Menu Plan Week of March 11-17, 2012

Good Sunday evening!  I realized that I never posted my menu plan for last week.  We hd been out of town over last weekend, so the menu didn't get planned until Monday and grocery shopping didn't happen until Tuesday!  I still have it and plan to add it, even though it will be out of order.  Oh well...

I've been trying to lose some weight recently.  My body just isn't cooperating like it should with all this extra weight on it.  I have a sweet Chaplain spouse friend named Suzanne who is helping me get onto a better eating plan for me and also my family.  I'm sure there will be some resistance when I really start trying to change what we eat, but I'm praying it will be short lived.

What I'm doing is less meat and sweets and more veggies, fruits and whole grains.  Suzanne tells me to think "Garden of Eden".  Adam and Eve were instructed to eat food from the garden, which includes veggies, fruits and grains.  Meat isn't necessarily part of that, neither are sweets.  So I've been trying to fit in more good stuff in mine and my family's diets.  I'm enjoying it so far.  Its causing me to stretch my thinking as a home cook.  There are some days that I would kill for an oreo, but I'm committed to this change.  I don't want my body to give out on me because I chose to eat things that aren't good for me. 

Anyway, my menu plan doesn't reflect all the foods that I'm eating right now.  I still have to feed 3 hungry boys, you know!  Just know that many more fruits and vegetables are being consumed.  :)

Sunday, March 11

B - Cinnamon Rolls, grapes, strawberries and bananas, scrambled eggs
L - YOYO - I ate quinoa with tuna, cucumber, carrots, red bell pepper, feta and kalamata olies.  Yum!
D - Roast Chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, brown (pinto) beans, cooked apples (for the boys)

Monday, March 12

B - Baked Oatmeal with apples and raisins
L - PB&J, tortilla chips, fruit salad
D - Meatloaf (with portobella mushrooms!  Shh!  Don't tell my family!), leftover mashed potatoes and green beans.  Possibly bread - haven't decided yet.

Tuesday, March 13

B - Eggs in a cup
L - Quesadillas, applesauce
D - Chicken and Rice made from Sunday's roast chicken, salad

Wednesday, March 14

B - Leftover Cinnamon rolls, fruit
L - Meat and cheese homemade lunchable, grapes, banana
D - Chapel

Thursday, March 15

B - Applesauce Muffins, fruit
L - Leftover Chicken and Rice, cucumbers and carrots
D - White Chicken Enchiladas with green chile sour cream sauce - new recipe for me - found here.  Usng some more leftover chicken!, rice, crock pot black beans

Friday, March 16

B -Leftover Baked Oatmeal, fruit
L - Chicken nuggets, cucumber, carrots
D - Spaghetti with my homemade marinara sauce (don't tell my family, but I'm going to cook a spaghetti squash and mix that with some regular noodles and see what they say!), salad, bread?

Saturday, March 17 - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

B - Cereal with green tinted milk  :)
L - YOYO
D -Hamburgers and Hot Dogs

I also plan to make an eggplant lasagna this week to put into the freezer for when I think my family is ready to try that!  :)

Hope you all have a blessed week!  I love reading your comments!  If something speaks to you, let me know! 

Blessings,
Missy

Menu Plan Week of Feburary 26-March 3, 2012

Good Saturday evening!  I finished my menu plan in record time this week!  I guess because I didn't have to plan from lunch Friday through dinner Saturday.  Todd is leading a marriage retreat for the soldiers in his unit Friday-Sunday in Chattanooga, TN.  All our meals will be out this weekend.  Not too sure how I feel about that.  I try to make as many whole food meals for my family and stay away from processed things.  Kinda hard to do when you're eating out.  And salads aren't always at the top of my list of things to order at a restaurant.  Maybe I can get us to some restaurants that will have some good choices.  Its worth a shot, right?

We're babysitting our new neighbor's boys Thursday evening so they can have a date before he goes away for a month next weekend.  Hence the hot dogs and mac and cheese offering.  Dad and I will be having a wonderful soup.  Easy dinner for right before traveling.  :)

Enjoy the menu for this week - I hope you can find something new to try on your family!

