Back to School

It's official I have a no more babies at home. My monkeys are back to school this week starting second grade and kindergarten. It's always a mixed bag of emotions for me, summer is too short, exited they are growing up, worried for them to make friends and do well, and missing the noise and chaos. Yes I said it, I miss the noise when they aren't here, no matter how much I shh them when they are ;) So now that I have 2 in school full time its also time for me to go back to work full time so in a couple weeks I'll be packing all 3 of us lunch every day.

Inspired by the new season of Doctor Who my green monkey chose the TARDIS and Strax for his back to school lunch.

TARDIS and Strax 

In this lunch : In a Easy Lunch Box

•  TARDIS and Strax - Jelly sandwich 
• Pencil - Colby cheese stick
• Chalk board - Carrots
• Smiley face - Apple slices

Little blue monkey is beginning his elementary school experience, while he may not feel ready, its time to be a big kid.

Welcome to Kindergarten 

In this lunch : In an Easy Lunch box

• Notebook paper - Peanutbutter and jelly sandwich
• Pencil - Colby cheese stick
• Blue crayons - Carrots
• School bus - Cantaloup stars

We like to kick-off the new school year with some special treats for the kids and their teachers, because first days of school are tough on everyone.

Teacher Survival Baskets 

 I found these great crates at our grocery store for $1 each and filled them with supplies every teacher needs.

• Clorox wipes
• Highlighters
• Pens
• Straw cup
• Via coffee
• Via splashers
• Extra gum
• Advil 
• Germy gel for the class and scented ones for her
• Chapstick
• Laffy taffy to remember to laugh
• Smarties for those smartie pants
• Mini Pinwheel just for fun

I also left a little something out for each kid before going to school. The napkin went in their lunchbox the rest stayed home for after school fun.

• Bubbles
• Pop rocks
• Laffy taffy
• Smarties
• Mini pinwheel

 

Graduation Day!

First and foremost thank you to everyone who supported me in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Foodie Moms contest. We did it! We made the list at #21 and will be featured on their site. As part of the feature I may select 3 favorite posts. But which to choose? If you have a favorite leave me a comment.

The graduation ceremony went great! Seems like just last year he was graduating preschool...oh wait yes he did :). It was adorable. Since they were allowed to go home with their family to celebrate we ate out today so no lunches to share today. I did however pull out one last room mom surprise and made cookies for the class, bought some graduation balloons, and made some treats for the teachers and staff.

Graduation Cookies

Variations of this have been all over Pinterest this graduation season. This is how I made ours using store bought cookies and candy. 

Version 1 : I used a marshmallow fudge cookie, frosting, fudge mint cookie, and an M&M. It looked great, easy enough for making one for a lunch, but not stable enough for packing in bags. 

 Version 2 : These were perfect they held up great for transport and the kids and parents loved them.

 1. Materials : I used Marshmallow cookies, melted chocolate chips as glue, fudge mint cookie, Twizzlers Pull and peel as the tassel, and an M&M.

 2. Melt some chocolate chips, and using just a drizzle attach the marshmallow cookie to the fudge mint cookie, let sit until firm, or refrigerate if you're impatient like me. While you wait you can sort your M&Ms and turn them M side down so you can quickly assemble without an oops. Cut the Pull and Peel to about 3" I measured from center of cookie to about table top height. Peel three off at a time, separate half way up, twist the other half tight. Then another dollop of melted chocolate to attach the tassel and finally the M&M button.

 3. All set and ready to go! You can either wait for room temp or chill, I chilled.

4. Final presentation : I found Bell cut-outs in the teacher section of the Dollar Tree, in a pack of 32, it was fate calling. So for the students I made 20 "Saved by the Bell! Congrats Grad!" and saved the rest for Teacher and Staff gifts.

For the Teachers and Staff I made S'mores. Another popular teacher gift on Pinterest. This is my version. All you need is S'mores materials, graham crackers, marshmallows, and Hersheys Chocolate bars.

The rest of the Bells were for the Teachers and Staff and Bus Driver that watched over our Kindergartener this year. They say "Saved by the Bell! Hope you have S'more fun this summer"

So long Kindergarten (after another day and a half of school anyway) hello summer vacation!

Easter Fun with my BBFs

I am so privileged to know some of the most creative foodies in the blogger-verse. It is said imitation is the sheerest form of flattery. Lately they have made some goodies I couldn't wait to try...and they were all a hit. So have some fun this weekend with these tried and true goodies.

Peeps Smore's

• Adapted from Creative Foods Peep Party
• I used Peeps, graham crackers, and chocolate bunnies
• It goes without saying...but remove the foil before zapping it in the microwave for 10 secs
• If you've never zapped a Peep you really need to try it, the kids will love watching them blow up...from a safe distance from radiation and all that.

Peeps Rice Crispy Treats Teacher Gifts

• Adapted from Creative Food
• 3 packages of peeps, 3 Tbsp of butter, and 6 cups of Rice crispy cereal
• Melt the butter in a big pot on the stove 
• On low heat add the peeps
• It took 10-15 minutes for them to melt, don't stir! Jiggle it from time to time. A lid will help it warm evenly.
• Add cereal, now gently fold it into the peeps until covered
• Spray a dish with cooking spray or grease with whatever you like, I sprayed the spatula too to keep it from sticking
• Spread it out and let it cool completely, I stuck mine in the fridge and did other things
• I cut ours with a Wilton Easter cutter I sprayed that too to prevent sticking
• In a baggie I placed one peep crispy bunny egg and 1 peep and used the free printable label from Nothing but Country

Carrot Patch Cupcakes

• Adapted from Bento Days
• Duncan Hines Devils food cake mix and Angel Food cake mix with orange food coloring
• I only had the grocery store brand not Americolor so it wasn't very strong orange. I amped it up with my Americolor edible markers.
• Duncan Hines Devil's food cake mix and Pillsbury Orangesicle cake mix was perfect
• Bake Orange cake first, I used a loaf pan and made cupcakes out of leftovers batter
• Once cooled then freeze it for at least an hour to make it easier to carve and prevent burning in step 2
• Cut orange cake into triangles for cupcakes or if doing a loaf spread cut the middle into a carrot shape, either way place that in the middle of your cupcake or loaf pan
• Now fill with Devil's food batter and bake according to box, when testing just poke the deepest Devil's food cake portion as the middle has the already cooked orange cake in there
• Once cooled slice the top to reveal the carrot..I suppose you could leave it alone but it was fun to see it.
• For stems any green you like cut into leaf shapes. I used fruity tic tacs for the first batch, then Sour punch bites for the second batch which I liked better.

 

 Peter Cottontails Bunny Trail mix kids craft

• Free printable lyrics from DLTK's - Learning Together
• Bunny cups
• Crepe paper bunny ears bigger ovals for white smaller for pink glue them together then to the top of the cup
• Glue on a cotton ball at the bottom of the cup
• On the other side use markers (I used sharpies) to draw on the bunny face
• Hop along the bunny trail and fill your bunny with trail mix

 

• Peter Cottontail’s Trail Mix 
  1 scoop of Cheerios for the footprints on the trail
  1 Spoonful each of:
  Jelly beans for Tommy
  Colored Hershey eggs for sister Sue
  Orchid M&Ms for your mommy
  Robins eggs Easter bonnet too
  Fruit and nut trail mix bunny food
  Marshmallow bunny tails too
  Annie's organic cheddar bunnies
  Annie’s organic Friends graham bunnies too