Photo ops

uh oh, someone was not listening to mommy......

LOVE that cheesey smile!

so excited!

maxing and relaxing on the medicine ball....

who loves the camera?!

School Break

Wow, its been a while since I have posted on my blog!
We had February vacation last week and although it is NOT my favorite of the school breaks (weather always sucks), we had a good week.
It wasn't a busy, running around with lots of things planned out of the house, vacation, but everyone got along well (for the most part) and they are still around to talk about it!
I have to admit that it is a challenge to keep a 2 year old, 4 year old and 13 year old happy together for a week.......somehow, it was accomplished.

~Arts and Crafts (tons)
~made forts out of blankets (informed me that they were shipwrecked on a deserted island)
~we cooked together
~the kids made a band with the boy's many, many instruments
~movies on the couch (cuddled up with snacks)
~lots of books
~hanging out in our pj's
~singing, dancing and craziness!!!

We got out of the house for some errands, but that was it, the rest of the time we used our creative energy and imagination at home and had fun!
It was nice to not have any of the many appointments that we usually have during the week.

I do have to say that I did not have a second to myself between keeping busy with the kids, changing Em's butt, feeding the kids, cleaning up the disasters we created (the kids helped, but I did the bulk), dishes, laundry, whatever else was going on and then work......not a break or vacation for me!! It was wayyyyyy more than my usual load of chores and on top of that, my parents spent the weekend in NJ visiting my brother.......we had their 2 crazy dogs too!

So, despite having to wake up at the butt crack of dawn again with the boy, I am relieved to get back on track with my familiar routine.

Uninspired

I am simply not feeling the blog this week.
I am hoping for a quick recovery of my creative energy.......where did it go??

Happy Valentines Day

Bento

Bento boxes are Japanese lunchboxes that have many small compartments to separate the food and make the lunch look really pretty. There is much more to the origin of bento, if you are interested check here .

There are so many ways to adapt this, it is a fun, creative way to pack lunches. Even when I am home, I like to make them for the girls because they love them!

It is so easy to make balanced meals and because it looks so neat, the kids will eat it all. I use cookie cutters to cut shapes into sandwiches, cheese, raw vegetables....pretty much whatever can be cut. I just save the leftover scraps for salad or I eat what is left from a sandwich. Its fun to make wraps with turkey and cheese.....roll and cut it like sushi, the girls love that! You can also take regular pb & j on wheat, use a rolling pin to flatten it out, trim off the crusts, roll and cut like sushi....fun!

I tend to use our leftovers from dinner and add them into the bento lunches. Cold chicken and cold pasta tastes yummy! Hard boiled eggs, raw veggies w/ ranch, fruit, cheese, crackers are all big hits with us! Some people get really exotic, but I have semi-picky eaters!!

There are some really cool bento boxes out there, they are just expensive (I am going to ask my brother to pick me up some hello kitty bento boxes when he is in Japan, because they are so cheap there!).
So, because I don't want to pay a ridiculous amount of money, I have used what I have in the house.... covered food storage containers and silicone cupcake cups (I like square, but any shape works).
The Tupperware sandwich keepers are awesome for this, they fit 4 cupcake cups perfectly, they seal nicely and are easy for the girls to open!
It seems like the portions are small, but in reality, they are the right size for a child.
I use larger containers for Chris and DJ (when DJ doesn't buy lunch, he prefers hot lunch) and they work out fine too. These all fit perfectly with an ice pack in those small sized 6 pack beverage coolers that open from the top (so the food doesn't slip around)....I actually grabbed a couple at the dollar store!

So, its a fun creative way to prepare meals, its an easy way to make sure everyone is getting a balanced meal and its great for healthy snacks on the road!

Not so bad for the environment too!

What did you give up for lent?

Chocolate Chip Muffin

Nutrition FactsServing Size:
Amount per Serving 1
Calories 630
Calories from Fat 240
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 26g
40%
Saturated Fat 8g
40%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 70mg
23%
Sodium 560mg
23%
Total Carbohydrate 89g
30%
Dietary Fiber 2g
8%
Sugars 49g
Protein 10g
20%
Vitamin A
4%
Vitamin C
0%
Calcium
4%
Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat 37.1% Carbs 56.5%
Protein 6.3%


I was eating one every morning, they are so yummy!
I gained a few pounds over the "holidays" and now I know why! OMG, 630 calories EACH.

So, now that I have given them up for lent (and pretty much forever) I will spare myself 25,200 calories!

More pics

Emmy caught in the act.....
looking for string cheese
playing with the cups on the counter is always fun
funny bunny face
Avery's "princess cowboy hat"
DJ getting home from school happy baby girl :)
isn't she the cutest ever?!!

itty-bitty Annabelle

Preschool

Last night we went to an open house for the Early Learning Center preschool program, which is through our school system. Chris and I were really impressed with the teachers and the classrooms and Avery loved it!
It is a program that is designed for both special needs kids and non special needs kids to learn together as peer models for each other.
It is for kids aged 3 & 4, for 3 hours a day (either morning or afternoon), 3 days a week for the duration of the school year.
Each class has only 15 kids, teacher and aide.
There are also professionals that come in for individual therapy and incorporate this into the lessons and play with either small mixed groups or the whole class. So, no 2 classrooms will have the same special needs supports because it depends on the individual needs of the kids in the class, although they do have the same structured curriculum.
The program is pretty awesome.

Avery will have a screening in March and then there is a lottery for the program, so if things work out, she will be able to start in September.
Also, if Avery is accepted, then Emmy will be automatically eligible for the following year because she is a sibling.

Just not an option

They totally know that I need to divert my attention from them for a minute, they completely understand this, and despite my whole hearted efforts of reciting the whole "Mommy needs to make an important phone call speech".......it simply does not get through to my normally, semi-reasonable children.

It quickly becomes an arduous task to keep the small people relatively quiet (with evil, candy bribes) in order to hear the information coming through the phone and actually communicate with the person on the other end.

However, they are not satisfied with candy, they are not satisfied with coloring, they are not satisfied with a TV show.......no, they are not satisfied until they make a big enough racket that the person on the phone hurries me off to grab some Tylenol........it is then and only then that the small ones are truly satisfied.
I am exhausted.

This is why I so appreciate email.

Baby Bella-boo

Baby girl is growing so fast....she is 6 months old already!!
We have so much fun with her and my girlies love her so much......I do too :)

Check out those eyelashes!