Bentology Bento Box Review

George is really into having a lunch box and he wants to start eating at school with the other kids. He goes to preschool 2 half days a week. I pick him up before lunch, so he usually eats lunch in the car. The kid is starving when I pick him up. I learned very quickly he needs a full lunch to eat on the way home. Otherwise he was asking for 100 snacks. A pouch just wasn't cutting it. I think he burns a lot of energy at school and even though he has a snack there is isn't enough. 

When Bentology gave us the opportunity to review one of their bento boxes I jumped at the chance! George likes to have different things for lunch, so little containers are perfect! Also when he starts going to a full day of preschool this will be a great way to pack his lunch for him.

The bento box comes in a cloth container with emoji's. 

There are different designs you can pick from here. 

I like the plastic containers. These can easily be put in the dishwasher or you can wash them out quickly. The box holds 4 containers. It comes with 5 containers. One of the containers is very small, so it's great for putting a gummy snack or dip for veggies. On the side you can put some silverware, yogurt packet, or a string cheese. 

Here is what I was able to all fit in the box. 

1 mini cucumber - I could have easily added another one or added some baby carrots.

1/2 cup of yogurt 

1 cup of pasta - he only ate about half of this with all the other food.

1 cutie

small amount of homemade gummy snacks! We recently made these with kombucha and vital proteins. I don't care if G eats a ton of these because there is no artificial anything or sugar in them. 

He LOVED this set up! He had me show him a couple times how to open the box. It can be a little tricky for a 3 year old to open, but he got it after I showed him about 3 times. 

I really like that there are separate containers. I was able to put the lid back on the pasta and put it in the fridge for later. The other stuff he ate all of it right away. I easily washed the containers when I washed my pots & pans after making dinner. 

If you would like to win your very own Bentology Bento Box I am giving one away on my Instagram account! Go check out the giveaway for your change to win! 

If you would like to order your’s you can do so here: bentology.com and use code: ihelp25 for a 25% off discount between 1/15/18-1/22/18

*I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

1st Day of Preschool!

Our little man started preschool this week! He helped decorate the chalkboard. He was so excited to go to school. The whole way to school he kept asking where is my school? 

I am glad we put him in the summer session for both of us to get use to going to school. He was excited to go play with his new friends. I wasn't sad to leave him. He is going to really love school! They learn so much. 

Parent orientation really helped ease my concern with leaving him if he was crying. There were a few times he would cry during the summer session that he didn't want me to leave him. I felt bad handing him to a teacher. During orientation they reminded us they deal with this all the time and we don't need to feel bad leaving them crying. It was a good reminder. They are use to screaming kids. My kid screaming isn't going to ruin their day. Hopefully we won't have any screaming drop offs. When we got close to the school G said momma don't leave me ok? I said G you know I always come to pick you up. You will stay at school without mommy. You will have lots of fun playing and painting. He said ok and was totally fine at drop off. He did love getting his special name tag, putting his name on the board that he had arrive and seeing his cubby. 

I didn't have any days where I was concerned about leaving him at school. From the moment I toured the place I just felt this was the right fit, I have liked all the teachers I have met and my mommy gut said this place is good. Maybe that helped him too. If I felt hesitant about things I think it would have made G more nervous too. 

We are ready for a fun and exciting year at preschool!!!! 

Monday Thrive June 26

1) Holy bazooka we had one of the hottest weeks ever last week! It was AWFUL! We had days of high 90's to 100. We have a portable AC unit that we normally set up in our family room. Honestly we usually need this in August-October for a day here and there. We rarely run the thing. Well this year it was pulled out of storage in June! We decided to set it up in our bedroom this year. I am so glad we did! I would usually turn it on around nap time and leave it on until morning. It has kept our room cool. We have been able to sleep through this awful weather.

People in my area of Nor Cal don't handle the heat. We act like we are dying! People in the south roll their eyes at us whining. We don't have humidity or I might have packed my bags for Alaska. lol I spent most evenings in my room soaking in the AC. On a few occasions during this heat wave I brought different toys into our room to play with G. We also watched some movies from the Ipad. We also spent a lot of time in the pool. I have a nice tan which I am not complaining about. 

