2014 Lunches #52-71

Could it be? It's Tuesday, and I am actually posting. I even posted last Tuesday? I'm BACK IN THE GAME friends! Or I hope so.
The above lunches:

#52-54

Steak salad

Grapes
Sunflower seeds

Dressing
And in the Planetboxes are Biscuits

#55 & 56

Plain Greek Yogurt with a drizzle of honey and some strawberries.
Clementine

Pepperoni
Bell Peppers
Carrots
Pastry shells filled with herb cream cheese

 #57
This was Diva's filed trip lunch. I had this box leftover from a take out place, it's microwave and dishwasher save. But I wouldn't heat anything in it. It was perfect for her "disposable" lunch that she had to bring.
Pizza
Orange slices

Avocado
Sunflower seeds
Pocky
Granola bar

Too bad it was a half day due to snow and she missed her field trip!

#58-60

Salad
Roast chicken

Dressing
Strawberries

Grapefruit
Mini Peppermint Patties

#61-62

LOOOVE the Yumboxes because I can add avocado, apples, or bananas and they won't brown!

Sunbutter Sandwiches

Oranges
Apples
Carrots
Avocado
Mini Pepperoni

Panda Cookies

#63-65

Cheese Ravioli with browned butter and garlic

Asparagus

Blood Oranges
Strawberries
Red Bell Pepper

 #66-68

Meatballs
Cucumber

Red Bell Pepper
Blood Oranges
Strawberries

Dipping Sauce

#69-71 below

Crepes with Sunbutter

Crepes with Lingonberry jelly and cream cheese
Meatballs
Cucumber
Blood Oranges
Strawberries

Most lunches are packed in Planetboxes

and Yumboxes , found HERE.

CUPPOW info found HERE.

I want to invite you all to share your lunches on my Facebook wall, Instagram (see hashtags below), Twitter, and in comments below.
Share your latest lunches- if you have a photo to upload, an Instagram post, a blog post. 

HASHTAGS- for Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Pinterest  #peasblog #TakeitTuesday
Or come and share you favorite lunch box recipe.
Please make sure you link to all recipes and credit sources. I will delete any recipes that have been cut and pasted. Please leave links only.

Also I would love if you used my affiliate links for purchases on these sites. It doesn't cost you extra, doesn't change your price, but it does help me out.

Here are some of my links 

 LINK for Pick Your Plum ( http://tracking.pickyourplum.com/SH58 )

 LINK for YUMBOX (http://www.yumboxlunch.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=11 )

LINK for Zulily ( http://www.zulily.com/invite/kd489)
LINK for Planetbox ( http://planetbox.com/#oid=1017_1 )

Les Petit Merveilles- Review and Giveaway

Nighttime Paris Shadows

Have you every played with shadow puppets as a child? I did as a child, I particularly remember a panda one I made at Chinese school.  After we assembled them we took turns casting shadows on the screen the teacher provided. They were so fun. I think especially for children, seeing something as simple as a shadow cast on a wall or a sheet is quite magical. Even making shadow puppets with your hands is fun for both children and the adults casting the amusing shadows. 

  Les Petit Merveilles - French for small wonders, are beautifully die cut shadow puppets that are sturdy, and the sticks make them easy to hold and maneuver.  Moulin Roty is the 40-year-old French company that makes these charming detailed puppets. When I say detailed, you can see above how each puppet is laser cut with fine detail that lets light pour through to create shadows that also have detail. I tried to capture that in my photos, I hope you can see what I mean, as I am not a photographer. Who knew taking pictures of shadows could be so challenging?

 See how the windows are filled with light? Even the eye and smile on the chimney sweep show up!

Shadow puppets are great for children of all ages, and adults. They spark creativity and imagination during play. Children love to snuggle into bed for a bedtime story, these puppets create soft shadows and are a wonderful addition to story time.  My children and I love to tell stories, and long after they are tucked into bed my girls are whispering and giggling. Sometimes I'm not too happy about that, but at least they are getting along right? They have often told me that they will just make up stories, make up different lands and think about what types of cuisines people would eat at these places. Our Paris Shadows kit expands their creative story telling in so many ways. The puppets are beautifully simple. They very much open the door for play, and do not limit creativity with rules or guidelines. Our set came with 11 puppets which is a lot! The girls have taken turns holding up the buildings, flying the airplane around. Moving the puppets either closer or further away from the light source to make the shadows on the wall bigger or smaller. Huge lady trampling over buildings and walking over the Eiffel tower? Sure why not?

