Lunch Box Menu Plan

If you are anything like me, I tend to be fairly indecisive when it comes to last minute meals.....I always say to Phil....just tell me what to cook and I will make it.....I just don't know what to cook!!! But I discovered how to counteract my indecisiveness with a bi-weekly meal plan. Problem solved. Then came school lunches. Gulp. Now I have to create a take-away lunch every day, consisting of all 4 food groups (there's 4 right??) but omitting all food items containing nuts (PEANUT BUTTER!!!)? Since we have zero extra time in the morning for me to be doddling around trying to make Kaitlyn's lunch, I decided I needed a plan.....
So, I asked Phil to create a lunch box meal plan template for me to use (I borrowed the idea from a blog that I came across). It shows two weeks at a time, and has spaces to write the day, 2 snacks and the lunch menu for each day. LOVE IT!! .......Oh the perks of being married to a former Graphic Designer.......So, now I sit down once every two weeks, and plan out what I am going to send with Kaitlyn each day, and I can make a grocery list if I need certain lunch items.
So, after the kids are tucked in, dinner is cleaned up and the house has been tidied, I head to the kitchen to put together the lunch that I planned ahead of time, no thinking involved, just doing......now that's my  'post-hectic day' kind of lunch making!

ps. Click on the 'lunch box meal plan template' words for a PDF link to print one for yourself!

Homemade Fruit Roll-ups

Now that Kaitlyn is in school, I have been researching some healthy snack ideas for Kaitlyn to take with her each day.  There are a large variety of snacks available in the stores......but most are super unhealthy and overpriced, so I thought that I would choose some store bought snacks that appealed to the kids (and us!) and try to find healthier, homemade and cheaper alternatives. If you have any homemade, yummy snack recipes.....please share with me!! :)

Adventures in the Kitchen # 7: Homemade Fruit Roll-ups

From this......

To this.....very simple, easy to follow recipe.

There are a bunch of steps involved with this recipe (don't be scared....it's super easy) and pictures will help you understand what to do, so go check out this amazingly easy, healthy and cheap recipe here.

** My Kids gobbled this snack up and wanted more and more! With no preservatives, artificial dyes or colors.....this treat is a perfect choice for a snack on the go. 

Rush, Rush, Rush.....

I feel like I am moving at a 'fast forward' kind of pace these days....with school starting and french lessons resuming for us (brief hiatus as we switched instructors).....it is non-stop running around til my head hits the pillow. Yipes. I feel like I am tired all the time.....sleeping at the dinner table is completely possible for me.....you know, those kids who fall asleep in their spaghetti? Yup....that could very well be me one of these days.....perhaps I am doing too much? not getting enough sleep? low in iron? I think a combo of all of the above might be the reason for my all-day fatigue.....and NO....and I am not pregnant! :)

Sleeping in is not in my vocabulary anymore.....

So here it is....walk a day in my shoes and see if you feel like going to bed after reading this......although part of me thinks this is just what being a mom is??.....

6:30am - Alarm goes off
6:45am - Roll out of bed (slowly), get dressed etc
7:00am - Kids wake up, get dressed, hair etc
7:15 - Breakfast, lunch prep, backpack prep
7:50 - teeth brushed, kids faces washed, shoes on
8:00 - in the car, tea in hand, reversing out of the driveway
8:25 - Arrive at Kaitlyn's school, take her to her class
8:35 - Drive to Lily's babysitters house
8:45 - Arrive at Lily's babysitters house, drop her off
8:50 - Drive to French class
9:15 - Arrive at french class, water bottle and snacks in hand
11:40 - Leave to pick up Lily
Noon - Pick up Lily and head for home
12:30 - Arrive home, make lunch, perhaps sit down
1:00 - Lily has quiet time, Phil does work/plays with Lily, I grocery shop, quiet time for me, errands, dinner prep, exercise  and do homeschooling with Lily
3:00 - Drive to Kaitlyn's school to pick her up
4:00 - Arrive back home, unpack school lunch, other dinner prep
Between 5:00  and 5:30 - Eat Dinner
5:45 - Clean up dinner, tidy house
6:00 - Shower the kids (3x/week)
6:15 - Games outside (kids love jumping over a flag, relay races, soccer etc)
6:45 - Brush teeth, jammies, read bible story, 2 books, pray, sing, tickle
7:15 - Lights out
7:16 - I sit down and do nothing....finally.
8:00 - Exercise (if I haven't already that day), shower
9:00 - French Homework
9:45 - School Lunch prep
10:00 - Get ready for bed
10:30 - Lights out, hopefully dreaming at this point

I am exhausted just typing this day out.....the days just fly by.....as Kaitlyn said today...."Mom, the days are just so short!"......because she is at school all day long, her time here at home playing and interacting with us is so short. Weekends are definitely a time to cherish....what's on the agenda for this "fin de semaine"?.....well.....I think we are going to ride the ferry over to the Island and do some apple picking.....and of course make lots of yummy things with our apples.....I can smell the apple cinnamon smell already.....

