Monthly Archives: August 2011

Munchin’ Lunch.

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My two least favorite tasks? Unloading the dishwasher and making lunches. Both of which I usually end up doing while making my coffee in the morning. Hmm…maybe that has something to do with why I hate both of these chores? I haven’t had my coffee yet!

At any rate, Emma has decided that she really wants to take her lunch every day because the 3rd graders can eat outside on the patio if they bring their lunches. Coupled with the fact that I very easily fall into a rut (I think the girls got the same lunch for a week straight at the end of last year!), this could be the start of a very long year of making sandwiches.

Then I was inspired by Jen over at iheartorganizing and her very cool lunch packing organizational skills. So this weekend I did a whole bunch of prep work that will hopefully make the morning lunch making a little easier. I still won’t be making amazing lunches like Lisa, but having everything all ready made might at least give the girls a little variety and grant Mama a little sanity.

So I set up a tray in the snack drawer…

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Granola bars, Grahamy Samys, Fruit Mash-ups, mandarin oranges and snack-size baggies of crackers, Pirate’s Booty and pretzels.

And I did the same in the fridge.

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Hard-boiled eggs (the girls LOVE them!), yogurts, string cheese, more little containers of fruit – these are leftover berries mixed up as a little fruit salad.

And, one in the veggie drawer in the fridge…

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Carrot sticks, cut-up celery, cherry tomatoes, little containers of hummus and ranch.

I’ve bought a few of the Ziploc brand bento box containers and I also got a set of these EasyLunchboxes from Amazon.

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The girls would much rather have a Lunch-able type lunch than a sandwich. So I end up making cheese/crackers and lots of “dippables.” Thankfully they love hummus and yogurt which make good dips and these trays fit into their lunchboxes perfectly.

The only sandwich that they really do love are these Uncrustables that I made the mistake of buying last year. They are crazy convenient, you keep them in the freezer, throw them in the lunch and they unthaw by lunch time. BUT, they don’t have whole wheat ones, and they really aren’t that great on the nutritional scale.

So, I also made our own Uncrustables today.

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I think we have settled on the Sara Lee 100% whole wheat bread. It is soft and doesn’t have any seeds or grains in it, so the girls are happy – it is made from 100% whole wheat and doesn’t have any HFCs, so I’m happy. I peanut-buttered both sides of the bread so the jelly wouldn’t seep through. I get to control the type of peanut butter and the jelly (BTW – this Smuckers Low Sugar Jelly? It is amazingly good and smells so grap-a-licious! Yum.) and then I even cut them like the uncrustables.

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I decided to leave the crusts on, to help them freeze a little better, this way they can peel them off and have the cool cut-outs. And if the girls are really hungry, they’ll eat the crusts, too!  So I bagged each sandwich up in a Ziploc separately and then stacked them all back into the bread wrapper for extra protection and put ’em in the freezer.

It feels pretty good to have the entire week of lunches all ready to go!


—Updated—

Heavenly. This morning I made both lunches in under five minutes. They have a pb&j sammie, frozen yogurt tube (it is going to be hot today, so I figure both of them will still be cold by lunchtime), grapes, carrots and a smores “treat.” After I did this post last night I found a little mix of golden grahams cereal, mini choco chips, & mini marshmallows. A little bit of a sweet treat. So I made up a batch of that and a pile of of snack-sized bags ready to go.

I literally just grabbed two of everything popped them into their lunchboxes and zipped up.

AND…I sat down and had my coffee and something to eat with the girls. (No dishwasher to unload this morning – thanks to a lovely dinner with Jeff and JB last night.) The easy grab snacks are making me eat better as well because that is what I reach for when I am hungry. I’m telling you…this is life-changing!

Summer Lovin’.

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Just before all that Back-To-School stuff happened this week, we had to have one more summer fling. This is my new fave pic of Roses – the sandy cheeks get me every time.

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Gracie hasn’t quite been herself all week, but we decided her summer haircut is a great beach ‘do – so much easier to get all the sand out.

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And there was a lot of sand castles because the water was still a little chilly…apparently.

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But the cold water didn’t stop the big girls…

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…or stop them from working up an appetite.

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Addie found a new favorite big kid…

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and we all loved sharing one last summer afternoon filled with sun and good friends.

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First Day.

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We had what the girls like to call “opposite day” around here yesterday. I think that is the fun(!) of parenting, right? Just when you think you have it kinda figured out – along comes something and knocks you down a peg or two and you are just left standing thinking, “Huh? So that is what we are doing now? Well…ok then.”

