Our Valentine's Day

I can't believe it has been a week since Valentine's Day already!   Time certainly flies when you're having fun!!  On Valentine's Eve after the kids went to bed - I decided to work like a little Valentine's elf (they have to have jobs besides, Christmas ya know!)  and ready the dining room table with some Valentine's surprises for my kids.    

I wanted it to be a special morning for my kids this year - if I'll go for 'gusto' every year it remains to be seen but this year there were presents, festive breakfasts, and thematically colored matching clothing. :)

The chip in the bowl looks much more angry than it really is...
Who can resist M&M Red Sugar Oatmeal?  Ace certainly didn't!

Ace headed off to school and enjoyed his party and Mae and I had some time to play and just be silly after a few errands.    Before we left to go pick up Ace I made him a special lunch with a bit of a theme and more candy, because well it's a holiday so why not!?  :) 

After we got home the kids had a good time posing for some Valentine's photos with mom before nap time and we had a giggling good time. 

Now what about the husband?  He was very thoughtful this year and gave me a tutorial book on Lightroom that I had been wanting and he ordered me flowers.  The flowers were supposed to arrive on Monday of that week - because it was cheaper to deliver them then and well I'm all for that.  However, they called him and said they'd be unable to make it on Monday, could they deliver on Tuesday (Valentine's Day)  "I guess" was said with a sheepish smile.  :)   Which quickly turned to scowl when nothing arrived on VDay.

On Wednesday afternoon a delivery man comes stomping up the porch carrying a red vase with a dozen red roses.... um not even close.  48 hours late AND totally wrong?  An "upgrade" by florist standards, I suppose, but not what the husband ordered.   We were less than thrilled and I kindly (no really, kindly, it wasn't the delivery guy's fault!) informed the delivery man of this.    He was a third party to the florist and said that he had delivered to 5 other households and ALL of them were not happy and many had refused their deliveries because of incorrectness or extreme delay.  Later he must have informed the company because at 11:40pm that night I heard steps on my porch (a bit unnerving honestly)  after they retreated I went to look outside and there was another bouquet of flowers that looked more along the lines of what Loving Husband  had ordered.   I believe it was the florist's attempt to "make it right" we accepted that and didn't complain any further.   Besides they've been here nearly a week now and look how pretty they still look?    Thanks, LH!

The mantel a bit taken over by the kid's Valentines but that's ok. 
Although I won't lie the imbalance is driving me nuts! :)

Overall we had a wonderful Valentine's Day and enjoyed our time.   It's been a good week and these past few days Becky and Ben have been visiting!  Hooray!  More on that soon.  :)

Creative Lunching

Aside from when he was a baby with his insatiable appetite for milk - my son has always eaten like a bird.   There are days every so often that he does what we've coined "dump trucking" where he inexplicably eats more food than Loving Husband or myself could even manage in one sitting.   And the infamous phrase "where does he put it?"  gets pulled out.   Those times are rare though -and in fact in addition to eating like a bird he eats soooooo sloooooooow!  I mean seriously - LH and I both will have completed our dinners and 20 minutes beyond he's still needing to be reminded or timed with a cut off to finish his dinner.  

What about lunch?  Well I won't lie - there are days where I load the kids in the car and we drive thru - in a confined space where he can't be too distracted he often can pound through a 6 piece nugget meal on our 5-7 mile loop of a drive through the area.   He's not incapable of eating quickly if he wants to.     However, on most days when we're home and it becomes lunch time I want him to gain some independence with his food - and so he sits at his table and he is to eat his lunch.    It was proving to be a nightmare for success...  until after coming across a few blogs and the concept of 'bento boxes' did I decide to finally give that a try.

I have always been wary about using cookie cutters for sandwiches - because 1) my son DOES eat the crust, 2) there is a lot of nutrition in the crust,  and 3) it's wasteful.   However, the idea of the fun shapes and making the meal exciting in the end won out for a trial to see if this would speed up the lunch eating process.    After looking through a lot of fun websites on food - stuff found of Pinterest, This Lunch Rox and finding great ideas for bento boxes here.  The world of bento is overwhelmingly expansive and detailed and so while it's interesting I'm merely dabbling into a whole world of food art.

I did purchase some supplies for this venture:   I decided on some boxes that were inexpensive Ziplock divided boxes, I obtained some sandwich stampers, along with a dinosaur sandwich stamper that I got at Walmart for $2, and some silicone square muffin cups.   I found a place for all the 'lunch supplies' (which I will greatly miss upon our return to the NW! Although I look forward to the return to the many cookie cutter options I have waiting for me) and away we go with some fun creativity. 

I think my unique take on this "bento" thing is a way to deal with the extra bread.  Like I said I don't like to waste the crust and so I find ways to incorporate them into the meal.   Whether I make it into a palm tree or the 'train tracks' that the train sits on or chop it up into a medley with the cheese bits - it is all consumed.   It's not totally intricate or elaborate - but I am a mother of two under three, so time doesn't allow for such detail.

So how is Ace enjoying his new fun foods?  He loves them!  He also is honestly eating them faster and more concentrated.    Success! 

Plus I won't lie - it's kind of fun.  :)