(Planetbox) Lunches for Picky Eaters

Since we strive to be a {somewhat} Paleo friendly family, we got our daughter a planetbox so we could make her lunch every day instead of having her eat at school.  They have a lot of cute magnets and carriers to choose from, so that helped her get excited about packing a lunch each day.

I should mention she's also a picky eater (like a lot of kids.)  But we're trying to add variety to her meals each day!  We try to stick to the rule that there has to be meat, a veggie, and a fruit.  If she doesn't eat the veggie and meat, she doesn't get a dessert the next day.

Here they are....

- Plain yogurt
- Mandarin oranges
- Dried Apples
- Chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato wrap with ranch to dip
- Organic fruit snacks for dessert

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 -PB & J sandwich
- Nuts & Raisins
- Carrots (with ranch to dip)
- Chips
- Green grapes
- Cheese crackers for dessert

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- BLT
- Chips
- Dried Apples
- Grapes & Blueberries
- Peas
- Cottage Cheese
- Gummy bears for dessert

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- Applesauce
- Beef sticks
- Cheese curds
- Cherry tomatoes
- Green grapes
- Organic bunny crackers for dessert

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- Chicken chunks (with ranch to dip)
- Hard boiled egg
- Plain yogurt with granola
- Apple slices with cinnamon
- Hard candy for dessert

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- Turkey and cheese sandwich
- Red grapes
- Nuts & Raisins
- Peas
- Cherry tomatoes
- Raspberries
- Dark chocolate M&Ms for dessert

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- Apples slices with PB for dipping
- Sausage chunks
- Cheese curds
- Cherry tomatoes
- Raspberries & Blueberries
- Organic bunny crackers for dessert

For my holiday-themed Planetbox Lunches, click here!

Valentines Day Hair for Girls

I'm no stylist, but I always try to do something special with my 5-year-old's hair for holidays. Of course, Valentine's Day called for a heart!

1. Pull up half the hair into a ponytail with a clear (or red, pink, white) elastic.  

2. Split that ponytail in two and braid two braids.  

3. Make a hole in the hair above the ponytail holder and push the braids up through and bring them back down and around into a heart shape. 

4. Secure the rest of the hair and the braids with elastic.  Voila!

Valentines Day Art For Kids

Today I have some fun art to share that we made for Valentines Day gifts for the grandparents and godparents!

1. Multi-colored hearts - My 5-year-old did this project with no help from me.  I just gave her a bunch of different paint colors and a thick brush.  All it took was a stroke in each direction that made a heart shape.  She did this, changing paint colors each time.  It took her quite awhile, but turned out great!

2. Hand Swans - My 4-year-old did this piece with help from me.  First, we put her hand prints down.  Then I painted a blue line and had her paint the blue around it for the water.  I did the same for the red heart, letting her fill it in.  Then I let her do the beaks and we used the back of the paint brush to "dot" the eyes.  Cute!

3. Heart Art - This was a craft for my 5-year-old.  First, I sectioned the canvas off into four squares.  Then I had her draw a heart in the center of each square.  Next, I used a ruler and had her draw lines in each square.  Make sure each line goes all the way from top to bottom or one side of the square to another.  Then she did the rest!  She chose two (or multiple) colors for the hearts and then the backgrounds, carefully coloring every other square.

Here is our second attempt, even bigger and better!

4. Hand Hearts Colorblocks - This was for my 4-year-old.  First, I sectioned the canvas into six squares.  We cut out six hearts with painters tape and I had her stick one in the middle of each square.  Then, I had her paint each square, letting her choose the colors herself.  After it dried, we put a black handprint in each square, making sure the taped-off heart was in the middle of the palm.  The last step was taking off the heart-shaped tape and painting the insides.  (Or you could just leave them white!)  Ta-da!

5. Dot-Foot Heart - This was for my 4-year-old.  First, we put her footprints in the middle of the canvas.  Then I helped her paint a purple (her favorite color) heart around the outside.  Then we got out the dot-paints and she went nuts!  When it dried, I wrote the little saying inside the heart.  CUTE!

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Other Valentine's Day Stuff:
- Hairstyles
-Valentines Box
-Pictures
-Valentines Ideas

Castle Valentines Box

Stuff needed:

- Two boxes (we used a taco box and a cereal box)

- Empty toilet paper rolls and/or paper towel rolls

- Wrapping paper

- Tape

- Pipe cleaners

Valentines Day Photography

This was easy.  A couple pink paper hearts, tape, and some willing kids!

(Some were better than others... haha!)

It even worked for the 6-week-old!! (Although I should've taken out that darn pacifier!)

I added little messages to them and sent them to all our family members to celebrate Valentines Day! Cute!

School Valentines Ideas

We're a week from Valentines Day, so it was time to make some valentines to hand out to my daughter's Kindergarten class!  We always try to do cheap, non-candy options because kids get enough candy as it is!

Last year we did glow sticks.  Get the free printable at: kommunicated.com

And this year she chose silly straws that say, "Sip Sip HOORAY! It's Valentine's Day!" Get the free printable: Kinzie's Kreations

Butterfly Art

Check out what the kids and I just made for our Great Grandma B!

She loves butterflies, so I thought this would be perfect to hang in her room at the nursing home!

I pulled out six different paint colors that I thought would go well together and then let each kid pick out their favorite three!  (The orange is actually washable paint, so it didn't stick as well... but oh well!) Then I wrote their names trailing out of each butterfly.  (I blurred the names for this blog post, because that's how I roll.)

It turned out great! Hopefully, Grandma B. loves it as much as I do!