Anyone who knows the girls at all (or has been hanging around here long enough) understands that as alike as Em and Ad might be on some things, they can be the complete opposites on others. Attitude toward school, has always been one of those things. Emma has always enjoyed and looked forward to school and Addie protests the very thought of it.  (Cue the dramatic music…)

And then, there was our first day yesterday.

Emma has a little bit of a summer cold and wasn’t feeling all that hot on Tuesday, so she slept most of the day away and didn’t want to eat anything, she kept telling me her tummy hurt. Well, her best friend is not in her class this year. It was a mere blip on the radar Monday when the girls looked over the class lists. We figured it would be epic meltdown, but they actually seemed okay with all of it. We commended them on not being disappointed and told them “it must be because you are THIRD graders now.” BUT when Emma got up yesterday morning she was not at all her usual enthusiastic self.

“My tummy hurts because I’m nervous.” – Yes, sometimes it is a little scary to do something we are not comfortable with, but I think you might just be excited, too.

“I’m nervous because I don’t know half of the class.” – But you do know all of the third graders and the other five girls are all in your Girl Scout troop! (She is in a 3/4 split class.)

“But I don’t know the teacher.” – But you didn’t know Mrs. P. last year either!

“But she is a FIFTH grade teacher!” – Almost all teachers have to be able to teach all different grades. She was a fifth grade teacher, but now she teaches third and fourth!

“But…but…but…”

And so our first day photos…well, she looks very much like she was feeling…apprehensive at best.

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And then we have Addison (thegirlwhodoesn’teverwanttogotoschool) Rose. At 6:45am yesterday I opened my eyes because I could feel her standing there staring at me and she was fully dressed complete with an attempted hair brushing and she whispers, “Morning’ Mama! It is the first day of school. I’m a FIRST GRADER! I’m ready to go see Mrs. K. I want to pick her some flowers. Did you know we get desks? DESKS?!”

Yes. Good morning. Ok, then.

And every single photo I have of her on her first day of school has THIS smile on it.

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She was beyond excited. She ran to her classroom. She eagerly handed over her flowers and a hug to Mrs. K. and all was right with the world.

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In the end it was a perfect day for everyone.

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Emma likes her teacher but has told me at least 5 times that she is “very strict. Nice, but very strict.”  (Which is all fine and good with J. and I!)  This morning there were no second guessing going to school, she was ready and happy. And Addie’s enthusiasm hasn’t waned either, although she comes home from school EX-haaausted. Which is also fine and good.

I think they are in for a great year. But I still can’t believe they are third and first graders!

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Crafty Tuesday

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Hey Crafty girls and boys. This might be the quickest CT post, ever. Just wanted to show you what we are working on and why I totally missed last week’s CT.

T-shirts!

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We did tees for the entire PTA board and a few for the office staff. So 20-ish tees.

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The cougar paw is cut from fabric (by our lovely Eva – aka our Silhouette) and appliqued on the front. And then Eva cut the sleeve text out of flocked vinyl. Nice!

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We got rave reviews on them and I think we might be making many more of them in the near future. Right now I am trying to get the girls ready for school. Tomorrow. Tomorrow!!

Hello? (tap, tap, tap) This thing on?

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So it has been pretty dark around our corner of the blogosphere lately, hasn’t it? We are still here, in case you might be wondering. Or maybe you haven’t even thought of us and our whereabouts because you have been so busy soaking up the last few weeks of summer, too!

The girls start back to school on Wednesday, this Wednesday, as in IN.THREE.SHORT.DAYS.WEDNESDAY! The backpacks have been packed and ready to go for the past two weeks, we have “first day of school” outfits picked and laid out, and we’ve almost exhausted our summer to-do list. Yes, I think we are all more than a little bit ready for school to start.

So what else have we been doing while we are waiting for school to start? Well, when we arrived home after our trip, we were surprised to be greeted with a jungle in place of what used to be Addie’s garden.

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The pumpkins and watermelons are taking over. They’ve covered the stone path and wound their way up the rain gutters. And the tomatoes. Oh.My.Tomatoes!

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When life gives you this many tomatoes…

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…you make lots of caprese salad, bruschetta, and gazpacho! Just one bowl of this delicious cold soup makes you feel instantly healthier.

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All I did was threw a bunch of tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, salt and pepper in the blender, and then stirred in some chunks of cucumbers, onions and more tomatoes, and then chill. Serve with some baguette toasts and it is a delicious hot weather dinner.

We also were pleasantly surprised when we lifted up a leaf in the garden and found this…

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A nice, big, fat zucchini! Which made a few batches of really great muffins.

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They were also very good. I’m working on finding a good muffin recipe since the girls really like breakfast muffins. This recipe has flaxseed in it, which is always good for…well, good for things. But the recipe has a lot of butter so I’m going to try it this week with some applesauce and see how that works. I’ll keep you posted once we hit the winning muffin.

