yubo

The boy's yubo lunch boxes arrived last week and I absolutely love them.  I ordered them when I saw a coupon for 25% off your entire purchase.  If you know me, I have a hard time resisting a good sale (or just buying things in general).  Again, why we're on the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University Plan and why I'm suppose to be on a strict cash only system because I lack self-control when it comes to shopping.  Pray for me, seriously!

I had each of the faceplates personalized for the boys.  Bryland wanted the Shark yubo Set but it didn't come in green but since the faceplates are interchangeable I ordered it because it was gray and that's the color I wanted for GRAYdon so the two of them switched.

Bryland's yubo with drink holder

Jackson wanted the Happy Dinos Set and I ordered it just the way it came and it fits him so perfectly, I couldn't be happier.  

Jackson's yubo with drink holder.

Graydon at this point still hasn't expressed what he likes since he's only 21 months old so I ordered him the Green Space Set and again he and Bryland switched so they could have the yubo in the color they wanted.

Graydon's yubo with "matching" drink holder.  I thought it was going to be gray but came in black.

Here are the three lunch boxes.  The handles can be attached anywhere and came in the set.  You could even put them on the "side" but then the faceplates wouldn't have been facing the right way and that would bother me.  :)

Everything but the faceplates are dishwasher safe.

Here is a picture with the matching drink holders.  Once you add the sets in your cart, you can select the matching drink holders if you choose.  Again, since you can place the handle anywhere around the lunch box you can do the same with the drink holders.  

I haven't decided what water bottles I want to save to buy the boys yet. I of course want one that has at least 3 color options and easy to clean.  I'm going to try to steer away from the ones with the tricky drink spouts that you never know if you're doing a good job cleaning them or not.  I don't want my kids to be drinking mold!  You know what I mean?  I can always go back to the Nalgene or Klean Kanteen, since they have so many cap options to choose from.

Here are all three with the drink holders on.  They velcro on.

I packed Bryland and Jackson's lunch the exact same.  I'm still trying to figure out what to pack and what to buy to give them a variety of food that they'll actually eat.  The yubo comes with an awesome ice pack so I could put food in here that needed to stay cold.  I used the two medium sized containers (I bought separately) and two small sized containers.

Costco Dino chicken nuggets, string cheese, ketchup, frozen edamame (thawed by lunch time), olives, chocolate covered pretzel and Trader Joe's wafers.

Graydon is still our picky eater.  You never know what he'll eat and or when he'll eat.  We just had his weight check on Monday and he's in the second percentile.  This is good because he's back on the charts!  We've been giving him Instant Carnation Breakfast in his milk every morning and now we'll do it anytime he has milk now.  He likes soup if we give him a straw so the doctor told us to add butter or any fattening ingredients in.  Therefore, Graydon has a slightly differently lunch, snack, etc. all the time.  I try to pack him things I know he'll eat and some things I hope he'll eat when we're out and about.

Costco Dino chicken nuggets, string cheese, Ritz crackers, Goldfish crackers, apples and M&Ms.

The boys have Friday School so on Fridays I have to pack them a snack.  But since I was on the cleaning crew as well, I packed the lunches pictured above so they could eat before I had to run Bryland to gymnastics!  Fridays are our busiest days and we're all exhausted by nap time.  Below are the boys' snacks packed in a large yubo container that came with the set.

Pizza Goldfish crackers, applesauce, juice and granola bar.

Here is another snack I packed the boys before we headed out to the mall last Saturday to find clothes for family pictures coming up soon.

Goldfish crackers, Ritz crackers, juice and granola bar.

I am loving the yubo lunch boxes. Since each set came with the large containers and two small containers I did order the medium containers as well to give me more options.  I'm so glad I did because   the last two Fridays I've used all of the containers.  The goodbyn are great but I try not to use those since the boys would have two lunch boxes to carry and that's just too much for us so I try to limit that if possible.  Today is the last day of gymnastics and I'm so glad.  Bryland luckily isn't interested in it and thinks it's boring.  He has two buddies in class with him but that's not enough to keep him there so we'll finally get a little break after today.  :)

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of what I packed the boys today but I'll have to do it with my phone. :)  I really want to start making the lunches into themed lunches or characters but I haven't been able to purchase the fun tools to help me do that, so hopefully I will after the holidays.  We'll see.  Have a blessed week.

