Happy Thanksgiving with turkey bentos & food art

We have been enjoying celebrating thankfulness and turkeys over the last few weeks!

Here is a short list of things I'm thankful for and then some turkey-related food art.

1. My husband, Christian! We have been going to ReEngage for the past 16 weeks or so and it's been really great. He is such a great dad and good at his job. I am particularly thankful that he gets my weird sense of humor, since very few people do in real life.

2. Sleep. I am so thankful that this is the first Thanksgiving in 4 years that I have slept through the night. AMAZING.

3. The kids, of course. No matter how crazy they drive me, they are amazing little, funny, happy people who make me laugh every day.

4. Our extended families. They don't live near enough to babysit or anything, but we still manage to see them about every 6-8 weeks and we always have a great time. I'm excited to be spending the day with my in-laws.

Since I'm blogging remotely today, I don't have control over where the pictures appear. Below will be a series of two bentos that I made for my kids preschool/Mother's Day Out and then a veggie appetizer tray I created for Thanksgiving today as my contribution to the meal.

Bentos: Daddy-made & Valentine's

Last week I was feeling sick, so Christian volunteered to make Little Sir's bento for Mother's Day Out. He did a great job (better than I do sometimes!):



To see all the details in the notes, be sure to click on the picture and you can hover over each item. The roll is a roll of sticky rice (Little Sir LOVES sticky rice!) wrapped in nori (LOVES nori!). Sort of like a sushi roll without the sushi! You can't see very well, but under the star shaped cheese is a fruit strip with a heart cutout, and under the fruit strip is pineapple chunks. He also gets a cookie with Daddy. Mommy never includes cookies!

I made the bento again this week, and tried to incorporate a Valentine's theme since they'll be having their Valentine's party today. It doesn't have as much food as usual since their party will include lots of food.



It includes raisins, mangoes, heart-shaped cornbread, pickles, and freeze-dried peas. For some reason, both kids are currently obsessed with freeze-dried peas! Too bad they are so expensive. But I'm glad they're eating peas nevertheless!

7 Quick Takes Friday #26

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I have 3 bentos to share this week! It's a little deceptive, because one is from 2 weeks ago but I just uploaded the pictures from my camera yesterday.







I think the shaped boiled eggs are soooo cute, but Little Sir still won't really eat them. Also, he didn't recognize the special sandwich pod in the third bento as a sandwich, so he wouldn't eat that either. DOH.

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OK, has anyone else been following yet another battle about formula marketing between two rather well-known feminists (one a blogger and one an author)? If you haven't, I am not going to link to either of them because COME ON, PEOPLE!! I already commented on this regarding the controversial Babble post about covering up when nursing in public, but I am sick to death of women attacking each other about how we feed our babies. This time the aforementioned feminists are arguing about whether formula companies should be allowed to market in certain ways.

If you are new to this blog you might not be familiar with the fact that I combo feed Little Lady and only made it to 6 months breastfeeding Little Sir. I would like to point out that neither of my babies would have thrived, or perhaps even lived at all, past 6 months without the help of formula since my boobs seem unable to keep up past that point.

I have never given birth in a hospital, so I was never marketed to by formula companies. I got a sample of Enfamil before Little Sir was born and gave it away because I didn't realize I would have breastfeeding issues. Formula is not the devil. Some mothers need it exclusively. Some, like me, just need it to help out. I am tired of the guilt and the mudslinging from bloggers. I can't wait until my children are finished with that stage of life because I am just sick of the entire issue and I want every to SHUT UP.

Thank you, lactivists, for taking away my enjoyment of this whole breastfeeding (or not) stage of life.

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One a lighter note, I am continuing to try to use the DivaCup. I am having the worst time of it! I seem to get a lot of opportunities since my cycle is really messed up right now. I am not going to go into detail, but let me just say that it isn't the best feeling in the world to have that thing pop out while you are dropping your kids off at Mother's Day Out. Um... yeah.

What are your thoughts on a whole post on my exploration of alternative menstrual products? Would you like the info? Or TMI? I have to say, if no one comments on this, I'm probably going to do it.