Besides all this foodie stuff, Em finished up her book club – they went to the Huntington Garden and had lunch in the “Secret” children’s garden. Such a great group of girls – and little sisters!

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The girls did a week of CATZ camp (which is essentially a bunch of fun conditioning/training games to get them ready for fall sports and swimming) last week which wore them out. We had some very exhausted girls. Tomorrow we are hitting the beach for one last bit of sand between our toes before school is officially in and we have been breaking our new patio furniture in every chance we get. Breakfast tastes better outdoors. Everything tastes better when you eat it outside.

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Clearly we have been pretty concentrated on food around here lately. Maybe it is because we all had physicals and eye exams and I found that I need to take better care of myself. I always felt like I was doing a decent job, but apparently I need to put a little bit more effort into it. Or maybe…I’m just getting old. I guess it could be that, too. My doctor put me on a vitamin cocktail to raise my white blood count and platelet level, and not even a day later, the optometrist told me I need glasses. Rough week for this 39-year old.

But I figure once the girls are back in school I can resume my workout schedule and maybe get into a better meal-planning groove as well.

Yes…three days. But who’s counting?

Vacation Part Deux – Michigan.

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We continued our vacation and headed on up to Michigan from Orlando. Yes, I realize it does not make for a very intuitive vacation. But as I was looking at airfare and trying to decide if we were going to get to go see family in Michigan or not, it was actually cheaper (a lot cheaper!) to do a crazy little three-legged jag than to try and do two separate trips. And since we were also running low on “summertime,” it seemed like a brilliant idea to do the combo.

Yes, brilliant. Except for the fact that we started part two of our vacation running low on energy…very tired. But we powered through and even managed to visit Greenfield Village. Daddy was very excited to take the girls to the Village since he hadn’t been since grade school. I thought I had been there, but decided that I most definitely hadn’t been on that side of the museum before. It was incredibly cool – like literally stepping back in time.

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And the gardens. Addie and I totally geeked out on all of the amazing flowers in every single garden.

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Both of the girls were enraptured with the Laura Ingalls show.

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And they got to try their hands at making candles, too.

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When we couldn’t take any more fun, we hauled it back and spent a little time with family, and cats. Yes, there is a new cat in Addie’s life. Nena’s kitten, Mini.

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Poor, poor Mini. Addie was obsessed with her. I’m certain the cat sighed a huge sigh of relief the minute Addie left the state.

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Nana also taught the girls how to knit…well Em picked it up at least. She was going gangbusters on the plane, but I don’t think she has touched it since then.

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And we spent a little time in Nana & Papa’s pool. Well, the girls did and I tried desperately to get a good cousins pic. I got this… (almost! so close!)

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And this one…(it isn’t toooo bad although no one is looking in the same spot!)

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Or how about this one…(Ella!!)

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Gee, I wonder who Ella gets it from?

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I was pretty psyched to get this shot with the littlest Newman. You can hardly tell that I had to grab him and hold tight until we got the photo!

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Despite the fun…

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And loving the family time…

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I think we were all happy to touch down in California, back on the west coast baby.

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Family vacation 2011 under our belt. On to next year!

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Vacation Part 1 – Orlando.

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Oh, I had to get that last post down. Not that my heart isn’t still hurting but at some point I do want to document the rest of our vacation, too.

I didn’t (as I know some of you noticed!) blog at all while we were on vacation. I did a sort of facebook photo blog of sorts and I finally got all the rest of my photos up on flickr. And now after a recovery week from our vacation, it is already kind of hard to remember some parts of our few weeks. I did have a flashback tonight – when J. made us pina coladas -back to the pool of the Polynesian. Mmmm…but for the most part, I am just happy to be home and cranking on our next adventure.

So a few favorite pics and memories from part one of our vacation – Orlando.

Our view from our hotel room in the morning…
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And in the evening…

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The Polynesian ended up being a great resort for us. When J. had to do stuff for work (oh, yeah! Daddy actually was there to work for some of our “vacation!”), the girls and I could easily take the ferry to the Magic Kingdom, or the monorail straight to Epcot. Plus the atmosphere put us right back in Hawaii, so it was like two vacations in one.

Surprisingly Epcot seemed to be the favorite park in our family. The girls really loved Test Track, Nemo and visiting all of the countries.

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Although the safari at Animal Kingdom was pretty eye-opening as well.

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And the girls were mesmerized by Magic Kingdom…it is so similar to Disneyland but so much bigger! Here Em was giving Ad a little boost to check out the differences in the Pirates ride.

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And this may be the first photo of Addie with a character, ever. Usually she is terrified of going up to them, but for Pooh she made a definite exception.

