First Movie Monday 6/17

Movie Monday!

I am super excited to share with all of you our first Movie Monday!

My printer didn't have color ink but you get the idea! We featured Cars today! 

Breakfast: Luigi's Tower of Tires (Skewered mini chocolate Donuts) and Guido Grapes.

Lunch: Turkey & Swiss Sandwich with string cheese, cut veggies, and juice.

Dinner: Dinner Salad with Tomatoes, chicken, and milk with a couple drops of blue and red food coloring.

Dessert: Oranges with grapes pinned with toothpicks for tires. 

For our craft we took a plain old cardboard box and my daughter covered it in stickers! She drew her inside features including a steering wheel, heater vent, radio buttons, and pedals. The outside we used small yellow paper plates from the dollar store for the headlights and larger black paper plates for tires. 

After she finished eating, she pretended to drive the car with noises and everything! 

Over the weekend we had fun too! Saturday we hit the State Park and she took a 2 hour hike! Sunday we had a BBQ at her Great Grandma's House to celebrate her Great Aunt's Birthday. She had a bouncy good time on the trampoline with her cousins. 

Tomorrow we hit the park and have our fingers crossed that the splash pad is on! If not she'll still have a good time playing at the park. :) Next week for Monday we're featuring Tangled. Keep a watch out!

Summer!

Hello to all my fabulous readers!

This isn't a lunch posting, and I am sure you have all noticed that I haven't posted any in quite some time. This is very much regrettable and it isn't from not making lunches or not wanting to post. There were things that I would rather keep private that prevented me from really being able to throw myself into postings. I hope that people were able to get great information and tons of ideas from what was available. We are in our last week of school here and I am looking forward to summer!

This does not mean a lack of postings! :)

I am looking forward to shifting gears and posting about all the fantastic food, activities, and events we are participating in this summer. Just because we're no longer in school doesn't mean that we are no longer making meals or trying to plan things with our kids! In fact, I feel that there is a larger emphasis on plans to keep our children healthy, happy, and engaged. I for one do not want my child's brain turning to mush over the summer and see her just sitting on her butt day after day.

The title for these plans is not mine, I borrowed it. My daughter was watching ''Judy Moody and the the Not Bummer Summer" the other day and it just jumped out at me. So I have entitled my plans ''The Not Bummer Summer''. So thank you and credit to Megan McDonald the author of the book! However, I am coming up with some fantastic ideas that are fun, inexpensive, and relatively easy in most cases.

Here are some of my "Not Bummer Summer" rules.

1. There must be at least one hour of outside activity, daily. [This could be riding a bike, going for a walk, blowing bubbles, drawing with chalk, jump rope, or even dragging the dolls outside to play instead of doing it on the living room floor. This means unplugging completely and going outside].

2. We will participate in the Summer Reading Program through our library. [To me, reading is a pivotal skill for any person. While my daughter is just learning to read I want to select some easy readers for her to start practicing with as well as continue to read to her.]

3. We will more or less stick to the school time schedule. [I don't know about all of you, but I don't like the transition that happens at the start of a new school year, trying to get kicked back into gear and on schedule. So, while sometimes we'll stay up late or sleep in. I plan to, in general, keep the same schedule.]

4. Have fun! [I've got lots of neat stuff planned so stay tuned!]


So, while I am doing all this planning of things to do with my daughter I also have other things going on. 1. I am planning her end of the summer ''mario themed'' birthday party. 2. I am planning my November "Doctor Who" wedding and; 3. I am continuing efforts to get into better shape. So you'll also get to hear about all of these things as well.

Then at the end of the summer we will gear up for all those packed lunches again! Plus you'll get to see all our summer food goodies, packed lunches (we will still pack them sometimes), activities, and other planning! It'll be great fun and I look forward to hearing feedback from all of you on it!

My first big planning project has been "Movie Monday" which will happen every Monday and include an entire day of themed food and at least one themed activity related to the movie. I've got ten of them planned so far including Tangled, Monster's Inc, Cars, The Little Mermaid, 101 Dalmatians, Tinkerbell, Brave, Lion King, The Princess and the Frog, Toy Story, and Shrek. Not necessarily in that order! I look forward to sharing with you the menu's and everything we will be doing every Monday of summer (starting next Monday!).

Also if you haven't already, feel free to follow me on pinterest! There you will find TONS of pins for food of all kinds, exercise ideas, motivationals, humor, kids ideas, Wedding pins, and even get sneak peaks and some of the inspiration for my not bummer summer activities! So if you're one of those people that likes to find out first, feel free to check it out! http://pinterest.com/xbloomerbrigade/boards/

One Hundred!!!

Day One Hundred!

I mentioned a few posts ago that I was re-evaluating my milk decision in my home. At this point that I was thinking that I would sample some different things. I bought some whole milk, which while is still milk from a cow is less processed (from my understanding) than 1% milk. I'm still considering if I will stick with cows milk at all for health and ethical reasons that I am considering. We are also trying Almond milk, which has been a gigantic success! I even got some individuals almond milks for K's lunches while I was at the store (after I noticed that they were out of my normal organic milk). I am also excited about some new silicon cups! I have only had the plain red silicon cups that you have all seen in several lunches, but now, I have butterflies!

