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I thought with the beginning of the school year quickly approaching, now would be a good time to re-visit a back-to-school post from days past, originally published October, 2008.

Every morning it is the same old routine around here.� I get up way earlier than I�d really like to, make the excruciating decision between getting my caffeine fix from half a pot of coffee or go the quicker route of grabbing an icy cold Diet Coke from the fridge, and get on with the business of packing lunches for my school-bound children.

Once I read about a mother who organizes her pantry with special bins, each containing a type of food to put in a child�s lunchbox.� I am not that mother.

First, my pantry is much too small for over-sized totes filled only with enough snacky items for a week�s worth of lunches and even if it were � I think I could come up with about a thousand other items (cough, Pepperidge Farm Cookies, cough, cough) to fill my shelves.� Second, I am just not that organized.� Did I mention that I have a small pantry?

Instead, I look in the general area (and I use the term �area� loosely, as sometimes the �areas� of my non-organized pantry blend into one another, making them completely indistinguishable from each other) of the carbohydrate section and decide on a bread with which to make the sandwiches for the day.� White or wheat?� White or wheat?� These are tough decisions.

Then, I rest for a minute and drink my caffeine.

After I am a little more alert, I check the deli drawer for fresh meat and decide whether today will be a turkey and havarti day or a peanut butter and jelly day.� You just never know in my house.� When the sandwiches are made, it is time to check the fruit situation (and no, fruit snacks � even the really, really good ones, don�t count).

This could go one of two ways.� Either a fresh fruit item, like a banana or cut up apple, will make its way to the lunchboxes or something resembling real fruit, like a fruit cup, will be the choice of the day.� I know, it is a highly complex form of decision making that only the inside of my head can determine and is greatly influenced by how quickly that aforementioned caffeine has made its way into my bloodstream.

On to the �extras� part of the lunch building task � and this is even more complex, don�t say I didn�t warn you!

Granola bars, fruit leathers, crackers, popcorn, nuts, pretzels . . . how does one choose?� �I like to close my eyes and grab the first two items that my hand lands on.

I told you it was complex.

After adding a dairy item, like yogurt or a string cheese, the lunches are almost complete. . .

Drinks!

I forgot drinks!� I race down to the refrigerator in the garage, where we keep all the beverages. �I make yet another difficult choice between water, apple juice or the sports drink du jour � in today�s case, Gatorade, which is an excellent choice as long as my sons do not suck their entire mouths into the spout while drinking it thus giving themselves a semi-permanent blue stain around their lips for the remainder of the school day.� This is especially fun when it is picture day.

Add a napkin, a cold pack and zip it up.� Voila!� Lunch is done, and it only took me 10 minutes!� 10 minutes that I could have spent sleeping, but there are no lengths to a mother�s love and the need to pack a nutritious lunch for her offspring, each and every day.

Now, let�s just hope they eat what I packed and do not trade their entire lunch for one Ding Dong.

�

What are your time saving tips for packing lunches for school-aged children?� Do you have a system, or do you just wing it like I do?� I�d love to hear your strategy!� And if you�re the mother with the bins, I don�t even want to hear about it, okay? ��(said with a smile because secretly I�m totally jealous of those bins)

Carrie can be found hanging out at her personal blog Stop Screaming I’m Driving! where she is kept busy wrangling three kids, one goofy Aussie, and her very own firefighter. She can be bribed with lattes and offers to do her laundry. Please send column suggestions to carrieb at seattle mom blogs dot com.

I rather dig Red Robin. It’s a family friendly restaurant with tasty food, pleasant staff and whimsical décor. So when my family and I were offered the opportunity to try out their newest gourmet burger, invented by one of Washington’s own Puyallup resident Emily Potts, I wiped the drool from my mouth and quickly agreed.
Little Emma at the ripe old age of 10 has outdone herself with the Spicy Honey Glazed Bacon Burger.

spicy honey glazed bacon burger!

The before (you know you want to lick the screen)

Let me say that again. Spicy. Honey Glazed. BACON.Burger. It was all you’re probably imagining. The burger was nice and juicy and the mix of sweet and savory was downright heavenly. Initially, I was a bit worried about the spice because if you know me you know that I don’t do spicy. But it’s an ever so slight kick that adds that little bit of punch and doesn’t over power the burger. It’s was mild enough spice (how’s that for an oxymoron) that my children were able to tolerate with no problems.

Oh and don’t even get me started on the bottomless fries. Those for me are like a drug. I don’t think there is any way you can prepare a potato that I wouldn’t enjoy but all dressed in that fantastic Red Robin seasoning salt I’m pretty sure my stomach did a happy dance at that parade of flavors.

And here’s the “can it get any better?” part, Red Robin is donating fifty cents of the proceeds from the sale of each burger to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children®.

And I must give props to my local RR. Y’all have got one heck of a team there. I love that your servers ask my children what they’d like and actually listen to what they’re saying and don’t turn to me when they don’t answer fast enough.

demolished burger

The aftermath. Believe me I wanted to keep eating but that wouldn’t have been pretty.

Red Robin, you done good. I’ll be back for more.