G had a great time dressing up his little guy in a knight, fireman, police man and other outfits. I was laughing to myself thinking G you probably won't ever understand the paper dolls I use to have. You had to fold the little tabs behind the doll with all the different outfits. Now they have magnetic ones where the outfits stay put. 

Magnetic Dress Up

2) We bought this little car for Kaleb when he was about 9 months old about 4 years ago. He was starting to walk around furniture, so we thought he would like to push and ride on a car. This is the most used toy we have bought. Any kid that comes over has to drive it. Well Kaleb and G decided to drive it together the other day. Crazy kids! We bought it at Walmart for about $20. We've kept it as an inside toy. I would highly recommend this toy for anyone. It was well worth the $20 we spent! 

Target Version & Amazon Version

3) Did you see my skin care routine post that I posted last week? I shared the products I use for morning and evening skin care routine. I just ran out of my moisturizers a couple days after my post. I had them over 8 months! You don't have to switch over to everything all at one time. You can slowly add one product at a time as you run out of things. You can make the foaming face wash and buy the day cream to start. Your body and health deserve the very best! Do research to make sure you are using the safest things for your skin! Beauty products effect our health! 

4) Oh I found a Paleo pancake recipe that we all love!!! Thank you Pinterest!!! A couple weeks ago I decided I was going to try a new recipe every day until I found one that everyone would eat. I only had to try 2 recipes before I found one we all loved. Target had our favorite paleo pancake mix on sale, so I grabbed 2 of them to take to ND. I love this mix because all you need is water. This will work great for my sisters and parents house. I also thought about mixing all the dry ingredients in a baggy to take with us to ND of the recipe above. 

I have all the ingredients in the recipe on hand all the time. Arrowroot powder is a staple in my house along with coconut flour. These are not staples in peoples homes who do not eat paleo. lol I will grab a couple more packages of the premixed pancake mix for when we go on vacation later this year. Easy to throw in a suitcase to have for breakfast! We usually stay in a condo with a full kitchen. I end up cooking breakfast the majority of the time. 

5) I have been enjoying my 3 hours a day while G spent the past 2 weeks in school. It's amazing how much you can get accomplished in 3 hours alone. 

• I have been going to hot yoga. I was concerned I wouldn't like it because the room is too hot. I actually LOVE it!!! When you come into the room it is a normal temperature. They heat the room slowly as you work out. I am planning a blog post on the different type of yoga classes I have tried. I have been so much more relaxed since I started doing yoga.

• Painted all the trim in our hallway and caulk the trim. It looks sooooo much better! I need to work on the kitchen next. I am hoping to have this all completed before we leave for ND. 

• I can run all my errands, grocery shop, doctor appointments, exercise all within 3 hours. It's amazing to me what I all get done. lol

I do feel every day preschool is too much for G. I am glad this fall he will go 2 days a week for 3 hours. I think that will be the perfect amount for him at this age. Mornings are also not his thing. The afternoon class will be perfect for him too. He doesn't like to wake up and go in the AM.

He is always so happy when I pick him up from school. He has been learning so much too! The other day Art went with us to drop him off. He was so proud to take his dad to his class. I will try to work it out next year for us to go to ND maybe the middle of June through July, so he can take 1 summer session of preschool late in July. We are all learning what works best with a growing little boy! 

Hope you have a fabulous week!

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own. The post Monday Thrive appeared first on Because Chocolate Can't Get You Pregnant.  

Monday Thrive June 19

Happy Monday! 

1) I hope all you father's had a special Father's Day yesterday! I am so thankful for my amazing dad! The older I get the more I realize just what amazing parents I had growing up! I was closest to my mom growing up. I remember a change in my relationship with my dad  when I was about 18. 

