Quick Halloween Lunches

Most of the time, Boogs lunches are inspired by the books we read together. Boogs chose Monsters Party All Night Long by Adam J.B. Lane for his lunch on Monday. We both thought this page from the book would be perfect inspiration for a lunch.

I tried to find foods that would look as much like the ones in the book as possible. The little signs say - toe jam on toast, snot dogs, eyeball puffs, french bunion soup, finger sandwiches, and scab croquettes.

 

I used toast with jam for toe jam on toast, little smokies with green food dye for snot dogs, kalamata olives with cheese for eyeball puffs, little smokies with cheese in bread triangles for finger sandwiches, raspberries for scab croquettes, and cottage cheese with a corner of toast for french bunion soup. I threw in some carrots for a little bit of veggies.

Boogs was disgusted! He asked me to take out the snot dogs and replace them with regular ones. He also told me he did not want to leave any of the signs in this lunch because they were "just plain gross". He did end up eating this lunch snot dog free and with the signs left at home.


I was tired and had slept in the morning I made this lunch. I asked Boogs if he would mind a "normal" lunch instead of a story-themed lunch. He asked if he could add some picks to the normal lunch to make it have a theme. I let him go pick crazy!

In the ELB: ham & salami on skewers, Babybel cheese, Chex Mix, blueberries, and some leftover spinach tortellini with pesto sauce. Boogs added the picks - Frankenstein, tombstone, zombie hand, two eyeballs, and an Angry Birds ring.


Bento Blog Network has over 40 Halloween lunches this week. Go check them out they are amazing.
Following In My Shoes has some cute last-of-the Halloween season lunches and a fun I Heart Lunch Halloween linky.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

I Survived Skydiving!

I had such a blast yesterday on my first ever skydiving jump! In June, my husband wrote on my birthday card - for your birthday present, how bout skydiving? I laughed back then and said it sounded like fun but inside my head I was thinking there was no way anyone was going to get me to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. I love that my husband likes to give me once-in-a-lifetime experiences for gifts. For Christmas last year he gave me a flight lesson on a teeny tiny Cessna plane. I actually liked skydiving better than piloting a plane.

Well, I was feeling brave this past week and booked my jump with Skydive San Marcos. Did you notice that the sign to the left of the plane says, "There is no such thing as a perfectly good airplane. Learn to skydive!"

There are a few skydiving places near where we live but I am so glad I went to this one. They have a great, easy-to-use website where you can see what reservation slots are available. It was so easy to sign-up and pay. When we arrived, the facility was clean, well-organized, and the staff was fun and professional. It was a great experience.

I was pretty nervous when I filled out the death consent forms. Boogs was really worried that I would die and not be around to take care of him anymore. Poor kiddo. He was super clingy while we waited for my turn. We got to sit out in the viewing area and watch a couple of planes take off and see the skydivers land. Then it was my turn. Eeek! I loved that Skydive San Marcos had jumpsuits. My husband went on a skydive a couple of years ago and was not provided a jumpsuit. He jumped in his jeans and t-shirt and was a little bit cold while in the air.

 

Pretty soon, it was time to get on the plane. My skydive instructor was Matt. He was wonderful! He told me jokes the entire time we were in the plane to keep from thinking too much (or puking) about what I was about to do. When I asked how many jumps he has done, he said he had jumped over 2,500 times and not had a problem, yet.

 You can see my knuckles were white from gripping the straps so hard as we walked toward the exit. I was wondering if it was too late to back out of the jump.

 Oh man, that step into air was terrifying and exhilarating!!!

 We flipped all the way upside down as we exited the plane. I just kept thinking Matt said to arch, just arch, keep arching.

 It was absolutely amazing! We reached a speed of 132 mph during our freefall.

It surprised me how noisy the air was. Poor Matt, half of my hair came out of my ponytail and kept hitting him in the face.

 The view was incredible!

 Matt told me he would NOT let me know when he was going to pull the parachute cord so I would be relaxed and not freak out. So I spent part of the time during freefall, freaking out about when he was going to pull the cord.

 That first jerk as the parachute took in wind was very abrupt. It took my breath away. Then Matt told me he was going to loosen the staps around my chest and legs so I would be more comfortable. I yelled, "No, no, I am perfectly fine! Don't loosen anything!" He did anyway, and it really was much more comfortable.

Matt let me take over the handles on the chute. I got to steer us around in a couple of circles. He put us into a pretty fast spin for a bit, I did not like that at all. It was so peaceful floating through the air. I can totally see how people crave the adrenaline rush and the amazing feeling of floating free. We left the plane in the middle of a group and were the last ones to land. I have no idea how long we stayed aloft. Joey, the camera man, took some spectacular photos and video. I wish I'd had his camera so I could have captured the views while we were floating. I could not have asked for better weather or a better skydiving experience.

