Those Dreaded School Lunches

I signed Big Bro up for a four-day camp that met from 8:30am through 2:30pm. I got three of his buddies to sign up with him so he would feel more comfortable with me dropping him off for such a long day. I figured it would be good practice in advance of Kindergarten. Going from three mornings of preschool a week to five full days of school is a huge change.

While I thought what good practice it would be for Big Bro to try a new routine, I didn't realize it was going to be good practice for me as well: getting up and out the door early, and packing those dreaded school lunches.

I have read blogs about packing school lunches and they all like to describe what a pain it is. The endless containers, the wasted food, the preparation time, planning and shopping, limited menus due to kid's picky palates, and of course, food restrictions due to the nut-allergy epidemic. Just like Big Bro's new elementary school is nut-free, his camp is also nut-free. So much for endless peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches.

I bought a YumBox last Christmas (an impulse, sale purchase). It offers compartments that seal shut with just one lid. Each compartment is labeled with a food group to help you plan a balanced meal: protein, grain, vegetable, fruit, dairy, and even a tiny one for dip. In addition to filling his YumBox, I also sent him with a breakfast bar and granola bar for snacks.

Here's how the week went:

Day 1: ham slices, Parmesan goldfish crackers, cucumbers and ranch, 2 cherries and a strawberry, slices of cheddar cheese.

Result: He ate everything but the ranch. He was hungry when he came home but that's not surprising, after school snacks are typical. He informed me he was so hungry before dinner and he "never had real lunch today."   Uh oh.

Day 2: buttered bread (I ran out of ham, shoot), hard boiled egg, cucumbers and craisins, slices of cheddar cheese, chocolate caramel kiss as a bonus.

I sent him with two breakfast bars and 2 granola bars and told him to save at least one for the ride home with his friend and his mom. 

Result: He had a good ride home and ate 2 bars when he got back here. He ate everything in his YumBox minus the bread crust, a small cucumber and a few craisins. He even ate the egg (yay!) and said he wasn't hungry during the day, nor did he say he had no real lunch.

Day 3: buttered bread (crusts removed this time), goldfish, an egg (why mess with success?), ham, carrots (a change from the cucumber) and cherries, plus another chocolate caramel kiss (his favorite part, surprise, surprise).

Result: he didn't touch his buttered bread or ham (it wasn't the usual brand so he didn't like it). He left behind goldfish and even cherries. He said he wasn't hungry. He didn't eat any of his granola/breakfast bars either until he got home. Weird.

Day 4: final day! I had a late night meeting so he ended up with cheese, strawberries, crackers, egg, carrots, and a slice of ham even though it's not his preferred brand (it's all "Black Forest" ham!?), and the beloved chocolate kiss.

Result: the ham came back half-eaten so that's some progress. The carrots came back because "he only likes carrots with ranch."

After only 4 days of lunches I already felt the monotony of this packed lunch thing. There were two nights in the week when I felt like I should have gone shopping, but only made a store-run on one of those nights. I'm glad Kindergarten will have hot lunch options for purchase to break it up a bit. The YumBox compartments really did help with packing a varied lunch. 

What grains, proteins, dairy, fruit and veggies are packed lunch favorites in your house?

Surviving the 1st Family Campout

I love camping. There were a few years (between the ages of 16 and 19) when I did quite a lot of it. Much of it was intensive including some true backcountry trips. Even though I'm not a frequent camper anymore, I still love it, so was excited thinking this was the summer my little family would try it out.

We bought a 5 person tent at Costco for $80. I set it up in the living room to start so the kids could play in it and get used to it. Lil Sis was excited to sleep in it. For three nights in a row as I tucked her into bed she protested, "I thought we were sleeping in the tent!"

I told her we would do it on the weekend when Daddy was home too (he's been super busy with work and school board/supervisory union meetings). That wasn't my only reason though. Big Bro only wanted to camp outside, not in the living room, which was another hurdle. Sibling conflict, sigh. 

But the even bigger reason was that camping out (or in) is a commitment. It's not a time when you tuck your kids in and then have a couple hours of adult time before nodding off to sleep. I had to count on the kids being up late (for them) and going to bed early myself (husband and I are night owls).