Sunday, Feb. 26

B - Soaked Baked Apple Oatmeal - soaking grains before cooking them helps in digestion.  Hoping it helps Asher out since he's had such a sick stomach this last week.  Recipe here.
L - out - we have a LOT of running around to do today!
D - Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches

Monday, Feb 27

B - Pancakes with real maple syrup
L - Turkey and Crackers
D - Beef Stroganoff - recipe here.

Tuesday, Feb 28

B - Eggs in a cup
L - Veggie Confetti Dip with crackers - recipe here.
D - Easy Noodle Stir Fry

Wednesday, Feb 29

B - Cinnamon Toast
L - Peanut Butter and Honey sandwiches
D -Chapel - Pot Luck!

Thursday, March 1

B - Muffins (banana or applesauce)
L - Meat and Cheese
D - Tortellini Soup/hot dogs with mac and cheese

Friday, Mar 2

B - Cereal

Hope you all have a fantastic week! 

Blessings!
Missy :)

Menu Plan Week of February 19-25, 2012

Good evening friends!  I actually got my menu plan finished tonight, so I can get it posted before the week begins!  Yippee for me!  ;)

Sunday, Feb 19

B - Apple Butter Braid (yes, I have these things in my freezer.  My kid sold them for school.)
L - Grilled Cheese sandwiches on whole grain bread, apples and grapes
D - Spaghetti with homemade marinara sauce (Timothy's request), salad and bread

Monday, Feb 20

B - Giant Breakfast Cookies (recipe here), fruit salad
L - Homemade English Muffin Pizzas, applesauce
D - Herb Roasted Chicken Drumsticks and Veggies (recipe here)

Tuesday, Feb 21

B - Pancakes, bacon, fruit
L - Turkey and Cheese with crackers lunchable, grapes
D - Soup from the freezer (I have many options.  Just depends on how I'm feeling), salad

Wednesday, Feb 22

B - Scrambled eggs, cinnamon toast
L - Quesadillas, apples
D - Chapel

Thursday, Feb 23

B - Muffins, fruit and yogurt
L - Peanut Butter and Honey sandwiches
D - Grilled Pineapple Chicken (recipe here) with Apple Coleslaw (recipe here)

Friday, Feb 24

B - Baked French Toast with fruit
L - Ham and Cheese with Crackers lunchable, grapes
D - Leftovers (or BLT's, since my husband has requested them)

Saturday, Feb 25

B - Cereal - special treat!
L - YOYO
D - Burgers and Hot Dogs (or whatever else I can come up with)

I found a recipe for Quinoa Mac and Cheese that I'm dying to try...just not sure how my family will react.  ;)

Have a blessed week, friends!

Blessings,
Missy  :)

Menu Plan Week of February 12-18

Hello friends!  Here's another week of meals for you!  I was feeling a bit uninspired yesterday as I was trying to come up with meals for this week, so I turned to facebook friends.  They gave me some great ideas!  Be on the lookout over the next few weeks for shout outs to my friends who gave me inspiration!

Sunday, Feb 12

B - homemade cinnamon rolls, grapes, strawberries
L - whatever you can find!
D - Chili, cheese, crackers, cucumbers and carrots with ranch

Monday, Feb 13

B - Scrambled eggs,fruit/yogurt parfait
L - Quesadillas, applesauce
D - Chicken veggie soup, rolls, salad

Tuesday, Feb 14 - Valentine's Day!

B - Waffles
L - Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
D - Turkey Tetrazinni, green beans

Wednesday, Feb 15

B - Baked Oatmeal
L - Leftover tetrazinni
D - Chapel

Thursday, Feb 16

B - Muffins, fruit
L - meat and cheese, applesauce
D - Chicken nuggets and green beans for boys (dad will be in ATL for a meeting)

Friday, Feb 17

B - Baked Oatmeal
L - Noodle Stir Fry
D - Pancakes (dad will be in ATL overnight for meetings)

Saturday, Feb 18

B - Cereal
L - YOYO
D - Burgers and Dogs, fries


One day, I'll give you a brief explanation of why some days the meals seem a bit on the thin side. 

