Today is the last day of school before Thanksgiving break so I thought I'd send them to school with a turkey day themed lunch! This lunch includes a peanut butter sandwich with white American cheese and colby cheese accents (I used a leaf cookie cutter to make the turkey's tail), grapes/strawberries, pumpkin muffin, chocolate covered almonds from Trader Joe's, cucumbers...all packed in an Easy Lunch Box

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you've been reading my blog for a while you have probably noticed I refer to someone named "Maria" quite a bit. Maria Emmerich is the person responsible for my family's transition to a healthier lifestyle. You can go back and read about itHERE, but to summarize...I had been working out for a little over a year and was so frustrated that I wasn't achieving my weight loss goals. A friend of mine from the gym introduced me to Maria one day while we were working out and I learned that Maria had a book called "Secrets to a Healthy Metabolism". I purchased the book that day and the rest is history. Everything she wrote in her book made perfect sense to me and over the past two years since then my family and I have taken baby steps toward a healthier lifestyle and the results in how we all feel is nothing short of amazing.

Maria and I talked often at the gym and over the past few years have become quite good friends. She encouraged me time and time again over the past few years and helped me achieve not just my weight loss goals, but also helped my family learn healthier eating habits. Words really can't express all that she has done for me. The fact that I am no longer plagued by sugar cravings, tired for most of the day, forgetful (the list goes on and on)...it truly feels as though Maria has given me the best gift a friend could ever give. With her help I'm so much more awake, alive and energized and my day isn't consumed (pardon the pun) with thoughts of food than I've ever been before. I can safely say that my life has changed for the better because of the hard work and dedication Maria has put into her research about food and how it affects our bodies.

Not long after I purchased Maria's book I learned that she wrote the book as a way to fund the adoption of two precious boys in Africa. Over the past two years I've agonized with her as they were met with one delay after another. They were matched with their sons nearly one year ago and expected them to be home shortly thereafter, but yet again there were delays. It has been heart-wrenching to know how eager Maria and her husband, Craig, were to get those boys home yet have absolutely no control over it. Imagine the joy we all felt when we received word last week that they got the go-ahead to head to Africa to retrieve their boys. In the past week it's been a whirlwind for them as they pack to bring home their two baby boys! Maria and Craig will be boarding a plane today at noon (CST) to go to Ethiopia to bring their boys home. To say that this is an exciting day feels like the understatement of the year.

Maria and Craig, if you're reading this...safe travels! We are all thinking of you and praying for all to go well while you are in Africa. Those two little boys are beyond lucky to have you both as parents. I can't wait to meet them.

On a sidenote, Maria just released her newest cookbookThe Art of Eating Healthy: Sweets. There are so many wonderful recipes in this book (many of which are gluten free and use no artificial sweeteners). It's a GREAT resource for anyone who has a sweet tooth, but wants healthy options!

Today's lunch includes a peanut butter sandwich on Lavash bread, raspberries/blueberries, Maria's no bake chocolate bites, string cheese, celery and peanut butter, 2 dark chocolate squares packed in a Planet Lunch Box

Anytime my son sees tacos on our dinner menu he gets especially excited about taking lunch to school the next day. This is easily his favorite meal...I'm pretty sure he'd eat tacos for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I let him. It's taken some trial and error to find a healthier taco option than what I used to make with the taco seasoning packets that were filled with who knows what and sugar-filled salsa, but I've finally found a combination that my family loves! I start my browning 1 1/2 lbs of grass fed beef, after I strain the meat I add 4 TBS of Penzy's taco seasoning(yes, it's gluten free)and 3/4 c. water. Then I chop up the fixings and heat Trader Joe's taco shells and the tacos are ready to go. My kids love building their tacos and topping them off with a spoonful of salsa. While I do love making my own it becomes quite a task...especially in the winter months so I looked high and low for a pre-packaged salsa option. I'm happy to say I found one that is low in sugar, gluten free and oh, so yummy!!! It was created by a company called Garden Fresh Gourmetwhich is sold at Rainbow Foods and Costco. If you're not in the Minneaoplis/St. Paul area you can click HERE to find a store that carries it near you. This is one of the few pre-packaged foods we buy on a regular basis. I typically buy a tub of salsa for us to use at home, but they also have these adorable individual serving size portions that are perfect for packing in lunches or snack packs. They also have individual servings of hummus that are soooooo good! My boys love it! I guess I'm rambling here a bit, but I was very excited to share this salsa find with you.

Today's taco lunch includes: Trader Joe's taco shells (wrapped in parchment paper so my son has something to use to build his tacos on at school), taco meat, lettuce, cheese, tomato, sour cream, Garden Fresh Gourmet salsa, Trader Joe's chocolate covered almonds. I use this Thermosto keep the taco meat warm until lunch.

It's Border Battle Day...the Green Bay Packers taking on the Minnesota Vikings and the boys are READY! Border battle days have turned into quite the to-do around here as both of my sons have friends who love the Vikings ALMOST as much as my boys love the Packers. At school the kids were encouraged to wear spirit wear to show their team pride. My boys were up and dressed head to toe in Packer gear before I even had breakfast on the table this morning. It only seemed fitting that the boys go to school today with a Packer themed lunch! Go Pack Go!!

