Manger Scene Lunch

Being Catholics, 

it just wouldn't be Christmas without a manger scene!

In This Lunch:

Throng of apple angels

Carrot sticks

Strawberry jam sandwich on multigrain bread

Pretzel stick manger

Mozzarella Epiphany star, angel, and swaddling blanket

Fruit leather Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus

In this Recess:

Gingerbread cookie decorated by Lily at

a playdate on Sunday

Christmas Tree Lunch

In this Lunch:

Strawberries on Christmas tree picks

Marshmallow santa (colored red with food marker)

Strawberry jam sandwich on whole wheat

Mozzarella Christmas tree and star (colored with food marker)

Fruit snack tree decorations

In this Recess:

1/2 a banana

Simple Lunch

Still struggling with getting better, 

(this flu is kicking my rump!),

I took it easy with this one,

since I just couldn't find the energy :(

In This Lunch:

Strawberries

Strawberry jam sandwich on whole wheat

1/2 a banana

In This Recess:

Molasses bear paw

House Hippo Lunch

Have you ever seen this commercial?

I LOVE it!

"It's night time in a kitchen just like yours; all is quiet, or is it?"

"The North American house hippo is found throughout Canada and the Eastern United States. House hippos are very timid creatures and they are rarely seen, but they will defend their territory if provoked. They come out at night to search for food, water, and materials for their nests."

"The favourite foods of the house hippo are chips, raisins and the crumbs from peanut butter on toast."

"They build their nests in bedroom closets using lost mittens, dryer lint and bits of string. The nests have to be very soft and warm; house hippos sleep about 16 hours a day."

That looked really real, but you knew it couldn't be true, didn't you? That's why it's good to think about what you're watching on TV, and ask questions, kind of like you just did.

A message from Concerned Children's Advertisers.

In This Lunch

Apple hippos

Graham crackers

Cheddar cheese kitty

Cheddar cheese hippos

White cheddar ball of green string 

(drawn with food marker)

White cheddar mitten

Strawberry jam sandwich on whole wheat

For Recess:

Yoghurt cup (not shown)

As you may have noticed,

We've got a new lunch container!

This one's made by tupperware, and I'll let you know how it turns out :)

So, yeah, I'm still sick.  I'd planned this one for a few days

so it didn't require a whole lot of effort

Sadly, the whole week is turning out to be a bit of a write-off :/

Next week will be better!

Random Rhino Lunch

 

Sooo, I'm still sick :(

Lily went back to school on Tuesday, 

and needed a lunch, 

and this is what my flu-coma'd brain thought made sense :/

Oh well,

*shrug*

Blame it on the flu :(

In this Lunch:

Strawberries

Carrot sticks

Strawberry jam sandwich on whole wheat

In this recess:

Apple Sauce

Taking A Sick Day

Sorry folks, no lunch today!

Lily and Mommy have the flu :(

We'll be back tomorrow though!

Have a great day ♥

Snowy Day Snack

Snowy Day Snack!

Snow!

This is what we woke up to today... Snow!

I'm writing this about 5 hours after this picture was taken, 

and sadly most of the snow is now gone,

but it was there, I swear!

Today is a pizza day at school,

(Every friday is pizza day, 

but we only let Lily get it every other friday.

Pizza's not the healthiest anyhow)

So since her lunch is covered,

here's her snack!

In this Recess:

Vanilla yoghurt (because it's white like snow)

Carrot sticks (snowmen's noses)

Nifty Tin Box

And it's all packed away in this nifty little tin box 

I found at the Bulk Barn!

Froggy Lunch

In This Lunch:

Strawberry ladybugs

Strawberry jam sandwich on whole wheat

Mozzarella froggy with food marker face, and

Carrot shaving tongue

Raisin flies

Cucumber log

In This Recess:

Ginger snap cookie (again)

Family Lunch

So, our family isn't exactly one of those cookie cutter ones you see in magazines...

But we do all love each other very much ♥

In our family, we have:

Lily

Daddy and Erin

Mommy and Craig

(And Mommy and Lily live with Nanny and Auntie Dee Dee)

Today's lunch shows that we all are spokes of a wheel 

that is built on love :)

Together, we can go anywhere!

In This Lunch:

Apple hearts

Carrot sticks (slightly dried on the surface, 

so as not to make the fruit leather yucky)

Strawberry jam sandwich on whole wheat

Cheddar cheese heart

Fruit leather Daddy, Erin, Mommy, Craig, and Lily

Plastic heart picks

In This Recess:

Ginger snap cookie

(we bought a big box... 

we could be eating these for awhile! haha)

Mommy, Craig and Lily

Daddy, Erin and Lils

Nutcracker Lunch

Our family has started a tradition of going to see the 

Nutcracker ballet each year at Christmas time.

Lily LOVES ballet and dancing in general, 

and has been in dance for 2 years now.