Have a blessed day!

Missy  :)

Menu Plan Week of Feb. 5-11, 2012

First full week of February and we've got a lot going on.  I've picked up a piano student on Tuesday afternoons and we're having some friends over Tuesday evening for dinner.  Then 2 rehearsals on Wednesday evening and PWOC on Thursday.  Speech therapy on Monday and Friday mornings.  School for Timothy each afternoon.  *Phew*  No wonder I'm always ready for the weekends!

Here's what's on the plan for this week.  Nothing fancy...easy peasy. 

Sunday, Feb. 5

B - Muffins, scrambled eggs, fruit
L - out (we ended up today at Jason's Deli)
D - Reubens, buffalo chicken dip and salsa and chips for Mom and Dad, chicken nuggets, french fries and grapes for the boys

Monday, Feb 6

B - Waffles, fruit
L - Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, cheesy puffs
D -  Grilled Chicken in Lemon Marinade, salad

Tuesday, Feb 7

B - Eggs in a cup, strawberries
L - Grilled Cheese, carrots with ranch
D - Spaghetti with marinara sauce, salad, bread, Banana Pudding with homemade pudding for dessert

Wednesday, Feb 8

B - Oatmeal
L - Leftover noodles with parmesan cheese, fruit
D - Chapel

Thursday, Feb 9

B - Giant Breakfast Cookies
L - Meat and Cheese, cucumbers and ranch
D - Shepherd's Pie, green beans

Friday, Feb 10

B - Muffins, yogurt and fruit
L - Mozzarella bites, green beans
D - leftovers (if there are any!)

Saturday, Feb 11

B - Cereal
L - YOYO - You're On Your Own  :)
D -Burgers and Dogs

Do you have a busy week this week?  What do you do to make mealtime easier?

Blessings,
Missy  :)

Menu Plan - Week of January 29-February 4, 2012

Happy last week of January!  We have a busy week planned, so meals this week will also be easy (I hope!).

We'll be having a friend for dinner Tuesday night.  I had initally told him that we'd have lasagna and his face lit up.  I tried my best to change around some meals so I wouldn't have to fix lasagna, but I guess I'll keep it there.  He is a good friend after all.  ;)

Sunday, Jan 29

B - Dad got up with the boys while I slept in a bit, so I know they had cereal.  :)
L - Leftover pizza and bananas for the boys,  Dad and I had leftover salad.
D - we were supposed to have leftover ham and sides, but it just didn't happen.  Oh well...

Monday, Jan. 30

B - French toast and fruit
L - hot dogs, fries and veggies w/ ranch
D - Crock Pot Chicken and Dressing with green beans - I use this recipe.  I tweak it a bit too, but I got the idea from here.

Tuesday, Jan. 31

B - Baked Oatmeal - I may do my usual baked oats, but I found a recipe for Peanut butter baked oats.  I'll let you know which one I cooked. 
L - Meat and Cheese homemade lunchable with pretzels and yogurt.
D - Lasagna, salad and homemade rolls

Wednesday, Feb 1

B -Blueberry bites and fruit
L - peanut butter and honey sandwiches, sliced apples
D - I have rehearsal at the Chapel here on post starting at 4.  We eat whatever they're serving for dinner.

Thursday, Feb 2

B - Muffins and fruit with yogurt
L - Mozzarella bites with veggies
D - Asian marinated Flank steak with stir fried broccoli

Friday, Feb 3

B - Leftover baked oatmeal
L - Ham and cheese pockets - I used this recipe.
D - Leftovers from the week

Saturday, Feb 4

B - Cereal and fruit
L - Whatever looks good at the time.  :)
D - Hamburgers and hot dogs, fries, baked beans.  Standard Saturday night fare at our house.

I don't usually write down a lunch for Saturday because I don't know if we'll be home, or out, or what we'll be hungry for.  It's generally something easy but relatively healthy. 

