Cheese and Crackers, Fried Pickles

Jeffrey's best friend is getting married tomorrow.  We are so excited for him!  His fiance is wonderful, I just love her and am so thrilled to have her around.  It will be nice to have a girl permanently around when his friends come over.  As such, though, I have been a complete slacker when it comes to lunches for my boy.  This week I think he got a sandwich once.  And we are out of bread again.  Go figure, right?  At any rate, he is a trooper, and at least me writing messages on his napkins sure helps him like his lunches!

Today he wanted a Wallace and Gromit lunch.  "Cheese and crackers, Gromit!"

I was relieved!  Like I said, no bread, and I was fast running out of ideas on what to make.  Cheese and crackers are so easy, and if he likes it, hey, I'm not going to complain!  So, he got the cheese and crackers as well as an applesauce, gogurt, peanut butter granola bar, and a drink.  I also hid a few cookies in the front pocket, but he didn't find them.  I am wondering how long it will take before he realizes they are there!

Today I wrote a joke on his napkin.  On one said it said "What do you call an alligator in a vest?" On the other side of the napkin, I wrote "An investigator!" Hahahaha!  Hope you have a great day, Keith. I love you.  xoxoxo

He said he loved the joke, but some of his friends didn't get it.  I am glad that a little message from me isn't embarrassing yet.  I remember the one time I didn't include a message in his lunch last year, and there were some seriously hurt feelings on his part.  I know that when he is a teen he probably wont want me to show this kind of affection, so I need to get as much of it in as I can, and hopefully by then, he will be brainwashed into thinking it is normal.

One can hope, right?

With the upcoming wedding, Jeffrey, Faye and I are all a part of the wedding party.  Jeffrey is the best man, I am a bridesmaid, and Faye is the flower girl.  We are all excited.  I was especially excited to not have to cook dinner tonight, and to have left-overs to feed my boys with tomorrow.  After the rehearsal, the groom took everyone out to eat, which was very sweet and kind of him.  But that is the kind of guy he is.  Because of that, we are set for tomorrow.

Surprisingly, Keith ate all of his food at the restaurant.  He had pork brisket, a corn muffin, and then some sides.  He ate all of the meat and the muffin at the restaurant, and even though he had been complaining for a good hour and a half prior about how hungry he was, when he finished eating he said that it was well worth the wait.  Funny boy.

For his lunch tomorrow, he gets Faye's leftover corndogs, fried pickle (oh my goodness, have you ever tried that?  SO good!), A granola bar, a baby jar filled with applesauce, and some green jell-o shots (not really, just small jell-o containers.  Are they still called shots if there is no alcohol in them?) which are currently in the freezer so they will still be cold by the time he has lunch.  And the cookies are still in the front pocket.

At the table during dinner we tell a lot of silly Knock Knock jokes.  Most of them don't make any sense and are just random, but the kids giggle like mad and are so proud of themselves for coming up with their own jokes.  Because of that, I put a Knock Knock joke on Keith's napkin for tomorrow.

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Tank.

Tank who?

You're welcome!

I am sure he will giggle like mad when he reads this one, and then he and his friends will tell so many knock knock jokes, the lunch lady may have to shoo them out to play.  Because that is how my boy is.  

The lunches this week have really made me stretch my creativity and I am thankful for that.  I do look forward to baking some bread this weekend (after the wedding!) so that next week will be a bit easier to make his lunches.  Can't wait!

October Week 4 Day 2

Once upon a time. 

A magical phrase that always excited me.  To this day, I still love fairy tales.  There is something so innocent about them.  Which is a funny way to describe them since most of Grimm's fairy tales are just that.  Grim.

I couldn't figure out what to give Keith for lunch today.  I thought a long time about it, and finally settled on giving him a Fairy Tale Lunch.

In nearly all the tales told, when someone set out on a journey, they carried with them some staples.  Good hearty bread, cheese, and some sort of protein.  Usually salted meat.  But we are vegetarian, so we just go with the protein.

I got out some bread, and Keith got excited for his lunch, though he insisted he didn't want any bread.  I gave him some cheddar cheese, almonds, carrots, broccoli, sliced peaches, and a little bit of his birthday cake.  He was so excited for it!  In place of a lunch box, I wanted to wrap it all in a napsack, but my bandanna (the only one I have) was left in the car, and it was snowing.  I didn't want to go out in the snow.  Instead, I placed it all in a brown paper bag and sent him off to school.

When I picked him up, however, he had eaten his almonds and cake.  That was all.

Very disappointing.

I believe I will try this lunch again, but I will use some good bread (a hunk of french bread perhaps?), some grapes, and whatever else is on hand.  But it will be wrapped up in a knapsack   Packaging is all part of the appeal, I am learning.

And of course, I did forget to take a picture.  One of these days it will be a habit.  One of these days.