girls what we call our 'busy bags'.  The girls both got the bag and I filled it up with the tiny notebooks, pens and whatnot.  We took it to a game last night and it kept them both happy and busy for the majority of the time.  Now they are put away til the game tonight.  They are only allowed them for brother's baseball games and I will allow them to take them to church.  I also kept a few things back to add for our drive down to the oil pit beach in a few weeks.  :)

I also found Micah, whose games are done and not super happy about having to go to big brother's games to watch, some goodies too.

Feeding the kids and Cutting Costs

The other day I was grocery shopping with my 2 youngest.  As we passed this and that, the 4 year old would say, "ooh can we get that?"  As I was getting our standard 2 giant packages of bologna (I really need to find a source for nitrate free bologna with as much as my kids love it), Micah informed me that all his friends brought Lunchables to school.  And could I get him some.  I have nothing against Lunchables and I totally see the appeal for little kids...cute little tray, bite sized food and yes the treat.  However, I hate trash and they are not cheap to load up on a bunch for 4 kids to eat regularly.  So I told him I would make him some myself.

I already had some of these Rubbermaid containers.  So I got out my little cookie cutters and made some homemade lunchables.  Him and Z are really into them.  Micah came home proudly yesterday and said, "Mama, I ate ALL of it!"  So I put these containers in their lunch boxes with an apple or banana and their water bottles and they are good to go.

So now we all are happy.  I can use the all natural Hormel ham for Z's and their fav marble cheese (bought by the block and cut myself) and wheat or my reduced fat club crackers.  Small treat in the corner.  I have 4 of these containers and plan to get a few more and make up a weeks worth on Sunday afternoons and keep in the fridge.  You can also cut these in plain bite sized pieces to prevent waste (like I did this morning when I wasn't able to make them up the night before) or make them into cute shapes and put the scraps in another container for quick on the go protein snack.

Also I want to start making my own frozen pb&j's.  I admit I have been buying the boys the ones from Sam's in an effort to make things easier for myself in the mornings.  But inspired by this post on making your own, I decided to do it too.  Not only will it save money, but I can then use our WhiteWheat bread (as seen on the Eat This Not That list...we can't bring ourselves to eat whole wheat and this packs 5g of fiber) and our reduced sugar strawberry jam.  Also I have one that only eats only peanut butter and one that likes the natural dark chocolate pbutter/no jelly.  I just happened to go to a Pampered Chef party last night and got the sandwich cutter/sealer.  Now just wondering if I can freeze egg salad sandwiches....what do you think? My Kalla would be thrilled if I can! :)

Another cost cutter and greener change we made while back is we buy our organic yogurt by the tub.  My kids eat yogurt for breakfast every morning so it goes really fast!  The night before I dish out the yogurt into little bowls.  We use our Take n Toss bowls we've had for ages, but you can also get these sized bowls made by Rubbermaid like the ones in this post.  I plan to get more of those because the lids are easier to remove.

And lastly juice.  When my older ones were smaller I faithfully watered down their morning cup of juice.  I've gotten lazy folks and now that they pour their own, they get full strength.  Not that it's a terrible thing, but I am of the camp that juice, even the 100% is still sugar and mostly empty calories.  Not to mention watering it down makes it go further and as one who likes a tasty cup of juice with my eggs, it makes my glass of juice go from 2 WW points to 1.  And now you can even buy pre-watered down juice at the store.  But who wants to pay for water??  We have a great water filter and it's free!  So I came up with this brilliant idea.  I take the kids favorite Cherry Juicy Juice and fill up a pitcher or container half way and fill the rest with water.  Now we all just pour from the pitcher and it's all nice and calorie/sugar reduced.  :)  Now mine is kept in these clear containers and my oldest 2 haven't had any trouble. A small 1 quart plastic pitcher might be easier for little ones to handle.  My 2 younger kids are strange creatures and don't even like juice.  Micah will only drink water or milk...for every preschool party I have to pack his water bottle as they always have juice boxes, and Maressa will only drink water.  period.

In the Kitchen~Part II: Organizing the Kid Friendly Way

In my post yesterday about my kitchen I mentioned how I keep this shelf for the kids use.  Here they find snacks and snack dishes.  This is also where they stash their lunch boxes.  Everyday they are supposed to take their lunch box out of their bags.  Then take everything out and put their water bottles in the fridge.  Then put them away here.  Miracle of miracles for some reason they, who even with infinite amounts of nagging about leaving their dirty undies in the middle of their bedroom floors, seem to do this simple task with out problem.  :)

Another kid spot is this really large pull out drawer.  Bottom one under the oven.  It's all theirs.  Sectioned dinner plates and cups are color coded by kid.  SO nice to not have that battle over so-n-so got the blue one today, but I wanted it.  Plus I always know the culprit who left their milk out.  ;)  Also smaller lunch and breakfast plates.  And because all this stuff is here in reach of even smallest child, any one of them can help with setting the table for all meals.  Maressa especially seems to like to help out.

