A look inside the Playroom

So I get a lot of random questions with running a daycare and well just being a mom.  One of them is always, "how and where do you store all those toys." Well all over the house really (although we do have a certain designated play area), but for the most part all my toys have a space designed just for them! See I'm a little OCD about my toy storage and that certain toys belong with certain things and that everything needs to be just right in it's place (but if you have seen any of my posts you know the kids are capable of making big messes!)  Which I know what your thinking, I run a daycare so I can't be crazy about where the toys are and where they belong. But it's true.....I do have an issue, just ask the daycare kids as they have learned for the most part that this is a real thing.  Although I do believe that they like to make me go crazy as they have fun mixing the toys and putting them in different spots. I've learned though to let things go and let them make messes, have fun, explore and well just play.  But you better bet that I will fix the toy storage issue later in the day or sometimes even quickly after they are done playing with it.  So how do I store my toys, well let's explore our play area shall we?!

So my sweet little house is busting at the seams with daycare but we have made it work! This is an over all view of the play room.  Still have some things to put up on the walls but you get the idea! This is the main area that the kids play in and where most of the toys are stored.  If you shop IKEA as much as I do your going to quickly notice that my house could really be an "IKEA showroom". But what can I say, we absolutely love that store and it's always my go to place to find things!! Either that or target!! So as you can see it's all surrounded by the awesome cute little table and chairs. Which the kids love and if you don't have a small table with chairs I highly suggest that you invest.  I've found and never have figured out why but the little tiny humans love to take things to a table.  Plus it does come in handy when they play restaurant and office too!

On this wall we have, you name it IKEA storage! This shelf is the KALLAX shelf unit and we love them!! They hold a lot and they can be straight up (as shown) or on it's side and they are very sturdy pieces! (We actually need a few more of these around our house if you can believe that!) I love this piece for so many reasons one, it's tall so I can put things up out of reach and two, they have large shelves that can hold a lot of toys!!  Some toys I choose to put into buckets (which you'll find that I love all kind of buckets!) and some are loose on the shelf.  The green storage bins are from Target and the colored see through buckets are from Land of Nod (these are great since they stack and that they can see what's inside). On this shelf we have anything car related, lacing beads and cards, puzzles (up high so they can't dump them all and walk away) and some fine motor toys like  k'nex elmo builder and mr. potato head. Next to this shelf is what we call our "baby area", although I need to work on this area or move it around but I'll slowly get around to that!  So with it being for the babies I choose fabric buckets so they don't hit themselves with it and get hurt (which actually happens a lot).  So it has all the baby toys and fun for them on a soft foam mat.  We also store the kids tool bench over here and let me tell you, this is a very well loved toy!!

On this wall we have the play kitchen and all the food that goes with it!! All of our kids love the play kitchen and this is also a very well loved toy in my house!! All ages play with this and this is really where they have their imaginations come out.  Whether they are playing restaurant or going shopping they all love this area!! I do need to vamp up this area though since they all love it so much!! I'm thinking more play food and kitchen things since I know they all will play with it, it's an area that I'm ok investing in knowing that the pay off will be great for them!!!

The next wall is like a mixture of toys but surprisingly it's organized! It is also IKEA and this unit is called the TROFAST system and they come in a variety of shelves. You can choose the size buckets and what colors you want. Or you can get shelves to add to them and then go that route.  But for me the buckets were the best way to go and maybe that's just because I'm partial to loving any kind of bucket!! In this area we store more infant toys but they are toys all kids enjoy like stacking cups and a train that you can stack blocks onto.  We also store any loose play items that can be added to the doll house or littlest pet shop house, doctor kits, pretend play wallets and make up and snap and style dolls. We love these dolls as they are easy snap on clothes and are way easier then polly pockets and they are jumbo size! Next to the shelf we store large card board blocks for building.

 

This unit is such an awesome one and also from IKEA, it's called the STUVA storage bench.  This can double (well I should say triple) as it can be a bench (we don't use it for that because let's face it they don't need to climb on anything else!) desk when the drawer is pulled out and then for what we use it storage!!! This unit stores everyone's beloved toy and the most played with, Fisher Price Trio Blocks.  Sadly they don't make these anymore which is such a bummer since like I said everyone plays with these!! All day everyday you can find someone building something with these toys.  So needless to say when I find some I snatch them up as we can never have to many!! This works great for these since we had a large quantity of them and needed a large "bucket" to hold all of them.  On top the bench we just store a few toys and as you can see of course I added a bucket (from Target) to hold all the computers!