The Fick Five Goodbyn Reveal!

Well, you've seen a couple of the Goodbyn's that the boys have decorated and now you get to see all five of them.  

Side view with the handles showing.

Bottom view.

All Five of our Goodbyn Lunch Boxes.

Here's Jeremy's lunch box decorated by Bryland and Jackson. 

This is mine and as you can see I have a ring on my finger and a crown.  :)  Yes, I had fun decorating mine.

This is Bryland's lunch box and he's very proud that he's 5 now!

Here's Jackson's again.  

And Graydon's that Bryland decorated.  Did you notice that the boys and Jeremy all have the same "eyes"?

The boys wanted to help me when I was trying to get pictures of the lunch boxes.  Bryland is very excited to use his.

Jackson again and of course he's wearing his favorite colors.

They were walking all over the house with their lunch boxes.  

And Graydon wanted to do it on his own.  We're still in PJs because I had them decorate them after breakfast and their chores.  :)  Then we had school.

So far I am loving the Goodbyn Lunch boxes, however, the easiest way to clean them is run them through the dishwasher.  And I usually run my dishwasher at night so I have nothing to use to prepare lunch for the next day unless I go back to the old fashion ziplock bags.  The other challenge is fitting all 5 of them in the dishwasher with all of our other dishes.  I will have to figure out a better system.

The good news is I ordered the boys' Yubo lunch boxes and they will be arriving tomorrow sometime.  I am one of those crazy people who track orders like crazy.  :)  I plan to use them this Friday when the boys are at Friday School.  The boys always pack a snack when they go and this Friday I have cleaning duties to fulfill so I also need to pack them a lunch while I clean.  It's going to be a crazy day because after cleaning we go straight to Bryland's gymnastics.  Pray for me!

The Original Goodbyn has arrived!!!

On Friday, we received two of the Original Goodbyn Bento Lunch boxes I ordered.  I had to contact Goodbyn to find out where I could still order these from since they'll have their new designs out in 2013.

Goodbyn suggested Raspberry Kids and Fenigo.  I ended up ordering two from Kid's Land since they had the Red Orange , which is Jackson's favorite color.  I also ordered the blue one since Graydon doesn't know what his favorite color is yet.  The other 3 that belongs to Bryland, Jeremy and myself are still on their way from CANADA!!! just arrived on Monday from Fenigo.  I'll post pictures later.

When Jackson woke from his late nap, he wasn't very chipper and you can see by the pictures how whiny he was then how happy he was by the end.  :)

Uh, stop taking pictures of me!

Hmmm...where are the stickers?

There they are.  :)

I get to use ALL of these?

Okay, if you let me open presents when I wake from every nap, I'll be happy.

I ran the lunch boxes through the dishwasher and had Jackson decorate his and Bryland decorated Graydon's since at the time his hadn't arrived.  

Here are the stickers that came with each of the Goodbyn Lunch Boxes.  (Sorry they curled up on the bottom.)

We started putting their names on the water bottles first.  The cap screws on and I decided to have them put their stickers on the side where the "loop" was so their names would be exposed and they could use that part to pull out the drinks.

I put my phone next to it for size comparison.

Bryland putting Graydon's name on the water bottle.

He was so excited to find the perfect letters for his name.

As you can see, we didn't put the stickers on the side of the "loop" here but it's ok.  (I'll fix it later.)

My sweet boy.  His eyes always sparkles.

What a great big brother!!!

Then they decorated the outside of the Goodbyn Lunch Boxes and it was so much fun.  Of course the teacher inside of me went over the "plan" of where to place the eyes, nose, mouth, etc. and then I let them go at it.  I did have to help make sure that there were no air bubbles and they turned out so great!

I love how they got to personalize it.  It was so cute to listen to why they chose each sticker.  Hehehehe, I love my kids.  

The outside of Jackson's work.

The inside with the water bottle showing.

The outside of Graydon's that Bryland worked so hard on.

And the inside.

