what's in that kids lunch box returns...... 16

Okay so last week I failed to post. Our school added 2 pupil free days onto the long weekend so the kids were only actually at school for 2 days last week. We had a productive weekend working in the garden and then I fell sicky with a horror head cold and spent the rest of the week feeling sorry for myself!


This weekend and week has kicked of with some mega storms from Mother Nature and has undone of my good tidying work outside so I am in a bit of a mood about that but still managed to remember to take a photo of today's lunch. 


So, this kid has:

• a cheese, ham and pickle sandwich. Yes it's boring, but I made the whole weeks worth and have frozen them ready to go. This makes my chaotic mornings far more tolerable, and that is best when I am sick and cranky!
• a fruit crush
• polenta cake
• a mandarin for recess

Polenta cake

whisk half a cup of fine polenta into 1 and a half cups of simmering milk. Stir continuously for 5 minutes and then take off the heat. Add in some grated orange rind and honey and sultanas. Spoon in to muffin molds and cool. They set firm like little cakes and are super yummy. You can switch up the flavours too with maple syrup or nuts or cinnamon or other dried fruit. SUPER easy and SUPER yummy

WiTKL.......15

Whoops, I'm a day late with this post. Did anyone really notice? Guessed not.


Well we had a nicey playmate yesterday and Flynn has declared that she is "his best friend EVER". It was super cute and I am so glad that they like to hang out. Sometimes I worry that his friends are by default - you know - only because they are siblings of Lucy's mates.


Week 16, this kid has:

back to the old phone camera

• an apple for recess
• pizza scrolls (made a dough in the bread machine and then just did a roll up thingy. This is an easy way to may vegemite or cinnamon ones too) 
• Fruit juice
• banana yoghurt treat *(see below)

* You may have noticed that our lunches usually don't contain much of the fun dairy stuff like yoghurt squeezey things or yogo's or custards. That's because we have a bit of trouble digesting the majority of dairy products available for lunchbox convenience.  I always manage to keep our calcium level up with other items and I try to include all the dairy that we can handle as much as possible. Up until recently it hasn't been a big issue. We are now entering a phase of Lucy noticing what other kids have or do and comparing them to what we have or do. Generally we discourage trying to 'keep up with the Jones' ' type of attitudes, and we celebrate being different, but sometimes it erks me when I feel like she is always missing out on something.

The something that has come up a lot is the treats that other kids get in their lunchboxes. Chocolate seems to be a repeating offender, but I want to stay firm on that one and maybe only give her something like that once a year! And Yogo. I think it's the only really naughty thing the kids  can get from lunch orders. (We don't have a canteen on site so there are no slushies or icy poles to compete with.) We can't eat Yogo. Insert sad face here! 

So I have started making our own yoghurt delight treaties. Todays is banana nesquik flavoured but we usually have chocolate using a natvia based drinking powder so it is sugar free too.

I basically hang some Mundella natural yoghurt in muslin over night to remove all the watery part and then mix in some flavoured drink powder. Nesquik flavours are super yummy. Hanging the yoghurt isn't absolutely necessary, but it does make it thicker and removes a little bit of the tang.

Lucy thinks it's a winner too. It's a nice feeling to know she feels part of the cool kids all because of a bit of yoghurt.

happy days

This is our little family inside a cargo plane at the Australian Defence Force Air show. The Air Force staff were so friendly and even helped us get this photo. (usually Clint is taking all the shots so he isn't in many photo's)

WiTKLB..........14

Another big weekend has been successfully followed with another dreary Monday morning. We had a lovely day out with our little family at the Pearce Australian Defence Force Air Show. It was a long day as we were out for approximately 12hours. Even though we were all in bed and asleep by 8.30pm I think we could have used at least another 6 hours sleep each


So today is going to be filled with a whole lotta "bugger" and a side serve of "all"


Week 15, this kid has

• crackers, ham, cheese and cucumber
• soy milk and sipahh straw
• an apple for recess

Today's meal just didn't seem enough to me. However Lucy was upset when I tried to add some carrot sticks for a snack that it was too much for her to eat. I agreed to take them out as long as she had milk to bulk it up a bit. I don't want to force feed her, but I don't her to be hungry either.

There is every chance that I will send some sultana's as well tomorrow - just in case!

another Vanity post.

It's all about me again. 