So that's most of the toys but we do hide some in the "main living area" of the house. I say that as I'm still working on this area and it needs some new paint and new furniture to help make our house a home, but we do hide some toys in this area. So I decided to try and "camouflage" them and hide some under the coffee table in buckets (found at IKEA).  In here we store sticky blocks and trains, and let's add as a side note, that this table is perfect for train building!!!

We also have one more hidden toy storage and that's hiding a lot more toys! It's again another KALLAX shelf unit (now you can see what it looks like on it's side!) For now it's holding our tv, until wall mounted and hiding more toys.  The green and small gray buckets are from Target and the white and large gray ones are from IKEA.  These hold anything block related as in mega blocks, waffle blocks, lego duplos, little people blocks and magnatiles.  Magnatiles are also a toy that is played with on a daily basis and I think they are a must in every house!! The little gray buckets hold their books just to make it look more organized and well put together!!

Well that pretty much sums up the toy storage for the day care area.  It's full and sometimes it does resemble a toy store but I think it's come together fairly well and I'm loving how it's turning out! I do reorganize a lot so I won't be surprised if I decide one day that things need some rearranging.  Plus I think it's good for the kids too and it some how seems like a new space to them!! I love decorating and finding something that really works for us and this was a challenge and took me several tries until I felt it was just right!! As we have to live with the challenge of the day care right in the bulk of our living room we have had to try several different lay outs.  But this works for us and flows really well with the rest of the house.  So for now it fits and feels welcoming and homey and that's exactly what I wanted!

Funny Sayings in Daycare

So it hit me the other day, while saying one of the many things I say during the crazy days of daycare.....Hey I should totally share these with people!! People are always asking Kayla and I how we do things and how our day was, but if you really knew what went on you would probably do one of two things:
       1. Get stressed out and want to high tale it out of here
                                               or
       2. Laugh so hard that you would be crying (and possibly pee your pants)
Why we do have stressful crazy days those seem to balance out with the hilariously funny days too!! Now we all know kids are already pretty funny and do silly things through out the day, that's a given. What most people don't know (or realize) is that the provider is also a little funny and silly too!  At least that's the situation here ( or at least I hope!)  After I wrote down our daily (literally) saying's, funny and some expected, it starts to sound like I'm more strict and not so fun?  Although I'm sure that's not the case, the kids have informed me we are pretty silly ourselves! Either that or they where just being nice, but never the less I thought it would be just a fun little read for everyone. We get through our days by laughing a lot and of course lot's of coffee!! So Kayla and I gathered some sayings that if you were to sit in at any given time you would be guaranteed to hear at least a few of these.  So here it goes our 25, yes that's right, 25 top crazy and fun sayings:
1. What smells and who is that?
2. Boy's don't marry boy's and girl's don't marry girl's (and occasionally, no you can't marry your sibling)
3. No you may not have more, you still have food on your plate
4. Wipe your nose and cover your cough
5. Stop throwing toys in the house
6. Don't touch the TV
7. Stop running in the house
8. Who clogged the toilet?
9. Use your inside voices
10. Leave the dog alone and stop touching her butt
11. The couch isn't for jumping
12. You don't need your shoes on and where are your socks?
13. Clean up your toys
14. No and stop please
15. Who shoved this in there?
16. Stop picking your nose
17. Don't announce your bodily functions out loud, just say excuse me
18. Chairs are for sitting not standing
19. Buckets are for toys not standing or sitting in
20. Put your pants back on
21. No you may not get up from the table till everyone is done
22. Don't feed the dog
23. Don't dump all those out
24. You can't take all the toys for yourself you have to share
25. Don't let the babies eat the crayons
Wow that's a lot! And again after reading these, don't they make me sound a tad bit mean and little crazy?! If I got paid 10 cent for every time I said those sayings I'm sure I'd be rich in no time!!  But there you have it.....if you have ever wondered what your daycare provider has said during the day I could almost guarantee that they have said a couple of these!!!
No don't get me wrong we do have lots of fun with the kids and keep them busy but there is a lot that goes on in an 8 hour day.  We keep out kids busy and encourage them to play and use their imaginations!  They love crafts and anything sensory related!  Play dough and slime are there all time favorite things to play with and it's so easy to make these things at home ( maybe another blog post?). So to end this hopefully funny and enjoyable read I'm going to share a few silly photos of my kids and their awesome silly faces! Enjoy and live in laughter and fun!!

