Fun Lunches

Left - Mister J's box - clockwise from top left:
Cucumbers and carrots; crackers; cheese (cheddar and provelone), turkey and mini pepperoni on picks; strawberries, ranch dip for veggies

Right - Miss M's box - also clockwise from top left:
Popcorn; crackers, pepperoni, turkey, cheese; strawberries; celery and ranch dip

Doesn't Take Much to Make Me Happy

My fruit tray is full AND I scored this free citrus peeler during my latest grocery store run!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

One of These Things is Not Like the Other Ones

Seen on a recent (non-snowy) afternoon.
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Green Lunch

How much green can I get into one lunchbox? Funny thing is, he also asked to have a salad for lunch one day this week!
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Swim Day Lunches

Mister J has swimming two mornings a week at school for the next few weeks. I'm packing extra protein in his lunch on swim days.
Turkey and cheese on picks (extra meat below the picks in Mister J's lunch), multi-grain crackers, carrots with dip, blueberries. Water to drink.
Post-school day update:  Mister J's box came home empty, Miss M didn't like the new crackers :(

Welcome, 2011!

This New Year's was the first time our kids stayed up to ring in the New Year.  A couple of days ago, Mister J asked if he and Miss M could "stay up to say Happy New Year," and we agreed.  So we planned a kid-friendly celebration - 'party food' for dinner and a cake for dessert (Miss M's request, because every party needs a cake!).  On Friday afternoon, we received an invite from our friends who were also planning a family-friendly celebration and invited us to join.  So - we packed up our six-layer dip (oops - I forgot a layer!) and chips, the cake (funfetti with chocolate funfetti frosting), a pitcher of sweet tea, and grabbed a pizza on the way over.

We had a great time!  The kids enjoyed some time to play with friends, the adults enjoyed conversation, laughs, and a round of Cranium.  Big J made me hum one of the music clues - even though he's the musically-inclined one in the family - so of course everyone at the table knew the song I was humming except him.  That's ok, we got a good laugh!  There was also the sketched clue that I drew - everyone wondered why I could possibly be drawing a hairy heart.  The answer was actually heartburn, and those were flames....

We counted down to midnight with the kiddos, said our goodbyes shortly after, and had the kids in bed around 1:15am. 

2010 really flew by for  me.  I think it's one of the "fastest" years I've ever had.  I feel like it was just October, and suddenly Christmas was here and now it's a new year.  While the days have flown by in a whirlwind, I have spent a bit of time thinking about some changes - really, just one change - that I want to make in the new year.  We are working on it already, but I really want to focus even more on our family and our relationships with others.  I want us to be more intentional about taking care of ourselves (individually and as a family) and about reaching out to others.  This really isn't something that comes easily for me - because it usually means saying, "No," to exciting opportunities - but I want a good balance in my life, and I need to regain that by coming back to the center, to what's really important.  For now, that means making our home a comfortable, uncluttered space that works for us, intentionally planning family time, making time for dates with my hubby, and (hopefully) catching up on our scrapbooks.  Those are all pretty tall orders - each of them will take work - but I'm looking forward to it.  And because they will take work, that probably means that posts here will continue to be infrequent and unpredictable.  They'll have fewer photos to no photos as all (I totally forgot to take photos of any of today's preparations or of the time we spent with our friends). 

I do hope that each of you will continue to stop by the blog and see what we are up to.  Mister J has a 3rd loose tooth.  I'm continuing 5K training in the spring (to improve speed and endurance) with an eye on even more training in the summer.  Miss M is in her 2nd year of dance, and wants to be a Daisy Scout so bad she can't stand it (but that's not until next school year).  Mister J continues to work hard for our family and recently helped us reach Baby Step 3. I'll keep blogging about all of this - and more - but probably less about lunches and other 'non-milestone' events.  All in keeping with my desire to be more intentional about time spent with my family.  I'll keep you posted on our progress in 2011!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Hoping that you are enjoying some time with your friends and family, celebrating in the way that is perfect for you.

• Whether a large gathering or an intimate group
• Whether loud and boisterous or calm and quiet
• Whether fancy or simple
• Whether at home or away

Enjoy, my friends, and

Merry Christmas!

You Can Find Me Here Today...