Hope you all have a great week!  I plan to write posts about recipes I find, use and like.  I figure if I find something that works, I should share the ideas, right?  :)

Blessings,
Missy 

Menu plan week of January 22-28, 2012

The last full week of January and we're supposed to have high temps in the 60's and 70's. Where is winter? Oh yeah. We live in west central Georgia. I think winter is nonexistent. We've had lots of rain though. Guess that's what winters here look like. :(

Here's the menu plan for this next week. Trying another few new recipes. Hope they turn out ok. Also going to do some more freezer cooking for lunches. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Sunday, January 22

B - muffins, fruit
L - apple snack wedges, yogurt
D - Chicken Georgia (Paula Deen recipe)

Monday, January 23

B - French toast
L - macaroni and cheese, applesauce
D - I have a Chaplain Spouse coffee and will have dinner there. I'm not sure what the boys will do. ;)

Tuesday, January 24

B - eggs in a cup
L - peanut butter roll ups with granola
D - Asian flank steak, broccoli stir fry

Wednesday, January 25

B - giant breakfast cookies (heavenlyhomemakers.com)
L - mozzarella cheese bites
D - chapel

Thursday, January 26

B - baked oatmeal
L - meat and cheese, pretzels
D - chicken stir fry (in my new Lodge cast iron wok I got for $40 at the Lodge outlet store!)

Friday, January 27

B - baked oatmeal leftovers
L - quesadillas
D - leftovers

Saturday, January 28

B - cereal
L - chicken nuggets
D - burgers and dogs


Hope you all have a blessed week!

Missy.

Menu plan January 15-21, 2012

I can't believe we're halfway through the month of January already. Crazy. It doesn't seem that Christmas was 4 weeks ago.

I plan on getting my menu plans here on my blog, not just so you can see and comment on what I'm feeding my family, but also as a real copy of what I choose each week. I've been keeping the hard copies in a drawer in the kitchen and the menu plans are taking over the drawer! Blogging about them has to be an easier way of keeping them!

I realize that we're already 2 days into the week. Roll with me, ok?

Sunday, Jan. 15

Breakfast - Whole wheat pancakes
Lunch - out to Jason's Deli
Dinner - Crock pot eye of round roast with carrots, potatoes, onions and mushrooms, green beans and homemade rolls

Monday, Jan. 16

Breakfast - egg scramble
Lunch - cream cheese and peach butter roll ups, applesauce and cheese its
Dinner - spaghetti with homemade marinara sauce, salad and bread

Tuesday, Jan. 17

Breakfast - oatmeal, fruit
Lunch - meat and cheese, cheesy puffs, fruit
Dinner - pizza braid, salad

Wednesday, Jan. 18

Breakfast - eggs in a cup
Lunch - grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit
Dinner - at Chapel

Thursday, Jan. 19

Breakfast - whole wheat banana muffins, applesauce
Lunch - popcorn, carrots and cucumbers with ranch
Dinner - turkey kielbasa with sauerkraut, green beans

Friday, Jan. 20

Breakfast - waffles, yogurt
Lunch - quesadillas
Dinner - leftovers

Saturday, Jan. 20

Breakfast - cereal
Lunch - everyone for themselves!
Dinner - burgers and dogs, fries, baked beans.

I've tried to link up seem of the recipes I'm using this week, but blogger on my iPad isn't cooperating. Shucks. If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know!

Blessings,
Missy.

WonderMill Electric Grain Mill Review & Giveaway

WonderMill Electric Grain Mill Review & Giveaway

St. Patrick's Day craft

I recently found a website called No Time for Flash Cards and this mom has all these great ideas for crafts and teaching.  I've loved looking through it and have found lots of ideas.  Too many, in fact!  :)

Anyway, she posted about marshmallow shamrocks that she crafted with her son.  Because I wanted to do this with Timothy, I tried my best to figure out how I could get somewhere, anywhere to get colored mini marshmallows today.  I can't wait to do a fun project - I have to do it as soon as I see the idea.  But with both boys sick and I'm not the best looking thing today, I decided the craft would have to wait.