I was very bummed that we didn't get all 5 of our Goodbyn boxes in time for our Church trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  I packed these two for the older boys.  Doesn't it look great?  

Trader Joe's Sour Cream Popcorn, Target Cheese Balls, Trader Joe's Petite Cocoa Batons (the tiny dessert spot next to water bottle), ice water (to help keep lunches cold), green snap peas, ham sandwich, string cheese and red seedless grapes.

And this box on top is what I packed for Jeremy.  I bought this I believe in the Dollar section at Target a couple years ago.  

Can you see Jackson's impatient hand?

Snap peas, red seedless grapes, ham sandwich and string cheese that he didn't like.

Hope you enjoyed this post!  Let me know how I'm doing so I can become a better blogger and obviously photographer.  I'll post pictures of all 5 of our Goodbyn Lunch Boxes soon and how to mold hard boiled eggs.  :)  Have a blessed week.

Bento Excitement!!!

For awhile now, I've been wanting to make Bento Lunches but being on the Dave Ramsey Plan we have a limited shopping budget.  So, what was a girl to do?  I decided to sell some baby things that we no longer need (since we are done having babies) and things that we didn't need around the house.  This allowed me to order The Original Goodbyn Lunch Boxes for all 5 of us.  I figured once I plan our meals better, buy in bulk and waste less we could save even more money.  

The Original Goodbyn Lunch Boxes with ears.  The boys will each have their own colors.  Jeremy and I will have ones without ears.  I was tempted to get the Raspberry ones with ears though.  

However, I have also started a list of other bento boxes I hope to get in the future with other fun tools to help make our lunches even more fun and enjoyable.  Here are a few that are on my wish list.

Yubo, probably what I'll try to save up next for.  The faceplates can be personalized and are interchangeable.  For drinks, they have these velcro pouches that you can attach to the side of the box.

Goodbyn Bynto are smaller than the original but still come with stickers and the cute ears.  The water bottles are now sold separately.

PlanetBox has two different sizes available (Rover and Launch).  You can also find them at Pottery Barn, however they only have limited options to choose from.  I have read reviews that they leak so all liquids should be in their round containers (dippers and satellite dish).

Laptop Lunch Boxes have many colors available and many options to choose from.  I like that these are sold at Whole Foods so I can easily purchase them when we are able.  However, they currently only have one color available and I would prefer the boys all have their favorite colored boxes (and Jeremy and I too).

Our schedule has been so busy the last several months that I've had no time to craft.  Crafting was "my time" and was and still is a much needed time, however, we are unable to carve time out for this so I figured this would be my new hobby.  A hobby that would allow me to save more by wasting less, making healthier food, make eating fun for my boys, feed my husband (his main love language...yes food...but really Acts of Service) and I'm sure much more.

I'm sure as I begin to make these lunches, it won't look as cute as many of the Bentos I've seen on several amazing blogs...but maybe one day I will be able to do that.  :)  We will see where this takes me since I'm Sew Fickle!  I'll do my best to take pictures of our Goodbyn and what I decide to pack first.  :)

Update (again!)

I'll try to make this short.  Obviously I'm not the greatest blogger since I can't ever keep up!  Now that my husband got me an iPad for our anniversary, maybe I'll be better at it.  To be honest, I have 5 drafts that I need to finish.  The challenging part is taking pictures, uploading them and then figuring out how to make it look all fancy and nice on here.  ;)  Just bare with me while I figure it all out.

Lately, I've been posting pictures on FB recipes I find on blogs I follow or pinterest and recipes I research (mostly cupcakes).  And the response has been great, and one of my friend told me I should have a blog.  Then everyone...hahaha...not really...some people asked what my blog was but I was slightly embarrased to share.  But I'm just going to do it!!!

So my excuse for not staying updated....um, I had another baby?!?!  I'm tired?!?!  I have too much other stuff I want to do!?!?  The list really is endless but there's a few.  Graydon was born on January 28, 2011 and as soon as I had him in my arms I loved him and still adore him.  I wasn't ready to have him be my last baby but with the rough pregnancy, Jeremy says no more.  :(   He's now 9 months old and he's such a good baby.  He loves his brothers and his brothers love him.  That makes this mama happy!!!  Our life is constantly busy but I've learned to be alot more laid back once I had Graydon and really try to do everything with the boys and the things God has planned for our lives.  We are truly blessed.  I can't wait to have time to share all the great things God has taught us the last several years and still teaching us.  It's awesome!!!  Challenging but awesome!!!  Here is the most current picture of our family. 