I have been tuned into a lot of diet talk again recently. More to the point I feel like everywhere I go people are talking about what new fancy schemes and tricks they are trying or want to try. Everyone knows someone who tried this or that and seems to have an opinion on it. 


I am fully aware that what works for me may not work for everyone else. I know that I have made the right choices for me. I also know that other peoples success can be feel threatening because it highlights your own failures - and I know because I have sat in that space all to often in my short life. It is no longer important for others to do things my way. I have no need to have the approval of others to make sure that I have done the right thing.


Approval now comes from success. So get ready for some extremely vain opinions of myself!


This was me towards the end of last year. I had already started my healthy journey so I'm sure I probably looked far worse - but I never let there be any photographic evidence

And this is me now 21KG's lighter!

Ha - Don't I just love myself sick right now!

Now I would like to point out that I am not wearing any "shapewear" in these photos,(but I truly do believe that every girl should own some for every red carpet event and that includes grocery shopping and school runs!)

My body type will never be stick thin, and I am OK with that. Perhaps your thirties are for accepting the body you have and not trying to make it into something unattainable.

I got here from no secret remedies or potions or fads. Just one day at a time healthy living. My unhealthy life was built much in the same manner, one day at a time of bad eating and no exercise and sad excuses.

I now include myself in life much more. The idea of bathers doesn't make me want to hurl. And I have loads more photo's of myself with my kids, because I'm not more worried about how I look than capturing the memories.

I still have demons - ones that feed on sugar and doubt. But now they only have visits in my head instead of taking out long term leases. 

Life is good.

my first EVER quilt.

I was totally inspired my an old school friend - well she isn't old - I guess we both are - we just went to school together a very long time ago. Anyway she cleverly made a quilt for her daughter and it is totally groovy. I had started one months and months ago and had it unfinished in the cupboard for far too long, so last week I pulled my head out of my butt and finished it.

It is a cot sized quilt because I didn't want to over extend myself on my first quilting attempt. It won't be useful in our household so I need a friend or family member to get knocked up with a baby girl so I can gift it!

Quilts, vegie gardens, recipes - Geeze am I a nanna much?

WiTKLB........... 13

EEEEeeeek the camera - or camera cable - is playing funny buggers this morning! Perhaps it has the Monday morning yips. Everyone else in the household has them, so why should the camera miss out.
I did take a photo this morning, and it is stored safely on the camera. However I am having trouble loading it onto the PC so I will have to add it in later (when the hubby gets home and fixes it all) All done now, apparently it was "user" error. HA typical


So after a lovely Mothers' day weekend, week 14, this kid has:

• a "green eggs and ham" mountain bread wrap
• sesame snaps
• a fruit crush up
• grapes for recess

I thought that maybe having a funny theme for a simple old wrap or sandwich might provide a bit more excitement. Lucy seems to think it's pretty funny too. The "green" part of the wrap is provided by the ham which is speckled green with pesto. You could also add spinach or lettuce or herbs to get more green. We didn't simply because we ate all of ours on the weekend and I forgot to go to the markets yesterday and get some more.

Just so you don't feel left out in the photo department here is one of the two cuties who make me a proud mummy, and gave me a wonderful mothers' day full of love and cuddles.

my favourite lunch right now

The weather has turned and winter has almost fully set in. I have had about all I can handle of salads now and lunch for me has been a bit boring - tins of tuna with a carrot chaser just isn't cutting it! Last week I remembered a segment of Good Chef Bad Chef and was inspired to give this a try

http://www.goodchefbadchef.com.au/recipes/263

It's basically a homemade baked beans.


My recipe is a tad different. I use half an onion diced, 1-clove of garlic, 1-800g tin of diced italian tomatoes, 2 teaspoons of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of Australian mustard, a sprinkle of oregano, and 1-400g tin of cannellini beans. Once it has all heated up I remove a little bit and reduced just slightly, I add goats feta on the top and then stick it under the grill.


I get about 4 lunches out of each batch, which makes each serve cost just under $2 buckaroos.


How clever am I! Don't I think I am a great big smarty pants! YES I DO.