Date your Kids

Last thursday, Kaitlyn and I went on a date. I love planning what we are going to do and where we are going to go......these are some of the requirements when I am searching for a potential date:
1. Fun
2. Inexpensive (we splurge occasionally)
3. Lots of opportunity to chat

Busy painting a rainbow heart

The Crackpot Cafe seemed like the perfect choice for our date....it is a cute little cafe and pottery studio where you can select a piece of pottery to paint and spend an hour or so creating your masterpiece, while sipping some hot drinks and munching some sweet snacks. Kaitlyn chose to paint a mug with a spoon and I painted a "special day" plate. I must admit that this was a tad on the expensive side, but pottery is always pricey (unless you make it yourself).....but we had a great time painting, creating, eating and chatting. Kaitlyn painted a pretty rainbow heart on her mug and went to town painting the inside of her mug with various colors.  The cool thing is whenever she uses her mug (no matter what it ends up looking like), she will remember our time together.

Girl time

When we were done, we left our pieces with them to glaze and fire and will return in a week to bring our Masterpieces home. We can't wait! Afterwards we hit up Kaitlyn's first choice of a restaurant (much to my chagrin.....Mcdonalds or "Uncle Donalds" as Lily calls it). We split a happy meal and then headed home to share our day with Phil and Lily.
Looking forward to the next one.....usually once a month for each child with each parent. Lily and Phil went on a date that afternoon as well. The kids look forward to it and so do we. Little things go a long way to let our kids know how much we love to spend time with them and how special they are to us. It's not about buying things, or spending a lot of money.....it's about putting your list of "to do's" aside and spending undivided time with your child........doesn't even have to be anything out of the ordinary.....even going to the park but just the two of you, and intentionally pursuing their hearts in conversation.....and calling it a date (because that lets them know it is a special occasion and they get reeeeaaalllyyy excited about that!). Happy Dating!

I'm no artist....but this was fun!

              

Off to school she goes.....

All grown up.....

Today, I was a basket case. I cried in front of a complete stranger. It was Kaitlyn's first day of Kindergarten. She was just fine....walzed right into her classroom and sat down, waiting for something to start. I managed to keep it together until I was walking to the car after leaving Kaitlyn behind.....and the tears just flowed. A nice lady (who had translated for me the night of the teacher-parent meeting) named Stacey gave me a big hug and told me that she felt the same way when her little guy first went to school....that made me feel a little less weird for crying. I was under the impression that we were going to be able to be in the classroom for the morning, to ease Kaitlyn into her 'all french' class, but just after we showed her where to hang her bag up and put her 'outside shoes' away, she slipped into the classroom and the teacher was at the door saying that parents weren't allowed in because it would be too chaotic.....I didn't even get to say goodbye to Kaitlyn or tell her that we would be back at lunch.....I was leaving Kaitlyn with a bunch of strangers who only spoke french and she didn't know a soul or where to go to the bathroom or even how to ask if she could go to the bathroom.......
I felt like I had abandoned her.....I know, I know....dramatic....but my mother's heart was grieving when we drove away from her school.....I just wanted her to be okay, to make friends, to have fun, to not be scared because she doesn't understand what anyone is saying or what she is sopposed to do.....I wanted to be there to help her out at first.....but I just had to leave her in God's hands as my husband said to me. Easier said then done, but in my heart of hearts, I know he is right.....
We came back around lunch time (I had regained my composure by then) and had a nice lunch with her class outside.....she seemed to be having a good time.....it was good to see her still smiling and wanting to go back (without us) to her classroom after lunch. She waved and I blew a kiss and watched her walk confidently and excitedly back into her school......she is more brave than me, that's for sure.
We picked her up at 3:25 and she was full of stories about her day......tired but excited to go back to school. Thank God for an adventurous, confident, courageous, trusting little girl......I know she will do well at school.....and I think I'll make it too.

Alphabet Fun- Reading 101

When I set out to teach Kaitlyn how to read, I wondered what would be the best way to help her learn this important skill while keeping it fun and creative and challenging.  My sister was using 'The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading' and she highly recommended that resource as the main resource for teaching your child how to read. I have not been disappointed. It lays out each lesson clearly, separating the vowels from the consonants, and teaching the child each phonetic sound through repetition and memorizing. It also outlines what you (the instructor) should say and how to teach the new letter. For example, for the letter B, it prompts the Instructor to show the letter (upper and lower case), then say the sound 5 times, then the child says the sound with you 5 times, then the instructor says three words that begin with B, and then the child repeats those words after the instructor. "B stands for b in b, b bat" (the first line in the "Consonant Poem" they will memorize). Some lessons have activities outlined for further phonetic practise, but in general, each lesson is short, easy to teach, effective and fun.