Then I remembered that I had some strawberry marshmallows in the pantry and decided to do a heart.  Yes, I know - Valentine's Day was last month.  I'm a month late.  So what?  We had a good time!  I cut the enormous marshmallows in half and had Timothy and Asher glue them on to a heart shape that I drew on a piece of construction paper.  No big deal and they loved it! 

Here's Asher's heart - and NO, I didn't rearrange all of the hearts.  He actually did a really good job on his own!  :)

Here's Timothy's heart:

I had him color inside the heart that I drew first.  Then we put the 'smellas' on. :)

I was trying to think of a way to do the shamrock craft today and remembered that I had a bag of generic fruit loops in my pantry that have been there since last fall.  And I remembered that they are rainbow colored.  SCORE!!  So that's what we did!

Here's Timothy sampling the fruit loops to make sure they are satisfactory.  :)

I'm not sure what Asher was trying to tell me - I think he needs to lay off the fruit loops though.  ;)

Here's Timothy mid-way through.  He's very fastidious about putting the fruit loops on.  His hands are in the air because he got some glue on them and he's rubbing his hands together. 

I love to watch his little hands at work.  He's so careful.

Finished product!  He's so proud and had a good time.



Here's a better shot.  I promised him that tomorrow we'd make rainbows with those same fruit loops.  He helped me make one tonight - his will be fantastic I'm sure!

Blessings,
Missy

What's for Lunch Wednesday



I've missed making bento lunches and posting them here and on WFLW!  Time to get back into the swing of things!

Bologna rolls with string cheese (under the bologna rolls)

Strawberry with flower stem, bluberries with balloon strings and grapes

wheat crackers

I guess this is my version of a 'lunchable'!  Timothy will also have some blueberry applesauce and a drinkable yogurt to round out his lunch.

Check out all the other cute lunches at What's for Lunch Wednesday!

Blessings,

Missy  :)

Valentine's Day cards

So my son Timothy went back to school today after a long 2 week break.  Last week he was sick and the week before...well, just don't get me started.  Let me say this: if you're a mom and you've not had to go advocate for your child yet, just wait.  Momma Bear, Momma Lioness, Momma Bull Elephant will come out and you'll not realize you had it in you.  I had to do just that this week for Timothy and although I'm not pleased with the end result, I am happy he's back at school.

Anyway, *putting that behind me*, I found out today that Thursday will be his class's Valentine's Day party.  He usually doesn't go to school on Thursday because he has therapy.  However, I knew he would be decorating a bag to receive Valentines in from his friends, so I knew we had to have some to pass out.  We may be able to make it to school for the last hour on Thursday, so maybe he'll be able to participate in the passing out and the party part. We'll see.

Me being the way that I am, I didn't WANT to get back out to WalMart and stand around trying to decide what valentines to purchase for Timothy to take to school.  I didn't want the hassle.  Plus, I have drawers FULL of card crafting items that are screaming to be used.  So, I made my own valentines and I think they came out pretty cute!  Timothy helped by gluing the eyes on and stamping his thumb into a heart shape on the back. 

Here are the fronts - there are 5 girls in his class and 7 boys (including him).  I'm sure you can tell which card is for whom, right?  I used pieces of white cardstock that are 4x6 inches, I believe.  I traced the heart shape from a cookie cutter and tied the bows with the swiss dot ribbon, which I stuck on the hearts with a glue dot.  The red squares are 2 1/4 inches, the striped squares are 2 inches and the white rectangle piece is 2 inches x 1/2 inch.  If you can't read it, it says "one of a kind".  I thought that was a nice sentiment for a 3 year old to share with his friends, and plus each heart is different, so it's fitting there too.

I'm having some issue getting this picture turned correctly - sorry.  Anyway, here's the back.  I was going to try and get him to write his own name, but that didn't work.  So instead, I had him stamp his little thumb in a pseudo-heart shape, which I drew a heart around so the kids would know what it was.  :)

It took me just a couple of hours to make 12 cards.  I made them in the time Asher took a nap, which was about 2 hours.  Not too shabby!  And that's even with recutting the squares down a bit because I had made them too large to begin with. 

Preschool Bento

Happy Monday, y'all!!  It has been forever since I've posted.  I got some awesome new bento supplies from my husband for Christmas.  I've been so excited to use them!!

