A "Donut" for My Buddy's First Day

Tomorrow is the first of preschool for the year for Anderson.  I'm excited to get back into the swing of making fun lunches again (I even reorganized one drawer in my kitchen to hold all of my fun shaped cutters, bento containers, picks, cups, dividers, etc ~ why this excites me, who knows).  A few days ago I spotted this linky-do to another Mommy-blog (via one of my favs: eighteen25).  So, while I can't take credit for this awesome lunch idea, I love the way it turned out.

Anderson LOVES donuts.  They are a rare treat around here- maybe once every two months on a Saturday morning whenever Mommy Anderson can convince Daddy to make a trip to the donut shop.  However, Anderson (with his keen sense of direction that he received as a blessing from his Mommy) zeros in on the donut shop every time we drive past it in the car.  Even though he's only been inside two, maybe three times- ever, he knows the yummy goodness that comes from within.

So, as soon as I saw this cute idea for lunch, I knew I had to make it for Anderson's first day of preschool.

How?  Whole-wheat, 100-cal, blueberry bagel-thin filled with light cream cheese.  I used my various sizes of biscuit cutters to make it more "donut" shaped, although a bagel is pretty similar to begin with.  Then, I dabbed tiny dots of honey on the outside with my finger and put on some sprinkles.  SO easy.  Anderson was  SO excited when I showed it to him.

The rest of his lunch?  Raisins, yogurt-drops, gluten-free pretzel sticks (which are pretty yummy!) oranges and blueberries.  I layered everything so that once the lid was on, the "donut" stayed nice and snug.  What didn't make the picture was the Hershey Kiss that I snuck in when Anderson wasn't looking. I always like to surprise him with a sweet treat like a hidden Jelly Bean or chocolate.  <3

Snap on the lid and put on a sweet note for the teachers to read for him.  :)

And, of course, Little Bro gets in on the action too.  He gets the same lunch just modified for the teeth-impaired.  Bagel + cream cheese diced, pretzel sticks, diced fruit, yogurt drops with graham crackers, and a fav~ edamame.

Update on the Kiddos

These 3 Pictures pretty much sum things up around here.

 Everett is still our little stinker.  Here he is bright and early in the morning, still in his PJs, having some pancake and hamming it up for the camera.  I was tempted to put another picture on here that I have from recently, but I'll just describe it instead.  It's a picture of Everett with my underwear (clean!) around his neck just smiling away much like above.  He had literally launched a panty-raid in my closet and just proceeded on with his merry way about his day!

 

Anderson, Anderson, Anderson.  Why, my sweet Buddy must you fight sleep and napping so much? Sleep is not evil.  Someday, you will beg for more time to sleep.  There's no need to fight napping so much to the point that you fall asleep sitting up!  Silly Boy!

Riley!  Is that you?  Awww...Poor Riley.  She is still our first kiddo, but who would know, huh?  Here she is being her strange self and laying in the one spot of the house that is literally an oven.  In the morning hours, when the AM sun is shining through this glass door, this space is SO hot.  We usually don't have this door open at all during this time of the year, but whenever it is opened, Riley comes running to soak up some rays through the glass door.  She loves to lay in the sun, but of course not actually outside.  That would be crazy for a dog to go outside!

Pickles & Ice Cream Shower

One of the moms in our playgroup is about to have her second little one, so we threw a Pickles and Ice Cream Play date/Shower for her and the playgroup kiddos. It was, of course, chaotic as one would imagine a play date full of 3 year-olds and younger siblings mixed with a baby shower would be.  But, it was still loads of fun to plan and take part in the celebration.

Here are my creative culinary contributions:

Ice Cream Pop Rice Crispy Treats  (so easy to make and SO yummy!)  

Here they are wrapped and ready for display.  I think these will become a go-to treat of mine since they were so simple!  My Secret?  I used the pre-made, individually wrapped treats, trimmed the top corners to make them round, stuck in a stick, dipped them in chocolate and sprinkles.  Too easy!

Here was my challenging creation.  Let's be honest here.  As much as I wish it would happen, I am just not a baker, or at least a talented one.  I would much prefer to cook, even blindly without a recipe, etc. than try to bake and decorate a cake beyond canned frosting.  Anyway, I accepted the challenge.

These are strawberry cupcake cones frosted with cream cheese frosting and topped with a candy-shaped 'pickle' and sprinkles.  I'm not sure what was the most difficult part of this venture.... molding the candy pickles, frosting the cupcake cones, fighting gravity when all they wanted to do was topple over ( I didn't do it the "classic" way and bake the cake down IN the cone, it's actually up on top of the cone, like real ice cream), or transporting them.  Just think about that for a minute- how would YOU transport these when one of the variables is that the temp outside was 100+?

I won't bore you with the details, but they got to the party with only a few casualties and they were a huge hit, as well as mighty tasty.  (strawberry cake gets the shaft! ~ it's yummy!)

Here are some of the other cute decorations from the party that my friend and co-host Mendi did:

 Cute favor bags for the kiddos which included those fun foam ice-cream ball-poppers from when we were kids as well as yummy ice cream themed treats, ice cream bowls & spoons, and of course some pickles!  

Lots of fun games!  Guess the # of pickles, Guess the belly size, Baby Bingo, Pin the Bottle on the baby 

Pickle-Ka-Bobs 

The Mommy-to-Be with her older one

At Least He Has Good Aim????

What was an innocent game of brotherly basketball turned ugly.  Too bad I didn't have the camera aimed on the Little Guy.  I have a feeling it would've made for a funnier video. 

And, yes, it nailed Everett right in the head.  He didn't cry at all and Anderson went straight to Time Out, especially after I watched the footage and saw that malicious look in his eye! ;)

Just a cute pic to cool you off!

Two Funnies

This morning we were loading up to drive to summer camp (school) and as usual Anderson was trying to convince me to allow him a few minutes to drive around in his lightning McQueen Power Wheels car.  I explained to him that we were out of time and that we needed to leave now.  He said, in all seriousness, "You drive Everett to school in your car and I'll follow you in my car."   I laughed out loud and still laugh when I picture his thought process in this request.  To him, this made perfect sense. 

This is what happens 99% of the time we try to get the boys loaded into the car to go somewhere- they both beeline to their Lightning McQueen cars and beg to go for a ride.  :)

We just walked into the living room and saw this one one day.  Too bad they were in the wrong chairs!

Backyard Water Fun

While we can't make it a habit of being outdoors too often, (just too hot and too darn hard to coordinate sunscreen, hydration, naps, shade, moods, etc.) when I can get the boys out in the water they have a blast.  It's amazing what fun can be had with a simple water hose.  :)

This chair ended up being loads of fun.  Who knew?

My Cutie

He loves to pour the water on himself!

If you've ever been at our house during the evening hours in the summer, you'll appreciate this! 

 A little froggy by the pond! 

My Buddy

The Sprinkler IN the pool makes SO much more sense!

And SO much more giggles!