Finally, let me not forget to mention if your child age 6 to 12 or a child you know is a gourmet chef just waiting to be discovered encourage them to submit their recipe online (www.RedRobinKidsCookOff.com) from Aug. 3 to Sept 12.

10 semi-finalists will receive a trip to Colorado for the Championship with an accompanying parent or guardian, a $75 Red Robin gift card, a $100 VISA gift card, and an iPod nano. The grand-prize winner’s gourmet burger will be featured in every participating U.S. Red Robin® restaurant and will also receive a family vacation to Universal Orlando® Resort and Red Robin gift cards for a year (12 $30 gift cards).

Stacey is a twin and a mom of twins and that alone makes her a superhero. She blogs at Because I Must Blog.

Editor’s Note: We received a free Red Robin dinner for two in exchange for this review.

My husband decided that this summer should be known as The Summer of Fun for our little family.  I admit I was a little skeptical when he first told me this.  And then I remembered that I was due to have a baby at the end of August.  So yeah, we must get in all The Summer of Fun that we can before we introduce a newborn baby into our lives and get rid of all fun.  At least for a few months.

We’ve been trying to do a couple of Summer of Fun activities per week.  Thankfully Seattle is full of awesome and fun things to do, so we hadn’t had any problems coming up with activities.

Until last week.

We’d done one activity (had dinner on the beach) but were looking for something to do on the weekend.

Enter the Youth Theatre Northwest.

We were lucky enough to score some tickets (thanks to the director of the theater) to the Saturday night showing of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” performed by local youth from the age of 3 to 18.  I didn’t even know theaters like this existed.

And especially not on Mercer Island.

According to their website:

The Youth Theatre Northwest is a school, theatre, and home for children and families. At Youth Theatre Northwest, children and young adults explore the depths of their creativity and experience the thrill of live performance. Through the magic of theatre, YTN helps young people find their “inner light” of self-confidence, sensitivity, creativity, and leadership.

Sounds like a great program for the kids.  But also for the patrons of the theater.  (Like me!) (And my family!)  (The Summer of Fun continues!)

I decided that this would be the perfect way to introduce our four year old, My Sweet Babboo, to the theater.  I insisted we all dress up and we headed to Mercer Island. (Okay, so my kid wore shorts.  But look, he has a jacket on too.)

We don’t watch a lot of Disney movies at our house, so my son had never heard of “Beauty and the Beast”.  It had been a long time since I’d seen the movie, so I sort of forgot about THE BEAST being a little scary.

Oopsie.

Yeah, the beast scared My Sweet Babboo.  Which is really a compliment to the actor (an excellent actor named Atticus).  His voice was booming.  His singing was awesome.  And his mask was furry and scary.

I think I should have taken the few minute before the show started to warn my son that he might be scared a little.  Instead I took pictures of the stage.

Anyway, once Babboo got past his initial nervousness with the beast we all enjoyed the production.  Who knew such young kids could kick so much butt when it came to the theater?!  (I didn’t.)

The costumes were great.  The set was great.  The acting was great.  The singing was great.  (We especially liked the role of Gaston.)

I found myself looking over at my husband from time to time and, be assured, even he had a smile on his face the entire time.  It truly was the perfect Summer of Fun activity for the whole family.

My only complaint was the theater felt like it was about 20 degrees inside.  I’m 9 months pregnant and even I was freezing.  Oh, and I couldn’t bring my water in with me.  But that one I sort of understand.

“Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” is showing until the 15th, so you’ll need to get your tickets fast.

“Thoroughly Modern Millie” starts it’s fun on August 27th and continues through September 5th.  I would love, love, love to go and see it.  Here’s hoping we can sneak away from the baby by then.

So, if you’re looking for the perfect Summer of Fun activity for your family, drive on over to Mercer Island and watch some awesome and talented kids from the Youth Theatre Northwest put on a mighty fine show.

Just remember to bring a jacket.

Admittedly, I was skeptical, as I always am when I view a book to film story on the big screen, but this gem did not disappoint.  Starring a delightfully adorable Joey King as Ramona and Selena Gomez as her older, boy-crazy sister Beezus (with an amazing supporting cast including John Corbett, Josh Duhamel, Gennifer Goodwin, Sandra Oh and others), Ramona and Beezus takes us on an imaginative journey through the eyes of a very creative little girl as she navigates life’s ups and downs.

Besides the eye candy (Hello!  John Corbett!  Josh Duhamel!), what I loved about this movie is that even though the original story was written back in the day, the modern adaptation hits on some really pertinant socio-economical issues that many families have experienced in the past few years without being heavy handed or gloomy.  Done delicately enough, the movie delivers hope to kids who’ve heard their parents utter things like “the bank is going to take the house” without coming right out and saying that they’re doing so.  Using the imagination and inspiration of one little girl, that would be Ramona, modern families will be entertained, delighted and charmed at how the onscreen dilemma plays out and end up walking out of the theater with a sense of hope.

Ramona and Beezus is nothing but fun, wrapped up in a visually exciting, creative and hilarious movie that will make the youngest and the oldest of us smile and laugh, evidenced by the fact that my 6 year-old giggled all the way through as well as my own mother. 