We've really enjoyed this "back-to-basics" toy and are thinking about making a light box stage to use with our puppets. These puppets would be a wonderful gift for any child.

Check out the other sets of Les Petit Merveilles  puppets below, the theatre looks amazing!

Nighttime Shadows Theatre • $40 • Ages 3+
It doesn't really have to be nighttime to play with this fabric hanging that depicts a European theatre stage. The screen comes with 4 shadow puppets and measures 31" x 23.5". Can be hung outside between trees or poles or inside a bedroom or play area.
Nighttime Circus Shadows • $21 • Ages 3+
Lion, elephant and strongman, oh my! These Nighttime Circus Shadow puppets include 11 different figures. Grab some peanuts and popcorn and get ready to put on the greatest show on earth!
Nighttime Paris Shadows • $21 • Ages 3+
Ooh la la, it's Paris at night with a moon, sleepwalker and lovely cityscape. This set of 11 figures is made of black laser cut card stock. Put on your beret and let the tales begin.
Nighttime Dinosaur Shadows • $18.50 • Ages 3+
If you can pronounce them, create intriguing tales with triceratops, parasaurolophus and brachiosaurus among this 10-piece puppet set.
Nighttime Castle Shadows • $18.50 • Ages 3+
Once upon a time, there was a 9-piece puppet set that
children found comforting yet a little scary with a Princess, her father the King and a wicked witch! Turn down the lights, add a lamp and let the happily-ever-after adventure begin!

American toy importer Magicforest distributes these and the entire Moulin Roty line to over 700 toy and gift shops coast to coast. Look for all of these small wonders with a French twist in Spring 2014. You can find them on  Facebook.

I have one set of puppets to giveaway to a lucky reader, make sure you enter below!
If you are in the US, have a US address, and are 18 years of age or older, enter below to win. Read the rules HERE, first.

Disclaimer: I was provided a free sample/s of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product. All pictures are from the companies site, unless noted.

More giveaways on Give Peas A Chance found HERE.

MOBILE FRIENDLY LINK

http://bit.ly/Ux8ZIv

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2014 Lunches 33-51

Oh my, I'm so back logged on lunches and all posts in general. I just am. I was already behind after the New Year, then I was away on a family emergency for a week last month. It has been so hard for me to get back into the swing of things. I do find I get into these ruts, but I don't know. This rut seems to be longer than most. The whole Facebook changes debacle doesn't make it any better either. I do miss interacting with you all on Facebook, but with all the changes less and less people see posts on there. I am not very active on google + either. Where do you all find you interact most with bloggers and readers of your blog? Leave me a comment and let me know!
Also did you know that I have a giveaway up right now? Please check it out, enter, and share. I'd appreciate it! Thanks so much. Here's the link.
Let's look at some lunches-

 #33-35

Chicken
Simple Cabbage Salad
Oranges
Chocolate Covered Pretzels

 #36-38

Sausage

Cheese
Crackers
Kiwi
Carrots

 #39-41

These little boxes are actually snack boxes. The girls have dance after school so I try to give them a snack in the car. Even though it's against the rule to eat in the car. Sigh.

 #42

This was my lunch. 

Salad with leftover pork

Lime wedge (which is what I use on salads)

Kiwi
Avocado

 #43

Meatballs
Mac and Cheese
Broccoli

Strawberries
Peppermint Kisses 

 #44-46

Waffles

Grapefruit
Boiled Egg

Celery

Sunbutter
Chocolate Chips

 #47-49

Make your own Sushi hand rolls.

Sushi Rice

Imitation Crab

Cucumber
Egg

Kiwi

Roe
Seaweed

Here's a close up-

 #50

This Yumbox was packed for a plane trip. Pixie and I took off for my uncles funeral, we were gone for a whole week.

Apples
Sunflouwer seeds

Bananas

Grapes
Goldfish
Peppermint Kisses

#51

Diva's lunch
Soup
Pretzels
Celery
Sunbutter

Most lunches are packed in Planetboxes

You can find Yumboxes HERE.

CUPPOW info found HERE.

I want to invite you all to share your lunches on my Facebook wall, Instagram (see hashtags below), Twitter, and in comments below.
Share your latest lunches- if you have a photo to upload, an Instagram post, a blog post. 

