back to school, for mom

It's that time of year again.

Back to school.

Excitement is high.

The kids are scrubbing lunch boxes and shoes and backpacks that have been left to gather dust over the summer.

Angeline is making the sewing machine hum. 

{Good grief she out grew last year's dresses in a flash this summer.  I'm prepared for her to pass me up like I'm chained to a tree here in the next 6 months.}

The  new school supplies have been bought and carefully packed in their proper places.

On Friday morning my children will head back into the classroom for 9 months of study.

And I will begin my wild morning marathon of getting breakfast prepared and lunches packed and faces wiped and rooster tails smoothed down and papers signed and homework folders organized by 8:00 am each morning.

Ok. Really, I don't do e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. for my family in the morning. BUT I do need to makes sure everything somehow does happen.

 I would feel ultimately responsible if my child didn't show up at school some morning for no other reason besides "mom didn't have my lunch packed in time".

LUNCHES.

I try all kinds of things to keep myself excited about packing lunches.

I try all kinds of things to keep my children excited about the lunches that I pack.

Some days I even try adding hilarious jokes to distract from the pathetic lunch. It buys me a little favor but it isn't long lasting.

Don't be fooled.

I really struggle with packing lunches.

Either I pack the same thing too often or I totally forget that Son A hates peanut butter but Son B loves peanut butter.

Or I pack things that I love to eat and forget that my kids don't necessarily share my personal preferences.

Or I send something that just doesn't really work. It takes way too long to heat up so they just don't eat it or it ends up creating the mess of the year on the front of their shirt.

Or whatever....you get it, right??

I have some years on my back and I know how this goes.

It only takes about one or two weeks of packing school lunches and all the above scenarios begin to surface.

And then I get in some for silly argument about school lunches with either child A, B, C or D.

They end up sad and crying and I end up feeling unappreciated.

 I eventually repent because visions of my tear stained, hungry child at school with un-salvageable salsa  dripping out of his lunch box along with a small bag of crushed chips haunt me when I am falling asleep at night.

This morning I thought to myself, You know, Shaunda, you really could be more proactive in this whole lunch packing initiative. 

So I began brainstorming of ways that I could prepare in advance for this whole morning rush and lunch packing pressure.

I decided to make these babies.

They are basically home made hot pockets.

I mix up a batch of my french bread dough.

Roll it out and cut it into small squares.

Place some sliced ham. pepperoni and cheese inside.

Bring the corners together and pinch them shut.

Bake.

Freeze. (If you can keep from eating them)

So they're a bit messy and time consuming to assemble, but it is like finding a nugget of gold in the freezer on a hurried school morning. Especially if you were thinking you might have to go out and butcher a chicken in order to have something to put in the lunch boxes.

For me these little hot pockets present a win-win situation.

Never once have my children complained about this particular item.

They are quick and easy for me to pack

They also offer an easy alternative for the boys to pack their own lunches. (My oldest daughter already packs her own lunch)

I want to work towards allowing the boys to pack their own lunches this year. However, I know that means that I need to have lunch items on hand that are not too complicated for them to pull together.

I  am considering doing a baking day twice a month this year in which I will make baked goods and prepackage them for lunches.

Along with the baked goods, hopefully I will have the courage to prepare more of these sandwiches or other similar kinds of baked sandwiches or pizza.

I would love to hear any good ideas that you have for either menu suggestions for packed lunches or methods which have helped you sustain good momentum with packing exciting and nutritious lunches through out the entire school year.

So. Yeah. I am basically yelling "HELP" before desperation even has a chance to strike this year.