 

 The landing went fine. Matt told me we were just going to sit down. Easy-peasy.

This was SO MUCH FUN!!! I am definitely going to do it again someday. I don't know when, but I will.



Thanks, Honey for a fabulous birthday present!!!

Charlotte, thanks for the mini-tutorial for uploading the video!

Lunches October 14th - 24th

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. Each night, Boogs reads one book to me and I read a book or a chapter of a book to him. I usually post his lunches once a week. Click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post to see lunches from previous weeks. We like to pack our lunches in ELBs and Laptop Lunchboxes. 
I did not put up my regular Friday lunch post last week because of the BBF Frightful Fall Blog Hop. So, I am adding a couple of lunches from last week to this week's lunch post.

Spooky Sara by Melanie Marks

Spooky Sara is one of the Level 3 Phonics Comics books. Boogs enjoys reading Phonics Comics. This book had three short stories about how different Sara was from her classmates. Sara is lucky to have three great friends that don't think she is too spooky - Mr. Bones, Ghostly, and Frank. 

In the Laptop Lunchbox: salami & cheese Sara decorated with food colored swiss cheese dress and nori hair, Cheez-Its Scrabble Jr. crackers, yogurt raisins, candy corn, Mr. Bones pick running through berries, and a mummy ring in the salad. (that is supposed to be a ghost radish on the salad)



Time For Kids Pets Mini Book

This was just a fun little lunch filled with animal picks that matched animals in the the mini book. In the ELB lunchbox: Zbar, okra chips, salami & cheese skewers, tomatoes, carrots, and mango.


All About Mice by Lisa C. Moran

This was a book Boogs brought home for homework reading. He is fascinated with mice, gerbils, hamsters, and other small rodents. He enjoyed learning a bunch a facts about mice while reading this. Did you know that two adult mice can have 40 "pups" in one year? 

In the Laptop Lunchbox: litter of six baby mice ham & cheese on toast, yogurt raisins, Wheat Thins, veggie chips, wedge of cheese mouse, berries, and salad.

Silly monster face lunch. One of Boogs' jobs at home is to make lunch on Wednesdays. It does not happen every Wednesday, but we do try. On the weekends, Boogs looks through our cookbooks and cooking magazines and finds something he would like to make. He helps me check the kitchen for ingredients, add the needed items to the grocery list, and shop for his dinner items at the store. Cooking is such a wonderful skill to have and it really helps Boogs understand measurements and simple fractions. 

In the Laptop Lunchbox: eggroll wrapper mini taco bowls (made by Boogs), veggie chips nose, honey dew melon mouth, broccoli, yogurt, and a mixed fruit cup with a Stampin' Up Fun Faces monster face.


Nate the Great and the Monster Mess by Majorie Weinman Sharmat

Nate is so excited by his latest case. Finally, he gets to help solve a case for his mother. She is missing her monster cookie recipe. Nate really wants to solve this case because he enjoys eating Frankenstein, werewolf, and Dracula cookies. Boogs was shocked by the huge mess that Nate made while searching for the recipe. Nate managed to solve this tricky case. 

In the Laptop Lunchbox: Frankenstein kiwi (idea taken from Another Lunch), Dracula marshmallow, werewolf ham & cheese sandwich, Wheat Thins, and salad.

 Scholastic News - Jump Into Fall

Boogs' 2nd grade class gets the Scholastic Weekly Reader. They read it together at school and then Boogs brings it home and reads it to me. He loved all of the cute pictures of squirrels in this week's edition. So, we had to have a squirrel lunch. 

In the ELB lunchbox: cheese squirrels, almond butter & jelly squirrel sandwich, acorn Zbar, blueberries, Cutie oranges, yogurt, broccoli, carrots, and acorn shaped red bell pepper.

 The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

I had never heard of this cute book until I came across mention of it in the Country Kids from Coombe Mill weekly linky party. Each week, Fiona has people from all over link up outdoor family activities. Several weeks ago, two different people talked about their family hikes on The Gruffalo Trail at Throndon County Park in Brentwood, UK. I looked up the park and it has amazing statues of animals in the Gruffalo stories. I found the book so that Boogs and I could read it together. It is a wonderful story about a clever mouse who saves himself from being eaten by a fox, a snake, and an owl. The mouse tells each animal about the scary (made-up) Gruffalo creature he is about to meet. The Gruffalo has terrible claws, and terrible tusks in its terrible jaws, and knobbly knees and turned-out toes, and a poisonous green wart at the end of its nose. Little did the mouse know, the creature he made up really does exist. The mouse then has to think quickly to save himself from being lunch for the Gruffalo. Boogs laughed at the mouse's solution to his problem. 