In addition to learning phonics, Kaitlyn completes a trace and copy work sheet that coincides with the letter of the day. These upper and lowercase 'alphabet tracing' sheets are readily available online for free and often include a picture to color (ie: Bb to practise writing and a picture of a butterfly to color).
We finish our lesson with an alphabet craft, for the letter B, I drew the letter on a piece of construction paper and Kaitlyn (and Lily) glued on a variety of buttons. Simple, creative, fun, and reinforcing the letter of the day.
The beauty of these activities is that my toddler Lily (2.5 years old when we started back in October 2011) has loved 'school' as well......I always print out an extra copy of whatever sheet Kaitlyn is working on so Lily can scribble color as well, and her little ears have picked up sounds of letters too, just by being at the table with us, learning. Lily can write her name (you may need me to interpret what letter is what) and she knows some of the "Consonant Rhyme Poem" which is a bonus. 

Below are pictures of each of the alphabet crafts we have done....all of them are simple, mostly mess-free and cheap to do.

A is for Apple pie

Letter A - Apple stamping/Apple Picking/Apple Pie Making

Letter B - Glue buttons onto the letter B

Letter C - Decorated the letter C with markers, glitter, stamps etc.

Letter D - Bingo dots on the letter D

Letter E - Glue Crushed eggshells onto the letter E

Letter F - Glue feathers onto the letter F

Letter G - Decorated the letter G with glitter glue

Letter H - Attached squiggly pipe cleaners with styrofoam balls on top to a head band

Letter I - Glued cotton balls onto a picture of an Igloo

Letter J - Coloured the letter J

Letter K - Made kites out of construction paper and a wire hanger

Letter L - Made lolli-pops out of construction paper and popsicle sticks (decorated the paper)

M is for mask

Letter M - Made masks out of construction paper, elastic bands to go behind the ears

Letter N - Made necklaces and bracelets with beads and pipe cleaners

Letter O - Coloured the letter O

Letter P - Made a popsicle stick basket and a popsicle stick pencil holder
Letter Q - Punched holes with toothpick around a picture of a duck and hung it up in the window
Letter R - Glued fruit loops on a picture of a rainbow
Letter S - Coloured the letter S
Letter T - Made tissue paper flowers
Letter U - Made construction paper umbrella mobiles

R is for rainbow

Letter V - Made a vegetable collage
Letter W - Weather collage
Letter X - Treasure hunt "X marks the spot"
Letter Y - Wrapped a vase with yarn (looks cooler than it sounds)
Letter Z - Coloured the letter Z

** This was a post that I wrote several months ago but didn't post.....I kinda forgot about it.....but I think now is a good time to share these ideas as there are stay-at-home moms with toddlers who may be thinking about homeschooling this fall. (One month away---time to start planning!!) I hope these simple crafts and resources can help you as much as they did me.....and that you have just as much fun learning as we did! We are still working our way through the "Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading" which is now beginning to introduce short words and sight words. Kaitlyn still enjoys reading the Bob Books which offer challenge and reward at the same time. I'd love to hear your ideas......

Adventures in the Kitchen # 6: Good Old fashion Pancakes

Okay, so maybe I am cheating a bit on this one.....pancakes are nothing new around our house.....but since my cookbooks are all packed away, I didn't have my usual go-to pancake recipe to use for a low key sunday night dinner......so I searched online for a simple, quick pancake recipe and voila! I found one! If you can't tell from the title of this recipe......this ones a keeper.....

Enjoy a low-key Sunday night dinner......add some fresh blueberries and strawberries on top, or for those daring enough.....add some chocolate chips.....each topped with melted butter and real maple syrup.

YUM! A bonus for the kids.....make pancake people, letters, shapes......

Adventures in the Kitchen # 6: Good Old Fashion Pancakes

A whole stack of yumminess

Prep: 5 minutes

Cook: 10-15 minutes

Serves: 4-6 

1.5 Cups flour

1 Tablespoons sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt
1 egg beaten

1 1/4 Cups of milk

3 Tablespoons melted butter

Preheat griddle/frying pan over low/medium heat.

Combine dry ingredients in a medium size bowl.

Stir in milk, eggs and butter. 

Stir until lumps are gone.

Create pancake masterpieces.

**Preheat oven to 175 to keep pancakes warm until the batter is all used up. Put pancakes in a covered oven-safe dish to keep them moist. 

Recipe found on allrecipes.com

My kids LOVE this meal......they pile on the blueberries and also really enjoy when we make pancake people for them, complete with pancake clothes they can dress them in (make a pancake skirt or some pants to put on the pancake people). I usually serve this meal with scrambled eggs and if we're lucky, some bacon too. Easy meal, fun for the kids and yummy for everyone. Lots of thumbs up in our house for this one.