New lunch boxes!

Our new (systema) lunch boxes arrived this afternoon, and the kids are quite excited to try them out tomorrow. Unlike the laptop lunchbox, they both are able to open these independently, which will be very helpful when I'm not able to join them for lunchtime.

Top section:
Pizza bagel half made with Udi's gf plain bagel, daiya dairy free cheese, and spaghetti sauce (the girl doesn't like much cheese)
1 organic turkey hot dog, cut into bite sized pieces for dipping

Bottom section:
Small container of dried cranberries, golden raisins, peanuts, and Enjoy Life chocolate chips
Tiny dipper of ketchup
2 large garlic stuffed green olives (girl) / 5 tiny Greek olives (boy)
Homemade rainbow flannel napkin

Snack (not in photo):
Organic nut and fruit bar

I've been taking the easy road with some of the lunch choices. It can be so difficult to get protein into the boy, and he's fairly reliable with the salty/smoky ones. We only recently got rid of soy when I started reacting to it, but since we already can't do wheat, dairy, mushrooms, or white beans, we had to find another source of protein to replace it. The only other major source of protein the boy could eat was black beans, and he was starting to rebel against eating them every day. I had been either vegetarian or vegan for going on 28 years, so it was a difficult decision to start adding poultry to our diet (from local/ethical, antibiotic-free, chemical-free sources). However, it's really made a difference. He's eating better, trying new foods occasionally, and his growth has improved.
For the coming week, I'm going to work on increasing the veggies, and including less animal protein in the kids' lunches.

Rice Roll Lunch

Sunbutter and jelly sandwich half on Udi's gf bread
Sticky rice rolls with nori / half of a rolled Wellshire turkey ham slice
Glutino pretzels with hummous to dip
Dried apricots and peanuts
Envirokids bar for snack

Off to the side somewhere: a small container of coconut aminos to dip the rice rolls into. It's similar to soy sauce or tamari, but without the wheat or soy.
This is more carby than I'd prefer, but there is a lot of protein, and I'll have fruit for them to snack on before dinner.

UPDATE: Neither kid ate their hummous, but they both tasted it. The boy ate everything else except the apricots, but then he had those for a snack after school. The girl ate everything except 4 rice rolls and the apricots and peanuts, but also finished those off for an after school snack.

First lunch!

Life has been a blur, and it's been so long since I updated the blog. We've had a lot of changes around here, and one of the big ones is that we aren't going to be homeschooling this year. The kids are super excited to be starting school, and have been having so much fun planning lunches with me. Since allergy friendly lunches can be challenging, I thought I'd share ours here.
We are gluten, dairy, soy, oat, refined sugar, and artificial/chemical free. We recently tested the kids with eggs and are thrilled to have found that they are no longer a problem for them!! They are super excited to be able to eat eggs from our chickens, though the boy won't eat them unless they are in something baked. He has food aversions, and currently has under 20 foods that he'll eat reliably. I still include foods in his lunches that he won't eat, and every once in a while he'll surprise me and try something new.

Our first day of school lunch contains;
Half sunbutter and strawberry jam sandwich on Rudi's gf bread
Toothpick skewers (boy version) rolled Wellshire turkey ham / daiya jack cheese cube / Greek olive
Toothpick skewers (girl version) rolled Wellshire turkey ham / red grape / black olive half
Baby carrots with peanut butter to dip
Golden raisins / dried cranberries
They decided on the Envirokids bar for a snack. We shopped for school snacks last weekend and picked a few fun (but still pretty healthy) snacks for them to choose each day. It helps them be involved in packing their lunch, and I've found that they eat more of the rest of their lunch when they have a small treat. When we run out of the things we bought, I'll be making more snack-y things from scratch. The organic squash and applesauce pouch is for their morning snack. I will also not be buying puree pouches after this batch is gone. I'm going to order a few of the reusable silicone pouches from sili squeeze and making my own fruit and veggie purees. It's one of the only ways to get fresh veggies into the boy, so we do what we can to make sure he's getting some daily.
Now, I just need to figure out what I'm bringing for my lunch, and we'll be set.
Happy first day of school!!

UPDATE: They both are their entire lunch! The boy really surprised me, he not only ate his carrots, but he ate them first and finished them! Carrots are one of the only veggies that he'll eat un-pureed or baked into something, but even then it's rare for him to eat more than two or three baby carrots. His favorite part of this lunch was the sandwich (he's still so thrilled to be able to eat "egg bread"), and the toothpick skewers got a thumbs up from both kids.

Bison hike and giant leaf pile

We went to the Batelle Darby Creek MetroPark for a preschool program about autumn leaves. We did crayon rubbings, identified leaves and trees, talked about the leaves changing color, and then jumped into an enormous leaf pile.

"My favorite part of fall?"

"I'll show you"

"Jumping into huge piles of leaves!"

1, 2, 3, Go!!

Coming after mama to make sure I don't miss out on any leafy fun!

Hiking to the bison

We are lucky to have Batelle Darby Metro Park a few minutes from our house. We'll be even luckier when they complete their nature center planned for next year. It's going to be similar to the Audubon Center, in that it will be built sustainably with as little impact on the surrounding area as possible. I'm eagerly awaiting the programs that they'll be offering. In the meantime, we can visit the bison. It's a little bit more than a mile walk from the parking area/naturalists office.

Almost there...

There are 6 bison, but it's a huge area (I believe they said 23 acres), so they aren't always visible. The bison love the chilly weather we've been having, and are happily lounging around and laying on the ground. This makes them a bit difficult to see, but we were able to spot one fuzzy lump from the trail.

Can you spot it?

Though they were a bit tired after our hike, the glimpse of the bison, and anticipation of hot cocoa at home was enough to prompt an extra quick walk back to the car. Bye, bison!!

I'll race you back!!!

Slate Run Park Hayride Day

Here comes the hayride!

The girl got a pumpkin

So did the boy, but it smacked him in the nose. OW!

Scaling Mt. Strawbale

Bootsy

The mister got into a perfect swinging rhythm

She's a bat!

She's a cat!

Leaf pile!

I wasn't leafy enough, they boy is going to fix that

Who knew, leaf angels exist too!