Lunch at Home

A sweet friend of mine from junior high asked me what I feed my kiddos for lunch. While we do get Chick Fil A or McDonalds occasionally, we eat at home much more. Andrew has always been a very good eater. Now that he is almost 3, we are able to negotiate his intake a little better than when he was younger. I try to put a meat, a fruit, a veggie and a carb on his plate. Some days he eats alot. Some days he barely takes two bites. Lila is much pickier. I never know what she will actually eat. But I try to fix them one plate - take it or leave it. I give them fruit snacks or some other sweet if they eat a good meal. I try to hold off on snacks so they don't get the idea that if they don't eat what mommy fixes, they can just have snacks to fill their tummies.

The key for me is to have things available in the fridge that are quick and easy to serve. Anything that actually needs to be cooked(*), I do so in the evenings or plan time in the morning so that I am not scrambling when everyone is tired and ready to eat. I would love for you to share some of your kids' favorite (easy) lunch ideas!

Meat
Turkey hot dogs

Fully cooked ham cubes
Mini (or not) corndogs
Sandwiches cut w/ cookie cutters
Chicken Nuggets
Chicken Fries
Mini cheeseburgers
Meatballs
Leftovers*

Sides

Canned fruit - mandarin oranges, peaches, pears
Fresh fruit - blueberries, bananas, peeled apples, grapes, strawberries
Apple Sauce
Yogurt

Broccoli w/ cheese (microwave)
Canned green beans (a little softer than the frozen variety)

Matchstick carrots w/ ranch

Corn (Kernel or on the cob)

Baby peas (steam in bag)

Lima beans (frozen)*
Steamed carrots*
Baked sweet potatoes*

Mac & Cheese*
Pasta Roni*
Cheetos

Pretzels

Snacks

Cheese crackers w/ peanut butter

Yogurt raisins

Fruit snacks
Flavored rice cakes
Reduced fat Vanilla Wafers

A pottying we will go..

For nearly a year, I've had a little potty out for Andrew to try to spark his interest. It hasn't been there...until a few weeks ago he started going pee pee on his little potty each night before his bath. We had M & M's and stickers ready. Last Friday we stayed home all day to give Andrew a real shot at catching on. I got him out of his bed and took him to the potty. He put on his McQueen undies and was tickled. Our day was not without accident. I was washing the 3 pairs of undies before 9:30 that morning. Overall he had a great first day. Saturday and Sunday we were away from home most of the days so we gave him a break. Monday morning we hit the ground running. He has had no pee pee accidents! We still have a big mountain to climb with #2 but I am so excited with Andrew's progress at this point.

Things I've learned:

You need more than 3 pairs of undies on day 1.

A kid can go 12 times in a day when given the opportunity to earn a prize so put LOTS of #s on the sticker chart.

Make sure to have enough M&Ms to share with lil sis.

Next week will be a new chapter as he has school and other activities but I know we'll learn how to cope with these as well. As crazy as it sounds, potty training is a bittersweet. It just reminds me that we are shifting from baby to little boy daily.

A tribute to the ole Tahoe

Shortly after we were married in 2002, Drew traded in his 2 seater for Chevy Tahoe. We lived in Baton Rouge in a cute little 2 bedroom house surrounded by oaks a few blocks away from the LSU lakes. After Drew finished up with his MBA we loaded up a UHaul which he drove and I drove the Tahoe to Houston. We moved into a house on the east edge of Katy. Within a year, we loaded up the UHaul and the Tahoe again and moved to Waco. A few months after that, we loaded up the UHaul (maybe this is a tribute to UHaul and not the Tahoe - ha) and Tahoe again and moved back to Katy. A few years passed and we were blessed with a sweet baby boy and that Tahoe carefully brought us home from the hospital. We loaded up the UHaul and Tahoe again and made the moved to our current house in Katy. Six months later that Tahoe brought home Andrew's baby sister Lila. Any road trip we've taken, the Tahoe has been our guide. Over the last year, it sort of went from being Drew's truck to being my truck. It had great cargo room for the double stroller and groceries. Andrew could pick the truck out in the parking lot. In the 7 years we had it, it also racked up 130k miles. Great truck. I can say I'm definitely a little more emotional about getting rid of the truck than any house we've left (or maybe that's my failing memory).

We brought home our new ride last night. It gets much better gas mileage. Also made in the USA. It has a 3rd row so we can carpool or just pick up play dates (remember that both kids are in full fledged car seats). It's shiny and smells so great! After months of research, we settled on an Outlook. Go Saturn! Looking forward to many more road trips but hopefully no new houses in this truck.

3 months til 3

I can't believe May is so quickly approaching. A few weeks ago I realized that Andrew is now closer to 3 than 2. WOW. So, I wanted to take the time to catch you up on my sweet sweet boy.

Andrew is still my little cuddle bug. He loves to snuggle up and watch TV. His best friend has seeming had a name change from "lamby" to "Lamb." It almost makes me cry. Andrew continues to have a passion for cars and loves to push (& bury) them in the sand, in play dough, in the bath and takes as many as his little hands can carry with him to bed each night. He is a fickle eater - he used to love mandarins and doesn't so much anymore. He likes yogurt and MILK. He likes to climb on a stool in the pantry and pick out his own breakfast. "All by myself" has become familiar words around our house. This week I've noticed how much he wants Lila to play with him and she just can't hang yet. He got on a riding toy and pulled one up for Lila and said "let's race." When he doesn't want to get dressed in the morning he says "after later." He loves going to school and when we are the first to arrive he asks, "where is everybody?" He has a big book of Disney stories his Gigi gave him a while back that he likes to read at night. Every night he looks for the "big" book. I am the one to put him to bed during the week while Drew is at school. We read a story then say our prayers before singing a few songs. Each night I ask him who he wants to pray for and without fail his first choice is "dad." A few weeks ago Drew & I noticed that the uncontrollable fits have nearly subsided - thank you, God, for getting us through those. Things seem to be a little easier these days. He still has his moments (don't we all). Still many lessons for all of us to learn but I am thinking we've got Terrific Three's in our future.

Lila 15 mos

Lila went for her 15mos check up today. She is 31 inches tall (75%) and just under 25 pounds (75%). She is super talkative; she repeats several words including the not so popular "mine." She is incredibly active but also loves to sit down in your lap and read a "buh." She in attached to her "baby." On the down side, she has been experiencing severe constipation for the past several months and will see a ped GI in March.