I was one of several bloggers recently interviewed by a local mommy blog about being a mommy blogger.  You can check out the post right here. 
To say I was flattered to be interviewed is a huge understatement! 

Sibling competition

Oh, my goodness!  Our two kids are provoking each other tonight.  One tells a joke and messes up the punch line, and the other - in a very sassy tone - lets the other one know, "That's not funny."  And, just a few moments ago, Miss M revived the "One, One Hundred" argument.  It's been going on for well over a week now.  Miss M will ask, "What's one plus zero plus zero?"  Mister J, interpreting her question as a math problem, will say, "One."  And then she says, "No, it's one hundred."  (Get it? 1 and 0 and 0 is 100, as she's at the leaning-to-write stage, not the arithmetic stage.  So, a one followed by two zeros is 100.)  And they argue back and forth, and eventually come to one of us to referee.  Daily.  {bangs head on desk}

Also, on the way into Best Buy this evening, Mister J was proud that he could walk and do jumping jacks at the same time.  Which he proceeded to do across the parking lot.  And this was before we ate our Krispy Kreme doughnuts for dessert.  (Actually, it was about that time that we decided to save them until tomorrow...)

Have I mentioned that Christmas Break started this afternoon?  Come January, I'm gonna need a vacation to recover from their vacation....

Winner, Winner, Cake Square Dinner

Well, with 20 cake square coupons, you could certainly fill up!  (Though probably not recommended!)

I took nine slips of paper, wrote a name on them for every comment received, folded them up, then let my kids draw the names out of a basket (sorry, no photographic evidence...), and the winners of this giveaway are:

• Amanda (I'll bring yours to church!)
• Meredith (I know where to find you...)
• Sarah (please leave a comment here with your email address - name - at - email - dot - com style and I'll contact you for your mailing address)
• Rosalind (I have your mailing address already)
• Angela (email me your mailing address)

Don't feel left out, Patrice - I'm going to send you a little something, too! 

Thanks, y'all, for entering!

Overheard #40

It's a "snow day" here, and even though we've been hanging out inside today I made my kids go upstairs for rest time.  Miss M gets rest time every day at school, and she needs it.  Mister J needs it too, since we are supposed to be at a Christmas get-together tonight - weather and road conditions permitting.  Here's my most recent rest-related exchange with my mom-napper:

Mister J:  Mom, how much longer?
Me: Please go lay back down.  I'll come get you when rest time is over.

...time passes...

Mister J: Mom, when is rest time over?
Me: In a while. (This was about the 4th interruption by a child who was supposed to be resting...)
Mister J:  How long is a while?

Oh, dear. 

NEW SHOES - Take 2...

So, as it turns out, the Sauconys were contributing to some major calf pain (think "ice and rest").  I'll skip over all of the boring details, but the amazing folks at the local running store where I shop helped me find a(nother) new pair of running shoes.  And here they are...

ASICS GT-2160 in Carbon/White/Plum

I've already taken them out for a (quick, because it was in the 30s) run, and so far - so good.  NO calf pain after the run, and my feet (my typical problem area) felt great.  Can't wait to get out for my next run, but right now there's snow on the ground (oh, and it's 11:08pm).  Hopefully tomorrow will shape up to be a good - though cool - day for an afternoon run!

PS - Don't forget to enter my cake square giveaway!  Only four days left to enter!

Stocking Stuffers

I wasn't quite on-the-ball enough this year for us to participate in Operation Christmas Child, but we did choose another giving opportunity to benefit children.  Our local Chick-Fil-As also collect Salvation Army stockings, so we chose to stuff two for children close in age to Mister J and Miss M.

Armed with our lists, I let the kids select most of the items on their own.  When we still had money left over (I'd estimated what it would cost as I planned out budget for the week), I picked up a few more items and surprised the kids with them when it was time to stuff the stockings.  Here's what we ended up with:

Miss M's items for a 3- to 5-year-old girl

Socks, mittens, hat, headbands and ponytail holders, toothpaste, a toothbrush, a book, a puzzle, some lacing cards, flashcards, and a travel-size m@gna-doodle

It's nearly as big as she is!

