Another Monday

This weekend was pretty relaxed and fun.  I'm guessing it's the calm before the storm known as the holiday season.  I just feel like the next few weeks are going to absolutely fly by and before we know it, it's going to be Christmas.  This year, we are trying to prepare early, not sweat the little things and just enjoy each day watching the wonderment in our children's eyes.

But, we still have a few more weeks of school which means that there are lunches to make.

Our main entrée is a good old pb&j on whole wheat.  This has been the requested entrée for the last several lunches and we completely understand.  It always tastes good and is filling enough to get us through the rest of the day.  We cut this sandwich out with a shooting star cookie cutter and a tiny star micro cookie cutter.  Molly's been doing really well in school and we think that she deserves a star!

Our vegetable side is canned green beans.  Molly is just like her Mother, we could eat canned green beans everyday and straight from the can.

Our fruit side is a honey crisp apple cut into slices.  This is served with some Tastefully Simple Creamy Caramel Sauce for dipping.

Finally, our dessert is a small square of Tastefully Simple Blue Ribbon Blueberry Bar.  So delicious.  It is one of the best oatmeal "cookies" that we have ever tasted!

Do Over Lunch, Sort Of!

Well, despite a few tears this morning because she wanted to stay home, Molly made it.  I didn't get a phone call or an e-mail from a teacher or nurse telling me that Molly was having a rough day.  When I picked her up from school it seemed like she had one of the best days ever.  She got every single one of her sight words correct on her quiz this morning and she is getting more and more eager to read.  Whew!  This is one of those parenting moments when I feel like I'm actually doing something right.  Yes, we still have a long way to go, but this little baby step is a pretty big leap in the right direction.  Way To Go Molly!!!!

Now, on to lunch.  Molly made another request for her lunch.  She wanted the exact same thing as today, not that I blame her, but we've decided to make a few healthier modifications.

Our main entree is a peanut butter and "jelly" on whole wheat.  Again, instead of jelly, we have the Trader Joe's Cranberry Apple Butter.  We chose a butterfly cookie cutter to cut out Molly's sandwich because she loves butterflies and it kind of symbolizes how much she is spreading her wings and learning to fly.

Molly suggested strawberry yogurt as one of her sides.  So, we put some Dannon Light and Fit Strawberry yogurt in for her dairy side.

The request of potato chips was made for a side but we've chosen sugar snap peas instead.  This delicious veggie is not as salty or greasy, just much healthier; plus they are just as crunchy.

Our fruit/dessert is some sliced Honey Crisp apples with a side of Tastefully Simple's Creamy Caramel Sauce.  

What happened to Fall?

Where in the world did fall go?  It was in the 80's for weeks in September and October.  Then we had about a week or two of some nice 60-70 degree days.  Now its in the 30's and they are threatening snow!  I'm not a happy camper.  I love the fall and I feel like we got ripped off because it was so brief.  Plus, everyone in my house has some sort of cold so we are going through tissues at a rapid pace.  Hopefully we will have a nice long spring this year.  These extreme temperature changes are NOT fun.  No matter what, there is still school, which means that there is still lunch.  So, without further ado, here's tomorrow's lunch.

Our main entrée is a Castle Wood Honey Ham and Castle Wood Pepper Jack Cheese sandwich on white with mustard.  We used a large heart shaped cookie cutter for the main sandwich and a star micro cookie cutter for the tiny sandwiches.  

Our vegetable side is mini dill pickles.  Molly just loves these crunchy, salty and vinegary goodies.  They are a great accompaniment to a ham sandwich.  My grandmother always had a big array of pickles and olives on her relish trays that were always set out with sandwiches.  We think that her traditions are awesome so we keep them going, even in a packed lunch.

Our fruit side is a small apple cut into slices.  We've added a little dessert element to today's fruit with some Tastefully Simple Creamy Caramel Sauce on the side as a dip.  We all really like this sauce.  It tastes great, even just on a spoon.

Finally we are serving a dairy side since we've hit dessert in our fruit side.  We have some Dannon Light and Fit Strawberry Yogurt as our dairy side.  Its a nice creamy sweet flavor to balance out the whole meal.