We went and saw the ballet on Sunday, 

and I've been itching to make this lunch ever since :)

In This Lunch:

Strawberries on sword picks

Cucumber pieces

Carrot sticks

Blueberries on a toothpick skewer

Strawberry jam sandwich on whole wheat

Mozzarella and cheddar cheese Clara

In This Recess:

Ginger snap cookie

Posing

What a silly bunch!

At the Nutcracker

Last-Minute Lunch

Eeep!  Slept in :(

I always make her lunches in the morning,

And never spend more than 20-25 minutes on any lunch.

I only had about 10 minutes for this one :/

Luckily, I keep the outlines of previous cutouts of fruit leather in my fridge,

So I came up with an on-the-fly theme of

'Mommy and Daddy love you sooooo much!'

In This Lunch:

Carrot sticks

Cucumber slices

Turkey and cheese whiz sandwich on whole wheat

Fruit leather cut outs

In This Recess:

Vanilla yoghurt

This is the same brand as I always buy, 

but I tried putting it in a container to see if she'd eat it...

and she totally did! Woot!

Rockstar Lunch

Lily requested this one today, and I was happy to oblige :)

Something I haven't really focused on in this blog yet 

is how big into music our family is!

Lily's dad, though a school teacher by day, 

plays percussion, and just about any type of guitar you can think of, 

(bass, electric, acoustic, etc), and also has his own recording set-up.

I'm a VP of a small company by day, 

but I'm also a singer who specializes in classical music, 

and I'm versatile in contemporary, folk, christian, and rock.

I sing A LOT (e.g. 4 gigs and a jam session this week alone),

 and at all sorts of gigs :)

(weddings, church services, corporate events, mall entertainment)

So, growing up around so much music

has made for a very musical Lily :)

(and apparently that includes musical lunches, haha)

In This Lunch:

Rosemary and olive oil triscuits with mozzarella stars

Apple stars

Mozzarella and Cheddar stars and speakers

Fruit leather rockstar

Cucumber skin microphone

Sweet snap pea string microphone cord

Sweet snap pea audience

Strawberry jam sandwich stage on whole wheat bread

In This Recess:

Animal crackers (because when Lily performs, 

she unleashes the animal within, haha)

And as a special treat, here's a video of Lils at 3 years old,

delighting a crowd of about 50 people

as our opening act at an all ages event :)

Hearts Lunch

Still recovering from the mess of yesterday's lunch,

I thought I'd play it safe today :)

In This Lunch:

Apple hearts

Cucumber hearts

Strawberry jam sandwich on enriched whole wheat

Strawberry fruit leather hearts

There was also a little Lindor chocolate ball in a red wrapper tucked in beside the red heart cups,

But I forgot to get a picture of that :/

The sweet treat was a gift from a family member when we went out to dinner last night,

and I said she could have it in her lunch :)

In This Recess:

Raspberry cereal bar

Recent News:

We bought Lily a watch last night!

She picked it out, and we have the time set,

but now we just need to ask the teacher when lunch is over, 

aaand figure out how to set the alarm...

then we're all set to start the next adjustment to her lunching habits :)

December 1st Lunch!

This lunch was for yesterday, which was December 1st!

In my books, that's the day Christmas decorations are allowed to go up, 

Christmas music can now be played,

and the rush for shopping is now imminent :)

I've been squirreling away some Christmas lunching supplies, 

and was sooo giddy to break them out for this lunch!

In This Lunch:

Red grapes

Green sweet snap peas

Cheese whiz and turkey sandwich on enriched whole wheat

Strawberry fruit leather gingerbread men

Orange fruit leather candy canes*

*FYI... These turned to goo :(

In This Recess:

Chocolate chip granola bar

Follow-Up:

Sadly the successes we had with the previous day's lunch were not repeated here.

What came home:

A quarter of the sandwich, Most of the grapes, All of the snap peas

 and the two candy canes.

For snack, she ate a couple of grapes, then stated in no uncertain terms

that she'd rather be hungry than eat what was left :(

Can't say I blame her on the gooey candy canes stuck to the sandwich though.

The fruit leather were two different brands

The red one is 'Fruit-to-go,' and I find this usually gets eaten,

but we've been trying 

'Florida's natural wholesome treats sticks'

and it's just not working out :(

Circus Lunch

Success!

Though this lunch still had a quarter of a sandwich, 

some grapes and some carrot sticks left when it came home, 

she finished it all after school, with nothing left behind!!!

Finally, I made a lunch, where nothing was yucky!

In This Lunch:

Carrot stick cannons

Grape juggling balls

Oatmeal raisin umbrella with toothpick handle

Teddy grahams

Strawberry Pocky stick tightrope

Sweet snap pea center ring

Marble cheddar and turkey sandwich on enriched whole wheat

Also Featured Here:

Lion and monkey cupcake wrap

Yellow napkin cape for the great flying daredevil (Lily, that is!)

In This Recess:

Strawberry cereal bar

Simple Flower Lunch

Lunch

You'll notice a few adjustments to today's lunch :)

Less food, less elaborate, and the recess is isolated.

