Is anyone out there?

OK, all you readers spend a lot of time listening to us rant and dish out advice, some of you even comment so I know there must be someone out there.  So, I'm calling on all of you to give me some advice on some of my resolutions.  Be forethcoming with whatever you've got....I mean it. 

1.  I need to know what the hell people, specifically mommas, are feeding their kids for lunch.  Supper, no biggie but lunch, I hate.  I want to eat super healthly to keep up my #1 resolution (betcha can't guess what that is), my kiddies do not.  Maggie may be able to be swayed to join the high veggie, low fat way of life, but my Ty would rather die than eat anything green, or healthy for that matter.  No sauces (even creamy KD), no veggies (cucumbers are the exception), he is a picky one.  How, I don't know, Chad and I would eat anything.  What do I feed these little people?  I am bored with our repertoire and 2009 seems like a good time to jump right in.  Any fave meals out there?  One mom suggested peanut butter banana sushi, a hit in our house.  Keep in mind, these kids are not that adventurous and remember salami is a food group all to itself.  Let me know, ASAP!

2.  I want a book to read, not a book club type novel but more like a "Be the best you can be" type.  Not too deep, I don't read till 10 p.m., if it is too deep, I will be lights out immediately.  I just want an inspirational kick off to 2009, something like Oprah, Live your best life, parenting, marriage, $, career, give it all to me.  I'm ready and waiting, so let me know what I can sink my teeth into.  It can be old or new, don't care, just let it take hold of my spirit and watch out world.

3.  SIMPLE crafts, not Martha crafts.  My kids love crafts, I don't.  OK, I tolerate them because it makes them so happy, but I am out of ideas.  I want quick, easy to clean, not too elaborate, not too many obscure materials kinds of crafts, got any??

Comments

http://www.amazon.com/Live-Your-Best-Life-Inspiration/dp/0848731050

[carpot]

For lunches, have you tried presenting it a different way? I have two mini muffin tins at home, and I doled out lots of finger food type stuff, which my kids really like, like cheese, carrot sticks, raisins, etc., right into the muffin spaces. Just presenting the food differently, sometimes my kids will gobble it up.

I found the idea on some random blog I read once, but thought it was awesome. Kinda like a kid-style bento box. (flickr has awesome kid-bento groups...)

The standard in my house is pb&j. Boring. However, I have a book by Annabel Karmel...I love it. And she has a ton of books for babies/kids. Check Chapters or Amazon!

[Kal Barteski]

Do you have the Deceptively Delicious cookbook? Pilot and I are big on muffins (and mini muffins for lunch. I can load them up with good berries and veggies and she is none the wiser.

I'm LOST on what to feed my kid for supper though.

[Kal Barteski]

PS.
My favourite all time book is
The Saint, The Surfer and the CEO
by Robin Sharma.
It will stay with you forever.

[Nat]

Okay Mollie, here goes...
I love all of the above comments; creative presentation and the Deceptively Delicious cookbook rocks! My 6 yr old likes to pick away at what I have spent unenjoyable hours in the kitchen preparing, so I make them at least have a bite (while I constantly refer to the Green Eggs & Ham book). If they do not, then no dessert (I was raised with dessert, which would explain alot for me. I try to make it as healthy as possible--yogurt, fruit, oatmeal cookies). Some ideas for lunch are leftovers (duh but sometimes the obvious is hard to find), Campbells vegetable soup with floating fish crackers, salad with big croutons, a fruit smoothie, bun with honey, eggs, pizza. You could ask him to make something healthy himself, that would lead to what's healthy or not. You could have him make lunch one day and you have to eat it and the next day is your turn. Somedays I just go with a bun and butter with cheese stick, carrots & dip and a smoothie. And perhaps they see you model good eating and they will jump on board. Although my kids will not do spinach, but the DD cookbook has a spaghetti sauce with ground spinach that my kids devour. Good luck Mol.

[Nat]

Okay the "he make it then you" is a bad idea. Kids really don't have a long attention span. He'll forget what he agreed to & you'll have a situation on your hands. Sorry.

[Jr]

As a good old standy we always have Ristorante Spinach Pizzas in the freezer. They are 3 for $12. @ Costco...12 minutes to lunch!!

[Ines]

Ok well, I don't have any good suggestions for lunches as I'm stuck in a rut there too but we love crafts at our house. Have you tried the Dollorama? Just go down their craft aisle and you'll get a ton of good ideas. They have lots of wooden, unfinished boxes, animal shapes, cars, picture frames. I buy whatever they have and stockpile it for when the kids want to paint. I usually set them up with baby food jars with some paint (each jar with a paint brush so the colors all messed up). It's fairly mess free and they make good gifts too. Dollorama also has lots of fabric shapes and shiny gem thingys that I let them sort through and glue to paper to make pictures or onto wooden boxes/picture frames. We've also made collages with pictures that I cut out from magazines or from cards. Give them a glue stick and you're good to go. One last one is strigning beads onto pipe cleaners or ribbon to make ornaments or jewelry, my older daughter loves sorting through the beads, my younger one thinks they're candy so we do this one at naptime. Walmart has a jumbo bag of beads of all shapes and sizes that's super cheap. Hope some of those suggestions help! Have fun :)

Book to read: Multiple Blessings (Jon and Kate plus 8 book). Enjoy.

[Kristina]

Can't help with lunch because I struggle with that too.
A good easy read is The First Time by Joy Fielding.
Quick clean fun crafts...try Foamies (I've picked jumbo packs up at Michael's for...$6). Little foam pieces with sticky backs. They attach great to the Dollarama canvases or wooden picture frames. Then we pick the pic to develop and put in the frame together.

[Shannon]

I have a home daycare with little ones under 3 mostly and also my children who are 4 and 6. The most favorite lunch time idea here is pita pockets. They are the mini ones...I always find them at superstore. Cut then open a bit to be able to fill them. I use tsp of pizza sauce then fill with cheese, cucumber, shredded carrot, green pepper, lettuce anything that your child likes. Also if I have chicken cooked up from making quesidillas then I add that as well. I never have any leftover and they always ask for more. Always pita pizzas, I use the garlic ones from superstore as well and just use pizza sauce and cheese and whatever healthy choices on top...chopped very small so they dont know its there. Super big hit. I prep the night before and have it ready for lunch...takes 4 minutes in the oven. Quesidillas are another favorite...cut into small wedges for very little ones or chopped up to. If you let them dip they will love that. For suppers I use the slow cooker and do chicken and pork roasts and the kids always love it...and the house smells awesome! I did a dashing dishes seminar here in winnipeg and got alot of ideas on how to prep the foods then just have it in the freezer ready to pull out in the morning and throw it in the crock pot. I am a single mom and so I have very little time to spend cooking. Hope that have you some direction. For crafts I always search the net. I have learned for little ones under 4 to keep it simple. Glue and glitter glue are big hits. Anything from the scrapbooking section at dollarama is always a big hit. Stickers for wee ones...cause they like the challenge of peeling the stickers off and being able to put it whereever on their project. We make little books by tying them together with string or ribbon and do them about animals or flowers anything...they love it. Have fun cooking and crafting and keep on blogging!

[Julie]

Someone else probably already mentioned this, but my kids are hooked on wraps! They think it's so cool how you can roll them up and fold them in a special way so that nothing falls out the bottom. Those and the mini pitas, fill them up and they are bite size treats!

[Leanne Skitcko]

http://www.preschooleducation.com is the best place for crafts. I used it all the time when I was teaching preschool.

I finally found you guys! Yay!