The "Snack Lunch"

This is a great little lunch that's a staple in our household. It got started back when Natalie was little and has been a favorite of hers as a toddler and now both kids love it and ask for it by name several times per week.

So what is this snack lunch, you're asking? I found these handy round muffin tins that have 6 holes in them. Each cup I fill with a different food for lunch. Some days I do better than others, but I usually aim for a fruit, veggie, protein, whole grain and a nut or nut butter in the lunch.

Top reasons my kids love their "snack lunch":
• It comes in a fun plate/container
• Pretty much everything can be eaten with fingers!
• Frequently there are dips - condiments and dipping are always popular at our house
• They usually get to pick some of the foods that appear on the snack lunch plate

Top reasons *I* love to make a "snack lunch" for my kids:
• Can be prepared in under 5 minutes
• My kids will clean their plates with no complaints
• I can guarantee that my children are getting some of each major food group
• They can have the "same" lunch 2-3 times per week without it being totally the same

Here's a few pictures of my kids enjoying their snack lunch!







No, I don't make my kids wear name tags at home......I can usually remember who they are. LOL! This day Natalie had just gotten home from VBS (vacation bible school).

Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Quite well, apparently, especially when we've had entirely too much rain followed by some nice warm (dare I even call it hot?) weather.

I posted pictures of our new garden on my May 29 entry. The lettuce was doing well then but everything else was either not sprouted our my tiny, newly planted tomato plants. Well, here's the difference a few weeks can make....






Everything has sprouted!



These are the green beans (the smaller garden box at the top of the pic is our herbs).



Squash (something makes me think I'm going to have WAY more squash than I can deal with!)



My tomato plants are growing growing growing!



Two tiny little banana peppers!



And the sweet little blossom that promises me some red, juicy tomatoes will be coming soon......yummy.

By the way, for you photography buffs, did I get some good bokeh in those last two pics? I'm still shooting with my P&S (it does have manual settings).....I'd dearly love to upgrade to a DSLR, just have to convince my hubby it's worth the money.

A visit from friends....

My bestest best friend Tracy, who lives TOO FAR AWAY in Florida came to visit us in Iowa last week. She brought her adorable baby girl Savannah with. Now I have met Savannah once before when I went to visit them in Florida in February. But this was the first time my kiddos got to meet and play with her. It was great timing, Savannah is 8 months old and crawling/cruising around, so she was tons of fun!

The day just flew by too fast (Tracy was in Iowa for a week visiting family, but she just got one day to spend with me), I wish she could have stayed longer!

Here's a few pictures of our day.....

Play ball!

T-ball, that is. Yep, Natalie's entering Kindergarten this fall, and along with the big step of entering school, she also earns the privilege of getting to play her first team sports. This summer is T-ball and if we survive that, soccer comes next in the fall.

Now, I will preface this by saying that some frequently heard comments in our house include, "Watch out Natalie!", "Be careful!" and "It's a good thing we didn't name her Grace." The child didn't learn to pedal a bike until about age 4. So you can imagine that I was a bit nervous about how playing ball would go.....

I can honestly say that this year of t-ball is FUN. Everybody gets to hit, everybody gets on base and runs all the bases to home, nobody gets out and they don't keep score. The teams play for an hour (3x at bat and 3x in the outfield) and then they're done! Afterwards the kids get snacks and juice.

Here are a few pics to prove that she is DEFINITELY my child. (My mom reminded me during Naty's first game, that I was kind of "spacey" in the outfield. To which I replied that since I could neither catch, throw nor hit well, there wasn't much to do but daydream the game away....)




doin' a little dance.....



chewin' some gum.....



checkin' the time....

Really, she did play well. Imagine my horror when I realized they were actually going to PITCH to the kids (then if they don't get a hit off the pitch they hit from the tee). Natalie (bless her heart) actually got 1 hit off the pitch, the other two times she hit from the tee. Probably better than I could do. LOL!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary. We got married in 2000 (that should be easy to remember the year when we're old and our memories are going, right?) just a few weeks after graduating from college.

Now, here we are 1 apartment, 3 houses, 4 cars, 3 cats and 2 kids later. For those of you who are curious we still have 1 of the houses, 2 of the cars, 2 of the cats and we did also keep both kids.

Alex & I met on September 10, 1997 at an upscale restaurant called The Cottage in tiny Story City, IA. I was a waitress, he was a cook. The first time we met we spent about 2 hours cutting croutons together. We started dating less than a month later and......well, nearly 11 years have flown by.

We've certainly had a few ups & downs - what marriage doesn't? - but we are blessed with a wonderful family and a lot of love for each other.

Rain, rain, GO AWAY!

(and please DON'T come back another day)


After what seemed like the longest, coldest winter I can remember, I sure have been looking forward to spring. You know, warmer temperatures, blooming flowers, sunny days, letting the kids play outside all day long and burning off all that extra energy.

Turns out my dreams of spring are being washed away in a literal flood of rain. Iowa has been hit hard with rain, thunderstorms and tornadoes this spring. A town near us had roads and businesses flooded as bad as they were in the floods of '93.

After too many "indoor playing days" due to the rain, I just had to let the kids outdoors one nice day. Even though the sun was out, the effects of the rain were still present. Here are some pictures of the kids wading in OUR BACK YARD!!! (**knock on wood** and much finger crossing going on here, but so far we haven't had any water in our basement).
















(And I'm sure you can guess that after all this fun the kids had to go straight to the bath - I carried them from the back door to the bathroom. They were sooooo dirty they had to have two baths, the first one to rinse the dirt off, the second with some clean water to actually wash up in. Now THAT'S dirty!)