I had left Michigan where we lived to go to college in California. I went to college about 30 minutes from where I live now. I remember the second day I was at school l became horribly homesick. I had asked to come home. I didn't want to be there and so far away. I cried so much in those 2 weeks. I am not sure if i had ever cried that much in my life. lol My parents said I had to finish the semester. At the time it sounded like the end of the world to a 17 year old. I had no friends, was in a strange place, and I was almost 2,000 miles away. Back then I didn't realize I needed to stay because 7 years later I would end up moving right back there! I didn't know this until later, but my dad told my mom to let me come home. My mom was the strict one this round and said NO. If I had known my dad was the softy in this situation I would have talked to him more about coming home. lol 

My dad told me after I came home at some point that I was the first person he missed so bad and how hard it was on him when I went away to college. This past summer he told me that story again. I dread the day G goes away to college. 

I have spent a lot of time with my mom over the past few years. She has come to CA to take care of me when I've been sick and when I had G. She stayed with us for a few months when I went back to work, so she could take care of G. Last summer I stayed in ND to help take care of my dad after he had open heart surgery. I really cherished that time that I was able to spend with him and my family. We spent a lot of time watching the Olympics. I told him I will be coming back every 4 years during the summer Olympics, so we can spend some time watching it together. He is less than thrilled to spend time watching the Olympics. lol He said he never would have watched it if he hadn't been recovering. 


2) G started preschool last week. The first day he barely had time to even tell me good bye. When I picked him up he ran to give me a big hug. I asked him did you like school? He enthusiastically said YES! I asked would you like to come back tomorrow? Again I got a loud YES! He really loved it! He had to tell both sets of grandparents all about his day. He played with trucks, had cheese sticks and crackers for snacks and there were lots of dinosaurs. He was a little clingier the rest of the day. I asked him did you miss momma? He said yes, then gave me a tight hug. I told him it was ok to miss me, but I would always come to pick him up. 

They do lots of crafts, play with toys, play outside, have snacks and read stories. When I picked him up I loved how calm everything was in the room. It is a room with about 8-10 two year olds. Everyone is playing or reading stories on the bean bag chairs. The teachers are really fabulous! The staff is all so friendly too. I am so happy that we found such a great place. 

3) I recently bought these earrings from Mia & Mac. I follow her on Instagram. She posted these adorable gold hammered earrings on her IG story the other day. She was selling a few different designs of earrings for different price points. I loved the plain hammer gold hoops. They are about the size of a nickle. The perfect size! They are lightweight, dainty and simple. Just the perfect touch for all my gold jewelry. I am always looking for earrings to go with different necklaces. I need a plainer type of earring because sometimes I just wear my G Silver Wren tag necklace and other times I will wear a big statement necklace. I have been tending to lean more to more simple pieces since I stay home with G. 

4) Heather from My Life Well Loved started a series called Holy Grit. She talked about it on her IG stories. I was like meh I don't know that I really want to do a 30 day Bible series. I decided to sign up for the emails on it. I need some Holy Grit in my life. I am soooo glad I signed up for this series. It is so amazing! Each day I take the time to read the emails and read the verses. It has been such a blessing to me and helped me so much. There is still time for you to join in. I highly recommend you join in if you need some encouragement, positive influence or just are looking for a new type of devotional to do. 


5) We are planning some water activities this summer. I decided to buy G a puddle jumper. I keep seeing kids wearing them on social media. I am hoping he likes this and it works well for us. We have a small pool in our backyard. He is cautious in it. He would rather just stand in there with no one else and splash around just a little bit. What type of flotation devices do you use for your kids? 

Monday Thrive June 12

Happy Monday! Today G start's his first day of preschool! We are so excited! I can't wait to hear how much he loves his first day. I am sure I will pick up a crabby kid who has played like crazy and started learning new stuff already. I am planning to go to hot yoga today.

1) We have been on the hunt the past week to find a recipe for paleo pancakes. I buy the Birch Blender's Paleo Pancake Mix from Sprout's. We are going through a package a week. G has been on a pancake kick lately. I decided I needed to find a mix that would be a little cheaper to make. I don't have an issue buying the package for $5-6 when it lasts a month, but for each week I find it a little expensive. I am going through all the recipes I have pinned on Pinterest to try to find that we like just as much. When I find a winner I will let you know. Right now I haven't found one I like. G has been eating them with no problem. He is awfully picky these days, so I am glad he likes all my recipe testing. If anyone has a paleo pancake recipe they love let me know!

