Stories from My Phone + Help Me out on This.

LOVE that precious family photo!! And so exciting that Andrew is SO CLOSE to being finished with school!

Those Uncrustables are pretty convenient for lunch (as an adult, I even sometimes take them), and I always support Gushers and Fruit by the Foot. :) Also, maybe some string cheese?

Glad that you’re feeling better, and I hope that you have a great treadmill run today, Janae!! YOU GOT THIS!!

I lived at 7500 feet for a little over a year and swam while I was there, and going to sea level was AMAZING. USA Swimming even has official altitude adjustment factors for different events for qualification for meets. So I had some times in their database that are faster than I ever actually really swam. It hurt a lot when I first moved there, though! I bet you could pull off some incredible times at sea level.

I struggle with lunches! I always do leftovers (bc my kids are in preschool and they still heat up lunches ;-)) but my fav snacks are the apple banana crushers from Trader Joes, veggies and hummus (or the veggie stick crackers), string cheese or cut up cheese sticks and homemade muffins or banana bread. I’m totally going to watch the comments to get ideas! Glad you’re feeling better. :)

I love Brooke’s lunch box! It’s so cute and colorful!

And good luck falling back in love with the treadmill. I recommend lining up your absolute favorite running shoes next to them (so: allllllll of the Levitates and Launches?!?!?) so that each time you need to run on the ‘mill you can look at your shoes and make it like a special decision–what will I wear today? Which will get me through? Silly, but if it becomes a fun little game and a sort of ritual that’s specific to the treadmill, then maybe it will be easier to fall back in love with ‘mill running?!? (It’s the little things, right? And it’s all about creating a good kind of mental game to make it all actually happen, right?)

Lunch box ideas: instead of a regular sandwich, make pinwheels and put the individual slices face-up in Brooke’s little bento box compartment that’s good for sandwiches, and make them super colorful. Add a couple of squares of Dove chocolate in another compartment (or a few pieces of a specific candy that’s a favorite to both you and her so she knows that you specifically thought about her and a candy love that you share…) and in another one, those carrot ‘chips’ that you can get pre-cut and bagged at the grocery store that look almost like wavy-cut potato chips. When lunches get colorful (even when they’re so stinkin’ easy, they become even visually more fun to eat. Added bonus: if you use the big burrito sized tortillas to make pinwheel sandwiches, you can probably get like 6 or 8 slices of pinwheel out of them which is totally enough for a couple of days of lunch…and if that’s lunch on Tuesday and Thursday, then BAM! Two days of the week are taken care of!

…and on the Wednesday between the two days, maybe she gets hummus and celery sticks and pretzel sticks (and a couple of oreos… #becauseoreos are totally life, right?!?). And then maybe on Monday and Friday it’s something different–like a pita pocket sandwich stuffed with tuna and cheese.

Dang it–I should write all of this down for lunches FOR ME, because today is my first day of teaching (I am writing you from my office on campus, by the way), and now with being on campus Tuesday and Thursday and STILL having my running job on Mondays and Fridays, I need a super duper easy approach to making *my* lunches when it’s time to meal prep over the weekend!

Anyway–I hope you have a good day! I love that family picture, and especially the way Knox is holding onto you and the way Brooke is so relaxed standing in front of Andrew. Your blended family, and the fact that these little kids have extra parents to love them, to share wisdom, to encourage their dreams, and to help them stay focused when the world presents too much danger of straying from what they identify as their biggest priorities is so beautiful. I love it! (And I get that sometimes it’s glorious and easy and energizing…and sometimes it’s probably so exhausting and challenging…)

We start back to school tomorrow. I have a picky eater, so that’s fun ! And she had a lot of food allergies while younger but is much better after 5 years of immunothereapy. But I think that’s why she’s so picky, never had a good variety of food choices while younger. So, her go to lunch is bologna on a Hawaiian roll, string cheese, dorittos and grapes, sometimes a fruit roll up. For a treat, she loves lunchables or a Subway sandwich. Those are good when I need an easy quick lunch to send. She loves when we throw homemade cookies or brownies in there too. Good luck and have fun lunch packing !!

