Final Week of Summer
And we're livin' it up! Well, the kids are right now at least, but this weekend we'll be enjoying outdoor fun with family to end the summer on a great note!! Here are a couple examples of my two girls enjoying the final days of summer vacation, courtesy of their awesome, fun Nana (well, plus Papa and a few friends too).
So, a week from today we will be making sure backpacks are ready, outfits are picked out and lunches are packed for the first day of school. I know 90% of my friends' kids have already gone back to school, and those who haven't start this week, but I'm okay with the extra week of prep time. This is a big year! This year my baby girl will be a kindergartener! How is that even possible?? She is so excited!! The kid who begged me not to make her go to school last year is counting down the days until school starts. I LOVE IT! I think my non-stop kid is just excited for her first year with no rest time included.
Our second oldest will be in 2nd grade. We are kind of ready for that since Emmy Lou paved the way, but Kenzie Bug will go to a different school, so it will be fun to see the difference. She loves school and learning, so it will be an easy transition (we hope). It's definitely a year of changes. Second graders start out seeming so young, but end the year ready to transition into being one of the "older kids" in the school since they've crossed that half way point.
Jack Jack will do another year of pre-K. Even though he and Abbycakes are only six days apart, with a summer birthday his mom chose to give him another year of prep before jumping into school. We didn't fully agree, but he's just happy to be going to school still. He'll go every other day and then go to a daycare type program on his off days. Our big thing this year is keeping everything structured for him - same schedule at both houses - in hopes that the structure will help him out across the board with learning and just knowing what his daily routine will be. It's always a struggle with two very different households, for all the kids at times.
We will also have a 3rd grader. She's excited to learn how to play chess this year and have a preschool buddy. REALLY?!?! She's old enough to BE a buddy? Last year was a her final year WITH a buddy (they have church buddies from K-2 - an older kid who is partnered with them to sit with them and help them learn during mass). As a 3rd grader, Emmy Lou will get to go down to the preschool classroom and read to her buddy or help him/her with projects throughout the year. I can remember doing that when I was in junior high at the same school. Our sensitive soul is pretty nervous though. She is worried about the big changes that come with being a third grader that they talked about last year. More expectations, more homework, higher levels in math - that last one is her biggest worry. Poor kiddo! I know she'll do great though.
These kids just keep growing!! With four different classrooms and four very different personalities this will be our first big dose of everyone going different directions. Hopefully it goes smoothly. Starting with LUNCHES!! I've seen a few posts on Facebook about packing lunches and making things easy. You all know that our kids are mostly on plan by default. We are a bit more lax when it comes to their lunches and we also live with the understanding that kids NEED carbs to function. They need the energy and they burn it all off quickly. We have four very different personalities, tastes, preferences and body types in our house. We've also had issues with some unhealthy ideas or concerns in our house that have been addressed as well. Thankfully, two of the kids have two households that eat pretty similar, so they are pretty open to lunches. The other two struggle a bit with the big swing in food options, but they really are eating a much bigger variety than I imagined! This year is the first time our youngest will have to take a lunch at all, which is a change for him.
With that said, we also let the kids get involved with packing their own lunches to make sure they are getting things we know they will eat. With busy after school schedules this year, I want to be sure everyone is getting satisfying meals and snacks to tide them over between activities. I've scoured Pinterest for ideas and even started playing some out on the kids this summer. Here are some of the go-to's that have worked for us over the past year if you're looking for some food ideas. I'll also post some pics and plans along the way throughout the school year. Let's just say that where some people have to struggle with outfit choices and arguments with their kids in the morning... we have similar arguments with our kids over their lunch boxes when they get home from school! They usually go something like, "Abbycakes, why do you almost have a full sandwich left in your lunchbox?!" And cascade from there.
So, here ya go...
Each lunch box includes at least two protein heavy foods, a fruit, a veggie and a small treat. For my two girls, we also include a morning snack because it's not provided by the school.
Our protein options:
Fruit & Veggies (here's what our kids like anyway):
Everyone's lunch includes a mini bottle of water. We seldom did juice before and that will happen even less this year. Two of the four aren't huge fans of juice as it is and none of our kids drink soda unless it's a super special occasion. Abbycakes actually still doesn't much like it, which I'm perfectly fine with!
