~Monday Mania~

I'll get this title figured out one of these days. Input would be graciously welcomed.

This week I am giving a couple of tips and they are BIG ones in my world! They control my every weekday morning which then controls how the rest of my day goes. See? It's HUGE. Mondays are a massive production that remind us we are no longer on summer break. It reminds us that we have responsibilities and schedules that don't always accommodate (easily) the little extras that it takes to put on the productions of each and every day. In order to prepare for the massive production called "THE WEEK," there are things that I have learned to do ahead of time. If I don't, my week is soooooo much more stressful which affects me, my kids, my husband, everyone around me.... It's true. I secretly control the universe. Actually, my moods do.

At the beginning of every month I print off the school lunch menu and sit down with the kids to discuss when they want to eat the school's food or take their lunch. They are allowed to eat school lunch one time a week, but don't have to. My reason behind this....SCHOOL LUNCH IS EXPENSIVE!! For my three school kids to eat it all the time, would cost us over $45 a week. That's over $180 a month. The other reason is because I can make sure and buy things I know my kids will eat. I hate thinking about spending over 3 buckaroos on a lunch where they are probably throwing half of it away.

I mark the initial of whatever child will be taking their lunch to school for each day and then on Sunday evening I prep the meals. Peanut butter and jelly is always part of the menu because my kids LOVE pb&j, but I also have a second option every week. Sometimes it's sausage and cheese kabobs, lunch meat sandwiches cut out in fun shapes (because most of my kids aren't very fond of lunch meat and it makes it a little more fun if they are creatively cut), bagel pizzas and roll ups. There are endless possibilities though. This week we did pb&j and pizza bagels. I also try to have 2-3 sides. A vegetable, fruit, dairy, carb or treat. I should also mention that I portion everything out into serving sizes as soon as I get it home from the grocery store. It's great for quick, on the go snacks or for the meals.

I do everything in an assembly line fashion. Line up the baggies (also pulling them open, placing the bread in top of each one,

then pb on half the slices, j on the other half

 and then smoosh together. I like to smoosh them because a couple of my kids like to pull them apart and that drives me b....atty. You thought I was going to say bonkers didn't you? Ha, fooled you!

For the pizza bagels I lay out the baggies (already pulled open) then lay one half of a bagel on each bag. I bought these great little containers online at eBay which work great for holding the sauce, cheese, pb for celery, ranch for carrots and so forth. I had small Tupperware containers that I was using, but I no longer have any as Little D threw all of them away at school as he was throwing everything else away. I seem to learn my lessons the hard and expensive way.

 

Anyway, a Teaspoon of sauce in one, then a little bit of cheese and the pizza bagels are ready to go. Then decide what the sides are. Remember, everything has already been portioned out so all I have to do is grab the baggies, put them in containers and then the next morning the kids know to pull one item from each section or container.

It has worked GREAT!!! The kids know that, after breakfast, they need to go get their lunch boxes (which are stored in the cedar chest in the piano room) and put their lunches together. There is no arguing over what they will have that day because they know they have to choose from what is already there.