Room for a BOY

We had planned for Flynn's "Big Boy Room" to be ready for 2nd Birthday, just as we had done for Lucy. I guess moving Lucy out of the nursery and into a new room was probably motivated by the fact that I was 3 months pregnant with Flynn and so we had a deadline that we really needed to stick to. Unfortunately the second child syndrome was in full swing and his room is now ready for him for his 3rd birthday.
He hasn't been upset about waiting. In fact both of the kids have spent most of this year camping in odd spots around the house and sharing Lucy's room. We have kind of embraced it because we figure that eventually they will be too cool to share or bunk together so if we don't do it now, the chance will disappear never to be enjoyed again.
Part of the reason of the extra wait, was simply because I couldn't settle on a furniture design concept. Or a decorating concept. I find girls rooms are incredibly easy to design and decorate. And most things are easy to adapt across large age brackets. But for boys, things are either too young or too old, or they don't really mingle well. For example: Girls can mix butterflies, fairies and princesses easily. But for boys - cars, super hero's and space themes don't always fit together well.
Plus to really throw a spanner in the works I want my kids' furniture to be able to last them through till at least their late teens. Wall decals and bedspreads are easy to swap out to suit their personalities as they grow but the furniture needs to stay!
So after a bit of too-ing and fro-ing between Hubs and myself, we settled on a slight industrial feel for his bed and furniture. Clint did some magic and Flynn now has an awesome bedroom suite with cool checkerplate features. Truly that man - my hubs - is very good at his trade, and super good looking too! Score for me.

There is storage under the bed so even his blanky and special bunny have a safe place  to live.

Storage galore. I highly doubt he should ever run out of storage space!

Because of the open shelving on the side of the wardrobe - display options are endless. And I will absolutely take every opportunity to show off his cool things. I can just imagine all of his trophy's up here one day too!

I loved the idea of model planes suspended from the ceiling. Clint supersized the idea and went with a huge RC plan that even has landing gear. I insisted that he cannot play with it until Flynn is old enough to play too. Not sure how long that rule will last! I painted the clouds with ceiling white paint and a sample pot of grey and a cotton tip for the detailing. Simple, cheap and effective.

To add an extra element to the room I had this idea of a light box. And as per usual, I mentioned the idea and Clint is doing all the hard work and bringing it into reality. We are still waiting on the light parts to be delivered, so it isn't in there yet. I will do a separate post when it is all finished.

I know I should have waited till I had all the finishing touches done - and then do this post. But honestly I just couldn't wait, I am so proud of it. And better still, Flynn loves it!

WiTKL.........12

I can hardly believe that I made it through last week without a single complaint about her boring lunch! It has planted seeds of thoughts into my head like: "why on earth do I even worry about making her something nice or vaguely interesting?" and "blow it- she can live on crackers and lamingtons and I will get at least an extra half hour sleep every week".
Alas I have not given into these thoughts. And here we are back again for another installment. 


Week 13, this kid has

• ham and salad sandwich
• mini blueberry muffin (if you haven't guessed by now - it came straight out of the freezer!)
• Soy milk and Sipahh straw
• and apple for recess (not pictured)

I am starting to need some inspiration. This week I will put my thinking cap on and try to bring a better game for next lunch. Please share if you have some great ideas! This challenge is tougher than I first thought. Maybe we need to go hot again?

decorating for boys

In the process of deciding what to do for Flynn's big boy room, I researched lots of different ideas and concepts. Some of them were so good even though they didn't make the final cut. So rather than it seem like a complete loss I thought I'd share some of them so that if anyone else is doing some decorating it might help or give you some ideas. But please be pre-warned, I do think that I am somewhat good at this decorating stuff - and there is every chance that most of the public may not agree - so if you don't just humor me, or silently ignore me.

Firstly, before you start any endeavour these days, whether it be decorating or getting married or hosting a dinner party, get straight onto PINTEREST. It is such a great tool. And that is exactly where I found most of my links and photo's for this post.


Generally my style is a bit eclectic with a modern edge. I also love things that are vintage and or re-purposed. Anything that could spark a conversation or hold a memory or make you smile is a winner in my book. So with that in mind I tried to do this and add in as much of my son's personality as possible. And in the end only so much could fit in one room. Here are the things that didn't fit this time.


1. Buntings
Buntings are by far one of the easiest and effective decorating items. They come in so many different styles plus are so easy to make. You don't even always need a sewing machine!

www.pinterest.com

www.pinterest.com

www.pinterest.com

www.pinterest.com

2. And this brings me to all things maps and Globes. Light fittings, wall paper, mirrors, anything and everything. I love how it can be adapted to any age too.