So, one side of our fridge usually has the cold lunch items and one section in our pantry has the other stuff. I have the kids grab their choices and put in their order for their main food (the big protein) and have my girls grab a spare item for snack. If they get a treat, it's usually two tiny Tootsie Rolls or something similar out of "The Bucket" (the place where we combine all of their Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc. candy into one communal treat bucket that they grab from when they are allowed a treat).
I have to say, letting them help has been a big helper in getting them to not throw away too much (or unopened items) and to finish the items they aren't super excited about. Most days the lunches come home empty or almost empty. Plus, if they aren't empty, then they usually use whatever is left as an after school snack. I'm not saying it's foolproof, but at least they aren't eating the same thing every single day and I've cut the sugar in their lunches down to about 1/3 of what it used to be. It's so easy to throw in pre-packaged items from the store! Now the kids help me pre-package our own goodies at home on the weekend. It gets them involved and leaves less work for me. Oh, we do sometimes buy cheese nips or gold fish as a small side, but only half the kids even like them. Ahhhh, the joys of feeding four very different children! Oh and we pack them at night while Andy and I are packing our own lunches, so it's a family friendly activity and usually ends up with someone giggling or dancing around being silly, but it gets done!
Alright... enough rambling! Thanks for hearing me out, and I promise I'll share pics of the set up as soon as it's set up! Until then, how about I share an AMAZING, delicious and super simple dessert that we tried over the weekend?
Paddleboard passenger and looking very pleased about it!
A bit blurry, but I guess she was paddling all over the place on that thing!
So, a week from today we will be making sure backpacks are ready, outfits are picked out and lunches are packed for the first day of school. I know 90% of my friends' kids have already gone back to school, and those who haven't start this week, but I'm okay with the extra week of prep time. This is a big year! This year my baby girl will be a kindergartener! How is that even possible?? She is so excited!! The kid who begged me not to make her go to school last year is counting down the days until school starts. I LOVE IT! I think my non-stop kid is just excited for her first year with no rest time included.
Our second oldest will be in 2nd grade. We are kind of ready for that since Emmy Lou paved the way, but Kenzie Bug will go to a different school, so it will be fun to see the difference. She loves school and learning, so it will be an easy transition (we hope). It's definitely a year of changes. Second graders start out seeming so young, but end the year ready to transition into being one of the "older kids" in the school since they've crossed that half way point.
Jack Jack will do another year of pre-K. Even though he and Abbycakes are only six days apart, with a summer birthday his mom chose to give him another year of prep before jumping into school. We didn't fully agree, but he's just happy to be going to school still. He'll go every other day and then go to a daycare type program on his off days. Our big thing this year is keeping everything structured for him - same schedule at both houses - in hopes that the structure will help him out across the board with learning and just knowing what his daily routine will be. It's always a struggle with two very different households, for all the kids at times.
We will also have a 3rd grader. She's excited to learn how to play chess this year and have a preschool buddy. REALLY?!?! She's old enough to BE a buddy? Last year was a her final year WITH a buddy (they have church buddies from K-2 - an older kid who is partnered with them to sit with them and help them learn during mass). As a 3rd grader, Emmy Lou will get to go down to the preschool classroom and read to her buddy or help him/her with projects throughout the year. I can remember doing that when I was in junior high at the same school. Our sensitive soul is pretty nervous though. She is worried about the big changes that come with being a third grader that they talked about last year. More expectations, more homework, higher levels in math - that last one is her biggest worry. Poor kiddo! I know she'll do great though.
These kids just keep growing!! With four different classrooms and four very different personalities this will be our first big dose of everyone going different directions. Hopefully it goes smoothly. Starting with LUNCHES!! I've seen a few posts on Facebook about packing lunches and making things easy. You all know that our kids are mostly on plan by default. We are a bit more lax when it comes to their lunches and we also live with the understanding that kids NEED carbs to function. They need the energy and they burn it all off quickly. We have four very different personalities, tastes, preferences and body types in our house. We've also had issues with some unhealthy ideas or concerns in our house that have been addressed as well. Thankfully, two of the kids have two households that eat pretty similar, so they are pretty open to lunches. The other two struggle a bit with the big swing in food options, but they really are eating a much bigger variety than I imagined! This year is the first time our youngest will have to take a lunch at all, which is a change for him.
