Toddler Lunches, No Repeats; a 30 day challenge

We are in a rut- a big, fat, super deep rut. In fact, I'm pretty sure if I cook one more box of mac and cheese I might scream. Maybe worse. Benton has about 5 lunches we rotate through on a regular basis and I'm beginning to be concerned about him becoming too picky and not eating enough of all the food groups (namely veggies). In an effort to change it up, I've decided to create a 6 week challenge (Monday through Friday) to have a different lunch everyday for little man. My goal is to post pics weekly of each meal as well as a score based on the ease of preparation, health content, overall appeal, and most importantly, toddler approval. I'd love to have some of my fellow bloggers join me so we can share ideas! In the meantime, whats your favorite "go-to" meal for lunchtime?

Benton's Owie :(

I used to think the worst feeling ever was being gossiped about. Or being stuck at home alone on a Friday night. Wrong and wrong again. I now know that the true WORST feeling ever is seeing your little one hurting, and knowing there is NOTHING you can do to make it feel better.

My mom came to town this week while I had some medical tests run, and on Tuesday we decided to hit up the Legends. We were so excited to take Benton to eat at T-Rex (think Rainforest Cafe, but with dinosaurs) for the first time. You know how restaurants really love to install big fancy, very heavy glass doors? Well it just so happens that T-Rex had such doors. Benton was holding onto the hinge as it was closing and, lo and behold, his ring finger on his right hand was caught. I noticed JUST BEFORE the door closed all the way. I pushed open the door, took one look at his hand, and went into PANIC mode. Literally, I screamed "MOM, WHAT DO I DO?" Yeah, me, the girl who can handle a patient coding without breaking a sweat. Smashed finger when its my own kid and I'm hysterical, as was he. And who could blame him, the  poor thing!

After about 15 minutes, he stopped bawling, and we thought for a few minutes maybe he would be fine. But I decided I would feel better if we took him to Children's Mercy Hospital, just in case it was broken. They took an x-ray and decided his finger is really too tiny to tell, but most likely based on the damage to the finger nail it was. Ugh. My stomach churns EVERY time I think about it, and I keep re-playing the image of him standing there looking at me with his finger caught in the door in my head.

I'm looking forward to receiving the "worst mom of the year" award for this incident. I've already begun preparing my speech:
 "Well you see, I decided that since he's left handed, he really didn't need that finger. And I wanted the door propped so that I could feel a slight breeze while I waited to be seated. And he's just 2, so it's not like he'll remember it when he's older..."
Okay, I know it was just an accident and these things happen. But my heart still hurts thinking about it. Ahhh, the first of (I'm sure many) injuries I'll get to experience while being the mother of a boy.

All fixed up, with all his stickers from the various nurses, whom he wooed with is love for bubbles and fish :)

Arts and Crafts

So lately, I'm been trying to do more arts and crafts projects with Benton. For the most part, he loves them. Especially if they involve stickers or painting.
Here are a few of Benton's recent works of art. I know, future VanGough on my hands :)

(A picture for nana and papa)

"alien costume" we made out of a paper bag. Benton painted most of it, I put on a few finishing touches. (Please ignore that he is in his underwear, ha)



Shhhh, artist at work :)

Another little update

Once again I find myself feeling the need to apologize for my lack of fun, quirky, or unique posts for my blog, time and inspiration have both been my enemy over the last two months. I do promise, however, a blog soon with pics of my kitchen revamp that is *oh so close* to completed! (And looking amazing, I might add) Also, once I'm a little farther in (and hopefully not as stiff as a board) an unbiased review of the "Insanity" workout program will be posted. For today, another quick update on the goings-on in the Jeska household.

My two year old (well 2 and 1 month) is potty trained!!!! *BIG SIGH OF RELIEF* Okay, so we are still using pull-ups because he has occasional accidents but, for the most part, he's been staying dry all day and night over the last several days. The best part? He practically trained himself! Seriously, other than remind him throughout the day to use the potty (and reward him when he did) I have had very little to do with his success. I am SO proud of my BIG BOY! Ahh, little successes like these make being a mom totally worth it.