Timothy's lunch for tomorrow is in this round container we got at the Disney Store in Orlando, FL.  It's so cute and it's Timothy's favorite color - green!

 It's packed with leftovers from dinner, which he loves, and some veggies and fruit, which he also loves!  The giraffe fork, the leaf picks and the sauce containers are all new!  :D

Buttered Kluski noodles with Parmesan cheese and baked chicken bites

Cucumber halves and carrots

grapes, blueberries, a blackberry and a halved strawberry

One sauce container with ranch (for the veggies)

One sauce container with ketchup (for the chicken)

He'll also have a mini apple and a yogurt

This is a pretty good sized lunch for my preschooler, but I have a feeling that he'll eat the majority of it! 

Blessings,
Missy

Merry Christmas!

To those of you who have chosen to spend your free time following my blog (ha!), I want to wish you a blessed and Merry Christmas!  Make time this year to celebrate the the One for whom this holiday is all about - Jesus.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Blessings,
Missy

ANOTHER cold, rainy Saturday...

I think this is what the weather is going to do every weekend until the new year here in SE GA.  I'm really bummed about it.  So, in my misery ;) I made lunch bentos!  Well, sort of.  I put them on divided plates, but this is all stuff I'd put into a bento box if I wanted to go that far.  Do these count as bento? 

Counterclockwise from bottom left:

Meat and cheese roll ups with veggie cream cheese

Carrots and cucumber with ranch

bananas, strawberries and grapes

Asher has veggie straws, Timothy has pretzel grids.

Snowflake and star sugar decorations

As of right now, the fruit is gone, the sugar decor is gone (of course), and the pretzels and veggie straws are gone.  Trying to get them to eat their roll ups and raw veggies are a challenge some days.  :)

Blessings,

Missy

Last day of preschool snack bento

Tomorrow is the last day of preschool for Timothy before Christmas break.  His teachers asked that we bring a 'good snack' for him as they're going to have meat and cheese trays, etc, after the school's Christmas program.  No childcare for younger siblings, so we'll see how long Asher and I last at this thing.  :)

Anyway, since I had to send something, might as well be a bento, right?  Timothy's teachers comment so often on his lunches.  "His are so cute!"  "You must get up at 5 to do these, right?"  "We're always excited to see what fun thing he has each day!"  Makes me proud.  :)

Snack bento for Thursday in our new LunchBot Pico box!

Angel hair pasta with butter and parmesan cheese

bologna snowman with cheddar hat, cucumber eyes, carrot nose and red pepper mouth

and mini chocolate chips for buttons

clementine segments and blackberries

blueberries and kiwi in silicone cup

Nestle crunch bell

If you had to eat a snack, wouldn't you want it to be fun like this?  Me too!!

I added this bento to bentolunch.net's What's for Lunch Wednesday? blog.  Check out all the other fun bentos people are making!  So much inspiration in one place!

Blessings,

Missy

Rainy Saturday afternoon Bento snack

It's so cold and rainy here in SE GA.  It's been a dismal day, but we've had a lot of fun crafting reindeer shirts to wear and I've conquered Mt Washmore today, so it's been a great day! :)

We needed a fun snack for this afternoon, especially since in spite of the weather, my boys have played so well together and my little guy had a 2 1/2 hour nap!  :) 

Peppermint Peeps Star

Cup holds Fruit Loops and Oatmeal Square cereals

Half a Hawaiian roll with veggie cream cheese wth turkey and mild cheddar Christmas tree

with red and green Christmas tree sprinkles

Clementine flower with craisin center

They're very quiet right now while enjoying their snack.  But that might be because "The Grinch" is on. 

Blessings,

Missy

Brilliant Ideas

Over at Bento Lunch, Shannon is having a giveaway in conjunction with Chef Boyardee and BlogHer.  She asked "What brilliant idea makes your life run smoother?"

For me, it's having my kitchen cleaned up before bed.  I'm sure many of you do this already, but I spent the first 11 years of marriage not too worried about leaving dirty dishes in the sink overnight.  It didn't bother me too much to wake up to last night's dinner dishes sitting around.  Didn't seem to bother my husband too much either, because he never said anything.

