Sick Day

Molly stayed home from school today.  December 6th and her first sick day.  Not too bad in my opinion considering the plethora of sickness that has already steamrolled through her school.  All 3 of our kids were quite cuddly and clingy today so needless to say, not much was accomplished except lots of TLC from Mom.  (Which was fine with me. ☺)
Tomorrow, Molly will be headed back to her first grade classroom.  She started feeling better after a nap this afternoon and she's ready to get back to it.  You may notice that two of the items are the same as yesterday because she only ate the waffle sandwiches and apples for lunch today.

Our main entrée is peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat.  We've broken out the Christmas cookie cutters and decided to go with a snowman and tree.

Our fruit side is mandarin oranges.  These will be a nice contrast to the peanut butter.

Our dairy side is Dannon Light and Fit strawberry yogurt.  This will help her belly feel better after being sick.

Finally we have our trail mix of peanuts and raisins.  Even if she only eats a little bit of this, it will help keep her appetite satisfied until she gets home.

Bittersweet Day

Tomorrow will be the last day for Molly's student teacher.  She is finished with her required fieldwork and will be able to teach on her own.  Molly is very sad and so is Miss Sizer, the student teacher.  Molly found a great friend and mentor in Miss Sizer and will really miss her.  It's bittersweet because we're sad that Miss Sizer is leaving but we are so happy for her because she is now starting a new and exciting chapter in her life.  Maybe someday, Molly or one of her siblings will have Miss Sizer for a teacher, but for now we will wish her the best and hopefully keep in touch via e-mail.  I'm sure that this will be a Fun Friday that Molly will never forget.

We will try to keep this sad day full of love by giving Molly some really special and fun things.

Our main entrée is cheese and crackers with pepperoni.  Molly really likes cheese and crackers, in fact she asks for it most every day for her after school snack.  The crackers are Keebler Town House Toppers.  These have a bit of a hollowed out top to them so that toppings fit better.  They are really tasty too.

Our vegetable side is a baby spinach salad with Trader Joe's Balsamic Vinaigrette on the side.  Another favorite of Molly's.

Our fruit side is mandarin oranges.  Molly, her sister and her brother would go through a can of these daily if we let them.

Our FUN Friday treat is Cafe Bistro Cookie and Wafer Mix from Aldi.  These incredible cookies only come out at Christmastime.  It is like a big bag of the best Pepperidge Farm cookies out there.  The chocolate is superb and all of the cookies almost melt in your mouth.  Molly truly deserves this awesome treat. ☺

ps - We just want to send out a GIGANTIC THANK YOU to Miss Sizer for being such a great student teacher!

The Calm Before the Holiday Storm

We're here, the weekend before Thanksgiving.  The last weekend before all of the holiday chaos begins.  I can't wait.  We love Thanksgiving at our house.  There is something about the warmth and love that goes into one of the most incredible meals of the year.  It helps us all remember that the simple things in life are sometimes the things that we are most thankful for.  Enjoy the calm before the holiday storm this weekend!

On to tomorrow's lunch!

Our main entrée is a Laughing Cow Light Mozzarella, Sun-Dried Tomato & Basil wedge with whole grain crackers.  Molly really enjoys being involved in making her lunch, so now she can make her own little cracker sandwiches.  We also added a string cheese in case the spreadable cheese isn't quite enough.

Our vegetable side is a baby spinach salad served with Trader Joe's Balsamic Vinaigrette.  This was such a big hit the other day that she requested it for today.

Our fruit side is mandarin oranges.  I think that each of my kids would eat a can of these a day.  They are often requested as a snack in our house.

Finally, our Fun Friday dessert.  We still have a TON of Halloween candy left so we picked one of Molly's favorites as a sweet ending to her lunch.  Peanut M&M's and a fruit flavored Tootsie Roll because she deserves the extra treat for being so good this week.

Daddy's Going to School!

Shhhh!  Don't tell Molly but, Daddy's going to school tomorrow.  Last week, the student teacher sent out a note asking for parent volunteers to help with paper maché and Molly's Dad is jumping on that opportunity.  He had an extra vacation day that we usually save all year in case of emergency so he's going to use it tomorrow.  I know that Molly will be over the moon when she finds out.  I think it may just be her favorite school day ever!