                                                   

Holiday Photos

I can't believe that Christmas is right around the corner.  This year I was totally not prepared but I've managed to get it together just in time and now I can't wait!! I'm kinda glad that I waited so long to prepare because I'm like a little kid right now and can't wait for the kids to see everything!! Christmas is always such a fun time of year and by far my favorite! It's time with family all gathering together and sharing great food. Although this year is special to our sweet little family as this year is our first Christmas together as being married. We have had quite the year so far and some days it's still hard to believe that we were married just two short months ago.  Time sure does fly by and yet slowly creeps away, funny how that works!  We are so excited to embark on this life together and the holiday season is just the start!!

I live in awe every day that this is my life and that this is my tribe.  I'm truly blessed to have these guys surround me everyday and support me through life. Now don't get me wrong we are all human and we have our moments where we may "love them" but not necessarily "like them right now".  Although I will say these are far and few between as we learn more about each other everyday and choose to live our life full of fun and laughter instead.  Brandon and I find ourselves saying that life is to short to be serious all the time so why not have fun (although I'll admit, he's way better at it then I am!)! I'm slowly getting caught up but sometimes I find myself sitting back and watching him with the kids, and it just melts my heart and brings tears to my eyes.  This is what life is, happiness.  Pure happiness filled with kids being kids, playing, laughing and being silly.  

We all had so much fun taking these holiday photos and I'm in love with the way they all turned out!  We wanted some silly one's (because why not?!) and some more down to earth normal one's (but who are we kidding, we aren't the average normal family)!  I had a hard time choosing which one's I loved the most as they represent our sweet little family oh so well!

Ha absolutely love this one!! This show's all our true colors for sure!!! Why not have fun with your kids? They only get one childhood and we need to make it count!! Now don't get me wrong we do have discipline but we pick our battles with them and teach them the important things.  I believe that they need to be kids and play, have fun and goof off.  Which is why I can't wait till Christmas too as their gifts this year was a theme of "imagination", so many great things to build up their imaginations and let them be little! (Side note never did a "theme before but have to say it was an awesome idea and makes shopping oh so easy!)  Brandon and I can't wait to have them open every thing up (and maybe because we both want to play with it all too, as we bought a lot saying, "hey this looks like so much fun that I want to play!").  But if we are honest with ourselves don't we buy some gifts for them only for that fact?  We can't be the only ones?!  My kids are my world and with Brandon coming into our family he has brought us so much joy that I never imagined possible!  The kids love him and run to him with open arms and it's just the best feeling in the world to see them act this way. But aren't these photos just oh so precious?!

I started this blog to keep track of things on our new journey and so that one day I could look back and read all these again and reminisce on those sweet moments. (And this is way easier the trying to print them all off!)  To be able to share them with my kids and show them how blessed we truly are when we loose our way and life gets tough.  We need to remember the good things in life and stay positive. The kids are adjusting and they aren't huge fans of taking photos or doing videos (well who am I kidding Elise loves it, but Riley not so much!) but that's something we are going to work on so we can have all these beautiful memories!! I also want this blog to inspire others as we are all in this life together and most of us can relate to others with just knowing more about them and what they have been through.  This is a goal or a dream per-say and I'm happy to share my life and fun silly stories and events (the good and the bad) with all of you! Stay close to your family and hold tight to what is near and what you have.  Never think for a moment that your life isn't worth anything because look at the people that surround you, they are your life!! Make the best out of what life hands you and above all things laugh!! Laughter is worth so much and is so precious!  

So from our happy little family to yours we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Years!! 

And again here is a little song that I heard just the other day and it's again oh so fitting!!! Enjoy this Holiday Season everyone!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L74IVtuT98

How I do what I do

From time and time again I get asked how I do what I do.  I get asked how I manage everything and how I got to where I am today.  How I have the patience, the energy, the time and most of all, how I pack that all into a day.  Now if I was being completely honest I would say I have no idea how I do all these things. But then that wouldn't really be fair and I wouldn't be giving any advice or crazy knowledge to what I may have experienced.  I'm no expert on any of these topics (as I have mentioned that before) and I'm no motivational speaker.  But, what I do know has take me a very long time to learn.

