| Home Making // Lunch Kits |

I was out for a friends birthday last night and as most ladies events go we talk about parenting, disciplining, kids being home vs. being at school, the crazy things our kids say, packing lunches....the list goes on.

 

One of the common denominators between my friends is that none of us really like to pack our kids lunches {we hear angels sing when we see the reminder that today is "fun lunch day" at school!}.  It's not that it's hard to do, but it does take time and well I don't know about you but I'd rather spend my extra time not packing lunches!  

I choose to pre-pack my kids lunches, this usually happens from 5-6pm the night before school...usually when I'm in the kitchen already preparing dinner.  This helps it so I'm not grumpy with one more thing to do before we leave the house in the am. 

In our discussion last night we spoke about kids not eating their food and about the discipline that follows.  This brought me to the boys lunches, if they don't eat what is given to them then they have to eat it before they eat their afternoon snack once home from school.  Fair right!?!

They get choices in their lunch, they can choose to eat their veggies first or last, doesn't matter to me but the rules are: you don't eat all the "good stuff" and not the veggies and you NEVER throw out food.  

My friends thought I was a little crazy when I told them my kids never throw anything out; now let me say now that our school has a strict recycling program so if perfectly-not-eaten food is thrown out it's obvious and the teacher will hold the class responsible until the person that threw it out admits to this.  

In two years of school only one of my kids tried to throw something away and it was a homemade date square.  He was full. 

Someone commented to me and said that she gives her child only what she knows he will eat at school.  I do too but I also expect that if they will have cucumbers at my table on Saturday for lunch that they will do the same at school.  I'm my kids parent, not grandparent.  My job is to prepare them so that when I'm not looking {like at school or with said grandparent} that they will still make a balanced choice. 

So I thought I would share how I take the "blech" out of making lunches and actually having the kids eat their lunch!

1. Pack their fave's // My boys don't love sandwiches so a wrap or pepperoni & crackers will do

2. They get 1 treat in their lunch // today it's fruit snacks {this changes seasonally}

3. There is always veggies and a fruit...I even raisins count as a fruit to save time and not cut up fresh fruit

4. In Kinder at our school the kids are only aloud to bring water, but JJ is able to bring juice boxes in Gr. 1 but I still just send a water bottle and just put a touch {2 Tablespoons} of ice tea in with the rest water so he'll drink the whole bottle // Each day I do this his water bottle comes home empty!
5. They get to choose at least 2 items for their lunch kit 

 And most days I send a little note personalized to each of them // I just use a recipe card that I get from the dollar store along with a sharpie that I keep in my junk drawer in the kitchen, again it is easy and adds a little sunshine to their day!

 Well That's all for today!  Let me know if any of you lovelies have any tricks up your sleeves for packing great school lunches...I'd love to know some of your tricks too!  

I'm off to go for my walk on this beautiful day then I'll be up to my eyeballs in alligators trying to make a cake for my nephew and prepare for Mother's Day. 

Hope you lovelies have a beautiful weekend and feel celebrated for the amazing job you do raising and loving on your littles! 

{XoXo}

: Weekend Recap :

We had a great weekend around these parts...we had our first dusting of snow for 2012 and it was sure welcomed from around here! I LOVE snow, I love that it makes you slow down, that life seems quieter and simpler - all in all, I have no complaints about snow!
So on Saturday after the big dump of snow on Friday night, the boys woke up SO excited to head out in the snow and Mr. L happily obliged by building them their first "Frosty" in this house.Pretty cute little {ahem, not so little at 5ft 9 inches} Frosty -- the poor little guy now has a mean lean going on from the sun beating down on him for most of the day on Sunday...but as of right now he's still standing; leaning ;) Saturday afternoon we headed into the city to celebrate our niece's 4th birthday -- it was a beautiful afternoon for a drive into the city {as pictured in the first photo}. We enjoyed some great food and had a fun time celebrating the little princess. It's always great to catch up with Michael's family as we don't see them as much as we'd like.Sunday we went to church and had a great time of worship, I love that we have a church that feels like family to us. We've been through our fair share of hardship as a church but I truly feel blessed to call it my home. I look around during the service and I see faces of love and comfort; the faces of family - SO blessed!

Sunday after church we all came home for a rest -- once the boys got up we bundled them up and sent them outside to play while Mr. L {and I} installed the new faucet we purchased from Lowes on the way into the city on Saturday...isn't she lovely!?!?