To go along with this fun day, we've made a fun lunch!

Our main entrée is pizza!!!  We're channeling our Mummy Pizza and switching it up just a little bit without the olives.  We toasted a whole grain English Muffin (a little extra toasty since the sauce seems to make it a little soggy when cold.  But the extra toasting seems to do the trick), added some pizza sauce and then layered some pulled apart string cheese and toasted again.

Our veggie side is sugar snap peas.  Nice and crunchy plus a very refreshing flavor.

Our fruit side is mandarin oranges.  Very juicy and sweet, plus the added vitamin C that Molly will need now that the cold season is in full effect!

We tossed in a few flavored Frooties Tootsie Rolls for dessert.  Just a little extra something for our girl. ☺

It's Friday!

And another Friday rolls around.  FINALLY!  I am so happy that we made it through the week.  It's a big week for us next week with all of the Halloween festivities so I'm very glad that the calm before the storm is here to gear us up for another awesome week.  Happy Friday Everyone!

Our main entrée is a Castlewood Honey Ham and Castlewood Pepper Jack Cheese sandwich.  We used a ballerina cookie cutter for this because Molly has ballet after school.  She will be so excited because we've never used this cookie cutter before.

The vegetable of the day is carrot sticks.  Molly enjoyed the crinkle cut carrots but is also a fan of the sticks, so we decided to mix it up a little bit since she's already had carrots this week.

We've decided on mandarin oranges for the fruit side.  Sweet, juicy and so delicious.  These oranges are almost dessert-like because they are so sweet.

Finally, we have our Fun Friday treat.  We purchased a few more Little Debbie Pumpkin Delights before the season is over and we've decided that it would be a great Fun Friday treat for our Molly.

Have a great weekend!

Little Leftovers

This evening we had one of those dinners that was thrown together in a pot pretty quickly.  The good thing about these meals is that usually means that there are leftovers.  I am happy to report that this was the case tonight.  I asked Molly if she thought that she would eat these leftovers cold and she tasted her meal and said, "yeah, I think so."  Here's hoping that cold leftovers make for a fun and nutritious meal!

Our main entrée is Mrs. T's mini pierogies in cheddar and potato and four cheese with potato.  (Yes, we thought that we grabbed two boxes of the same flavor but the combination is pretty delicious.)  We sprayed these with a little I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray to keep them from sticking and also to give the pasta on the outside a little extra flavor.

We decided to do a vegetable combo for today's lunch.  These are both leftovers as well.  Using a silicone cupcake mold, we divided canned green beans and black olives into their own little spaces.  Cold green beans are Molly's new favorite.  We can understand, we like to eat them right out of the can.

The fruit selection for today's lunch is mandarin oranges.  We think that the sweetness of these oranges will be a nice contrast to the salty flavor of the pierogies and olives.  Plus, they are so juicy that they almost melt in your mouth.

Molly's dessert is Pepperidge Farm S'Mores Adventures Goldfish crackers.  Molly and her sister like these as an afternoon snack or a sweet little ending to a meal.  We think that they taste almost like cereal marshmallows with regular and chocolate graham crackers.  Pretty yummy!

Picture Day!

Tomorrow is picture day at Molly's school.  No, I have no clue what she will wear.  And you thought I had it all together, didn't you?  Not so much. ☺  These past few weeks have completely worn me out and instead of going through all of Molly's clothes during nap time today, I joined the two little ones and napped too.  I did manage to figure out what to make for Molly's lunch though!  I was trying to think of something that Molly would like and that would be easy for me to whip up after a faith formation meeting at church tonight.  So, it's breakfast for lunch!

Our main entrée is mini breakfast sandwiches.  We toasted mini Eggo waffles, let them cool and spread each waffle with light cream cheese flavored with Trader Joe's real maple syrup.  To make the sandwiches, we sliced apples very thinly and layered them between two of the waffles.

The dairy side is Dannon light and fit strawberry yogurt.  Its a great source of protein and calcium.

Our choice of fruit is mandarin oranges.  Sweet and juicy with lots of vitamin C.

We added a few whole almonds to the sandwich compartment for extra protein.

Hopefully Molly's outfit will be as easy to put together as her lunch.  I'm confident that Molly would look adorable in a burlap sack but I must go and find the perfect outfit for my fashion forward first grader.