A few weeks ago I told you how I have organizational OCD (smile) and keep our household notes in binders in our kitchen. (Read this article here.) I received quite a few emails asking if I would share the breakfast and lunch ideas I have in my binder for my little ones. I thought I'd take this week's works 4 me post to share the lunch list.

Here are my best ideas for my little one's lunches:

Lunch Meat and Cheese Sandwiches

PBJ

PB & Marshmallow

Grilled Cheese

Cheese Quesadillas

Tater Tot Casseroles (mini version)

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

Chicken Nuggets and FF

Mac and Cheese

Hot Pockets (homemade version that works well with the freezer)

Hard Boiled eggs, yogurt, and crackers

English muffin pizzas

Alfredo noodles

Buttered noodles

Spaghettios

Fish sticks

Soup, cheese, and buttered saltines

Grilled peanut butter and banana sandwiches

Fun Kabobs (cheese cubes, fruit cubes, chicken cibes, and veggie cubes)

Buttered noodles or rice with baby corn

Taco Salad

Egg salad on bread or crackers

Cup o noodles (add in extra veggies)

Hot dogs and baked beans

Leftovers

A few weeks ago I told you how I have organizational OCD (smile) and keep our household notes in binders in our kitchen. (Read this article here.) I received quite a few emails asking if I would share the breakfast and lunch ideas I have in my binder for my little ones. I thought I'd take this week's works 4 me post to share the breakfast list. Look for the lunch list next Wednesday.

Here are my best ideas for my little one's breakfasts:

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Blueberry Pancakes

Waffles with Peanut Butter and Jelly

Cereal

Scrambled Eggs and Toast

Hash browns, eggs, american cheese scrambled together (one of their favorites!)

Cheese Omelettes

Muffins (banana, blueberry, chocolate chip... any kind really!)

Amish Baked Oatmeal (recipe here or here)

French Toast Sticks

Breakfast Burritos

English Muffins with peanut butter

Bagels with cream cheese

Peanut Butter Toast with bananas

Twice Baked Potatoes and fruit cups

There is nothing fancy about most of these ideas, but they're quick and easy and my little ones love them. It's what works for us. I'd love to know your best morning ideas for little ones.

This past weekend we celebrated the my little guy's very 1st birthday! I put quite  few hours into planning the special event and wanted to share with you a glimpse into the party. We tried not to go overboard with spending on the supplies or food and we didn't buy him any gifts. Instead, the party was his gift and we tried to make it special for him, as well as, the guests. Overall I can say the party was a success, my little guy is so spoiled rotten, and a big thank you to the many family and friends who attended. We may have gone a little overboard on guests (about 40 people) but I love throwing big get togethers because I want my children to grow up with a love for family and in knowing that they have a wonderful support system of family and friends who care about them. Here are a few glimpses into his special day....

Instead of purchasing a banner I used biscuit cutters to make this one. I love the way it turned out!

The little ones each got a sand bucket with their bame on it (I printed little mickey faces on the tips of the letters of their names.) filled with a mickey sticker and activity book. They used these to load their goodies from the corn box. We also had a pinata (with strings that they pulled instead of hitting it open) and we played a game of "Don't Wake the Giant." (I sat with toys surrounding me and closed my eyes. The little ones had to tiptoe over and take a prize without waking me up. They loved it!)

The adults had cold cuts, chips, sodas, veggies and fruit for the main course. (I took a trip to our local surplus grocery store to purchase most of these items and my bill was less than $30.) The little ones had special "Mickey Meals" that consisted of PBJ circles for making Mickey faces, juice boxes, and cheese crackers.

Here's a closer look at the PBJ circles for making Mickey faces.

And here's a happy guest enjoying her "MIckey Meal."

And of course no birthday party would be complete without a cake, right? We had a small cake for Jonah to "enjoy" and then about 40 Mickey cupcakes for the rest of us.

And that was how our little guy spent his very first birthday!

A few weeks ago I shared with you details about "The Coin Game" and how to play. I explained how my husband and I were going to be playing the coin game during the month of August and not spending any coins. At the end of the month we would total up the coins and decide what we were going to do with them. We did play and we do have a total for you. We were able to collect $23.47 during the month of August's coin game.

There were a few options we thought about with the $23.47. Should we use it to put extra towards our mortgage? Should we put it towards the kid's college funds or our Christmas fund? We could go out to eat with it.Or we could use it towards the decorations for JOnah's first birthday party (I made these myself instead and will share details and pics very soon. ) In the end we decided to use the coins to take our little ones on 2 special trips. We used $4 to take them to the mall for a special treat at Tumble Town on a rainy day. (Jonah is still free until Friday so we didn't have to pay for him.) We used the remaining money to head to Chuck E Cheese for a date night with our kids playing ski-ball, jumping in the ball pit, and winning junk toys with our tickets. But, it was totally worth it to see the look of fun on their faces. (Plus it exhausted them, they went to bed early, and Mommy and Daddy could sneak in a movie night after bedtimes. )

Did you participate in the coin game? What did you do with your money saved?

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while know that I post a "works 4 me" article every Wednesday. I share some tidbit, or tip, or random thoughts about something that works in my home for saving time or money or sanity. I wanted to share with you an extra "works 4 me" this week.

In my kitchen, amidst my cookbooks, I also keep 4 binders. The labels on these binders are "home," "blog," "kids," and "classroom." Inside each the contents vary. My home binder has my budgeting sheet, grocery list, menu for the week, to-do lists, etc. The blog binder has a shout-out calendar, business cards, contacts sheet, and other items. My classroom binder has student information sheets, and DRA levels, and other essentials for when I am "working from home." And finally, my "kid" binder has in it a breakfast ideas list, lunch ideas list, ideas for grumpy kids list, nap routines (for the sitter), potty training tips sheet (for the sitter), time out sheet (for the sitter), emergency contacts page (for sitter), and a list of "can't haves" and "rewards". I keep the "kids" binder mostly for the sitter. But every now and again when I am in a lunch making rut or a breakfast rut it is nice to pull the binder to grab a quick idea for a meal. The grumpy kids list is helpful on a day when I am at my wit's end and I need something to keep the little ones busy with while I check off and item or two from my "to-do" list in my "home" binder. (wink, wink) Perhaps this is a little too much organization for some, but it is what works 4 me.

Would you like to see my list of breakfast ideas or lunch ideas? How about that list of grumpy kid ideas? Leave me a comment and tell me which binder item would be of most help to you.