It's a tad bit challenging to have a family photo of all of us looking but next month my friend Jenn is taking pics of us!!  She's amazing and I'm excited for her to show her mad skills once again.  I'm really hoping she'll capture their personality, which means Jackson will either be throwing a fit, smiling really big (eyes open or shut).  Hahahaha, he has lots of character!  You'll see what I mean.  And then Bryland hopefully will be cooperative.  He likes Jenn so it should be ok and Graydon has done pretty good at his photoshoots but he has started the whole seperation anxiety.  Oh yeah, and there's Jeremy...as HOT as eva!!!  Enjoy the blog and hopefully I can keep it up for you.  :)  Be blessed.

Our 2010 Ornaments

I never understood why so many people had Christmas trees that never matched and why people bought random ornaments all the time. The first year Jeremy and I got married, people even gave us ornaments for our wedding gift and I was like "what kinda gift is this?" Luckily, I saved these and still have it on our tree today. Our first Christmas we had so much fun because we got to go out and buy everything for Christmas. I had no idea how I wanted our house to be decorated, except for it to GLOW! Whatever that means! We went from one store to another on Black Friday and I enjoyed it so much because I LOVE shopping!

Well, once we had Bryland I understood random ornaments. People gifted ornaments to us when we had Bryland and I just kept them off the tree until I had Jackson. I realized that I wanted them to have something special every year. Well, last year we spent more than enough money on ornaments for each of us. Jeremy is a "saver" so he wasn't pleased with the amount I spent, so this year he told me that I couldn't spend as much. I started looking around and didn't like anything I saw and nothing that really matched each of our personality or the year we had....so I decided to make my own.

I started looking around to see what I could make and was quite happy with how much we spent and ended up with. So here is what I did to make our ornaments.

I went to Craft Warehouse and bought a couple things I needed. These glass ornaments were on sale below and had exactly the amount we needed.



I had several of these Sharpie Paint Markers but needed a couple more colors so I used my 50% coupon at Michael's and got a set with colors that I needed to trace on the logos that I wanted. I printed off the symbols I wanted for each of us and simply traced it on. It was so easy because the ornaments were clear. You'll want to be careful using these because they come off very easily. If you mess up, just spray some Windex on it and wipe it off. Color in as much as you need.


Finally, the fun part. I wanted to use Mod Podge but I wasn't sure if that was the best adhesive for the ornaments, so I bought the one pictured below. Pour a good amount inside the ornament and turn the ornament so the adhesive covered the entire inside of it and pour out remainder. Then pour a bunch of Martha Stewart glitter (not pictured) inside and shake until completely covered. I had to use a ton so make sure you have enough. Let it dry overnight.

Then I had to spray and adhesive on the outside of the ornament to seal the Sharpie Paint Marker so it wouldn't scratch off. I can't remember what it's called but I got it at Craft Warehouse. I couldn't spray it because it was extremely dangerous for my pregnancy and even for those who want to get pregnant.

This is how they turned out and we were quite pleased. I'm hoping that when I open up my Christmas decorations next year, they'll still look like this. :)

This is the Superman one and Jeremy traced on the symbol and it looks amazing! I think he had a lot of fun making it.

This is Bryland's because he had a Spiderman party and also dressed up as Spiderman for Halloween. I didn't do a very good job but no one could really tell (but now you can).

This is mine because we are Cougar fans! Jeremy and I met in college and fell madly in love.

This is Jackson's ornament. Since we were doing a suphereo theme for the guys in the house, this is one of the superheros he knows and it matched the pillowcase I made him inside his stocking.

Then I simply wrote the year and our name on the back so we wouldn't forget and I'm sure we'll eventually end up with a plethora of random ornaments from now on. :) Please feel free to contact me if you need help.