I had hoped we could get out to the store this weekend to pick up a watch,

but we didn't end up having the time :(

We'll get one in a day or so, and let you know how it goes :)

In This Lunch:

Marble cheddar and ham sandwich on enriched whole wheat bread

Marble cheddar flower

Apple flowers

Napkin

Recess

In This Recess:

Green Grapes

Whole Enchilada

Individual Container Follow-Up

What she ate:
1 Sandwich, 1 Carrot Stick, 3 pieces of Cucumber, 1 Yoghurt Cup

So, here is Lily's sitter Kelly's picture of what came home from school.

(Mad props for helping me out Kel! Thanks!!)

If you look at the list of what she ate, 

you'll see she actually didn't do too bad at school today.

After she was allowed to snack at Kelly's, the only thing that remained was the banana.

Apparently it did made a small difference if the foods were separated!

With this new information in mind,

her sitter, her father, and I,

devised a plan!

Starting Monday:

-Her recess will be in a special container marked as such.

The reason being:

She might be filling up on her recess too much, then having no appetite at lunch, 

and coming home starving.

Also, it eliminates choice, thus saving time, giving her longer to eat her snack.

-She will wear a wristwatch with a timer set to go off 10 minutes before the end of lunch.

The reason being:

We suspect she has my ADD-Inattentive Type.

This does not mean that she is hyperactive.  

Quite the opposite, 

it means that more so than other kids, she zones out, and has trouble focusing.

For this, she will need to learn tricks and tools to keep herself on task.

-I will slightly decrease the amount of food packed in her lunch

But most importantly...

-We will continue to make creative lunches, 

but with adjustments made to make the lunches optimal for devouring :)

Individual Container Lunch

What's for Lunch:

Turkey and marble cheddar sandwich on homestyle white bread

Mini Chiquita banana

2 Cucumber skewers

Carrot sticks

Strawberries

Vanilla Yogurt (which didn't fit in the picture)

Banana Man!
(Arms function to stop movement in transit)
(Face drawn with food-safe marker)

Strawberries

The only brand and flavor Lily will eat these days
(Make no mistake, I'm not getting paid to say this!)

So this is experiment number 2!

I'm testing to see if she will be more inclined to eat her lunch at school 

if all foods are not touching different foods.

Same as yesterday's experiment,

I have used a similar amount of food as a usual creative lunch would have

Let's see what comes home today!

Today, as I am working this afternoon, 

I will be enlisting the help of Lily's after school sitter Kelly

To document what comes home, and what is eaten for snack

All that plastic makes it look like so much food!

Separate Units Follow-Up

What came home from school

After I let her snack on it at home

With today's portion of the experiment complete, it's time to document the results:

As you can see, she did not eat much of her lunch at school,

as the photo on the left shows how much came home.

I asked her a few questions, and here is how it went:
Mommy: So Lily, why didn't you eat your lunch today?
Lily: I didn't have time to eat my sandwich.
Mommy: What about this container of fruit and veggies?
Lily: I just didn't feel like it.
Mommy: Did you eat anything else at school today? For example something from the breakfast program?
Lily: Mmmawm!  I don't eat their food!  That food is for people who don't eat breakfast at home, and I EAT breakfast at home!
Mommy: (sensing Lily is getting tired of the interrogation) Well, if you'd like an after school snack, you can finish your lunch :)

Lily groans, but accepts her fate, and picks at the lunch for a minute, then plays with her toys and continues to pick for about 2 hours, (about an hour before supper). (I wanted to let her take as much as she would eat - without me prodding her, to see what got left behind)

The photo on the right is what was left after 2 hours when I put the containers away.

So what has today's experiment taught me about her preferences?
-She prefers to eat her sandwich first at lunch time, and eats a small snack at recess.
-She has limited time to eat, so she needs filling food that can be eaten quickly.
-I suspect she is not focusing on the task at hand during lunch time, (they have 30 minutes to eat), and she will need something to help her focus.

Factors I already know about Lily's lunching habits:
-If it can be spilled, it will be.
-Sprinkles = yucky
-Yoghurt not in original brand container = confusing/yucky
-Lunch must contain sandwich if possible. No Sandwich = Confusion on where to start, and lunch gets hardly touched.
-Sticky = Yucky (unless it's jam in a sandwich)
-Things dipped in other things are confusing/gross (example: yoghurt covered raisins, chocolate dipped strawberries, salad dressing covered veggies).

The thing is, if I'm right there with her, she'll eat!  But I can't go to school with her and sit with her at lunch time, (As much as I would love to).  Part of me is saying, "if she's actually hungry, she'll eat," but the other part of me is saying, "If she doesn't eat at lunch, she might go 7 hours with hardly any fuel for her constantly active body!"  At her Booster shot/check-up in August, the doctor reported that Lils is in the 95th percentile for height, but only the 32nd percentile for weight, so I do worry that she's not eating enough :(

Other Parents!

Do you struggle with this too?

I'd love to hear your stories, and how you're handling it!