Childhood's End

The end of summer is near; Autumn beckons. School begins in four days, the kids have their backpacks ready to go, the meal plan for lunches is in the works and all is well.

Thursday  Em and I went to the high school to find her classes and talk to a counselor about graduating early. 

We got in and she received her new heavy schedule so she can graduate her Junior year, plus about 3 credits she'll need to do online.

It wasn't until later that I realized that graduation junior year means graduating next year. Next. Year. Say what?  That doesn't seem right at all.

As my girls have gotten older, there are some things wonderful about being able to have a conversation that doesn't revolve around Minecraft or Legos (little boys, obvs) but with all of that there are things I'm not too keen on.

Boyfriends.  Now, I'm not saying I dislike the boys, because I don't. What I don't like is the realization that Mom is no longer #1. My girls are on the threshold of their own lives, a life in which they will leave me and their father behind and live it their way. My time of raising them is nearly finished.

It's an exciting time for them, and for me, also. They have opportunities that I never had, especially with all the moving we have done and the larger schools. They definitely have received a better education than I did.

 There have been some hard conversations with both of our girls, moments that you *know* that if you'd been told when you became a parent that this moment would come, you'd have second thoughts.

Sometimes parenting really sucks.

Most of the time, though, it's great.

Like when school starts and my house will be clean again, at least for a short time!

Bento Lunches

Isn’t that a fun word? Bento. Bento. Bentobentobentobento. *ahem*

Okay. So I’m kinda liking the bento boxes for the kids—especially for the littlest guy. He likes having so many choices, and eats much better than if he has only one choice. His box is simply a glass container with smaller containers nestled inside. I want to get some of those silicon baking cups, too. Then I'd be able to squeeze more stuff in there. The older kids have Easy Lunchboxes, that I bought on Amazon.

 

So the little guy's bento breakfasts won't win any cuteness awards, but he liked them and ate them, which is the whole point, yes?  My older boys nixed the idea of cute veg cutouts and the like, darn it.  Well, I still have the little guy, and he appreciates cuteness still. :)

Speaking of which, it's time to get his breakfast ready!

 

Back in the Kitchen Again

Back to school means more time in the kitchen. My kids take their lunches every day and I try very hard to give them healthy lunches. That’s not to say they don’t have chips or a cookie, because they do sometimes. Usually they take a tortilla wrap (yummy uncooked ones from Costco) filled with beans or lunchmeat and cheese, or grilled chicken, etc. Other times it’s a sandwich. This year they have bento boxes (Easy Lunchboxes) so it’s fun coming up with stuff to fill the sections. The only drawback to this particular bento is that the lid isn’t leakproof, so that does limit the menu a bit. I actually have more freedom/fun making the little guy’s bento for breakfast and lunch. He’s not that great of an eater, being 3 ½, but seems to like having a choice, and he gets excited about the bento like his older brothers and sisters.

Tomorrow is food shopping day. I’ve always struggled with making menu plans for whatever reason, so this time I am going to make menus after the trip instead of before. That way I already know what I have and can plan accordingly. I need to do some prep work this week for breakfasts and lunches, just to make my life easier. J

I have a bunch of coupons and a list of all the deals at the stores for tomorrow, but I’m not sure how many we will get to all in one trip. Even though they are only 6-8 miles away, with the traffic, it seems longer.

So we shall see how this menu planning after grocery shopping works. I will post pics of my haul and later the menu and let you know how it went.

Goodbye, Summer

School is in full swing (well, except for the Labor Day bump) and summer appears to be winding down. Here's a few pics of summer:

August?? Already?

School looms on the horizon, much to every child's consternation. The main complaint I've been hearing is that summer just isn't long enough. No doubt!

The garden is bustling along. So far I"ve gotten two (bitter) stunted cucumbers and about six small yellow summer squash. Not bad for the wet and cold spring we had. There are two pretty large tomatoes on the plant, still green, though. One with a bite from a tomato hornworm, I think. I haven't found him yet,but I dont' really want to. Yuck. I have a couple of butternut squash growing as well, one large enough that it needed a sling as it's growing on the outside of our fence.

I'm already making plans for next year's expanded garden. There are one or two raised beds in the works, and the Sleep Number bed panels are killing some grass for me. That's the best use I've found for that crappy bed. The kids are enjoying the plastic bedframe, though, very much. At least it's not sitting in a landfill somewhere. I keep telling myself that whenever I open the storage room door and see all that gray foam. But I have used some of it, so that's all good.

Online school registration starts today. So glad I don't have to stand in line at the high school for hours! Yay for technology, right?

Can I just say..

Wow. That's all there is to say today, the first full day of school. This morning was sheer chaos--not so much when I had to get the boys ready, but when K and E and Dyno Dad were up. This was even with having lunches fixed the night before (except for Dyno Dad's; my fault).  I was downstairs printing off notes for their lunchboxes and kinda lost track of time. Oops. But all's well that end's well, right? And everyone got out the door with ironed pants and lunches and backpacks.

Now Foo-Foo and I have the house to ourselves, and it's strangely quiet......