Santa Was Here

Santa came through our neighborhood tonight!  Our volunteer fire company drives around with the fire engine and a truck with Santa's sleigh hitched to the back.  They play Christmas music and hand out candy canes.  All of the neighborhood kids gaze at the jolly old elf in the big red suit as he waves and yells out a hearty "Merry Christmas"!  Their little faces are all rosy from the cold and their eyes are glazed with wonder and excitement.  It's hard to not catch the spirit.  It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Our main entree is leftover pasta bake.  We cooked up radiator pasta, added sauce and some leftover taco meat and beans, threw it in a 13x9 pan and sprinkled shredded mozzarella on top.  Then, we baked it off and then served.  YUM! (and the taco meat and beans was SO delicious, believe it or not)

Our vegetable side is red pepper slices.  We're kind of playing on the Christmas color theme.

Our fruit side is a sliced kiwi.  There's our green.

Our dairy side is vanilla yogurt with red and green sprinkles.

Finally, our little extra treat is snowman marshmallows.  They are french vanilla flavored and delicious but are extra yummy in hot chocolate.

Fun Thursday

Molly has decided to buy her lunch on Friday so we are doing our Fun Day one day early.  It's kind of fun to mix things up sometimes too.  I'm thinking that we may have to implement Fun Days on different days.  Who wouldn't want a Fun Monday Treat?  Hmmmmm....

Our main entree is leftover pasta bake from dinner tonight.  We cook up a pound of pasta, add marinara sauce and some cut up chicken sausages.  Then, we put it in a 13x9 pan, sprinkle a little bit of shredded mozzarella cheese on top and bake it at 350°F for about 20 minutes.  We think it tastes even better the next day.

Our vegetable side is carrot slices.  We try to cut the veggies up in lots of different ways to keep the kids excited about getting their daily servings.

Our fruit side is strawberries that have been cut with Christmas themed mini cookie cutters.  This is something different to keep the Christmas spirit thriving. (We put the scraps in the fridge to add to yogurt or oatmeal.)

Our dairy side is vanilla yogurt.  We added some Trader Joe's Elegant Cocoa Pearls on top to add a little extra flavor and crunch.

Finally, our Fun Thursday Treat is Market Pantry Holiday Fruit Snacks.  We bought these a while ago and now Target doesn't have any left.  Guess we really do need to stock up around Halloween. ☺