And speaking of being a mom, there is finally some news on the baby making front. Good? Well...ehhh....depends on how you look at it. Not in the sense that I'm pregnant, but yes in the sense that we are finally on our way to answers. I saw my doctor today who has scheduled Chris and I for several tests over the next few weeks, and referred us to an infertility specialist. Not all these tests seem like they will be very fun, and seeing the diagnoses "infertility" written down on paper was definitely a punch in the gut, but it still feels so good to not just be sitting around playing the waiting game.

Chris is still doing well in Oklahoma, he had his first test in his non-radar module and got a 100%! He showed me what his test was going to be over and all I can say is, wow! There were so many numbers to memorize, I don't see how he did it, but I'm so proud of him that he did! We got to see him this last weekend while we were in Minnesota for a couple days. It was a short (and very busy) visit but of course I'll take what I can get.

Speaking of Minnesota, Benton and I had a great visit. It's always wonderful to be around family and friends. Chris's cousin Erin got married and the wedding was beautiful, she was a stunning bride. I can't believe how fast all our cousins on that side are growing up! The only downside was the 8 hour drive with gas around $3.75 per gallon, yuck! But, overall, worth every penny.

Welp, that's my update for tonight. I'll post more when I know more. Maybe. :)

Jeska family update

Sorry I haven't posted a while, life get's crazy when you are "living" in two states at the same time!

Benton and I (and Isaac!) got to spend 8 days last week in OKC with Chris, and it was by far the most wonderful 8 days I've had in a long time. It was so great to just enjoy being together as a family again, and I LOVED having Chris get home from work every day almost 2 hours earlier than he used to! We spent lots of time at the lake, the library, and feeding the ducks in the neighborhood pond.

Everyone is asking how Chris is doing with his classes and I am so PROUD to say that he's doing GREAT! He just finished his first class with flying colors and only has 2 more "module" (classes) until he gets to come home in August. On every test he scored the class average or better (always an A) and had no problems with the final exam either.
He's very cautiously optomistic, on the day of his final for his first class he heard of a few students in the class ahead of them who were on their last day of the final module that failed the very last final exam and were sent packing. He said these were good students who had done well on all previous exams and, unfortunatly had just enough slip ups on the final to be told they no longer had a job! HOW SCARY! On the other hand, his teachers have told him that they think he will do great and get through OKC training just fine becuase he is such a hard working student. I know he can and will succeed. Like I said, I am just SO PROUD of him!

Benton is doing great too, I think we are going to start potty training round two in a couple weeks...eek! Not so excited about that, but looking forward to having that stage behind us. I LOVE seeing all the new things he's picked up in the last few months, such as coming to me to give me a big hug and a kiss out of the blue (without me even asking!), singing "Deep and Wide" (with the motions!) and saying "EWWW" when he has a dirty diper (can we say "time for potty training?")

As for me, I had a really rough patch in the weeks leading up to and following Easter, but I've been doing a little better since we went to OKC. It helps knowing we are already one month down. I've started casually looking at various adoption websites and blogs. While making that decision will not be anything that happens anytime soon (we are still going to try testing/treatments starting in August before we give up on getting pregnant again) it is already starting to intimidate me to think of all the things (including $20,000+ in costs) that go into that. If any of you know of any good resources send them my way!

Well, thats life for us in a (rather large) nutshell. Still wishing on a star and praying for some miracles!

Benton's Birthday Party

Finally, 2 weeks later, I'm getting some pics up from Benton's birthday!
We went to Branson for the weekend, along with both sets of Benton's grandparents and his aunt Amanda and Uncle Isaac.

 On the train ride wearing his conductors hat

 Party time!

 Almost time for food!

 Cute decorations I ordered from "Parties by Hardie" Etsy shop

 The water bottles said "chugga-chugga" and the napkin rings said "chew-chew" :)

 Mazzios wins some sort of best pizza award from this family!

 The cake was AMAZNG! (It was strawberry and came from Sugar Leaf bakery)

 Loving having everyone sing to him

Finally into opening presents this year!

