Labor Day Swim

Hello! I apologize for being so behind on my blog. Going from PC to Mac is harder than I thought. Old habits really die hard. Add the fact that I using software with icons so different than what I am used to and you can imagine that this is a slow going process. It took me longer than I should to figure out how to save my photos to a web-friendly format with my new software, whew. I love it all though.

Look for a big post from me on Sunday about my first adventure with OAMC. If you don't know what OAMC stands for, you will have to read my blog to find out.

In the meantime, here are some pics from Labor Day. We spend the day at the beach on the lake, it was wonderful. Perfect weather too. Click on the photo to see it bigger.



I love this photo!

440 and other blog happenings

What is so special about 440 you ask? Well that is the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop according to Arick. After church on Sunday he came up to us with a bright orange tongue and so excited to share his discovery!

As for other blog news, well you may have noticed that I haven't blogged as frequently lately. I have a good reason. You see, my computer has run out of memory. I can't download any new photos and I definitely can't edit my photos. So until I get my new computer (a new iMac woohoo!) I won't be able to work on the pictures to put on here. Unfortunately the computer won't be here for 7-14 days so you will have to be patient ... and so will I, ugh.

EDIT: Amazon's shipping estimate was WAY OFF, which is a great thing. It came on the 29th, woohoo!

Sumo Nigiri Bento and more

I was taking pics of the bentos and Arick requested I take his picture. Such a cutie patootie!

Arick's bento:
Sumo (kind of looks like a Sumo wrestler) Nigiri Rice
Sliced carrots
Black olives (Arick wants this is every bento from now on)
Homemade fruit salad with peaches, pineapple, cherries and bananas
Boiled egg
Soy sauce in a fish bottle

Brianna's Bento:
Flower shaped carrot slices
Black olives
Nigiri rice with teriyaki sauce in a bottle
Same homemade fruit salad
Imitation crab meat with a mini ice pack to keep it cool

I took pictures of the bentos today the way they looked just before I put them in the lunchboxes. I used saran wrap on the fruit salad so it wouldn't leak and I put saran wrap on the crab so as not to affect the flavors of the other food. The fact that the inner containers are not watertight is the one thing that I don't love about my 'bento' boxes. The box itself is watertight. The mini blue ice comes from an ice blanket from Target that cost $2.xx. You can cut the rectangles of ice off individually which works great for the bento system. Although I didn't picture it, I did put one next to Arick's egg. I learned this trick from http://www.lunchinabox.net/. It has tons of great tips.

I also wanted to mention a tip on how to pack bentos. You should have 4-5 (5 is optimal) colors in your bento. This makes it look pretty (which is key to getting picky eaters to eat) but also it usually means that it is healthy as well. Of course I am not perfect at this, so if I can't get all the foods to be different colors I try to add color with the picks and other bento decorations. Here are some suggestions to help:

Reds: strawberries, red grapes, cherry tomatoes, sliced red peppers, watermelon, cherries (pitted for little ones), red tortillas, salsa
Orange: carrots, dried apricots, sweet potato, cantaloupe, peaches, mandarin orange segments, yellow cheeses.
Green: peas, cucumber, green grapes, broccoli, spinach, green peppers, edamame beans and asparagus, spinach tortillas.
White: rice, Asian dumplings, pasta, bread, potatoes, flour tortillas, boiled egg
Black, dark purple or brown is the fifth color group considered in Bento lunch making. Here are some suggestions for this: Black olives, black sesame seads, seaweeds, eggplant

First day of school

Even though I have posted a ton of entries lately, I am quite a bit behind on blogging. One of the topics I have yet to post about is the first day of school. The kids had their first full day of school on Monday (one of my favorite days of the year). One of the things that changed when we moved to Tennessee is that the school calendar is much different than we are used to. School is on a modified year round schedule so the kids start school really early here. Not only is the yearly calendar changed here, but so is the hours that school is held. Elementary school starts before high school, so my kids have to get up before 6 a.m. , with the earliest being at 5:15 a.m. if they are taking the bus. Crazy, huh? Don't get me wrong though, because I love it. My kids are home with plenty of sunshine left in the day to play outside even after doing their homework.

So here are the kids on their first day of school. The pictures are not that great but they still manage to have that first day of school feeling. I am guessing that the geeky lunchboxes and school uniforms have something to do with that.

Happy Birthday Arick

(The picture above is a still from the video we took just after we brought Arick home from the hospital)

It is so hard to believe that Arick is 7 years old today. What a joy it has been to have him as part of our family. Without him we may never have memorized the movie Dumbo, have owned about 20 toy elephants, have had such a large collection of lightsabers and swords, discovered the large number of frogs in our yard, had sugar ants for pets, or received nearly as many hugs. Then there is the dimple that just makes my heart melt every time I see it and a laugh that is so contagious it can defeat a bad case of the grumps every time. Life just wouldn't be as sweet without our Arick. We love you buddy, Happy Birthday!

To help celebrate his special day, please leave a comment or send an email and I will make sure he gets the message. Thanks!

Sleepover

Because summer vacation is nearing an end, Brianna and Arick have been begging for a sleepover. I am not fond of sleepovers because one kid usually ends up complaining that the other won't let them go to sleep. However, their begging wore me down and I agreed that they could have on last sleepover. The kids told me today that they would like to have their sleepover tonight. I didn't think that was such a good idea since we don't have any new movies and treats. I then suggested that we have it on another night. The kids stood their ground and presented the following list as evidence that their sleepover would be a success. Andrew and I just about busted a gasket laughing as we read the list and we hope you will too. Please note that the list is exactly as they wrote it, including the bullet points!

Sleepover

• Talk


• Laugh


• Games


• Pillowfight


• Fort building


• Invent


• Gameboy


• Nintendo DS


• Draw


• Record beating


• Potty break


• Ticklefight


• 20 questions


• Gamecube


• Xbox


• TV


• Movies


• Jokes


• Who can stay up the longest


• Scary stories


• Shadow puppets


• Hide and go seek (in the dark)


• Hide and go seek


• Pollyville


• Dog game


• Raid the kitchen

Edited to add: Here is a photo that I snuck and took of them later in the evening. I totally surprised them.