If wholesome family fun is what you’re looking for, take the kids, take grandma, heck take the neighbors to see Ramona and Beezus this weekend, and just try to sit through the movie without cracking a smile while taking a fun romp down the stories of your own youth.

The Ragnar is “you and 11 of your closest friends running day and night, relay-style, through some of the most scenic terrain North America could muster. Add in live bands, inside jokes and a mild case of sleep deprivation. The result? Some call it a slumber party without sleep, pillows or deodorant. We call it a Ragnar Relay.”

The Northwest Passage course description reads: Skagit, Deception, Fidalgo, Whidbey. Unusual names, killer places to run. This adventure-fest will push you and 11 pals through 187 miles of stunning Washington scenery. Starting in the seaside town of Blaine, your team will head south through farm country and along the coast, ultimately crossing over Deception Pass. The race (and your stamina) wraps up on the southern tip of Whidbey Island. 

So, why am I doing this you may be asking?  Well, I’m on the verge of turning 40.  In fact, my 40th birthday is Saturday and I will be the runner crossing the finish line…. on my 40th birthday.  I saw an ad for this race last year and really wanted to do it but schedules didn’t allow it nor did I have time to put a team together.  But when I thought about what I wanted to do for my 40th, this immediately came to mind.  So, I got my husband, Jenny from Jenny On The Spot and Anthony from The Pursuit of A Life plus L, my running partner, and a few more friends and we will spend approximately 24-28 hours running almost 200 miles.  Yep- that’s my version of a blow out 40th birthday party!

Wish us luck…

-Over at Jenny on the Spot’s review blog, she’s giving away two produce boxes from the terrific CSA, Full Circle Farms. Contest ends 7/22.

-Stacey is giving away two $35 gift cards to Jiffy Lube. Perfect way to get your car road-trip ready! Contest ends 7/26.

-And on my own review blog, I’m giving away a $100 Visa Gift Card and telling you about killing zombies. It keeps me sane. Contest ends 7/31.

Mona blogs over at kirida dot com where she has a dollar and dream and two kids who are spending and squashing them both.

This week, at the constant (but gentle) prodding of my instructor from the parenting class I have been taking, we had our first "family meeting". Apparently having these meetings is one of the single best predictors of happier families (or success with positive discipline? I am forgetting the specific factoid), and one of the main lasting things she hoped we took away from the class.  Her personal account of how family meetings helped her family was REALLY persuasive, so we are giving it a go.  

At the start, she suggests only having everyone give each other compliments, then plan something fun to do together during the coming week. Eventually (once the kids buy into the family meeting concept and associate it as a fun/positive thing), you can start addressing other issues that come up (problems put on an agenda) during the week as well.  Sibling issues, behavior stuff, all that can be addressed, making sure everyone is heard and part of the solution.  As kids get older you can also address meal plans, chores, scheduling for the week, etc. But with kids as little as ours, its mostly about compliments and family time planning right now, ha ha!  And eating delicious treats such as brownies. 

This week, we all easily agreed on our outing — riding the light rail train!  All three girls were excited and so was I!  The light rail is new here in Seattle, and has a stop not too far from us (10 min or so).  I found a really great guide online over at Delicious Baby (here’s part one, and part two) that listed stuff to do with kids at each of the stops, so we chose something and off we went!  

We parked at the Tukwila Station (closest to us and with a big free parking lot) and got off at the Othello Station.  We walked a block or so over to Othello Park, enjoyed snacks and the playground (including a Very Big Slide that I unfortunately didn’t get pictures of) and then went back to the station and hopped aboard the next train back.  The girls LOVED it!  All three were all smiles, and Delia couldn’t sit still until she got her very own seat on the train.  She fell asleep on the way home in our car, but when she woke up she immediately said "train track!".

Here are some pictures of our outing (no pics of me, but I promise I was there too!).  Even the escalators were a hit!  Now that I’ve been able to scope it out, I intend to take the girls myself midweek a lot more.  I want to check out the other stations, and maybe go all the way downtown!  

Last week in a semi-desperate moment (I had been shut in with sick kids for at least 5 days) we got groceries delivered from Amazon Fresh.  LOVE them — I ordered before 10am and they were delivered by 5 the same day!  While this was what saved my sanity in the baby twin days,  its more of a treat now.  I try to get things on sale and shop in bulk and discount places mostly (Safeway, Costco, Grocery Outlet) since our food bill with 5 eaters can get HUUUUUUGE. 

The cold things from Amazon always get packaged in insulated bags or coolers with huge chunks of dry ice.  My husband, Lonnie, cannot help but play with it, every time.  Its obviously not something you want the kids to touch, so he had it at the bottom of our deep sink with just a little water, and impressed upon them the importance of not reaching down to touch the water (Elsie’s and Delia’s arms are too short, anyway, I think).  Here’s some of pictures of the fun.   Elsie is in the pink dress, Delia is on the far side, Emma, standing tall in the middle.

Congratulations to Elizabeth!!  She and her family are the winners of the 4 Cirque du Soleil tickets!!    Elizabeth, just send us an email at info@seattlemomblogs.com to claim your prize!!

We hope you enjoy the show as much as we did!!