So how do I do what I do?! A question I hear a lot!! I hear it from everyone and it's the most common question that people ask after they learn I have and run and in home daycare.  Now as I have shared briefly before it can be rewarding and yet challenging.  Some days are amazing and the kids are great and they play and get along, and some days are the complete opposite.  With running a daycare you really never know what your going to get! You have to be on your toes and be ready for anything, kids can do things in a second (as mom's know this happens all the time).  One minute the kids are playing and are quiet and the next they are running around with buckets on their heads and running into walls (literally).  The kids can be so sweet and melt my heart and other days they make me want to pull my hair out.  But with everything they do on a day to day basis the good, the bad and the ugly they are my sweet daycare babies and they are my world.  But how do I do it?  With the old old saying....."Pick your battles wisely" and "Don't fret over the small things".  I know I know a lot of you are thinking oh that's so easier said then done...and your right, it is.  It takes so much practice to learn these simple old sayings.  I'll admit I wasn't the best at following these sayings too, but again with an old saying, "practice makes perfect" it really does.  Learn to let things go, know that the kids are just being kids.  Know what you need to teach them and instill that on them, don't nag them about what they are doing wrong.  Kids are inevitably going to drive you nuts and make you sit there thinking, "what where you thinking!?", but instead of exploding at them for spilling milk, or dumping out the toys or even hitting their sibling, sit back and take a deep breathe and instead of reacting think of what you are wanting them to learn and again instill that in them.  It's hard, trust me I know I've been there way to many times.  But what I have learned not only by practicing this with the daycare kids but also with my own kids is that the reward is so much more!!  These kids have only one childhood and we need to make the best of it.  We need to fill their lives with joy, fun, laughter and smiles!  The more we learn to "pick our battles" with the kids the more we all find joy in the life we are given!!  So again this is something that I've learned to manage and practice and I will say that over all life is better!

So what about just everyday life and how I have gotten to where I am.  Life isn't measured by success and how well we are doing in our jobs (at least we shouldn't think like this!) and my life hasn't been exactly how I imagined but this is the life I was given and I need to make the best of it.  I've learned to live in the now and not to fret over the life I want or what the future holds. I have to stay focused on my life, on my goals and be happy with what I have.  Now that doesn't mean I still don't daydream about what life could be or what if I was to do something different, we are all human and we all think this way from time to time.  But what I do know is that it's best to set life goals and do whatever it takes to achieve them.  Don't let things get you down when life gets hard or something goes not as planned.  This is also like the old saying of "don't fret the small things" and this took me a long time to learn as well.  There are things that happen in life that make us go crazy and we find our first reaction to freak out and stress.  We just need to learn to know that "everything happens for a reason" and that "with every door shut another one opens".  Stressing over things not going our way really isn't going to do anything for you besides being more stressed!  Now i'm not saying I live a stress free life as we all know life is stressful!  But what I am saying is that "when life hands you lemons make lemonade!"  Stress leads to so much more issues and we don't want to do that ourselves so why even stress over something that is out of your control?!  But learning to funnel your stress to something it really helps you live the life of joy and peace.  Just like the kids you only get one shoot at this crazy life so you have to make the best of it and live the life you've always wanted and imagined.

So with all this being said it's how I get through my days, it's how I manage life and all the things life throw at me.  In my house we have learned so much by "not fretting the small things" and by "picking the battles" and by most of all laughing!!! Life is to short to be serious all the time so we laugh!! And a family that laughs together stays together right?!  We are family and we are in this together and though we may not have it all together as a family we have it all!

So you all will learn soon enough, and maybe you have picked up on it already but I love linking songs to almost every situation that I am faced with.  And let's face it there is a song for everything!! So embrace it and listen and just enjoy life as it is handed to you!

 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGB7IWklW3s

Dream wedding and Blessed Life

I've had my share of crazy, the ups and the downs and living on the roller coaster. My life has seen a lot of things happen, some good and some bad. The one thing I can take away from all of it is that I'm truly blessed to have the life I have. I'm blessed to have the things I have and the people that surround me. The people that surround me are way more important then the things that I have. The people that surround me, are what keep me going in this crazy life of the roller coaster and that bring me back to down to get off. After recently being married on October 9th 2016 these people that surround me are my LIFE! My hubby is what keeps me grounded and my kids are what keep me on my toes! I still can't believe that we are married and while it seems like just yesterday, life has made the time go by way to fast already! I still find myself looking at the wedding photos and remembering every little detail from that day. It was our dream wedding and something we always wanted!