The "party" was a train ride through southern Missouri into Arkansas (since Benton is LOVING trains these days, as you all know) and then some pizza and cake back at the cabin. He loved every minute of it, as did all of us! But I still can't believe I have a two year old! He's growing up way too fast, I just want to hold onto every moment.

Happy {Belated} Birthday, Benton!

I can't believe I'm the mother of a two year old! It makes me feel so...old! Benton had a WONDERFUL birthday and birthday party weekend, I'll post about that once I get the pictures on here. For now, here's what's been going on with Benton now that he's two:

Benton is ALL boy, through and through. He is definatly a little ornery (he get's that from his grandpas :) ), but mostly he LOVES to be silly. He has this deep belly laugh that melts my heart, it is just so sweet! Benton's favorite food these days is: cereal! I think he'd eat it every meal if I'd let him. The upside is that he's getting to be really good with grown up utensils.
Benton is learning new words almost daily it seems like. Most of them are what I lovingly like to call "Benton-isms," such as "Mimi" for Thomas the train, "Wee" for park/slide, and "Dee" for cookie. I have no clue how he comes up with them (well, I get the wee one) but I'm learning his language and trying to teach him ours. He knows all of his body parts and most of the animals. He really is a smart kid.
Benton's favorite toys are his Thomas trains, but Thomas books, movies, his Thomas tent, etc all come in at a close second. He also loves Buzz Lightyear a lot. My favorite thing is when Benton comes to me and gives me a big hug and kiss, without me even asking. It is the sweetest thing!
Benton is still a little small for his age, but I'm in no hurry for him to get big. Small is just fine with mommy! Most of his teeth are in and he LOVES to brush them with his Cars toothbrush.
Benton is loving getting to hang out with his Uncle "I" (as Benton calls him) while Chris is gone, but his face really lights up every time he hears his daddy on the phone or gets to talk to him on Skype. I can tell he misses him.
I adore every ounce of two year old Benton, and seeing him grow every day is the best part of being a mom.

Valentine's box tutorial

I don't know if you can really even call this post a "tutorial" since it was SO easy. Maybe more like a "step by step" guide? Or is that the same thing? Either way, I just fnished making Benton's valentine box for school and, I must say, I'm pretty sure he's going to have the CUTEST one there.  I was just going to buy one at Target but, have you seen those things? I was not about to pay $7 bucks for a tacky cardboard box plastered with pictures of Spongebob Squarepants, I'm just not. So, I made my own. I didn't make this one too Valentines-y so that after his party I can use it for something else, like cut a hole in the top for a piggy bank or just fill it with keepsakes. I haven't yet, but I'm going to use some of the extra red paint to put a handprint on the bottom and write "Valentines 2011" so that I'll remember what year I made it. Here's how I did it:

What you need:

Cardboard mailbox (available at your local Hobby Lobby for only $2.99)

Acrylic paint (I used silver and dark red)

Paintbrushes (at least 3 small cheapo ones)

Scrapbooking stickers (or any stickers I suppose, but the scrapbooking section has a huge selecton of really cute ones in just about any theme)

Small bottle Mod Podge (Get the one that dries glossy, not matte)

Paint the mailbox and flag with a few coats of acrylic paint, allowing 15 or so minutes to dry between each coat. I put a piece of paper between the flag and mailbox while painting the flag so I wouldn't get any red on the silver.

Next add your stickers. I used more 3-demensional stickers for the letters of Benton's name and the other stickers were in all in a single pack of sticker borders. (Of course, they had to be trains)

Finally, coat with a layer of Mod Podge. I put a little beneath some of the stickers that seemed like they wanted to come up, and made it extra thick around the letters as well...this gives it a nice shiny overcoat as well as cements everything in place. Put a layer on the flag too so that it has the same glossy appearance.

The finished product:

Side and back view

Front and other side view

Lastly, fill with customized Valentines cards and send to school! (Sorry they are a little blurry. I am no photographer and couldn't figure out how to get the front and inside in the same picture without something being blurry)