I'm not sure I'll ever get used to dropping Emma off at school each morning. I can hardly stand to see her little self disappear through the huge doors of her school as I watch from the carpool drop-off lane. She's okay with me walking her to her class, but sometimes she'd rather just go in by herself. This one has an independent streak.
One thing that takes some of the sting away is that I make her lunch everyday. Most days her lunchbox holds the usual--sandwich, fruit, drink, etc. But it still makes me feel better that I made the time to build into her school day.
Occasionally, I spend a few extra minutes and send her something like this:
Want to make your own octopus hot dogs? Here's how you do it. First, cut your hot dog in half. Then on the cut end of each half, make slits to form the arms. This is the only tricky part, but it's worth it to make sure you have all eight arms. You can bet your kids are going to count them.
Then drop them into a pot of boiling water for about 1 minute. Marvel at the way the little creatures seem to come to life, plumping and curling their arms.
Set them on a paper towel to dry and cool.
This is pretty good already, but adding eyes makes them even better. You'll need a toothpick and some cupcake sprinkles (the long kind) for this step. "Pre-drill" your eye holes with the toothpick. Then, making sure the hot dogs have cooled, insert the sprinkles so that only the tip is visible. (If your hot dogs are too warm, the sprinkles will melt and not look as good.) Placing the eyes is more difficult at 6:30 am, before I've had my coffee, but I'm sure it's a breeze later in the day.
Now they are all set for the lunchbox!
Add a small container of ketchup, some apple and cheese slices, and lunch is served.
Emma said last time she took this lunch, it caught the eye of a couple of teachers, who went running for their cameras. Hilarious. Makes me want to see what else I can come up with.
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