HASHTAGS- for Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/Pinterest  #peasblog #TakeitTuesday
Or come and share you favorite lunch box recipe.
Please make sure you link to all recipes and credit sources. I will delete any recipes that have been cut and pasted. Please leave links only.

Also I would love if you used my affiliate links for purchases on these sites. It doesn't cost you extra, doesn't change your price, but it does help me out.

Here are some of my links 

 LINK for Pick Your Plum ( http://tracking.pickyourplum.com/SH58 )

 LINK for YUMBOX (http://www.yumboxlunch.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=11 )

LINK for Zulily ( http://www.zulily.com/invite/kd489)
LINK for Planetbox ( http://planetbox.com/#oid=1017_1 )

French Onion Soup

Whew!!! It's (finally) just another Manic Monday here on Give Peas a Chance. It's been a while, a month. So what's Manic Monday? It's when I share, re-share, and or revamp some of our family favorites here on GPAC. This week it's French Onion Soup. I still make this pretty much the same, I just don't really use measurements or measuring cups and spoons when cooking. This soup can easily be made gluten-free by leaving out the flour, switching to gluten free soy sauce (or using Braggs or Coconut Amnios), and just reading what's in your other ingredients. You could try to make this dairy free. I've not tried non dairy cheeses though.
Here is the original recipe's link.

EcoJarz- PRIZE PACK GIVEAWAY

I love glass jars, especially mason jars. For drinking, canning, storing items in the pantry, storing items in the freezer. They are wonderful. I love re-purposing jars as much as I can. I use mason jars often for drinking, everything tastes better with glass in my opinion. The people at EcoJarz feel the same way! They recently contacted me to see if I would check out their wonderful products and offered up a giveaway for my lovely readers! Such wonderful products to tell you about!

Here's a little introduction to this great company

We are a young company focused on challenging the concept of throw-away culture. Our first product — the Stainless Steel EcoJarz Drink Top — is designed  to make reuse the new norm. Because our drink tops fit standard canning jars, they also fit hundreds of other bottles and containers that are disposed of everyday.This drink top will fit any standard mouth jar, whether it’s an empty tomato sauce, salsa, or mayonnaise jar. With EcoJarz, the possibilities of turning jars into long-lasting, always-handy, on-the-go drink vessels are almost endless. The idea for EcoJarz came to our friend Kirby, who has been resistant to drinking out of plastic since childhood. As an adult, tired of seeing so many expensive custom glass containers and plastic beverage bottles spring up on the market, Kirby decided it was time to get this waste-saving and human-safe product out there. 

Pretty awesomesauce right? Here are some great products from this smart company
Lids. EcoJarz has both stainless steel and silicone lids that fit any standard mouth jar. You just use one of their stainless steel rings or a mason jar ring to attach these lids on to your favorite "up cycled" jar.  Both of these lids have a generous opening that fits their smoothie straw, which I think is awesome. More on the straw later. The lid is easier to drink out of with the straw (for me), which is fine I prefer to use a straw, I tend to drink more when I do!

The silicone is FDA high grade, with no BPA or chemical leach. It is non reacting to hot or cold liquids. It doesn't have a funny taste. I think this is the better choice for hot drinks because it doesn't tend to get as hot as the stainless steel lid. That being said the stainless steel lid is my favorite. I just like shiny stainless steel. I think it's sleek. I also like that these lids will not rust!
Both lids come in wide and small mouth sizes, and are dishwasher safe. There's also an option to ship these without the packaging which is nice also.
Price point- Lids start at $5.99

My favorite product, and I love the lids! Is these smoothie straws. It sounds silly, but these straws are the perfect width. This is one of the reasons I reach for EcoJarz for smoothies, nice big opening- with straws that fit the bill! Those puny skinny straws don't cut it for a nice thick smoothie, or milkshake! At 9 1/2 inches long they fit those taller jars perfectly! Highly recommended, stainless steel, sturdy, and strong. There's even a straw cleaner. PERFECT!  There is a video on the EcoJarz blog of someone using one of these straws and a hammer to puncture a young coconut! Not a dent or bend in the straw and it worked great. Awesome.

They also carry glass straws, and the more traditional sized straws that are bent/curved. Which is perfect if you have little ones who like to tip a cup while drinking.

Price point: (Stainless steel smoothie straws) 2 for $6.50 

More wonderful products from EcoJarz

Stainless Steel Bands (No more rusty jar bands!)

