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