Today's lunch includes: ham/cheese sandwich, grapes/cheese, pea pods, almonds, almond flour chocolate chip cookie (in the Packer bag)

To my Dad, Popo, Grandpa Fickler, my brother-in law Thomas and all the men and women who faithfully serve to protect this great country of ours...Thank You!

For the past few weeks our boys have been learning just how lucky they are to have fresh, clean water to drink and use on a daily basis. They've discovered that only 30% of Haitians have access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, a child dies every 7 seconds from a water-related illness, and 2.5 billion people have inadequate or nonexistent access to proper sanitation. Our church is participating in a Clean Water campaign and they have asked the kids to get involved by collecting donations to send to Healing Haiti and World Vision. They equipped the kids with a water bottle and asked that they try to fill the bottle with money to help the people in Africa and Haiti get the clean water they need.

To help the kids grasp what it might be like to have a limited water supply we are doing a little experiment today. Since many families in developing countries have to travel to retrieve water, the kids and I went on a walk up the road carrying a one gallon jug of water. Now for the rest of the day we will only use the water in this jug for drinking, brushing teeth, washing dishes, etc... The goal is to show the kids how nice we have it here in the U.S. to have access to clean water whenever we need it.

Last weekend the boys put their heads together and came up with the idea to go around to the neighbors to ask for donations in exchange for a yard raking. Luckily, we have some very generous neighbors who rewarded their efforts not only with donations but they also brought the boys a plate of homemade cookies at the end of the day.

Today's lunch includes a ham/cheese water drop sandwich, blueberries/grapes, cucumbers, no bake chocolate bites:

Today's "Moose Munch" lunch was inspired by the Moose and Hildy book series which my youngest son absolutely loves! Every night before bed he likes someone to read at least one chapter to him. Last night he asked his big brother to read to him and I had to smile as I listed to the boys giggle as they read about Moose's antics. This is such a cute series...the stories are funny and the illustrations are adorable! If you're looking for books for kids in grades K-1 I would highly recommend this series.

The Moose lunch includes: ham/cheese moose sandwich, grapes, pea pods, Trader Joe's turkey jerky, string cheese

My oldest son unknowingly earned a "scholar dollar" last night as he read to his little brother. He'll find it tucked in his lunch box at school today and I know he'll be oh, so excited to find he's earned a little extra computer time over the weekend. The "award themed" lunch includes: turkey/cheese sandwiches, plum, cucumbers, no bake chocolate bites, hard boiled egg:

I'm sure any of you reading this with kids can relate to the "Halloween Buzz" that filled the air this morning. My kids are so excited about their Fall Celebrations at school today, but even more so for some Trick-or-Treating tonight! With each passing year it seems the kids want to stay out longer and walk farther than ever before. My husband and I now know to bring back-up bags with us to hold the overflow of candy. By the time we get home I feel as though we've all had a good workout hauling buckets filled to the brim with goodies.

So, the big question is...do I let my kids eat the candy?! This blog is all about promoting healthy eating for kids, right? The fact of the matter is YES...I let my kids eat candy. If you're new to the blog you can go back and read my thoughts on this subject HERE. The reality is that we do want our kids to enjoy the time honored tradition of trick-or-treating. Very rarely do our kids eat candy so on a special occasion like today, we are a.o.k. with candy.

Having said that, there is absolutely NO WAY my kids could consume all the candy they come home with. Because we don't eat a lot of sweets anymore I find my kids lose interest in candy a lot faster than they did before. I've always struggled with what to do with the candy after Halloween, but a friend of mine recently suggested I buy back the candy! What a brilliant idea! My kids are all about earning and saving money so I knew thought this would be a perfect solution for us. After the kids get home tonight we will let the kids sort through their candy and keep some of their favorites, but we'll offer to buy back all the leftover candy. My plan is to buy the candy from my kids to use on an upcoming "countdown to Christmas" project we do every year (more on that later). The extra Halloween candy would be perfect for that project so it saves me from having to run out during the holidays. I'll be sure to show you how I use the candy in a little closer to Christmas, but just know we hope to bring some smiles to the faces of the firefighters and police officers in our town as we thank them for their service.

Today's Halloween lunch includes: nitrite free ham/cheese trick or treat bag sandwich with a rope cheese handle, cheese/grapes, carrots, chocolate granola bar, trail mix in the "candy" container (I made this using the roll from an empty tin foil box, orange tissue paper and a sticker) packed in a Planet Lunch Box

My kids are home today because of parent-teacher conferences so I thought it would be fun to surprise the boys with some "ghoulish" goodies for lunch. This lunch kicks-off a weekend packed with both birthday fun for my youngest son and Halloween festivities. The boys are beyond excited and I'm looking forward to having a few fun-filled days with them!

The first lunch features a ham/cheese Frankenstein sandwich with white American cheese and mushroom details, plums, snap peas, hardboiled egg, chocolate granola bar

This lunch includes uncured hot dog "worms", string cheese "fingers" with snap pea accents, mushroom "eyeballs" (my son will likely swap these out for broccoli and i'll slice the mushrooms for my salads), plum, pumpkin muffins