Lunches January 9th - 13th

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. 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.

The Crow and the Pitcher, A retelling of Aesop's Fable by Eric Blair
We have been reading a few fables lately. Boogs is very interested in the lesson of these stories.  Throughout this book I asked Boogs how he thought the crow would get a drink. He came up with some good ideas and he really liked how the crow solved this problem. In the lunchbox: Pb&j crow dropping cheese stick pebbles into a salami pitcher to raise the water level, pretzel ground, mango, and broccoli. I added a few mini rice cakes to this lunch. (His lunchbox came home completely empty and Boogs told me he was STARVING.)

Snakes Slither and Hiss - DK Readers
When I went to check on Boogs this morning, he was in his room playing "snakes". He had taken several blankets and piled them on top of each other for a nest of leaves because he was a pit viper. I love his imagination. In the lunchbox: Box full of snakes! Spinach tortilla and hummus snake, salami snake, cheese stick snake, carrot snakes, pretzel snakes, cucumber snake, spinach tortilla strip snake, Adam and Eve apple, and yogurt. I also put a cereal bar in his lunchbox just in case this is not enough food today. (He ate everything except the cucumber and a couple of pretzels.)

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman
A couple of months ago, we listened to this story and others by Neil Gaiman on a cd in our car. Boogs loves his stories but some of Gaiman's stories can be a bit creepy.  In the lunchbox: Salami dad with goldfish & cheese eyes behind a homemade oat bread newspaper, carrots, goldfish crackers, grapes, and yogurt. (His lunch came home empty except for two carrot sticks.)

Just Five More Minutes! by Marcy Brown and Dennis Haley
This is a cute story about a boy who finds a millions things to do to keep from going to bed. It is a "we both read" book.  Each two page spread has one page with longer text for the parent to read and the other page has one sentence for the child to read. We enjoy reading these types of books together. In the lunchbox: pb&j rocket sandwich, Babybel cheese clock, blueberries, juice, yogurt, green beans and carrots. (Only a couple of green beans left from this lunch.)

Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow by Robert D. San Souci
In the lunchbox: granola bar Robin Hood in a spinach tortilla hat with fruit leather feather, ham quiver and bow, cheese arrows, fruit target, carrot arrows, and spinach.

  

It has been raining and cold all day

Today's rainy weather makes me crave more days like this past Saturday. We had such gorgeous weather this weekend, that we spent the day at the park. GP and GM - wish we had Saturday's weather when you were visiting. I want the sunshine back even though I know we desperately need the rain. Here are a few pics from the park:

Boogs and I played follow the leader.

Boogs climbed the little rock climbing wall.

He made it up and over.

Daddy climbed the big rock climbing wall.

He made it up and over.

The chase was on!

Daddy was the big, bad shark capturing the little fish.

After all that running, we decided to rest by building a few rock towers.

Lunches Jan. 2nd - 6th

Boogs' lunches are based on the story we read at bedtime the previous evening. Boogs and I go to the library every Thursday to pick out new books. It is a fun challenge for me to figure out how to make Boogs' lunches match the stories we choose. To see past weeks of lunches, click on the label at the end of this post.

Doggone Dogs! by Karen Beaumont
This is a silly story about ten dogs who race out of the house each morning and cause all sorts of trouble. In the lunchbox: pb&j dog sandwich, the number 10 in fruit leather is for the ten unruly dogs, orange sun, crackers, salad, yogurt, and Tootsie Roll dog poop for the mess the dogs made. Boogs LOVED the Tootsie Roll dog poop - it must be a boy thing.

Scooby-Doo! Snow Monster Mystery

We got a set of these Scooby-Doo Sight Word mysteries from Boogs' kindergarten Scholastic book order. In the lunchbox - Scooby-Doo ham&cheese sandwich, extra ham, raisins, pretzels, Babybel cheese that had "Scooby Snack" written on it (I think the words are on the opposite side of the cheese), kiwi, and broccoli. Boogs thought the Scooby sandwich was "awesome".

