Back to School, Lunches & a Recipe

Is it Fall yet?

It certainly feels like it in Southwestern Ontario today.

All three kids are off to school this week.  Yay!!! They were excited and I was excited to have some time to myself and get back to a routine.  I do better with routines.

Here's some pictures of their first days of school...

S., started grade 7 this year at her French Immersion Shool. 

 Her main goals this year is to not be chatty and pass notes in class.

H. started Grade 5 at her English school.

Her goals this year is to speak up when she doesn't understand something instead of just ignoring it.

If you remember, H., got hearing aids about a month ago,

and we're hoping that will help her in school this year.

So far, I like her teacher. This one actually smiles, unlike the one last year.

And this little guy started Junior Kindergarten (same as H.s School)!! 

My baby!!

He was up early this morning, dressed and wanted to leave an hour early for school.

I hope his enthusiasm continues throughtout is school years.

Here he is begging to go to school!!!

This year I am trying something new with their lunches.

I have the kids help me pack their lunches, but this hasn't guaranteed

that they will eat what we have packed.

S. has two "nutritional breaks", and she is usually really good about eating everything we pack, and bringing home her lunchbag and all her lunch containers.

This is what we packed for S. today:

Salad with cucumbers & baby greens and homemade dressing.

Orange, Orange juice and home made  choc chip Muffin.

And she begged for leftover Tuna Casserole in her Thermos.

(recipe at the bottom of this post)

Now for H.! 

 Last year, half way through the year I had her come home for lunch because I found out she was throwing out her lunch and then asking the JK teacher for snacks from her snack cupboard.

(meant for kids who forgot their lunch)

This went on for a week before the teachers figured it out.

She was helping with the packing of her lunches but she didn't like her lunch choices and didn't want to "hurt my feelings" by saying she didn't like them.

So she threw them out and went without.

So this year, we are trying Bento type lunches.

I went to Chapters and they had Bento boxes for $39.99 (hmm... no thanks)

So we made our own.

It's just a rectangular container and we try to pack all of the food groups in there.

This H.s lunch today!

Crustless cheese sandwiches, pepperoni pieces, Minigo yogurt,

orange segments and choc chip cookie.

Here it is packed into her lunch bag with an apple and a snack box of different kinds of crackers.

I told her I wanted to see what was left of the apple. ( I want to make sure she is not throwing it out)

This is A.s lunch.

He's got crustless cheese sandwiches, pepperoni sticks,

Minigo Yogurt, red pepper slices, and Chocolate chip muffin.

Here it is packed in his lunch bag.

There is also orange juice, and two snacks.

(Apples sauce & crackers and orange segments)

If it doesn't work out I can always have them they start coming home for lunch again.

How do you pack your kids lunches? 

How do you keep it interesting throughout the school year?

I'm linking up to some of these parties.

Please visit my Shaklee website for more ways to keep your children healthy this school year!

TUNA CASSEROLE

1 1/2 cups of elbow macaroni pasta ( or pasta of choice)

2 cans of Tuna

1 can of cream of Mushroom soup

1/2 of milk

1 cup of green peas

salt & pepper

a couple of dashes of hot pepper sauce

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Cook your pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Mix Tuna, soup, milk and peas in bowl.

Season with salt and pepper and add a couple of dashes of hot pepper sauce.

Add the Tuna mixture to pasta and pour into greased 9 x 9 glass casserole dish.

Mix breadcrumbs and cheese and sprinke on top.

Bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes.

Yummmy!