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In the scheme of work-life balance, I would have to say that somehow my part time work seems to be completely monopolizing all my free time so that I hardly get to spend any time with Christian and I never get to do things I want to do, like read a magazine or make snacks. Not sure how this happened because I'm not billing any more hours than usual.

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We are actually looking at houses again, here in Richardson and North Dallas. If you think of it, say a little prayer or send good vibes our way as we look at the options. We love our realtor!

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Green cleaning tip: Did you know that straight white vinegar makes a great carpet stain remover? While my kids were at Mother's Day Out this week I went to work with an old toothbrush and a small bowl of vinegar on several stains on our area rug that had been there at least 6 months. All it took was a little scrub on each one and the stains were gone! And no toxic chemicals for the baby to encounter as she crawls around on the rug!

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R.I.P. Steve Jobs. All the computers and phones in our house are a result of your invention.
We will miss you.


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Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Me and plastic

This weekend, Little Lady smashed yet another glass dish by grabbing it suddenly from a distance I didn't think she could reach, and dropping it onto the tile kitchen floor. It's the second one in the last 2 weeks. You might say, "Jenny, you have two children under two - what are you doing with glass ANYTHING?".

I am trying to protect my kids from the evil toxins in every plastic, that's what! Nevermind that glass is becoming increasingly perilous. I am consumed by guilt every time I read about other moms who have gone plastic-free. I can just FEEL the hard-to-pronounce death-chemicals leeching into my kids' food from anything that contains plastic. It's going to make them all stupid in the head or give them some kind of horrible disease or something. I realize that.

But I will be honest with you. I am nowhere near giving up plastic.

You might have noticed that my bento boxes are plastic. There are stainless steel ones available, but they start at $12 apiece for the smallest possible size. Yeah.

Baby bottles. I found out that you can buy stainless steel ones, but neither of my children have taken anything but the Born Free (or Tommee Tippee) bottles, which are BPA-free plastic.

Ziploc bags. I use them. I have some great Snack Taxi cloth nylon bags that I love but again... $5-$8 apiece. Unfortunately, you can't use them to freeze things because they aren't airtight. How do people freeze things without ziplock bags? And don't tell me glass tupperware, because that is way too expensive for me to fill my entire freezer.

I am working on slowly transitioning from plastic tupperware to glass, I wrote about it in one of my Friday posts. Again, not cheap, so it will take time.

You know what I would LOVE? These Kidishes by zoé b organic.
Check out this video!



Not really in the budget right now for me, but if they are in your budget, please let me know how you like them!

So...yes, plastic is probably bad.

But, every time I have to lock the kids in the living room while I painstakingly sweep, swiffer, and then mop the floor to get rid of any possible glass shards in the kitchen... I rethink the "evils" of plastic.

How about you?

7 Quick Takes Friday #24

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Because I know you all care, here are this week's bentos.
Mother's Day Out yesterday. This is a BIRD, with trees and clouds. I don't think anybody but me gets that it is a bird.

Today's snack for Little Sir and I to take to the arboretum for our family photo shoot. Can't wait to see the pics!

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The two balls in the snack bento are not meatballs, those are Peanut Butter Oat Balls that my mom made for me. I am hoping to make them myself soon. Here is the recipe, I am not sure where it came from so I hope it's not copyrighted or something:

Peanut Butter Oat Balls

2 Tb butter

2/3 c. pb (crunchy or creamy)

1/4 c. powdered sugar

3 TB honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c. rice krispies

1 c. quick oats

1/4 c. raisins or cranberries

1/4 c. mini choc chips (could also be white chocolate or any other mini chips)

1/4 c. finely chpped dry roasted pnuts or coconut flakes

Melt butter and mix all but fruit, bits and chopped peanuts.  Let cool.  Mix in fruit and bits. Refrigerate or freeze to chill dough into firmness. Form into balls about 1".  Roll in chopped nuts or flakes, pressing slightly to make them adhere.  Store in airtight container.  

They are super delicious and filling!

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I can't believe how much a simple cold knocked me out this week. I hardly got anything done.