With that said, we also let the kids get involved with packing their own lunches to make sure they are getting things we know they will eat. With busy after school schedules this year, I want to be sure everyone is getting satisfying meals and snacks to tide them over between activities. I've scoured Pinterest for ideas and even started playing some out on the kids this summer. Here are some of the go-to's that have worked for us over the past year if you're looking for some food ideas. I'll also post some pics and plans along the way throughout the school year. Let's just say that where some people have to struggle with outfit choices and arguments with their kids in the morning... we have similar arguments with our kids over their lunch boxes when they get home from school! They usually go something like, "Abbycakes, why do you almost have a full sandwich left in your lunchbox?!" And cascade from there.
So, here ya go...
Each lunch box includes at least two protein heavy foods, a fruit, a veggie and a small treat. For my two girls, we also include a morning snack because it's not provided by the school.
Our protein options:
- PB & J Sandwich or Roll Up
- Spicy Italian Sandwich or Roll Up (Hard Salami & Pepperoni - our youngest daughter's kick the last year or so)
- Hard boiled eggs
- Healthy Trail Mix (Peanuts, Cashews, Raisins & Sugar Free Chocolate Chips)
- Cheese & Crackers (plus meat sometimes)
- Cheese Quesadilla
- String Cheese
- Greek Yogurt
- Go-Gurt (this doubles as their treat if they take it because of the sugar content - I'm trying to move away from them because of that though too)
- Protein Shake - Protein Powder (1/2 scoop), Almond Milk, Unsweetened Cocoa & Powdered PB with some sweetener (this requires a decent insulated thermos, plus I blend mine with ice, so I'll do that for theirs to keep them cold till lunch. By the time they drink them, it'll be like cold milk. They will have to rinse their thermos in the fountain or as soon as they get home though - I HATE the smell of rotten milk) This is a new one this year, but my girls LOVE my shakes, so I told them I'd give it a try.
- Homemade Protein Bars - another new one for this year, but Emmy Lou likes the one I make when we go camping, so this will be a special treat, but there are several options for homemade ones on Pinterest.
Fruit & Veggies (here's what our kids like anyway):
- Carrots & Ranch
- Sugar Snap Peas
- Cucumbers
- Celery with Peanut Butter & MAYBE a couple sugar free chips on them for Ants on a Log
- Green, Red, Yellow or Orange Peppers
- Salad (my oldest has requested this and I'm game!!)
- Strawberries
- Grapes
- Apples
- Apple Sauce
- Banana (sometimes cut in half with peanut butter in the middle to double as their treat)
- Any fruit really. No one is overly picky about fruit except Abbycakes not liking blueberries at this point in time.
Everyone's lunch includes a mini bottle of water. We seldom did juice before and that will happen even less this year. Two of the four aren't huge fans of juice as it is and none of our kids drink soda unless it's a super special occasion. Abbycakes actually still doesn't much like it, which I'm perfectly fine with!
So, one side of our fridge usually has the cold lunch items and one section in our pantry has the other stuff. I have the kids grab their choices and put in their order for their main food (the big protein) and have my girls grab a spare item for snack. If they get a treat, it's usually two tiny Tootsie Rolls or something similar out of "The Bucket" (the place where we combine all of their Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc. candy into one communal treat bucket that they grab from when they are allowed a treat).
I have to say, letting them help has been a big helper in getting them to not throw away too much (or unopened items) and to finish the items they aren't super excited about. Most days the lunches come home empty or almost empty. Plus, if they aren't empty, then they usually use whatever is left as an after school snack. I'm not saying it's foolproof, but at least they aren't eating the same thing every single day and I've cut the sugar in their lunches down to about 1/3 of what it used to be. It's so easy to throw in pre-packaged items from the store! Now the kids help me pre-package our own goodies at home on the weekend. It gets them involved and leaves less work for me. Oh, we do sometimes buy cheese nips or gold fish as a small side, but only half the kids even like them. Ahhhh, the joys of feeding four very different children! Oh and we pack them at night while Andy and I are packing our own lunches, so it's a family friendly activity and usually ends up with someone giggling or dancing around being silly, but it gets done!
Alright... enough rambling! Thanks for hearing me out, and I promise I'll share pics of the set up as soon as it's set up! Until then, how about I share an AMAZING, delicious and super simple dessert that we tried over the weekend?
Peanut Butter Whip (S-dessert, low-carb)
We used Sugar Free Chocolate Chips instead of our Skinny Chocolate since we were running low and I left off the whip cream because I simply forgot, but this is absolutely SINFUL, but completely on plan! This is definitely a go-to dessert for us now!
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