However, with my husband being deployed to Afghanistan this year, and me having to do both mom and dad jobs, I realized that I was getting completely overwhelmed with how the house looked.  To me, the house was a disaster area.  Toys everywhere, messy kitchen, grimy bathrooms.  I knew that my 2 boys (3 and 1) deserved better than what I was giving them.

**Please understand, this was my perception.  My friends who came over never recoiled at the sight of my house and gladly let their children play and use my bathrooms.  We're always harder on ourselves than anyone else would be.

Anyway...

So in August, I decided that the one thing that I needed to do to start getting my house (and my life) back together was to make sure I cleaned up my kitchen each night.  Being in my kitchen is like nirvana to me.  I love being in there, creating and making food for my family.  And I had gotten away from being creative in there because of how messy it was.  So each night, after the kids were in bed, I cleaned up my kitchen.  I even started doing the dishes during the day so it wouldn't be such an overwhelming job at night.  I scrubbed my sink.  I wiped all the counters down.  I even made sure I put the dishes away that I had washed and put the drying mat back in the drawer.  I left nothing out on the counters except the few things I chose to stay out (coffee pot, paper towel holder, bread box, utensil holder, etc).

And do you know what I've learned?  Keeping the kitchen clean spills over into the rest of the house.  Now, I don't keep everything dusted or scrubbed like I should, but each evening, the boys help me put all the toys and books away, I run my swiffer on my wood floors a bit more often, and I wipe off the sinks in the bathrooms, too. 

This has been a lifesaver for me since my husband deployed because it brings me a sense of peace each night before bed and each morning when I get up.  With a clean kitchen, I feel like I can conquer the day...well, and a big cup of coffee in my hand doesn't hurt either.  :)

If you'd like to enter this contest, check out Shannon's blog (link at the top) and tell her what brilliant idea makes your life run smoother.  If you stop and think, I bet you'll think of more than one!

Blessings,
Missy 

So unexpected...

Where we live, we're about 40 minutes away from 'town'.  We live in a small town in SE Georgia where my husband works as an Army Chaplain at the post here.  One of the surprises of this town is that there's a large health food store here.  They have a juice bar and cafe inside, in addition to all the kinds of things that you would expect to find in a health food store. 

I went in to get some fruit leather because I've bought it there before and it's really good stuff.  I also went in to see if they carried veggie straws, because the bag that I bought and blogged about last week is gone.  Gone.  The boys and I finished it in 3 days. 

I found the fruit leather and was happy to find some veggie straws.  With my goodies in one hand and my toddler in my arms, I started toward the register when THIS caught my eye:

 I couldn't believe it.  Here...in my little town....is something that I'd only seen online.  I never thought that I'd ever lay my hands on one of these.  It seemed untouchable, like only serious bento makers have these.  (Ok, so I'm exaggerating)  :)

I picked it up and noticed this is the Pico size - the snack size lunchbot.  They also had the Duo size, the one larger than this.  The saleswoman was standing there with me and I exclaimed: "YOU HAVE LUNCHBOTS?!"  Ok, I didn't yell at her, but the decible level was louder than a normal talking voice.  She said, yes, and she thought they had others in the back.  She showed me that they had 2 more Duo size, but I picked this one.  It was calling to me.

Seriously, I can't believe that I found this in our little town.  It really seemed that it was unattainable other than online, and I don't like online shopping.  I have to be able to pick things up and touch them and carry them around for awhile before I purchase them.

This is the niftiest little container.  I love that it's stainless steel, I love that it's shiny, I love that the top is yellow.  I love that it's small enough to carry around and it holds enough food for my toddler.  He had his morning snack in it today when we got home.  

This is a typical snack for Asher - meat on picks, string cheese cut up and veggie straws.  He devoured all of it but maybe 5 straws.  Even silicone baking cups fit inside.  That is a definite plus.