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Little Lady failed at going to Mother's Day Out this week, they called me after 3.5 hours to let me know she wasn't going to make it and I had to pick both kids up. Additionally, both the evening events I had planned for some "me" time this week fell through. By last night I was about to lose my mind. Christian watched the kids while I went out to some stores alone and that was nice. Meanwhile, Little Lady screamed her head off and sobbed in her sleep for 2 hours after she finally fell asleep.
* sigh *

A friend reminded me that since Little Lady is 7 months and already eating solids, hopefully it won't be long until she can go longer between feedings which would allow us to get away a few more hours. Still, it looks like at this point there's no way we could leave her with grandparents overnight since she won't take a bottle from anyone and she still wakes up multiple times to feed.

I am just about to lose my mind sometimes from the attachment of it all.

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I have not made meal plans or shopped for food in probably 2 weeks. The theme of this week's Quick Takes is: Jenny does not have her stuff together right now.

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Unrelated to that, I have to face the fact that my beloved Petunia Picklebottom Touring Tote works great for one toddler but is not nearly big enough for two babies. I will have to find something else. This is what I am drooling over right now.

Source: etsy.com via Jenny on Pinterest

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In order to get that bag, I'll probably need to sell another Petunia Picklebottom purse I have, a Crosstown Clutch in Devonshire Dandelion. If anyone is interested, let me know. Otherwise, I'll be putting it on eBay this week some time.


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Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.

Bento insanity

I am actually too lazy to do an entire 7 Quick Takes Friday post, so instead I am just going to include photos of the two bentos I built this week.

In case you do not follow my Facebook page or missed last Friday's post: I am slightly obsessed with bentos right now. As if I need one more thing to do in the evenings! One thing that keeps me in check is that I don't have a lot of cookie cutters or ways to make eyes and faces right now. I am drooling over this bento face set but am unfamiliar with the vendor and reluctant to purchase from somewhere online that I don't know anything about. Also, this bento stuff can suck you in and cost a ton of money! So I need to reign it in a little bit and work with what I have for right now.

Mother's Day Out bento this week.



Picnic bento for today, Little Sir and I shared it.


I took this photo of how I used a sandwich container inside the larger container to form a second level.


 

So, that's all I've got for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

7 Quick Takes Friday #23

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I've got a really important post about women's health scheduled for Monday (it was originally supposed to go this week but I never had time to fully write and edit), so please make sure to check back next week. What do you know about toxic shock syndrome? I didn't know anything but it turns out it's really important!

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If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook (and you should!), you'll know I've been working on building bentos for Little Sir to eat at Mother's Day Out, since their regulations specify he can only have things he can feed himself without help. I made my first one this week and it was MUCH more difficult than I thought. I ended up using a shot glass to cut the lion's head...








The teacher said he really liked it, but he didn't eat ANY of it. Which sucks, but isn't too surprising because he is on a hunger strike right now. Those were all his favorite foods and he wouldn't touch them. Oh well, we'll try again next week...

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I confess that there was a time when I thought that women who build bentos were insane and had too much time on their hands. Then I went to Japan and learned it was a cultural thing there. Then I had kids. And now I do things I said I would never do every single day.

Along the same lines, feel free to follow my bento board on Pinterest if you are similarly obsessed!

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The 10 year anniversary of 9/11 is on Sunday. I am not sure yet if I'll be doing a special post. I did one at the 5 year, I think. We'll see. I was not in NYC but one of my friends was. I still think about that sometimes.

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Make sure you are following Dallas Moms Blog, I'm an official contributor there now - I'll be posting on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays!

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My friend Ashley convinced me to finally get a mani/pedi last weekend, and boy am I thankful. I tried a gel manicure for the first time and so far I am impressed! It's been almost a week and the polish looks barely worn! The downside is that the colors are limited to the special gel polishes, and I don't know if they contain phthalates or not. Anyone else know?

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Finally, I feel like my email is OUT OF CONTROL lately. I am not even talking about mass emails. People are emailing me all the time! It's crazy!

Well, I don't know where I was going with that. It's just a fact.

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Well that's all for this week, be sure to visit Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Fridays.