Here is the old faucet, worked like a charm just wasn't as esthetically pleasing ;) She wasn't cheap but since we're installing a new sink in the suite and it needed a faucet we decided to put our faucet downstairs and install a new one for us...just shy of $200 it's the only change {other than paint} that we'll be doing in our kitchen for a couple years, so it was worth it! Did you see the cute little succulent on my window sill? I bought it from Ikea for $3 and transplanted it into one of my old glass candle jars from Ikea {you know the ones that you buy with the candle wax already poured into} -- they are great little glasses and clean up like a charm -makes for a cute little holder for my succulent, and since you can kill succulents by over watering it's a great way to ensure the soil stays dry! On Monday the streets were less than ideal for driving so Mr. L stayed home and we declared it a "snow day" at our house. The boys had new paint projects to work on, fresh snow to play in and lots of Christmas puzzles to complete.
Mr. L and I worked. He on advertisements and me on cupboard organizing and finishing up a few projects I had on the go...twas a great way to spend our snow day!But alas, we're back at it today, the snow is still here but a little someone needed to go back to school and the littler one needed to be registered for Kindergarten! Oy Vey!
So off I go to attack another corner of our home and to finish up the new load of laundry piled high on my mud room floor!

Hope you all have a lovely of loveliest Tuesdays!

{XoXo}

: Cole's 1st Day :

Cole's first day of preschool {4 year old preschool} was on Friday. He was SO excited but it had been a long week of no school for this little guy and patience isn't exactly my little 3.5 year olds forte!

Here he is with his "vinder" -- and his photo on the front...this was a HUGE deal as big brother had a vinder last year and he was mortified that he'd have to wait a whole year to get a vinder!

I gave him a sign to hold, this is how it went:

All ready to go, snack in tow, water bottle in holster and vinder in hand, can you tell what his favorite colour is?

Here is big brother with little brother both holding their appropriate signs {thanks to pinterest for the idea!}

Here he is all ready to go, into class -- he knew the drill from last year, just this year he's at school for an extra morning!

Finally one shot of them both getting their signs right ;)

Cole has had a fairly rough Summer adjusting to not being at our old house, he cries often about it and doesn't quite get that we're going to make the new house our home just like our last house was...it's sweet that he loved our old house so much but this momma is ready for him to adjust to the new house and get used to his school schedule!

It's cooler today so I'm going to make up some healthy cookie bars, yogurt scones and pizza buns so we can have some easy go to lunch bag snacks!

For those who asked in my Friday post, we'll be moving on the 23 of this month. Exactly a month from the date of our offer being accepted! It's been a crazy few weeks since all that, but it feels good to look forward to moving ahead and getting settled into our new little home!

Have a great Monday lovelies! Hope it's a great one!

Ps. I edited this to add all the recipes I'm using today...maybe you'll make some too!

{XoXo}

: Jacob's 1st Day :

The bag was packed, the notices filled out, the extra change of clothes and the cheque ready for his school supplies, my biggest little boy was ready for his first day {ahem, hour} of kindergarten...

The backpack was purchased at our local grocery store last year for $2.94 -- with a little money spent on embroidery {$6} - his first book bag was ready! So glad I did it last Fall because with all the extra little things you have to buy with school this has turned out to be an expensive venture!

We LOVE our teachers {we have 5 including Cole's 3 and Jacob's 2} so we decided to make them a little something that we think they would appreciate...I got this idea here

Home made cookies +

Plus a Starbucks VIA Italian Roast instant coffee +

A little label and some twine =

a super sweet little gift....

My biggest little boy ready to go to his first day

Jacob and his most delightful teacher --- again, couldn't be more blessed to have her as our kindergarten teacher this year!

After school, checking out his notes in his book bag and hanging with me in the kitchen, ready to do it all over again tomorrow!

Dear Jacob, we are so excited to see you learn to read, write and have fun in kindergarten! You made our hearts so proud as you walked boldly into the next big step of your life! We pray you'll love school, love learning and love sharing with you friends. We have no doubt that you'll prove yourself as a strong self starter and observant learner! Love always, Daddy & Mama

Tomorrow comes Cole's first day of 4 year old pre-school and I get to do the good bye's all over again!

Have a wonderful Thursday Lovelies!

{XoXo}