2) At the end of last summer I decided I was going to give up caffeine. I had read how it helped your adrenal glands if you don't have caffeine. I love coffee!!! I love the way it smells! I love the way it tastes with and without creamer. I drank half caff for a few months. Then I gave up caffeine completely earlier this year. I went from February through June with no caffeine or I would have a cup of green tea. The other day I decided to drink half caff again. I decided that was it. I am not giving up caffeine anymore. I need it in my life. Even a little bit of it. It just helps my mood. I am going to have 1-2 cups of half caff coffee each day. I REALLY love it with coconut milk.

I LOVE Aroy-D coconut milk. This is the thickest creamest coconut milk ever! I have tried a lot of different coconut milk over the past year. If you add this to coffee it is AMAZING! I have been known to bring my own coconut milk in a little container when I get a black cup of coffee.

3) I have started a new routine for G. We have to leave the house early to get him to preschool each morning. That means I need to have him up, fed, both of us ready and out the door by 7:50/8am. I have decided I like getting up a little earlier in the morning. I get more done. I don't feel like the day is as long if I get up before 7am. I know that is weird, but I just feel like the day goes by faster when it starts earlier. Maybe it's all those years of getting up early for work. Anyhow I set an alarm in my phone, so at a certain time every night the alarm goes off to give him a bath. He then gets 30-45 minutes after bath time to play or watch 1 show. Then we go to bed. I also limit the amount of time he sleeps during his nap. This seems to be working much better for us. The past year I haven't been strict with a schedule as I was when I worked.

4) We love potato salad around here. Art I think would eat it every day. Sometimes I am like I don't have time to make that stuff. Boiling potatoes, boiling eggs, peeling everything, waiting for it all to cool, mixing it up, letting it sit in the fridge. Ugh just typing that out sounds exhausting. Well Instant Pot to the rescue here folks! Put the metal rack on the bottom of your IP. Place your eggs on top. I usually do about 3-4 eggs. I use 2 eggs for the potato salad and have 2 deviled eggs for us. G LOVES deviled eggs. Then I peel my potatoes, cut them in chunks and place them in the IP. I then put the IP on high pressure for 5 minutes. I let it do it's thing. Once the timer goes off that it is done I release the pressure. While the pressure is releasing I get an ice bath ready for the eggs. I use my rubber gloves to pull out the eggs. I put the eggs in the ice bath while I use a spoon to remove the potatoes from the IP. I let the potatoes cool in the fridge. I slice up the eggs and add them to the potatoes. Then I mix in my mayo and other seasonings once the potatoes and egg have cooled. This really works great. In about 1 hour you can have potato salad. It's better if you make this around lunch time, so it can all cool for dinner. Or even the night before works best if you want it for lunch. To me it's just much easier and faster.

5) Last week Art and I went thrift shopping. I ended up really only looking in the kids section of clothing. G has had a growth spurt and a lot of things won't fit him for the fall. He has worn the same shorts for 2 seasons. The kid is so skinny he has been able to do that. I like to grab nice stuff when I find it at the thrift store. I bought all the items below for $30. I spent about $1.50-$2 per item. The one item I spent more on was a pair of Burberry jeans. They were in excellent condition for $11. I did check on Ebay what I could sell them for if I decided not to keep them for G. Everything I bought was Gap, Gymboree, Cherokee, Shaun White, Children's Place, Guess and Burberry. The black jeans I am not sure if they were even worn. They were in great condition. 

I would really like to buy the majority of his clothes from thrift stores going forward. It saves the environment and it saves a lot of money too. At this age he doesn't care where his clothes come from. I like him to wear nice clothes, but I don't ever spend a lot of money on clothes for him. I will spend more on a special outfit for Christmas, but it has to be a functional outfit he can wear more than just one time. 