Hi! I’ve been reading your blog for years but have never commented. In terms of lunch ideas, when I was in grade school, my favorite lunch ever was “Make-your-own pizzas”- my mom would pack me a Ziploc of mini pitas, one of mozzarella cheese, and a little Tupperware of tomato sauce, and I’d get to construct my own mini pita pizzas. It was the best! Other ideas include PB&J cut into fun shapes, carrots and hummus, celery/apple slices and peanut butter, string cheese, and anything easy and portable like beef jerky and cut-up fruits and veggies.

Your family photo is beautiful! Here are some lunch ideas that my little boy loves: leftovers from supper (rice, meat, potato, veg.); pasta noodles and sauce with cheese sprinkled on top; soup occasionally (or alphagetti) ham and cheese sandwich; veggies and hummus; a piece of fruit (apple, banana, grapes, blueberries); annie’s cheddar bunny crackers; string or baybel cheese; yogurt drink; homemade muffins, bread, granola bars; real fruit strips; cheese and cracker packs; bear paws… I try to mix it up, but usually include a piece of fruit, a yogurt, some form of cheese, and treat snack and another healthy snack along with his meal! I hope this helps :)

Allie Kiefer wrote me back too when I thanked her for making it permanent and asked her what kinds of hair bands she uses. So nice! So I make my kids pack their own lunches (I’ll help my kindergartener with the main item such as sandwiches, cracker stackers, hard boiled eggs and crackers, etc) but then they get to choose 1 vegetable, 1 fruit, and 1 snack to accompany the main item. We also pack it the night before so it’s not part of the morning rush. Good luck!

Lunch, fruit, yoghurt, and her favourite sandwich? I love pickles so I would put those in too. Maybe ask Brooke what she wants in her lunch (within reason ha).

Ah, I have been out of school for a while now, and not keen to go back hahaha.

I like your sisters life hack with the pajamas. My sis had to do that with my almost 3 year old niece because she can get out of almost anything these days :).

Hmm, if I could run with any runner – I would like to run with Kaci Lickteig – she won Western states 100 mile last year – or Jim Walmsley who set the course record this year at Western States. Of course this would mean I would have to have magical powers to keep up haha.

Have a fantastic day!

Beautiful family photo! I hadn’t clocked that Andrew has done full marathons too! Lovely that St George is a family thing :) My little boy has packed lunches quite a bit. He usually has some sort of sandwiches, plus a hard boiled egg, some fruit and something like cherry tomatoes or mini sausages. I have to admit that I’ve got a little bit into decorations – little animal picks and cupcake rings which means the lunch can be themed and look cute with minimal effort! He also likes these little moulds for boiled eggs – you boil and shell it, and the new place it in the mould and by the time they open it for lunch the egg is in the shape of a bear, or a star, or whatever. He also likes a little pot of pickles, olives and sweetcorn, and especially loves the odd little chocolate treat I put in very occasionally (that’s what he told me to say when I asked him just now what he would recommend for Brooke :)) In winter I sometimes give him warm food in a thermos, like pasta or even sausages, with a bun separately so he can make a hot dog. Beware though – the decorations can get pretty addictive!!

Wow I can’t believe your luck with the strep … glad you’ve rested and are feeling better! I am sort of in school … I have TWO WEEKS left in my medical residency (the end of a ten year road) … soooo close!

Just wanted to share that Brooke and I have the same birthday, and that I also was six when I started kindergarten. I was always one of the older kids in my class, but I truly think it set me up to do much better academically throughout the years than if I had been one of the youngest. I was a hard core mommy’s girl and definitely wasn’t ready for full time school at five, so I did two years of pre-K. Can’t wait to see how much she loves kindergarten!!