A minor milestone

My baby turned 8 years old today.

It was a busy day, with an early morning football game and breakfast eaten in the car on the way. A birthday present was opened on the ride too. A new batman for my superhero fiend. We celebrated this afternoon with ice cream cake, and a small party of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

My birthday boy celebrated by gleefully throwing his 5-year-old car seat in the trash. I'm glad to see the car seat go too, but I'm a bit nostalgic. It's the last symbol of his babyhood - gone. It really feels like just yesterday I was putting his 10-year-old big brother in the car seat for the very first time for that cautious ride home from the hospital.

I'm again reminded that they grow up so fast, and to enjoy every minute of their childhood.

What to do with Cheerios?

Target has a great deal on Cheerios this week. It varies by area, but all the ads are advertising General Mills Cereal for 4 for $11, then an item is offered for free for buying for boxes. Where I live, the offered item is a gallon of milk. I've also heard of gift cards and orange juice as the free item. To make the deal even sweeter, match it with some coupons. Money Saving Mom has some links on her blog, check it out here. http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/09/target-cheerios.html

But what can you do with all those Cheerios? In my house we usually eat them in the traditional bowl, milk and spoon manner. But here's a few other ideas. . .

1. I've heard they make good targets for potty training. I never tried it myself, because I had visions of boxes being poured into the toilet . . .

2. Make marshmallow treats - using Cheerios instead of rice cereal.

3. Prince Charming grew up eating fried Cheerios as a snack. He'll put them in a pan with some butter, fry them up, and season them much like you would popcorn. Some of our favorites are garlic salt and seasoned salt. Warning: these are addicting!

Conversations with an almost 8-year-old . . .

Sometimes talking to my children takes me down paths I never thought I'd wander. Here's a brief snippet of some of the things I've talked about with my youngest since he came home from school a mere three hours ago. . .

1. His hair isn't long enough yet, it doesn't need to be cut.
2. His teacher said today that sometimes bugs lay eggs in people's hair (I clarified this one a little - he says it was just a story, not that this happened to someone in his class. I'm still nervous).
3. His hair was cut too short.
4. The white blood cells and germs are still doing battle on his arm (this was accompanied by a "see?" at the dinner table). The following also took place at the dinner table.
5. Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil war.
6. He can feel things happening in his small intestine, "and you know what comes next!"
7. Finally, he asked, "How can people die just by getting hit in the bottom of their brain?"

So much for asking how his day was . . .

Lunch Box Snack Ideas

Silly me. I thought I'd start blogging when my boys went back to school, but forgot that it means back to school for me too! I'm a substitute teacher, and although last year I wasn't in full swing until mid-October, I've subbed for 7 days so far this school year, and have another 9 scheduled.

My dear (brilliant) friend is blogging about lunch box ideas, so I thought I'd join in. Here are some of the successful items I've added to my guys packed lunches.

Popcorn
Cupcake or cake sandwiches (slice the bottom off the cake, put it on top, sandwiching the icing in the middle - my kids named them)
Graham Cracker Cookies (also named by my kids, they're simply graham crackers with icing)
A peeled carrot (It somehow is cooler to just eat it Bugs Bunny style)
Cheese sticks
Yogurt in tubes (freeze them, they thaw but stay cold by lunchtime)
Snack size applesauce
Pickle Spears (double wrap!)
Clementines
Apples
Snack Pack Puddings (bought on sale with coupons of course!)
Dry cereal

Check out my friend's blog for more ideas - http://raisethemup.blogspot.com/2008/09/lunch-box-treats.html

Lunch Box Preparedness . . .

I always try to pack lunches the night before in order to avoid the morning rush. But after a long day of work, followed by the dinner/homework/rush out the door to football practice, I rarely feel like doing anything but go to bed. I've learned to take some time on Sunday afternoon to prepare the week's lunches.

First, I'm pretty lucky, because my boys only ever want peanut butter sandwiches. They add some variety by alternating between grape or strawberry jelly and honey. I make all the sandwiches on a Sunday afternoon, by spreading peanut butter on both pieces of bread, and putting the jelly in the middle. That way the sticky stuff won't seep through the bread by lunchtime.

Then I cut all the sandwiches in half, bag them and put a "G", "S" or "H" on the bag, to indicate what's inside. I put all the bags in the freezer, along with some "juice" bottles that I can buy at Aldis at 6 for 99 cents (I know, it's just colored sugar water, but since it's the only time my kids get this kind of stuff, I don't worry about it).

The night before, I put a sandwich bag (or 2 for my oldest), a frozen drink, some sort of "snacky" thing and a fruit in their insulated lunch bags, and put them on the breakfast table. By lunchtime the next day, everything is thawed but the drink is still cold. I'd love to pack water in something reusable, but I've always had problems with things leaking whenever I've tried it.

Leave a comment about your lunchtime ideas - I'd love to hear them!

"Success Star" Update!

My youngest came home from school yesterday and announced that he got a "success star". I thought he was talking about some sort of school incentive, but he meant the goals we put on the construction paper stars.

Both boys had fun last night writing the names of new friends on their newly dubbed Success Stars, and each put a tally mark on the star on which they wrote their behavior goals.

Starting the year off right

Something new I did with the boys this year was to talk to them about setting goals for the year. I let them think about it for awhile, then they each decided what they're goals would be.

My oldest decided he wanted to get mostly "A's", get the presidential physical fitness award, and make good friends.

His younger brother set the goals of making a new friend, stay on green (which translates to behaving in class), and run fast in gym class.

I downloaded a star shape clip-art, and used it as a template for some construction paper stars. Then we wrote each goal on a star, and put them up in the boys room.

It's the first time the boys have gone to school with some goals for the year. They're very enthusiastic about it, and I have a few leftover stars - just in case they come up with another goal or two in the first weeks of school.

I didn't come up with this idea all on my own. I found it in a magazine. I think it was Woman's Day. I'm very proud of my boys for embracing this idea, and putting a lot of thought into their goals.