In the ELB lunchbox: mouse drawn on marshmallow, pb&j sandwich with Gruffalo drawn on cheese on top, salad, fruit, and salad dressing.


Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Fun Fall Weekend

Boogs stayed with my parents on Friday night so my husband and I could attend the Black & White Charity Ball for the Texas Advocacy Project. It was fun to dress up and go out like real grown-ups.

 

We met my parents for lunch to reclaim Boogs. We spent the rest of the day at home. It was a cool evening so we built a fire in the back porch fireplace and roasted hot dogs for dinner with roasted marshmallows for dessert.

Daddy also taught Boogs how to do this today:

We decided to break tradition this year and skip the Fall Pumpkin Patch at Sweet Berry Farms. It has gotten so overcrowded these past two years that we decided to try out a different pumpkin patch this year. We went to Barton Hills Farms in Bastrop. It was a great place.

 We all enjoyed trying to make three in a row in the bean bag toss.

We had loads of fun playing tetherball. Boogs got hit in the head a couple of times but kept on playing. We also tried to make the washer on a string land on a hook. Whew, we came close, but did not do it.

Boogs loved the "jumping pillow". He waited in line for it twice. He got pretty high on some of his bounces. There was a local band playing some very "interesting" music. Boogs and Daddy danced while waiting in line for the train.

There was also a little tractor pulled train. The driver went super fast and the ride was extremely bumpy.

Barton Hills Farms has a nice little corn maze. Boogs led the way and we made it through the entire maze very quickly.

We took a break to eat giant dill pickles and sausage wraps before heading to the pumpkin patch. Boogs and Daddy picked our a great pumpkin for carving next weekend.

We had a great weekend and are loving the cool 70 degree temperatures. I hope this cool weather stays for awhile.

This post is linked to:

Frightful Fall Blog Hop

Bento Bloggers & Friends are ready to share their frightful lunches with you again. Well, not all of the lunches are spooky. Some are Fall themed. This is the third hop this week of Frightful Fall  lunches. Be sure to glide through the other hops, too.

I could not make and share just one lunch for this hop. There are simply too many cute ways to turn food into spooky or Fall themed lunches. Make sure you don't miss any of the fun lunches by hopping over to KW Bento at the end of this post.

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

Poor Stellaluna is separated from her mother when an owl attacks. Stellaluna manages to survive her fall by grabbing onto a branch and hanging upside down all night. In the morning, she discovers a nest of baby birds. Stellaluna climbs right in the nest and the mother bird agrees to take care of her. Stellaluna discovers how much she is alike and how different she is from the baby birds in the nest. Boogs and I have read this book many times and he always enjoys the happy ending.

In the ELB lunchbox: upside down boiled egg Stellaluna (made with the CuteZcute Animal Palz Mini Sandwich and Egg Press), almond butter & jelly owl, Chex Mix bird's nest, Stellaluna's favorite food - mango, and salad with a bug on it which Stellaluna thinks is disgusting to eat.

Boo to You! by Lois Ehlert
The mice want to have a harvest party but are afraid the meat eating cat will stop by. They create all sorts of creepy veggie combinations to scare off the cat.

In the ELB lunchbox: ham & cheese cat sandwich with candy eyes, spinach ears, cherry nose, red pepper tongue, and pumpkin seed teeth, grapes with a jack-o-lantern pick, and salad with a mini pepper monster to scare away the cat.

BOO! Boogs said this lunch was not very scary but it was very delicious.

In the ELB lunchbox: Boo Cheez-It Scrabble Junior crackers, marshmallow ghoul, mummy dogs (sausage in crescent rolls), jack-o-lantern Cuties, and salad with a spider pick.

Leaf Trouble by Jonathan Emmett - I know I posted this lunch last week, but it turned out to be such a colorful Fall looking lunch I wanted to share it in the hop, too. In the ELB lunchbox: almond butter & jelly squirrel sandwich trying to catch all of the falling leaves. Leaves made of cheese, pineapple, strawberry, red/yellow/orange peppers, radish, and spinach. Leaf cutouts on Babybel cheese and on a tangerine. Zbar mini acorns.
 
Now that you have seen my Frightful Fall lunches, click on this orange button to travel to KW Bento Diary to see her Addams Family lunch creation.

Check out the other two days of Frightful Fall Hops Click here to start day 1, Click Here to start day 2. I can't wait until Bento Bloggers & Friends get together for another fun themed hop!


Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.