Friday night arrived. Lil Sis still wanted to camp in the living room and Big Bro still only wanted to sleep outside. We had just had a string of gorgeous weather days. The lawn was dry, the forecast was clear. However, beginning Saturday night, it would be another stretch of rainy days, who knew how soon the next dry spell would come? Maybe we should sleep outside without the indoor practice since we had been building up the anticipation and the weather wasn't going to accommodate the original 2 part plan this weekend.

So, I made a quick decision, after dinner I dragged the tent outside. We gathered up sleeping bags, pillows, stuffed animals. We brushed teeth outside in order to be more authentic. Then we started a campfire. I didn't have any marshmallows due to the spontaneous nature of it, but it was still nice. The kids enjoyed being outside in their pjs, watching the fire, playing on their play structure, finding firewood. 

Nini and Grandpa joined us for our campfire. When the flames started to die down we put it out, then headed into the tent to sleep. It was around 8:15 maybe?

Snuggled in our sleeping bags, we took turns telling stories, then watched for the stars to come out. We only saw two before I told them to close eyes and sleep because it was 9:00. They were both asleep in minutes.

Amazingly we all fell asleep and spent the whole night in the tent. Sure, we all took turns waking up. Lil Sis slid off the air mattress and spent part of the night by our feet, Big Bro's pillow slipped off the mattress and got all "dewy" so I gave him mine. Dada of Ma'at's hair and feet were getting wet from touching the tent walls (they're not super waterproof. You get what you pay for...). We slept (amazingly) until 6:45 despite the sunrise and chirping birds. We were all still sleepy, and a bit stiff, but I was happy and proud that we had made it!

We went inside and the kids watched cartoons from their sleeping bags on the living room floor while I made breakfast. 

Looking over at my husband I said, "I'm so glad we did it, but we don't have to do it again for 5 years." ⛺️ 
Although, in all seriousness, we will do it again. It will only get easier the more we do it!

"Guard"ening

Oh it's a cheesy title, but sometimes being cheesy is oddly satisfying. Here's the story, you'll understand the title by the end:

It was past Memorial Day and I knew we had to plant our garden quick if we wanted time to grow much of anything. The kids and I headed to our local plant nursery only to find that they were not growing any seedlings this year because they are closing (due to poor sales the last few years after 24 years in business total). A sad state of affairs for our little town to lose a valuable service. So we after buying some seed packets and shovels we reluctantly drove the 20 minutes or so to the next closest, locally-owned, garden center. We bought Early Girl tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, and kid-sized garden gloves.

I had put up the chicken fence already and dug the thick weed cover out thanks in part to Grandma playing with the kids so I could spend the necessary time with a shovel and rake.

I decided to mound the rows this year since the owner of the defunct nursery said it might help the cucumbers grow (I've never had any luck with cucumbers). Big Bro patted the mounds down as I piled them higher. Getting him to pull out stray weeds we turned over was like pulling teeth though. Eventually we got Lil Sis away from the kiddie pool and into the garden to help too. She has an aversion to getting dirt in her shoes which is why you typically see her in socks and sneakers. But in the garden even socks and sneakers couldn't keep the dirt out and she (we) grew frustrated with having to clean her shoes out every 2 minutes.

I convinced her she should go barefoot. Her feet would get dirty but we would wash them at the end. At least this way the soil wouldn't be trapped between shoes and socks. She went for it.

It was her first year planting and she did great. She loved dropping the seeds in the holes then pinching them closed. Big Bro loved it too. We/I sang "The Garden Song" repeatedly. It was extra special this year because Lil Sis has been making big strides with her physical abilities this spring/summer: riding a pedal bike (with training wheels), climbing trees, hopping on one foot. Things that she has been more reluctant to try than her brother ever was.

We planted black beans, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, cilantro, basil, snap peas and radishes.

So why "guard"ening? Because all the while that we were having this nice time I was on guard knowing that 2 prisoners recently escaped from a maximum security prison across the lake. Just the day before authorities had refocused their manhunt in Vermont. Yes, logically the prisoners were probably not going to hang out in a town right near the NY ferry crossing. Nor would they lurk around a population center (small as my town is). But whenever I ran to the barn to grab more tomato trellises or look for the next seed packet in the basement, I wondered if I should be more vigilant about locking doors to the house and not letting the kids out of my sight for even a minute. It was an odd contrast of sweetness planting with my kiddos, and creepiness from the outside world seeping in ever so slightly. I hesitate including this part because this is a journal of sorts so why would I want to remember this? But it is what it is.