IN THIS LUNCH: Turkey & Swiss Roll Ups, Pretzels, Deviled Egg, Cranberry Sauce w/ orange zest, and a Chocolate Almond Milk. 

Honestly, I will probably make this lunch for myself tomorrow! It looked so yummy! K doesn't know that I used the new butterfly cups so I am excited to see her reaction when she sees it in there! This was sort of a ''thanksgiving'' lunch. Turkey, Cranberry Sauce, and deviled eggs are all things that are staples at our Thanksgiving. I wanted to have this Thanksgiving themed lunch to celebrate my 100th blog post. I am really grateful to still be going strong!  I'm also thankful to be in such a happy place, to have a happy wonderful child, an amazing Fiancé and relationship, and that school is going well. I am also grateful for my future mother-in-law, who has really partnered with me in getting healthy. I really love that I am not going it alone, and have found something that I think I can commit to for exercise, Zumba! If you love to dance and haven't tried it, I recommend it! I ended up burning almost 1600 calories in my hour at Zumba the other day! I'm feeling really good about going out and trying to get more fit.

What are some things that you are thankful for? (You don't just have to think about it on Thanksgiving! :P)

Happy Packing!

Ninety-Nine: Hot Lunch

Day Ninety-Nine

Wow, I can't believe I am so close to my 100th posting! I have been at this for several months now and I didn't think I would ever get to this point with the blog! I appreciate all the lovely people that watch for my posts, read, and comment. You are all wonderful! I hope that my posting does something to improve your day, give you some lunch inspiration, or gave you something to think about!

 

IN THIS LUNCH: Annie's Organic Bunnies & Cheese, Peas, 4 Organic Grape Tomatoes, 1 serving of Barbara's Bakery Chocolate Chip Snackimals (which are a non-GMO certified, 100% All Natural, With No Artificial colors, preservatives, or flavors), and a flavored water. 

K has really been hounding me for a hot lunch. She has had very very few hot meals since I started packing her lunches in September, so here was my effort at doing that for her (it was mac n cheese day at school, so I wanted her to have a better version of what they are having). 

What are some of the treats you like to sneak into the box once in a while? 

Happy Packing!

Ninety-Eight: Eggy

Day Ninety-Eight

So, K is in Preschool. It was so odd having a report card come home. My very first report card for my daughter. I don't know what it is about it that really just, hits you. Wow, I am a parent...and wow, my kid is growing up! I don't know, one of those weird moments that you just don't think about coming and them BAM. You are on the receiving end of your child's very first report card. Haha, what can I say? I am sentimental and I miss her being a baby sometimes.

IN THIS LUNCH: 1/2 Banana, 4 Organic Grape Tomatoes, Avocado pieces, Homemade Egg Salad, Annie's Organic Saltine Crackers, and a Fruit Falls Flavored Water. 

I had planned out the whole lunch except the avocado which was a request of K while I was packing. Figured what the heck and tossed some in. I got to use my Nude Food Movers again! I was so stoked to have an excuse to use some containers that didn't get much play before I brought the Ziploc Divided Containers home. If you missed the review I did on the product feel free to check it out! Food Movers Review 

What was the hard hitting, "Oh my god my baby is growing up" moment for you? 

Happy Packing!

Ninety-Seven: An Apple a Day

Day Ninety-Seven

Another lunch bites the dust! She ate all but a few of the roasted chickpeas. I didn't think that was too bad at all. :) Today she indicated that she would like a little less food, that she didn't think she would be very hungry today. I don't know how she could foresee that, but I obliged.

IN THIS LUNCH: Apple Sandwich w/ Sunflower Butter & Raisins, Cheese Stick, Annie's Organic Saltines, and an Organic Chocolate Milk. 

This is definitely a bit lighter than what she has been getting since she has been saying she is so hungry for the last week, culminating in two of her largest meals. When I was putting together this lunch, I had planned to have the raisins on the side. When K saw me making her lunch she cocked her head to the side and asked if I would be putting the raisins on her sandwich. I told her no. Then she asked if I would. So, now the raisins that had been planned to be on the side, are now on the sandwich.

I like that now she has started experimenting with her food and trying new things and new combinations!

What are some of the experimentation your children like doing with their food?

Happy Packing!

Ninety-Six: Outside Input

Day Ninety-Six

Well, delightfully K did not come home complaining of hunger after her big lunch yesterday! I really am glad because sometimes I wonder where she is hiding all that food she is eating! (I suspect hollowed out legs, haha). At any rate today's lunch had some requests from the little princess herself. I have been trying to incorporate some of her choices whenever possible. I want her to learn to make good choices and to feel like she has some control over her lunches.

IN THIS LUNCH: 3 Organic Grape Tomatoes, 1 cheese stick, roasted chickpeas, whole grain goldfish, peaches, and some leftover cut up chicken (leftovers). 

K had requested the roasted chickpeas and the goldfish. Since she didn't need a full serving of both I just gave her a little of each. She has really been enjoying the cheese sticks so so asked for another, and she had been a big fan of the chicken from dinner the night before so I chose to incorporate it.

Do you let your children have input on the lunch menu?

Happy Packing!