Mister J's items for a 7ish-year-old boy

Socks, mittens, hat, toothpaste, a toothbrush, a book, three Hot Wh33ls cars, flashcards, hair brush, slinky, juggling beanbags, and bend@roos (truly fun for nearly any age)

That stocking is pretty heavy!

I was so proud of my kiddos for shopping their way down the lists to fill the stockings!  We had to be mindful of finding things that would fit into the stockings, and the kids also thought about some details that they felt would be important to the kids receiving these items: they selected the characters on the toothpaste, toothbrush, books, etc., and chose between different options for the toys, socks, at other items.  Oh, how much fun we had paying for the first round of items and finding we could bless the children with even more goodies!  And then, it was time to drop them off!

The bittersweet part of all of this is teaching our children that not everyone has as much as we have - tangible or intangible.  That there are people out there with few possessions - like warm clothing.  There were tears when we had a real-life example of people without enough food to eat.  We've talked about people who can't afford medical care or who are far from home because their child is very sick.  Thankfully, we are in a position to be able to do something to help - and I hope it's a lesson that lasts a lifetime.

Local Helping Hand {giveaway!}

I enjoy keeping up with local bloggers and tweeters - it's been a great way to learn more about the city we call home (since we didn't grow up here), and a way to make some fun local connections.  Not too long ago, I got connected to our local Ronald McDonald House (web, blog, twitter, Facebook) as they were celebrating a recent expansion.  Just a few days after I started following on twitter, I got the message that they were in need of some pantry items.  As it turned out, our entire family was in Costco at the time, so we added a few things to our cart and made plans to visit the House!

So glad to be here!

Getting ready to unload our goodies!

And now, the RMH has given me some goodies to share with you! 

Yes, those are coupons for free cake squares from Dewey's!  I've got five sets of twenty coupons each, and all you have to do is leave a comment!  I'll award a coupon book to each of  five winners!


To enter:  I'd love to hear ways that you try to teach your children about giving, but any old comment will do.
Extra entries (leave me a separate comment if you do 1, 2, or 3): 
1) Follow @RMHWinstonSalem on twitter
2) Subscribe to the RMH Winston-Salem blog
3) Like the Ronald McDonald House of Winston-Salem on Facebook
4) Send a friend over to leave a comment and enter the giveaway!  If they let me know that you sent them, you will get an extra entry!
The fine print: The coupons have no expiration date (yay!), but since Dewey's is a local business, this giveaway is open to local folks (or those willing to drive here to use them...). 


If you don't know me in real or bloggy life, be sure to leave a way for me to contact you (name at email dot com).  I'll draw the winners on Thursday, December 16th (or maybe use random.org, but I think my kids would have fun drawing the names), and try to contact you by the 17th for your mailing address.  I'll post the winners here, too - so if you didn't win, you know who you need to meet at Dewey's for coffee and cake squares!


By the way, if you don't win - or if one pack just isn't enough - these coupon books are also for sale at the Ronald McDonald House through Christmas.  The booklets are $5 each (remember: 20 coupons in each booklet) and all of the proceeds go to the RMH!  I sent them to school for my son's birthday (no cupcakes allowed at school, but these were a fun substitute!), and they would also make great teacher gifts or stocking stuffers!


Best of luck, readers - I'll be waiting for the comments to start rolling in!

More, More, More!

Just a brief post tonight - it's late, and it's been a busy day! 

We recently celebrated Mister J's birthday, so I owe you a post about that.  And I wrapped up my 5K training with a run on Saturday morning.  Yes, both of those happened in the same weekend.  Also, while planning for said Very Busy Weekend, I decided that the front room (formerly the kid office, and originally intended for a dining room), needed to be painted before we put up the Christmas tree.  Does the 'birthday and then paint a room' thing sound familiar?