The only thing about it is that it's not leakproof.  The packaging says so, so no applesauce, pudding, yogurt, etc unless it's in it's own container.  The Lunchbot is weighty because of the stainless steel, but it's not so heavy that it's hard to carry around.  My 15 month old carried it around and had no problems. 

Do any of you have a Lunchbot box?  What size do you have and what are your favorite things about it?  What do you pack in it? I'm always needing new ideas for lunches/snacks.  Is there a size you wish you owned but don't?  Share with me!!

I love this box.  I'm excited that I found it here in my little town.  I'm going to have to save up to get the Duo size.  Maybe if I'm good, Santa will bring me one! :)

Blessings,

Missy 

*Disclaimer - All opinions are mine.  I've not been reimbursed for this blog post.  I like what I found and want you to know about it.  Lunchbots have no idea who I am.  I'm just some small town mom looking for fun things to pack her sons lunches in.  :)

New lunch box and another Fun Food Find!

So, a few weeks ago, Shannon at Bentolunch.net shared that gilt.com was having a nifty sign up special.  If you registered with them, they'd give you a $20 credit to your account.  She told us about it, because they were offering Goodbyn Lunchboxes on the site, and with your $20 credit +tax, you could get one for about $3.00.  Sounded good to me, so I ordered one.  I wasn't expecting it until after Dec. 22, but I got an email over the weekend that told me it was on its way!  Oh joy!

I hate to even mention the deal at gilt.com because it's already over.  Sorry.  :(

When we arrived home this afternoon, it was at our front door!  :)

We ripped open the box and took a look.  I got the blue one and Timothy loves it.  Here's what came inside.

It comes with stickers to decorate the outside.  Timothy immediately wanted to take the stickers and stick them one to another, because that's what he does with all his stickers.  I told him we'd use them to decorate his lunch box later.  :)

It also comes with a reusable drink bottle, which Timothy carried around for 30 minutes before he released it long enough for me to wash it.

This thing is HUGE.  I imagined it would be deep, but seriously, it will hold A LOT of food.  More than my preschooler could ever eat in one sitting, but I don't think that will deter him in the least from carrying it to school. 

Here's a shot of a 'standard' size banana (is there such a thing?).  It fit in the top portion, and another could sit on top of that and still have plenty of room to put the top on.

He wanted to eat his dinner from it, so here's what he had.  What you see is pretty much what he would take for lunch on any given day.  You can see that it nowhere near comes to filling up the box.  But that's the beauty of the Goodbyn - the lid completely separates each section, so nothing would leak, even if I opened that container of mandarin oranges and dumped it into a section.  That's pretty cool in my book.

From the top L corner, going clockwise:

Christmas tree shaped cucumber and carrot sticks with ranch, gingerbread marshmallows,

mandarin oranges with fork, water bottle, string cheese and pretzel grids,

 ham and turkey picks with Christmas tree shaped cheddar

Timothy did end up having to sit on his knees at the table to eat tonight, simply because he couldn't see inside the Goodbyn to know where everything was.  That's the only 'downer' I have about this thing.  I'm so glad I purchased it and am looking forward to getting the one that I won the other day from The Goodbyn Girls.  :)

I found these at WalMart today for a dollah. 

They are too cute and too fun.  Timothy had 4 in his Goodbyn at dinner and ate them right up.  Asher had 4, then I snuck him a few extra after Timothy left the table.  Don't tell him.  ;)

I hesitated about getting them because I was getting them for the boys and they can be kind of picky about stuff like this.  I had some fruit flavored marshmallows once (yuk!).  Timothy wouldn't eat them, but Asher didn't care.  I shouldn't have worried about these gingerbread ones.  No cajoling, no begging, no pleading with them to eat them and not make me regret spending $1 on them.  They'll be gone before Christmas, I'm sure.

Blessings,

Missy

*Disclaimer - this blog post is strictly my opinion about Goodbyn Lunchboxes and Jet Puffed Gingerbread Marshmallows.  I wasn't sent anything in the mail to try.  I bought all of these things myself.  They don't have any idea who I am, but Goodbyn and Jet Puffed, if you're reading and need someone to try something out, I'm your girl!  Call me...we'll talk.  :)