                                                                   

 Our amazing wedding was a dream come true. To not only marry the love of my life, but to also have our fairly tale ending.  The words to have and to hold are words that are dear to my heart as the feeling of being held by my hubby makes me feel safe, secure and loved. To have and to hold isn't only for me it's for my kids. As I am to hold my sweet little babies in this walk of life and that Brandon will hold their hands as well and guide them through life. We are all in this life together and we will all take our turns on holding each other.  Looking back on the wedding and living through the memories of the photos always make me feel blessed, happy and so overwhelmed with joy for the life that I have.

Looking at these photos of Riley looking up at Brandon and Elise looking at me are more then precious. It's symbolic of how we are living our little lives. They look up to us and learn from us. We are to show them what Love is! We get the privilege to walk them through the crazy life and show them how to ride the roller coaster and when to get off.  Life isn't always easy but I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else then this crew right here. These are my people and i'm beyond blessed to have them in my life, doing life with me.

 My life is completely BLESSED! I'm in awe everyday that this is the life I was given to live! We have our days that make us feel lost, upset with the crazy day, sad when things don't go as planned and just confused but we are all human. We will all have those days but it's so important to hold onto the days that fill us with laughter, smiles and pure joy! To make the best with what life is handing us and to not let it slip away. Live the life you have always imagined for yourself. Be grateful for the little things and praise God for getting you through. Hold onto to the loved ones surrounding you, your people, as life is short and we should be thankful for every minute we have, to have and to hold, forever and ever.

This song we stumbled across when we searched for wedding songs. It wasn't our first dance song but we have all fallen in love with this song and every time I listen to it, it stills brings tears in my eyes. Perfect ending for my blog post so I hope you enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an4ySOlsUMY

Drowning in a Busy Life with Crazy Kids

Life is busy.....very busy! It is for everyone and that looks different for everyone too. I'm no expert on this subject as I too am still trying to find the balance in this crazy life! I'm trying to find the time to do the job (well job's) that I love and balance that with a family and all the things the kids do through out the week! I run a daycare out my home so that keeps me busy on a day to day basis and on my toes for sure (but not a lot of time to tackle any daily tasks of my own). Then I do Young Living Essential Oils so that includes classes, vendor events and following up with a lot of people! Plus add in the kids both doing gymnastics and then Elise has a dance class during the week (which Riley now wants to take up soccer again too). Oh my goodness, how do I make it through my week sometimes?! Well it's not always easy and some weeks are way more busier then others but in some weird way I kinda like it like that. I can remember the days before kids where I would have ample time to get whatever it was that I wanted to get done....DONE! The days of scrap booking while watching some TV and having a glass of wine, oh those were the days. Now, I'm lucky if I ever get a project done (on time). Most days there are loads of laundry to get done, dishes, cleaning, things I want to get done and oh yeah, the load of laundry that I left in the washer from the other day! With the amount of things that need to get done in a day I feel like some days I'm completely drowning! But aren't we all?! I'm slowly learning how to handle and manage my crazy life so that it works for everyone (which is the hardest part). We all have our own needs and figuring out what works best is proving to be difficult! I have to, those days that I feel like I can't keep up and that I'm drowning in a sea of things that I can't seem to catch up with. Balancing is for sure a thing I need to work on and everyday I learn something new on how to handle it. I have to balance out work, events that I'm doing and putting on, time with my husband, time with the kids and well just LIFE! Most days I carry that mom guilt that all us moms feel. The feeling of maybe I did something wrong, did I yell or get after them?, did I spend enough time with them? Those feelings can haunt us and pull us into the drowning feeling we all feel. As I learn to balance out my life I'm also learning that I need to just try my best everyday and that's all I can do. But the bottom line is my life will always be crazy in a variety of ways until I'm old (at least I hope at that point it's not crazy!) I just need to embrace life as it is thrown at me and go with the flow of things rather then spending my time worrying about what I did wrong that day or what I could've done different. Life is to short to be serious all the time and now is the time to have fun! As I'm also learning the balancing act with life I do feel like some organization needs to come with it! So therefore my house shall become organized!! It kinda already is but this is my goal over the next couple months (well would love for it to be before Christmas but that't pushing it!) I'm going to do a little task at a time and go from there, one thing at a time. With the plan of organization I also plan to redo the kids rooms and make it more like their playroom area with imagination and fun! As they have to share the play area we have now with the daycare kids it's becoming a top list priority for them to get a space that is for them (besides it just being their rooms). I have big plans for them and I really hope they like it! My overall goal with doing that is to bring me back up for air and reality. To enjoy the things in life with my kids and embrace it. To stop drowning in the sea of craziness and spend the quality time with them in their space of imagination! We will all get through our life and make the best out of what we were given. Reality is we will drown from time to time and that's ok. We will all be ok and come back up for air. Balance is key and once we all figure out what works for us, that's when you jump in and embrace it and don't ever let it go!