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We had a great time and the weather cooperated most of the time, too. And when it got too hot, we just popped back to the pool. Another perk of the Polynesian – the volcano waterslide!

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But we also visited that “other” park in Orlando. Why? When we have all that Disney could offer at our fingertips? Because Disney doesn’t have Harry Potter World.

Oh. My. Magic Wand. It is most awesome. We were reading Harry Potter (the first book) as a family and finished it right before we left on vacation. So we made the pilgrimage to the motherland.

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The Hogwarts ride is by far the best ride/rollercoaster I have ever been on in my life. It is that good. Emma disagreed, however, and didn’t want to go on it a second time with me.

We did share a butterbeer, though, which was equally as awesome in her eyes.

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The whole Diagon Alley is pretty amazing with lots of good stuff to see and do.

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It was a packed and fun vacation as the tired expressions on Thing 2 can tell you…

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While Thing 1 rested up for the second half of the trip…

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Stay tuned for the second half of the trip coming up – Michigan.

My Heart Is Still Hurting.

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I think it has been very hard to get back into the swing of things this week. Besides the fact that re-entry into reality after a trip is always hard for me, we were thrown a complete curve ball while we were on vacation as well.

One of my very best friends in high school passed away while we were in Orlando. He was only 38 years old. I cannot even begin to explain the emotions I felt as I heard about the complications from (what should have been) a very routine surgery, and the agony of waiting for the final call. I’m still having difficulty putting it all into words, which as most of you know, isn’t usually a problem for me.

Thankfully we were already cramming a few days on to the end of our trip to stop in Michigan. This allowed J. and I a chance to join in the memorial with some of our high school friends, and gave us an opportunity to remember and share stories about our dear friend. I thought that the evening was very cathartic and I actually was feeling better – a little bit less in shock.

But now we are home. I’ve since dug out old photos, scrapbooks and yearbooks and now – I’m sad all over again. He was so incredibly smart. He was everyone’s friend. He was one of the kindest, most caring guys I have ever met. He always had a smile, hug and word of encouragement for everyone in his path. And now I’m angry with myself for not trying to make time to see him when he was in LA a few months ago. I’m mad that the hospital could be so inept and careless. And I’m furious that he was taken from us so soon. He was really so special.

And the worst part? I mean besides the fact that he is no longer here, the worst part was talking with his mom. Now that I’m a mother, I cannot for the life of me understand how someone “goes on” after something like this. How you lose a child and continue on in this life without them? My heart breaks for her.

So two things. Now I’m determined to tell my friends and family every chance I get how much they mean to me. I know it is always said, “Don’t take life for granted – you never know what tomorrow might bring,” but there is nothing like a wake-up call like this to remind you.

And also, I admired Michael for figuring out what he believed in, what was best for him and his world, and for choosing to live his life to the fullest. He didn’t live the way he was “expected” to, and he didn’t act how someone wanted him to act. I’m figuring out how I can do this in my own life. See, even though he isn’t here with us, I’m still learning from him.

I miss you, Mikey. Rest in peace.

(Mikey and I worked on the local newspaper together and apparently we always had cameras up to our faces – we have VERY few good pics of us back then. Hmmm…still sounds a bit familiar. At least the digital age has brought us a little better photo quality!)

Crafty Tuesday

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I’m a little late on this one, and the only reason I even have a post today is that I found these pics of a few projects I did right before we left on vacation and so I actually have something to put up!

First up, we needed some more supercapes for two little guys.

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I went with the ol’ standby – royal blue with red. I love how sharp the capes look.

Next, I had another oldie but goodie pillowcase dress that had a beautiful crocheted trim at the bottom, but otherwise was kind of plain. So I added an owl to it to “cute-en” it up.

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And since it was for a little Lucie, we put a little “L” on it too…so she would know it was hers.

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This week I’m concentrating on getting some t-shirts done for our PTA board and by goodness…I’m going to finish my June birthdays! Happy Crafting.

Recovering.

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We most definitely need a vacation from our vacation, we are a little bit exhausted over here.

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I have a ton of photos to get up and even more stories that I’d love to tell, but let’s be honest here, it probably isn’t going to happen – at least not any time in the near future.

As you probably noticed, there wasn’t a lot of blogging happening around here while we were on vacation. I did however do a little bit of photo blogging using Instagram. But, if you aren’t following me or a friend on facebook then you wouldn’t have known that now would you? Maybe I’ll try to get my stream of pics up here later, then again…maybe not.

All that I know is there are a few things that I really need to do this week, and who knows…they probably might not get done either. I just need a few days to recover and get my head back in the game. We will see you back here soon….or maybe we won’t?