Big Pig and Little Pig/Cerdo y Cerdito by David McPhail
At the end of this book there are instructions for making a pig sandwich with bread and jam. Boogs insisted that we follow the directions exactly for his Big Pig sandwich. In the lunchbox: bread and jelly Big Pig, boiled egg Little Pig with salami nose, extra pig nostrils (raisins), Chex Mix, yogurt, and a banana. Also at the end of the book was a picture of a boy holding up a sign that said, "Me gustan las manzanas." Boogs asked me to write a message about blueberries on his banana. Boogs' banana says, "Me gustan los arandanos." The message on the banana will darken between the time I made it and Boogs' lunchtime.

The Perfect Spot by Robert J. Blake
This story is about a father and son who search for the perfect spot to spend the day. The father wants a spot to paint and the son wants a spot to collect insects, salamanders, and frogs. While trying to catch a frog, the son falls in the water. His father surprises him by joining him in the water where they play together. In the lunchbox: father and son pb&j sandwiches under a shredded cheese stick waterfall in a blueberry river, pieced together salamander cereal bar, and a salad with cucumber butterflies.

Thump, Quack, Moo A Whacky Adventure by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
We love this book series! You really have to use your imagination to see the connection between the story and this lunch. Boogs picked the story and his lunch items all on his own, I just had to figure out how to make them fit with the story. In the lunchbox: Spinach tortellini with pesto sauce "corn field", homemade chicken nugget "boards" for ducks ticket booth, apple "hot air balloon", marshmallow duck. For the duck, I melted two marshmallows in the microwave for 10 seconds and stuck them in the cookie cutter , put on a candy eye and used a food writer to color his beak. That should be a nice mess for him to deal with at lunch. He already told me he can't wait to eat it. I am going to have to pack a few wipes in his lunchbox.

  

Magnetic Board

About a month ago, I found this post about using an oil pan as a magnetic board on Pinterest. I finally got around to purchasing one yesterday at Walmart for $10. I knew it would be perfect for using Boogs' magnetic sight words that he got for Christmas. When he opened them on Christmas day, he was less than thrilled. He said, "What! You got me sight words for a Christmas present?" He loves to be read to, but is still a bit of a reluctant reader.

When he came home from school yesterday, he immediately noticed the magnetic board. He said, "Look someone left me a message!" He was so excited to read it. I changed the words after dinner so he would have something new to read this morning. And then tonight, we spent about 15 minutes building various sentences with the words.

When we were reading the 3rd
sentence, there was an "s" after
the word "want". It must have
gotten moved before I took this
picture.

The board is a big as Boogs.

He is now having a good time with his sight word Christmas present...all it took was a jumbo magnetic board to make it fun. His favorite sentence tonight was "who put it on the cat". After Boogs read it, he looked at the other magnetic words and found the word "small" to place before the word "cat" in our sentence. Then he looked at me and asked, "What is IT? Who put what on the cat? I have to know!" This led him into some story telling to let me know who, what, where, when, and how IT happened to the cat. So much fun! I am definitely going to go back to Terra Toys and get the other big-sized magnetic word kits. A friend of mine told me that she has magnetic tape that works in her label maker. I have a label maker in one of my old teacher boxes. I will have to locate it and see if I can get magnetic tape for it.

Quiet House

After GP and GM left, the house felt too quiet. Daddy and Boogs worked on their Do-It-Yourself Woodworking Kit and built an airplane.

Boogs and I went to Zilker Park to meet up with one of my oldest friends. C and I met on the first day of kindergarten and have remained friends ever since then. Her parents still live in the area, so we get to visit when she comes back to her hometown. Her oldest daughter is just a few months older than Boogs. It is so nice that they get along so well.

On Friday, Boogs and I invited his cousin over. Little J ended up spending the night. They had a great time together. The weather was perfect for a day at the park.

On New Year's Eve, my mom picked up both boys and took them home with her. My husband and I spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home and got to sleep in on New Year's Day.