My kids also all rise at an inhuman hour every. single. day.  Yeah 6 am.  No matter if Daddy let them stay up to watch the Olympics 30-45 mins after bedtime every day for 2 weeks.  Yep.  Early risers is what I have.  Soooo guess what, I let them make their own breakfast (I don't get up at 6 am!!).  They make their own bowls of cereal and make one for little Maressa too.  I leave yogurts in the fridge as well.  So in their drawer are also a bunch of cereal bowls with the straws...nice so that they don't waste our precious organic milk!

In the silverware drawer are bunches of kid and toddler sized forks and spoons.  And plastic knives they use to spread cream cheese on mini bagels....something else they make themselves if we have them in the pantry.  However I just found out that Kroger has stopped carrying them :(   They would just spread on the strawberry cream cheese on un-toasted bagels.

In our pantry is the cereal shelf...we really should buy stock in Cheerios.  Some granola for their yogurt. And a bin of their afternoon snacks...granola bars and fruit bars (speaking of I really need to make some homemade granola bars!!  I get lazy sometimes).  All in reach of the kids.

And of course their is Mommy's quick 1 point (WW) sweet snack box as well.  ;)

It's been so nice to have everything handy for the kids.  They know the 'kitchen' and 'eating rules' (yes I'm that kind of mom) and are able to help themselves within my set rules.  ;)  And when they have friends over, I expect that they are to play host/hostess to them.  Snack time comes and they get their friends snacks and water too.  :)

In the sewing room

Maressa and I spent some time in my sewing room the other day. I had just cleaned up/out my room and found a giant pile of WIPs (work in progress). These were items I had started one day and never finished. Some years old, some from just a month ago. Some things had old been cut out and some things had the last hem pinned and ready to sew. I also have a sizable pile of things to be fixed. So I decided to get a start on these piles so things could be moved up and out.

Here is one giant pile....

And another...

Here is what I got done. Fixed K's pants that got a hole, the waist in an old skirt that Mar inherited from K, finished some Thomas pj pants I started for Micah, finished a super hero cape for Z that was supposed to be for Christmas last year and some ruffle pants I started for Mar. I also cut off the bottom of a dress I made for Mar last year that had button hole 'issues' and put in an elastic band to make a skirt.

Also finished this scrap patch pillow for my living room.

Anyway, back to about Maressa (2.5 years old) being with me. Even though I was sewing we had a nice morning together. I totally believe that this time can be shared. I do NOT want my crafting/sewing to be one of those things that I ignore my kids and do my own thing. I love sharing my room with them. Maressa is not big enough to learn to sew like Kalla. But I have given her a corner of my room to sit and look at books and play. This particular morning she sat up in a stool/chair at my table and colored while we oohed and aahhhed over her scribbles....

and I give her all my empty spools which she likes to stack and string on a plastic string...

to make a necklace.

And she served the one eared dog (in for repairs) 'coffee', ice cream and 'amburgers'. We had a very nice time together. :)

Things to do when you are stuck inside avoiding the flu!

Ok, so we have cases of swine flu in our area. Little kids at that. So Wed night we receive a call that the schools were all closed Thurs and Fri. And guess what. Everything kid related was closed. No ball games, no music, museums closed, libraries closed, etc etc. Thursday was nice and the kids played outside. Friday, the flood rains came. And Daddy is working long hours and the weekend. So one tired mommy and four stir crazy kids and lots and lots of rain.

So, here's what we came up with so no one got hurt. ;)

To avoid cabin fever we went to a local coffee house in between the severe storms. Smoothie and muffin was shared among the kids. Books were read and some checkers were played.

Then we came home.
And built a giant fort (Micah kept us amused calling it a 'pork'...guess it kinda fit our situation at the time though!).

After we played in that a while, the girls totally wrecked it (and wreckage still sits in the front living room as I type). Then we played hide n seek. Love this game with the kids. I can load the dishwasher or fold laundry when it's my turn to count and nothing like a little quiet time for mommy while hiding in my 'super hard spots' then scaring them when they get close.

Saturday we played some legos.

Then we turned the kiddie music up loud and danced.

Then made our own pizzas for lunch...they are pretty boring with that though as they only like cheese on them.

After naps (3 of mine still nap regularly, yes I know...it's totally awesome!) we crafted some of our teacher's gifts. And worked on the Mother's day books.

That night Daddy was home and I took Micah to a friend's bday party while the others were couch potatoes watching the Derby and some Nascar. (The Derby was for Kalla and Nascar on for the boys).

Then Sunday Zachary had a thing at church and a friend brought him home who stayed to play some Wii and indoor basketball.

We survived. They are back to school today...for now at least. And the sun found it's way back. And there's baseball tonight. Holding my breath to just get the next 3 weeks done and then summer break!