Glass Jars (If you don't have one you can recycle/reuse)

Straw Cleaner  (You need this, it's awesome. I puffy heart mine)

Long Handled Spoons (Smoothies, Milkshakes, Parfaits... get every last spoonful with these long spoons)

all of these products can be found and purchased on the EcoJarz site.

Where to find EcoJarz

Website

Blog

Twitter- @EcoJarz

Instagram- @EcoJarz

Facebook

Google+

Pinterest

Tumblr

Buy with Bitcoins

**GIVEAWAY**

Enter to win of of THREE EcoJarz prize packs that will contain some of these items!

Tea Infuser and Stainless Straw with cleaner

One silicone small mouth lid and one stainless small mouth lid

One silicone WIDE mouth lid and one stainless WIDE mouth lid

If you are in the US, have a US address, and are 18 years of age or older, enter below to win. Read the rules HERE, first.

Disclaimer: I was provided a free sample/s of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product. All pictures are from the companies site, unless noted.

More giveaways on Give Peas A Chance found HERE.

MOBILE FRIENDLY LINK
http://bit.ly/Ux8ZIv

a Rafflecopter giveaway

HearBuilder Educational Software Collection Review

I have mentioned before how we are huge fans of Super Duper Publications, you can find them online here. My children have had so much fun learning with their products. My nine year old has even taken of the games to school to show her teachers, and they have asked her to bring them back to use in class! She even chose Super Duper's Tongue Ticklin' Twister pencils as Valentine's day gift for her classmates. Needless to say Super Duper Publications makes learning fun! It's what they do, and they are good at it. The HearBuilder collection from Super Duper Publications is no exception. After you've read our experiences with HearBuilder, scroll down for a link so you can check out all the FREE demos on their website, they really are great for kids!

What is HearBuilder?

HearBuilder to my children-
HearBuilder to my each of my children is a fun computer game. That may sound simple, but it needs to be fun. The different levels challenge each of my kids at their level. Ranging from ages 5 to 9, each of them have different levels of learning. HearBuilder helps with that learning. The thing is, to my children this is a game that they all want to play. So, while HearBuilder is a learning program that is effective, challenging, and meets Common Core State Standards, most importantly it's fun for kids. What good is a learning tool if it's not engaging and fun? What good is a learning tool if children aren't asking to use it, or aren't enjoying it? It wouldn't be any good.
HearBuilder to me-

In the world of apps and games, there are so many to choose from. I am so glad to have a game that is fun AND helps my children learn. Carefully designed games that are engaging and age appropriate for each of my children. Perfect for our Heartschooling needs. 

Listening and really understanding is the foundation for all learning. If the foundation skills to listen to instruction are not present, a child simply can not easily learn what they are being taught.
I can choose the level of play that is appropriate for each of my children. Their progress can be monitored and I can even print out reports. Which helps me because I read and process better when I see something on paper and can make little notes on it.

HearBuilder, from the website-
( There's also a link here to a  90-second video introduction to what HearBuilder is and how it works.)

HearBuilder is a step-by-step learning program for PreK to eighth-grade students that provides systematic instruction in basic concepts, following directions, phonological awareness, sequencing, and auditory memory. Four award-winning software titles are available: HearBuilder Following Directions, Phonological Awareness, Sequencing, and Auditory Memory. HearBuilder gives students access to research-based, interactive programs by CD-ROM or online subscription. Students can use the software in the classroom, media center, computer lab, and at home. Each program offers multi-level activities with progress monitoring reports for educators and administrators to track individual student progress and to track usage and progress across grades, subgroups, or schools.

The HearBuilder Collection has both software (CD-ROM) editions and online subscriptions available. Each of the four programs can be purchased separately, in a complete set on CD-ROM, and there's even an option for a very reasonable online subscription price of $59 a year for families who do not need a physical CD

Here is our rundown of the four programs in this amazing collection.

Following Directions with Basic Concepts
From the first day of school, students must be able to follow directions in order to focus on their classroom activities, interact well with other children, and behave properly. HearBuilder Following Directions:
Develop essential listening skills as they learn 40 basic concepts.
Become Master Toy Makers while building Toy Central factories.
Learn to follow five different types of directions: Basic, Sequential, Quantitative/Spatial, Temporal, and Conditional.