I'm also planning to post about some neat things we've done with the kids during this 'season of giving' - things that I hope we will continue throughout the year.  And - there's a giveaway coming really soon!  (As excited as I want everyone to be, it's limited to locals only - sorry!  But it'll be part of a really neat post I have about something we did with the kids - so please read anyway!)  (ETA neat thing #1 and neat thing #2/giveaway)

And, besides the promised blog posts, what does this week hold?  Well, tonight we had to pick up the last boxes of Boy Scout Popcorn and go to the official "end of 5K training" celebration.  Tomorrow my boys will be going to a skating party with the Cub Scouts.  I'll also be shopping around for new light fixtures tomorrow and picking up a paint roller (as in purchasing, and as in using...).  Oh, and it's dance day for my sweet girl.  Wednesday - Christmas get-together.  Thursday - I'm going to the launch party for this cool blog!  And Mister J has a school project due on Friday.  After that - rest?  I'm committed to spending the weekend with my family.  Just the four of us, nothing scheduled.  It's COLD here this week, so maybe we'll just snuggle up on the couch and watch movies/nap.  That would be nice, eh?  Note to self: find a good crock-pot recipe before your next grocery run (which comes right after you clean out the fridge...).

Have a great week, everyone!

And you can mark that off of your list...

Whee!  Yippee!  Woohoo!  Today's run was the goal race for my 5K training It was 33 degrees when I left my house this morning, and I didn't even notice the cold.  I was crazy excited!  Also, there wind that we've had the last couple of days was gone, so it just didn't seem as cold.

My goal for the training was to run a 5K in 45 minutes.  Today's run results - 43:34 (14:02 pace) - which is pretty consistent with my results from the Thanksgiving 5K. I was thrilled to find these posted just a little while ago!

And here's me - even before I knew the results - celebrating with my running buddy!

So, a few things I've learned in the last twelve weeks:
1) I love to run
2) I'm tougher than I thought
3) Running with a friend is way more fun
4) I get a little crazy when the endorphins kick in
5) Running changes everything!

Pizza, Pudding, and Popcorn

This alliterative lunch theme was a hit with my kids, who helped me pick out the 3rd P item - popcorn.  We had pizza leftover from Sunday - we typically order pizza on big house-cleaning days (which is how we spent Sunday afternoon) - so the kids were excited to have leftovers today.  I suggested the pudding, and asked them what other "p" food I could include.  Perhaps not the most balanced meal, but certainly fun.  I think their lunchtime should be enjoyable, so I played along!  They did enjoy their lunches, and Mister J declared that I "make the best pudding ever!" 

A little bloggy help

I mentioned, through a blog comment earlier this evening, that I am currently looking for some new casual dinnerware.  I even went so far as to lay out my specs:  ivory with a pattern (but no extra color), non-rimmed bowls, mugs instead of cup/saucer.  Five hours later, what should I find in my inbox but a list of suggestions with links from my bloggy friend!  And?  She totally hit the mark.  I think I found my favorite - now I just have to start saving up! 

It's very similar in design to some dinnerware that I found earlier in the year at one of the big box stores - which I bought, brought home, then found that about half of the boxed items were flawed.  I have continued searching, however I'm not a big 'shopper' so it's been a slow process.  But now?  I just may have the answer!

Oh, you want to see the design?  It's Antique Bead from Ballard Designs. 

There were a couple of other suggestions, including this one, which I also like:

Primvere, also by Ballard Designs, and also at the top of my list. 

So, what's next?  Well, I'll run these photos by Big J, and see what he thinks.  If we find one that we both like, then we'll just start saving up.  Getting excited!!!

Thanksgiving Prayer

For the second year in a row, Miss M has volunteered to say the blessing at our family Thanksgiving meal (11 adults, 5 children, 4 generations).  Even her prayers are sweet, sweet scene-stealers....

"Thank God for our food, so we can grow up big and go to college, and have Thanksgiving with God."

Can I have an "AMEN!" ?

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

For the Record...

Yes, probably boring to anyone but me, but here are my race stats for the local Turkey Strut 5K this morning:


Place 453 (out of 913)
Rank 454
Mile 2 - 28:23
Rank - 443
Mile 3 - 14:20
Gun Time - 45:01 (one second over my training goal - and this includes 1:15 to get to the start)
Gun Pace - 14:30
Chip Time - 43:44
Chip Pace - 14:05

Definitely not speedy, but I'm very pleased with how it went.  I started out running solo, but caught up with a friend along the way.  Also, I forgot to charge my iPod, it was 43 degrees, and we even got rained on a bit.  BUT - it was a great run for me, and I'm looking forward to our end-of-training-run in just a few days!