lunch: samuel's first day

Last week when I made Eva's butterfly sandwich I made Samuel one, too. He was not pleased. I guess no more hearts and butterflies. Sad.
The menu:
-turkey, sliced, rolled, and stuck with a tooth pick
-cucumber crinkles (I got the cutter at bed, bath, and beyond for $2 and use it for so many things)
-red pepper bears
-hummus (bought a bunch of lids and containers at the restaurant supply store)
-kiwi, strawberries, and raspberries
-whole wheat pita bears
-fruit leather
-juice (real)
Sometimes Karl will decorate a napkin for them. They save them. I don't know what they use to wipe their hands and faces those days.
Last week the chicken club sandwich (a giant chicken nugget in a white bun. Ew) day and pizza day won out over my lunch. I guess it gives me a break those mornings.
My awesome sister in law sent me a link to the cutest lunch website ever. We have so many of the same tools but her creativity factor is way way way up there. This lady has some serious lunch skills. A lunch artist, I would call her.  I have seen a lot of lunch websites, blogs and books.  This one may be my favorite so far.

so samuel: so long summer

Summer is coming to an end for Samuel.  His first day of kindergarten is coming up.  

Big milestone.

Every time I hear about someone losing their digital photos, I remember to download mine and back them up.  And that's about the only time I remember to do it.

This time, while downloading, I came across these two summertime photos that just made me smile.  They are so Samuel.

I would love to tap into this energy and enthusiasm.

Kindergarten, here comes Samuel.

Lunch: day three

Eva wanted a ham sandwich today.
But this is what she got instead:
-A sliced chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes. She wanted a whole so I kept the side dishes to a minimum because it takes her a while to eat a whole sandwich. I haven't made bread ever since we listed our house. This bread is from the Village Baker and I love it.
-pear chunks and a slice of apple.
-chocolate macaroon.

To make it fun today I made an imprint of a butterfly on her sandwich with a cookie cutter. I also did a bunny cutout in her apple slice. I got that cutter from Japan.

These are some more containers that I have liked using. I bought them at Ross and TJ Maxx but have also seen a different size at Target (for a lot more money). They are called Fit N Fresh http://www.fit-fresh.com/index_alt2.php and they have a removable icepack you can stick in the lid and are free of some of the bad stuff that is in plastic. I thought it might be a little gimmicky when I got them but I have ended up liking them and have even bought more.

lunch: day two

Eva came home yesterday and said she wanted sushi in her lunch. Turns out that is what her friend had. I was totally surprised. Keep in mind where I live. Boy, things sure have changed since I was in elementary school.
Today's menu:
-onigiri/musubi/rice balls (while I wasn't willing to make her sushi, or go buy it, I was willing to make these. They are a staple at our house. I use brown rice and these flower molds that I found in Los Angeles)
-edamame (the last thing I expect to find on an individually wrapped package of organic soy beans is sponge bob. These are so convenient, they are already cooked so you just stick them in the fridge to thaw)
-nori (the seaweed for her rice is under the edamame)
-mango stars, kiwi, raspberries, and strawberries
-carrot crinkles and ranch
-chocolate chip macaroon (we made these yesterday. I found a recipe book by a woman after my own heart. The only white sugar in these is from the little handful of dark chocolate chips. When I run out of these I will buy the kind sweetened with evaporated cane juice)

All packaged in our new handy dandy Laptop Lunch bento box (yes, Michelle F, we are kindred spirits in more ways than we ever realized. Thanks for the reminder to pull this out and use it :)).

lunch: first day of school

Need lunch ideas? I do. We seemed to have picked up from where we left off last year...
Eva kind of chose the menu:
Turkey sandwich (she got sliced chicken because that is what was on sale, she'll never know. Deli meat with no added nitrites costs more so if I can find something on sale, I get it)
Strawberries
Raspberries
Cantaloupe (in an effort to make all that healthy food special, I used a cookie cutter and cut them into hearts)
Kiwi (whoops I forgot that)
Carrot and cucumber slices
Ranch or hummus (forgot that, too. The veggies may come home uneaten)
Something chocolatey (went with a dark chocolate Graham cracker- not exactly healthy but better than the dunford donuts we had last night :))
Drink (I like Motts for Tots because the are diluted with water. My kids like them most of the time)

candid family photo and our update

I am posting this from my phone. Many a posts are getting neglected and my memories are sadly fading but in an effort to also stay in the now, maybe some phone posts will make me feel less lost...