My 5 year old is in her first year of public/outside of the home schooling. The transition from learning one on one with mom to a classroom of 24 and one teacher hasn't been easy. Learning to focus on teacher and listen to instruction without being distracted is something we've been working on. HearBuilder Following Directions let us start at a basic level to help with auditory and following directions. Children work on these skills and become Master Toy Makers while building their own Toy Central factories.  Learning in game form, with an end goal helps my five year old listen and follow the instructions. She is willing and eager to play the game (complete the sections) to become a Master Toy Maker. Throughout each of my children's sessions there are "bonus" games. These fun games give the kids a little break while learning. I love this feature!  I can see both my five year old and my seven year old a little more focused when given instruction. My children are listening for key words when given instructions, and completing those instructions. The memory training helps them remember what they have just heard. Making it less frustrating to complete tasks. They aren't masters at it yet, but  I feel there's improvement.

Phonological Awareness: Speech Sound Awareness for Reading
Before children can learn to read, they must be aware of the sounds that letters make in words, phrases, and sentences — or, to put it another way, they must have good phonological (sound) awareness skills. HearBuilder Phonological Awareness:
Practice nine activities to help them hear the sounds in words, syllables, and sentences.
Earn instruments and band members to form the rock band The Phonemix.
Move from basic activities (Sentence Segmentation, Syllable Blending, Syllable Segmentation) to more difficult ones (Rhyming, Phoneme Blending, Phoneme Segmentation/Identification) to the hardest tasks (Phoneme Deletion, Phoneme Addition, and Phoneme Manipulation).

As a pre reader, Pixie has been working on speech sounds. HearBuilders Phonological Awareness has been a great tool for her to work with. It's different than flash cards and paper homework that she brings home. She sees it as a fun break from homework. The sessions aren't long at all but I feel that they are so well programmed that she gets a lot out of them. This program is also great for my advanced reader, Phoneme Deletion, Phoneme Addition, and Phoneme Manipulation activities are challenging and fun.

Auditory Memory: Strategic Memory Training for ListeningNext, children must be able to remember and recall information they have learned. HearBuilder Auditory Memory:Practice memory strategies as they recall numbers, words, specific details, and multiple sentences.Embark on special missions with Recall Agents Kim and Joey to save Memory Town from Dr. Forgetsit.Learn memory strategies for answering WH questions.

HearBuilder Auditory Memory is a favorite, especially with my seven and nine year old. Just tonight, it's what my seven year old picked to work on. It could be because she loves robots and the bonus game is building a robot! But there's more to this program- punching in codes, remembering words, sentences, and stories was fun for each of the children. The comprehension skills building has helped my seven year old a lot. She has recently taken off with reading on her own. She's always read, and loves to do so. But now she's at that age where she's asking to stay up later, getting up earlier just to read. I find that she's able to process and understand what she's been reading more. Even on her homework instructions, she's able to comprehend more and more on her own. My nine year old gets so into the game that she's telling her sister's "be quiet, I'm trying to concentrate" which is good that she's so into the game. The great thing about certain levels on these HearBuilder games is that you can add background noise. This not only helps with focus, but it also helps with learning more gracious around here. My nine year old can learn to tune into the task at hand, even with background noise.

Sequencing: 2 to 6 Step SequencesFinally, students use all the information they learned in the first three HearBuilder programs to work on essential language and literary skills. HearBuilder Sequencing:Practice skills such as reading left to right, understanding details, predicting, and identifying important parts of stories.Go to the Sequencing Fun House, earn tokens to use in the Arcade, and become Sequencing Superstars.Put 120 illustrated scenes in order, starting with basic 2-step sequences and progressing to 6-steps.

For my girls who are readers and advanced readers, this program is quite fun. It helps them glean from what they have read. Important facts and details. What's minor and what's major to remember. The skills learned in this program not only help with homework comprehension, but make for more confident readers also!
Pixie, my youngest, has not done this program because I started her on the very basic level of HearingBuilder so that she could have a foundation to build upon.

Find this wonderful company
Super Duper website
 Facebook
Twitter
Subscribe on Youtube 
 Pinterest board

Purchase HearBuilder HERE.
Remember there are several ways to purchase

1. CD-ROM Collection

2. CD-ROM Individual programs

3. Home editions, which let you track 1-4 students

4. Teacher/Pro editions which let you track from 20 students to a whole school.

5. Online subscriptions are also available for each of the programs

Disclaimer: I was provided a free sample/s of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review in return for the free product. All pictures are from the companies site, unless noted.