3. Light fittings. Every room needs light. But it doesn't have to be boring. How about an old guitar, gutted out and fitted with light inside? Or these little gems?

4. Storage. How cool do these wire basket ideas look

5. Lego. Embrace it and use it as a feature!

6. Hooks and handles.Step outside of the norm for a little bit of fun 

7. Artwork. Kids make some awesome things. And they love displaying it. So use their drawings in picture frames or string it up as a bunting or use their crafts as sculptures. 

8. Trophy's. No doubt in time they will have their own collection of them, but how about rescuing some old ones and reloving them. 

I hope someone will find a little bit of inspiration out of this. One of my dream jobs would be to style kids rooms all day long. Painting murals, sewing cushions and creating lovely spaces for little minds to grow in. Glad I have two perfect munchkins to be able to do it for!

WiTKL.........11

Back to finger food this week. Even though we have only been back one week this term, I feel a bit exhausted today and have lost my lunch mojo.  It probably shows from the lack of colour in today's meal. But I flatly refuse to feel guilty about it because I have plenty of other places that I can use my mother guilt on!


so week 12, this kid had

• an apple for recess
• vegemite and cheese on salada's
• a mini lamington (another freezer hero)
• a "fruit shoot" juice

Last week Lucy was a flower bearer for her school's special assembly. It was my first super-proud-paparazzi-parent-attending-assembly. Unfortunately in her big moment everyone was standing so we couldn't see her do her thing, but I did get a snap of her and she knew I was there. I also managed to hold back the tears as the choir sang "Two little boys", which is a great feat for me, but I didn't want to embarrass Lucy and then her ban me from attending any school events again.

WiTKL?........ ten

Term 1 completed - Check
Survive April school holidays - Check
2 out of 2 tasks completed. Now to do it all again but with jumpers on because it is bloomin' cold. In the scheme of things it's not as cold as full blown winter yet, and other places and countries survive much colder weather. But here in WA anything below 20degrees Celsius and we are all pulling out our thermal undies and ugg boots. It also adds a different dimension to the morning routine, because getting up in the cold and dark is strange and convincing the kids to get into action is a bit tougher because they still think it is night time.


I may have to start thinking of warming lunches too. Does anyone know of a good "kid friendly" thermos? Something that can be opened easily by little hands?


Week 11, this kid has:

• Soy milk and Sipahh straw
• Pasta salad
• a slice of Fruit cake
• Red seedless grapes for recess

If your kids are happy with eating "fork" food at school then pasta salads are an easy lunch to throw together. Especially if you have leftover pasta from last nights dinner. Then add any salad veggies you have in your fridge that your kids will happily eat. Lucy chose cherry tomatoes, cucumber, basil and parsley. I also added some shredded ham and her favourite salad dressing which is a creamy potato salad one (not my preference - I'm more of a balsamic vinaigrette gal, but it's not my lunch so I let her have it) Other options could be with cheese, olives, salami's, spring onion, pinenuts, capers, etc. Anything your kids will eat really.

The fruit cake is one of my lunchbox cheats. This one is store bought and I cut it all up and freeze it. It is always defrosted by the time she eats it and it keeps it fresh all week. No thinking in the morning and is friendly on your finances too.

Maybe next term I will try and do a rough costing of how much each lunch is. What do you think? Hmm already sounds too hard. Maybe not.

Friday is for - Potato stamping

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am a bit of a scrimp when it comes to gift wrap. Wrapping paper can be expensive and in my personal opinion I would rather spend the extra 5 or 8 bucks on the actual gift than on the wrap and card. 
In the past I have used the kids paintings and drawings from craft activities and kindy, brown paper bags with labels made from golden books that I've found at thrift stores, pages from old atlases and butchers paper with iron on transfers that I have found on the cheap. I usually then write straight on the gift wrap my message to the giftee instead of giving a card. Most, if not all, of the ribbon I ever used is recycled from gifts I have received or leftovers in my sewing stuff. One Christmas I drew the ribbons onto the wrapping with a permanent red marker!
This weekend we are attending a kids party and so we have to wrap a present. Because it's school holidays I thought i would double the task as an activity to keep the kids happy. So this morning was all about potatoes and stamping.

 With the addition of a little picture from a 0.99cent golden book and a message I think we've done a good job.

I love when I can make a task that needs to be done into something fun the kids can help with.