These are my kids. All three of them fighting for a spot on my slowly disappearing lap.
Along with balancing my three kids, I feel I am balancing several lives in one. No hardships, we are choosing these things. We'll call them adventures. Adventures that cause me stress and make my eyes water and make me want to whine. But they keep life exciting.
Updates:
-Our house is under contract. It took less than two weeks and while we are extremely pleased we still have to wait on inspection and appraisal. We'll know in a couple weeks.
-In the typical us fashion, we failed to plan out step two our plans of moving... the part where you know where you are going next. Good thing my parents are nice enough to let us crash at their place (and age them at a rapid rate) while we are busy being impulsive.
-In all this craziness, the baby is still on the way. Just 10 more weeks (or 9 weeks if he is like Samuel or 7 weeks if he is like Eva!). I would rather be making baby blankets and shopping for a car seat and getting a cozy little room ready than packing but, well, I guess I should have thought about that before, huh?
-Right now we are thinking it might be fun to live in Hawaii. Yes, Hawaii. Tomorrow, we might change our minds and decide we just want to live in another part of our city. But today, and for the last couple of weeks we have wanted to live in Hawaii. Our problem is that we say this like it is no big deal and then we stress everyone out, especially all the grandmas involved.

I want to be bored.

Anyone know anything about living in Hawaii? Uh, because we don't. Just kidding. We know a little. We already know it is expensive. We understand that part. We have contacted a few friends and friends of friends and they all love it. We don't know where we will go. It doesn't help that everyone we talk to loves where they are. There doesn't seem to be a "best" place. Any info is welcome.

11 years

In keeping with blog tradition...

11 things I have learned in the last 11 years:

1- People watch PBS at night on purpose.  

2- People can sleep while in the tub for hours at a time.  Hours. 

3- 11 years is enough to move 14 times.  And almost 15.

4- People can actually forget to eat.

5- Facial hair can provide oneself and one's cousins and uncles more entertainment than ever imagined.

6- Traits like being oblivious to the world when the TV is on, loving matches (or anything else off limits for that matter), and being a total adrenaline junkie can be passed on to your children.

7- Traits that are endearing enough to marry, may get passed on to your kids and those same traits are a lot harder to mother than to marry.

8- Just because it may take someone almost a year to read a non-fiction book, doesn't mean that it is a lame book.  

9- An guy can be an attorney for six years, work hard, still drive a car that has (or had at one point or another) a leaky windshield, leaky tires, heater that only works when it is raining, clogged windshield fluid squirty thingies, window held up hangers so taking the card to enter the parking garage every morning for work had to be done by opening the whole door, dented front, something that makes it so you're not supposed to accelerate when you turn, a battery that won't keep a charge, leaky oil, and (currently) no air conditioning, 200,000 miles and not really care.  

10- The name Karl/Carl, though not used so much in real life, is very popular in the movie and TV world.  Especially for those with smaller roles.  

11-  When you are about to marry a guy and his mom says, "There will never be a dull moment with Karl."  Take this very very very seriously.

Happy 11th anniversary, Karl.

Man, we're old.

so much to do

I still have Italy on my mind, though I am afraid the longer I wait to post, the less I will remember. 

And healthy food.  Even though I have had some serious sweets cravings lately, I still know what it good for me and do my best to eat it.  

And the summer events of my kids.  Because they appreciate the things I record.

And the summer events without my kids.  Because I know that kidless times will soon become a very rare event.

And questions about what baby stuff to buy or try to borrow.  Things sure have changed in six years.

But we have been getting our house ready to put on the market.  Like, it is happening tomorrow. We decided five days ago.  That is how we do things.  It is a tradition of ours to pack up and move every time I am about to have a baby.  And this is the part where I envy people that don't love stuff.  But I do love stuff.

And right now I am a lot a bit nervous because the photo people are coming in about eight hours and it seems like my house is never going to look ready and my craft room is looking more like a crap room because I am in the middle of sixty two projects and I have saved the biggest mess for last  and husband got stung by a wasp today and took Benedryl and has been out cold (which is normal for most people at this time of night but not us) and I am not supposed to lift heavy stuff but I keep doing it and feel guilt (and pain) every time I do.

I will be so glad when tomorrow is over.  This afternoon I was sitting on the floor putting Eva's too small clothes in a bin and I don't even remember putting my head down but I just found myself waking up.  I was face down on the pile of clothes, drool and all.  I gave up at that point and moved to the bed.  But now I am regretting it.  

There you have it, a very long post explaining why I am not posting.