Monday, September 30, 2013

September Favorite Things

This is an especially long one. I'm blaming the start of fall.
So many things to love during the autumn. Like,
 
1. my partner in crime
2. an awesome minion first birthday party for a pretty awesome one year old, miss stevie

3. hairbow twinsies
4. tiny second generation friends

5. campfire clay
6. last superman waffle cone of the season

7. Narls & Amelia catching the bus together on the first day of school
8. And Amelia's mom texting me to say my boy is a true gentleman

9. interesting fashion choices at the Big Sean concert
10. lazy girls

11. wine parties
12. lashes for days

13. pajama day
14. clay finallllllly getting a new iphone

my dear friend Sarah's bridal shower! we forreal never thought this one was getting married so this was an extra special day

15. pretty tiny potatoes
16. september's ipsy bag
 
17. narls' invitation to his father to join the gimnastucst club
18. my pretty girl riding shotgun

19. nature walks with inquisitive kiddos
20. notes to self

21. naked sword fights
22. perfect evenings of dishes & homework & call me maybe & sunflowers from my husband

23. sleepyheads
24. happy churches

25. wednesday nights filled with wine & candles & paranormal witness with my husband
26. decorating for all hallows' eve

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Week 3 of Healthy School Lunches (with recipes!)


Another week down, and only a week left to go until the month o' lunches is complete.
You can see week 1 here,
and week 2 here.

This third rotation included:

Monday
turkey & cheese rollup kabobs (or something), veggie chips, sugar snap pea pods, and blueberries & pineapple
 

Tuesday
a homemade peanut butter &  jelly uncrustable (I made a half dozen and froze the rest), diced banana, yogurt with granola, and broccoli & cauliflower florets with veggie dip
 

Wednesday
homemade french toast, veggie sticks, and red & green grapes
 

Thursday
diy tacos made with whole wheat tortillas, ground turkey browned with green pepper & seasoning, mexican cheese and salsa, with frozen veggies (which will thaw by lunch time), and apple slices spread with peanut butter
 

Friday
turkey & cheddar sub sandwich, cauliflower & dip, raspberries, and homemade s'mores, made with chocolate chips, mini marshmallows and graham cracker pieces.
 
The s'mores isn't the most nutritious snack, but it's Friday and my son earned something sweet. Everything in moderation. Plus, when you make it yourself, you're able to control the portion size and sugar intake.
 
Here are the recipe cards.
 





xo

Saturday, September 28, 2013

We Are the People We Make Fun Of

 
We Renaissance Festivaled again.
 
Clay and I LOVE to make fun of the festival. We do it all year leading up the festival, we do it while we're at the festival, and we especially do it when we leave the festival. BUT, we're at the festival every. single. year. So. Make of that what you will.
 
Because honestly? It's hard not to love it.
The chivalry, the heaving bosoms, the giant turkey legs, the pints of beer. It's a great time.
 


 





Monday, September 23, 2013

First Grade Open House

 



We recently attended the open house at Narls' elementary school. We met his first grade teacher, saw his classroom, toured the school. It was nice.
 
The classroom felt more homey than his kindergarten room, with a reading nook decorated with a lamp and a comfy chair above a fun rug.  I liked that.  Em plopped right down in the chair and looked through some Fancy Nancy books while Narls played with classmates and Clay and I talked with the teacher, who seemed personable and confident. 
 
Funny story about his teacher- a couple weeks ago at gymnastics, I mentioned Narls' name and the mom next to me immediately looked at me and asked if I was referring to the same "Narls" who has Mrs Pyle. I said yes, and she replied that she is Mrs Pyle's best friend and that she often hears stories about this Narls who says the most clever and funny things. Yup, sounds like our boy.
 

Friday, September 20, 2013

Week 2 of Healthy School Lunches (with recipes!)

 
I've gone two weeks of my son being in first grade without a single tardy and with armed with healthy homemade lunches. This is huge for me. I'm leaps and bounds over last year.
 
One thing that really have helped me on the lunch front? Freezing stuff. No words on how easy it is to grab some frozen peppers or broccoli or whatever, add it to the lunch box, and have it thaw nice and crisp in time for lunch. Plus so much less waste. Also,  freezing greek yogurt in fun molds has totally stepped up the lunch ante for Narls.
 
 
Last week I shared our first week of homemade lunches, and now here is this week's. 
 
Monday:
dried apples & mangos, green grapes, granola bar, veggie tortilla pizza, strawberry greek yogurt
 

Tuesday:
red pepper, turkey dog & mozz/cheddar cheese kabobs, pretzels, cantaloupe
 

Wednesday:
a homemade whole wheat waffle with pure maple syrup, watermelon chunks, and vanilla animal cookies
 

Thursday:
frozen yogurt lightning bolts, turkey & cheese sandwich on whole wheat, broccoli & dip, cutie orange slices, and honey cheerios
 

Friday:
nacho day (after my boy was devastated to miss his school's hot lunch nacho day): multigrain tortilla chips with queso cheese dip and organic salsa, chocolate rice crisps, and strawberries.
 
Here are the recipe cards. Download the image to get the full size suitable for printing.