What do I feed my kids......Lunch Ideas!

What do I feed my kids??? A question I hear a lot and honestly a lot of people seem to get stuck in this area. It doesn't have to be fancy but it does need some variety, so that in hopes they eat better and more. So, I get a lot of questions on what I feed all my daycare babies.  And it can be a handful at times feeding 8 plus kids for breakfast, lunch and snack and I too, quickly run out of ideas! So I'm left to make it fun and interesting for the kids so they are hopefully a little less picky(which who doesn't have a picky eater!) So I've decided to share a weeks worth of lunch ideas to hopefully inspire you to make some fun meals and maybe find and try something new!

So I'm required to give my daycare babies a variety of foods with fruits, vegetables, protein and bread, which sometimes can make meal planning a little easier! I plan out all my meals from daycare to home (including Elise and Brandon's lunches). That way I have a game plan and options for the week and can stick to a shopping list. Plus it also helps me not over buy when it comes to the dreaded grocery store shopping, my least favorite chore! Although I've recently come to love of online shopping and that makes grocery shopping a little less of a pain!

So what do I feed these kids? I only pictures Monday's meal as you probably get the idea of what everything looks like! So here it is:

                                                                               Monday- This was Halloween so 

today was a little bit more special lunch

They had spider PB/J with pretzel legs

grapes kabobs, banana and blueberries

cheese stick and kettle corn.

Tuesday-

So this is a huge favorite and we make this several 

different way, but today it was simple.

Cheese and black bean quesadillas (sometimes we add in grilled chicken and kale and it's awesome!)

corn, pineapple, salsa and

tortilla chips for dipping. 

Wednesday-

So this is kinda a fancy lunch (sorta) but they all love it!

Their "fancy" consist's of:

Grilled Chicken (just with salt and pepper)

white rice, green beans, peaches and everyone's favorite

garlic bread!

Thursday-

So this is a complete "duh" meal, it's a meal that kids LOVE, 

you can probably guess what it is....my son asks for this all the time.....

If you said SPAGHETTI the your right!!!

Sometimes I will add tiny mushrooms and they never notice!

So with that they had apple slices, salad with ranch and

honey carrots! (these are awesome and sooooo yummy!)

Friday-

Chicken Enchilada's

(I make this in the crock pot and cheat and layer tortilla, sauce, shredded chicken and cheese and repeat) you can also add black beans and kale!

it takes only 3 hours so I can usually get this in in the morning and we are set!

I serve this with tortilla chips so they can scoop it up and ranch ( they usually eat anything with ranch!)

We also have corn, steamed broccoli and mandarin oranges

So obviously some of these ideas either you probably already try or do but it just gives you an idea what I do for my kids! I do give my kids breakfast and snack and those ideas I honestly usually just put on a rotation so that it makes planning a lot easier! But here are some ideas:

Breakfast ( we also have to give them a side of fruit with whatever is listed!):

Cinnamon Rolls

Pancakes

PB toast

Cereal

Egg tacos

Banana Bread

Blueberry Muffins

Biscuits and Gravy (everyone's favorite!)

Just to name a few

Snacks:

Trail mix (chex cereal, kettle corn, marshmallows, peanuts and pretzels)

Pumpkin muffins

Brocomole and tort chips (sooo yummy!)  

Pizza Bagels (homemade)

Rice cakes

Cottage Cheese and fruit

Pepperoni, cheese and crackers

granola bars and yogurt

So hopefully those give you some quick simple ideas when you are thinking of planning on what to feed the kids and family! I'm already looking at next week lunches and have the base planned and they are:

Monday-Chili Mac (great for fall weather!) and cornbread

Tuesday- Cinnamon french toast with eggs and sausage

Wednesday- Open face Chicken pot pies over biscuits

Thursday- Re fried bean (homemade) and salsa tortillas

Friday- Ham and cheese roll ups with broccoli salad

So that is what goes on at my house at lunch! It's a lot to make 8 plates and any given time and feed two babies! That means lots of dishes, cleaning and tons of messy chairs and floors! They are precious little tiny humans though and even though they are messy they are the best!

Enjoy!