To say packing my children’s lunches each morning is difficult is an understatement of grand proportions.  Near impossible is more like it.

Big W has always found it difficult to eat in the lunch room.  There is way too much going on for him to concentrate on food.  Since Kindergarten he has eaten most of the contents of his lunchbox at snack time.  Little Man can count the foods he eats on one hand.  He has recently decided that he no longer likes Nutella, which basically sustained him for 3+ years.  So it goes without saying- I have to be creative. 

A recent lunch box staple is cold pizza.  I bake a pizza early in the week and put once slice in their lunch each day.  If I was a real go getter, the pizza would be homemade with organic ingredients.  Since I am NOT, I buy California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizza and call it good.  So far, they are digging the pizza and actually eating it.  But I know it is only a matter of time until I will need to think of something new. 

What are your solutions for packing your kids’ lunches? 

{PS.  I have you seen the blog Lunch Box Blues? It is crazy what this dad packs everyday.}

It is bike riding season again.  Finally!  After a long, long winter it is time to ride bikes to school.  I run. They ride.  Little Man isn’t old enough to ride without an adult [school rule], so he is stuck with me.  I love it because I get a quick workout in and I don’t have to deal with the car drop-off circle.

And you know, when you are riding bikes….. Safety first!
We recently found the best bike helmets ever.  They have totally fun graphics and an easy magnetic closure, which means no pinched skin.  Nutcase makes kid and adult helmets for every kind of activity you can think of. 

 

Little Man got a new pair of kicks last week.  I think they are pretty cool.  He is not as pleased as I am.  Why not, you ask?  They don’t light up.

He is desperate for shoes that light up when he walks.  The Stride Rite: Star Wars Captain Rex 2.0 would be his first choice.  The answer is, and always has been, no.  I am not sure when [or why] I decided no on light up shoes, but there is no caving on this one. 

Now that he is six, I thought the fascination would have diminished and he would be more interested in shoes that make him run faster, jump higher, or look cooler.  Nope.  He is not giving up on the dream, so the battle will continue in shoe department.  However, this round goes to me.

When it comes to your kids’ clothes, what is one thing will most likely never say yes to?
[Because when it comes to kids- I have learned to never say never.]

Tonight is the home opener for the Seattle Mainers.  Both of my boys were lucky enough to be at home openers for their very first big league game.  I remember how excited we were to take each of them!  The games were not warm and it even snowed during Little Man’s first game.  [Thank goodness for the rolling roof.] But we bundled up, packed the diaper bag, and bravely went to watch the M’s. 

A LEGO mom’s dream.  All LEGOS in their proper place.  There is nothing worse than stepping on a stray LEGO piece in the dark.  How can a small piece of molded plastic cause so much pain?

These storage containers are dreamy.  Shaped just like a brick with a removable top.  They stack just like the smaller pieces and are just so darn cool. 

The storage heads are pretty fantastic too!

A little ingenuity and a sense of humor got us out of a soggy situation yesterday.  Little Man was eager to run off some energy at a neighborhood park.  He bee-lined it to the super, fast slide and down he went.  In the rainy northwest, every park veteran knows to check slides for water before sliding.  My guy made a rookie mistake.  His pants were soaked from waist band to hemline-all the way through to his underwear.  Yep, pretty much ended park time.

We hustled to the car and I quickly shifted into crisis management.  I had him strip and wrap up in a blanket, which I luckily carry in my emergency box.  I didn’t have time to go home, so I used my car heater vents as a dryer.  The pants would have taking a week to dry, so I dried his underwear instead.  Little Man giggled and giggled in the back seat.  We were headed into Seattle, so I bought him a new pair of warm ups when we arrived and the rest of our day went off without a hitch.

What crazy solutions have you come up with on the spur of the moment?

I recently read of parents naming their baby girls interesting names.  Rainbow and Jett.  I worry for Rainbow.  That is going to be a tough, tough road.  On the other hand, I actually really like the name Jett.  Unique, strong and a great name for a girl to grow into.  Why is one unusual name likeable and the other – not so much?

Naming a child is a huge job.  I will admit I was a little nutty.   Making list after list.  My husband and I didn’t decide on our boys’ names before they arrived.  There were top choices, but the final decision came after we held each one of them.  In the end, we chose traditional names for our little men.

What do you think about Rainbow or Jett as a first name?
What did you consider when you named your children?

[a post about babies?  I couldn’t help myself.]