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own. The post Monday Thrive appeared first on Because Chocolate Can't Get You Pregnant. 

Monday Thrive June 5

Happy Monday! 

1) This is our last week before preschool starts and vacations begin. G is enrolled in preschool for 2 days a week this fall. They suggested to enroll him in a session of summer school, so he would get use to things. Summer school is every day for 3 hours a day. I was hesitant to enroll him at first. Every day is a lot to me, but it is only for 4 weeks. Then we will be going to my parents for a month. When we come home we will have about a month before preschool starts up 2 days a week. 

I have plans to paint the trim in our house and go to hot yoga while he is in school every day. I am going to feel lost, so I felt I needed to find some activities to keep me busy. We will have our afternoons free to go to the zoo or other activities. I think we are both going to like the little change for a month.

2) Cinemark is offering $1 movies or $5 for 10 movies in select theaters near you. Click on the link to see if any movies are playing near you. G loves The Secret Life of Pets. They are playing that a couple times at different theaters new us this summer. I am planning to take him to a couple of these movies. I figure if he sits for 30 minutes for $2 it's no big deal. It will be something fun for us to do together and with friends. I am not sure how he will like a dark theater. 

3) Later this week I have a gift guide for Father's Day posts. My sister and I usually go in on a gift for our dad together. If you ask my mom what to get my dad she will say get him black jeans. If you ask my dad he will say DO NOT BUY ME BLACK JEANS I HAVE 100 PAIRS. It's a running joke between Lacey and I now. Hey it's dad's birthday do you want to buy the jeans or should I? He does have a ton of them! I need to figure out what to get him and have it sent, so it doesn't arrive 2 weeks after Father's Day. He is an easy person to buy for since he likes almost anything other than black jeans. lol

4) I recently read an article about a mother who started parenting like a Danish for a week. I really loved the article. I try to parent partially like this. I don't hover around G. I have always felt it was important that he should play independently. I also will let him run around the house without me following him around. I keep doors shut to rooms I feel he could get hurt or I put things up. I have noticed lately that he is playing better alone and his imagination is really growing. He was playing with his pets the other day with different voices pretending they were putting out fires. He is REALLY into fire trucks, fire poles, putting out fires etc. He still loves garbage trucks, but firemen/trucks are right up there with them now. What do you think of this article? 

5) Tomer Kosher recently sent me a variety pack of their beef jerky. I love jerky! The problem now that I am Paleo is trying to find jerky with ingredients that I don't cringe over or make me sick. They sent me the original, pepper, Cajun, hot and jalapeno. When I see hot jerky that is what I go for first. I love spicy things! My palette for spicy things is high I guess because this didn't seem hot to me at all. I have tried the original and Cajun. Art and I both really liked the Cajun. It has a kick to it! 

I really appreciate Tomer Kosher sending me the jerky. We have only ate 3 of them. I am trying to enjoy them as we eat them. lol I will purchase these in the future. These are something I would much rather my family eat then others on the market loaded with questionable ingredients. G loves jerky! Tomer Kosher mini beef sticks would be awesome because G would love them. =) 


Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own. The post Monday Thrive appeared first on Because Chocolate Can't Get You Pregnant.  

Menu Monday

Today classes start....I spend Saturday & Sunday diving right in. I figured I wouldn't be able to keep up with the blog on a daily basis, but the weekend confirmed it. It will be a miracle if fractions don't kill me between now & May. There have been tears shed & books barely surviving a back yard Bon fire.

Our menu is going to consist of what is easy to cook while trying to still be healthy. I can see lots of salad, sandwiches & soups on our future menu. Art will be doing a lot of cooking too. My time in the kitchen is going to be limited.

Last week I made potato & ham soup and then we ate with the inlaws one night. I still have some leftover stuff to make this week.

Turkey & apple sliders
Ahi tuna steaks
Leftover CPK sausage & penne pasta
I'm going to try to make Olive Garden sausage, potato & kale soup. I had it this past weekend & it was really good. It can't be too hard either to recreate.

What's on your menu this week?