Muffin Tin Monday (MTM)- Swap

Back in July, Michelle over at Muffin Tin Mom held a swap. I participate last year, but unfortunately never received my things. That was a real bummer, but I decided to take a chance this year and Michelle was kind enough to 1) send me a few things because I hadn't gotten anything last year (it was a box of several cool bento box items...maybe that deserves a post too!) and 2)hook me up with a partner who was sure to follow through.

Jenny (at Academy at Thousand Oaks) and her kids turned out to be so fun! Jenny was sweet enough to put in a bit extra for our troubles from last year and boy did she send it early! Here's a look at our muffin tin fun...

The bunch was placed in a pie tin and made to look like a basket of fun! We are the lucky receivers of new silicone cupcake/muffin liners and some sports oriented party sticks. The boys thought they were great!

Look at this stash! We have baking cups in fun patterns, mini leaf cutters, more toppers (love those flowers!), and some more mini cutters. We can hardly wait to have more muffin tin fun with these.

Jenny and family, thank you so much for a really fun swap! We are eager to try these items out once things settle down here this summer. For a peek at the other end of the swap (Jenny's stuff from us), you can click here.

To check out the rest of the swap, head over to the Muffin Tin Mom.

Muffin Tin Monday- A Rebirth

It's been quite some time since I've done a Muffin Tin Monday. In my defense, our co-op is Monday at 1pm so that kind of puts a pinch on the festiveness of it all and makes it well...much less festive-feeling.

Today it seemed like the right thing to do. So, I got things in gear...asking my assistant, R10, to gather the tins and make some flags!

Here they are! Flags for Flag Day and all...

The close up...one Oreo may seem not so generous until you know the rest went into the ice cream cake for a recent birthday.

If you haven't seen Muffin Tin Monday before, then I encourage you to visit The Muffin Tin Mom to find out more. Sometimes she has themes. Themes are off for the summer, but Flag Day spoke to me today.

My kids love MTM. I don't know why, but there's something about it.

Whimsy makes everything better.

Muffin Tin Monday

We did this on Monday, but posting about it right afterward didn't happen. I find it amazing that there are so many people that have posted MTM and I haven't even fed my kids lunch on a Monday yet! That is amazing to me...a time warp of sorts.

This week we had grapes, cheese quesadilla strips and their favorite salsa with Oreos. The Oreos are missing because well...I have one who would eat them first. So, they came in the second wave.

So, I'm posting Muffin Tin Monday on Thursday morning. That's the kind of week I'm having. It's been the kind of week that seems so slow and has gone lightening fast at the same time in light of what I still need to finish before leaving for Nashville on Tuesday.

Did you hear? I'm going to Nashville!!

Muffin Tin Monday

We had an extra guest for Muffin Tin Monday today. Dan was home with a head cold and he got to eat his lunch from a muffin tin. As guest of honor, he received the new tin- with an autumn theme.

This week's theme is Big Top Circus...so without further ado here is our "Circus of Muffin Tin Supplies"- those 50% coupons sure do come in handy. I think I'm about all set in the muffin tin department though Christmas is coming. And the heart shapes are calling. And there are the cups with legs I keep seeing on the other blogs...I haven't received my swap package yet. Maybe there will be a fun surprise inside.

Chicken sandwich, mandarin oranges, cucumbers, chips, and a small dessert.

Muffin Tin Monday is all about the fun. It's still fun! I am feeling the call to make some pumpkin muffins in that new tin. Mmmmm....

Muffin Tin Monday

This week's theme: People and Faces!

R9 had the first day of sewing class today. While R9 is taking level 2/3 sewing class (and doing terrifically I might add...) the boys and I are having three hour adventures out in town while we wait.

We arrived home and then I remembered the faces theme...hey but on a positive note while out adventuring I found silicone diamond shaped cups for $5. Woohoo! Tools for the muffin tin trade.

Hey...there's a face there!

Check out our LEGO mold...not so easy for muffins/cupcakes but it holds home made bean and ham soup like a champ!

Did you notice that I finally found the party sticks? I have been on the hunt for those since I started...Wegmans...love that store. They came through!

You can check out Muffin Tin Monday at Her Cup Overfloweth and see some way better faces today I'm sure. But really...who can pull off MTM last minute like I can?

Muffin Tin Monday

About three days late...the post that is not the MTM! There was no theme this week so I did a dipping center. I put out two tins of dips to use with carrots and chips and then we had strawberry smoothies. That adventure gets it's own post.

Check out Muffin Tin Monday at Her Cup Overfloweth...it's a meal served in a muffin tin and it makes me smile.

Button Ocean

This one is all about keeping the preschool in the unit study! J4 is all about his home preschool. Just yesterday while out on errands, he announced to woman in line behind me that he was doing home preschool. This is notable because the three older kids all went to the same wonderful little preschool- a vestige of our pre-homeschooling days.

I got the idea of a button ocean from Pink and Green Mama's Ocean in a Box. I'm not into sand in the house and I wasn't even into the aquarium rocks she had chosen, but I love buttons! And so do my kids. So first we sorted the colors into a muffin tin!

Where are all the blue buttons and ocean green buttons? R9 finds a few more...

J4 held this one up and said, "This button is HUMONGOUS!" J4 loves to use the word humongous. Cracks me up.

Ok so we are somewhat short on blue buttons...I think we just need less critters in our button ocean. Don't you think?

Selkie! Yes...there are Nim characters in our box.

While at the school table J4 announced that he had put Selkie on her rock. E10 went to find said rock to add it to the ocean. He also pointed out a sea anemone. Loved hearing my 4yo say that word!

I found this coloring sheet at the Aquarium of the Pacific website. This one is from the Aquarium on Wheels pdf downloads. He was playing with the button ocean's sea turtle and was able to tell me why Chica the turtle came to the island every year- to play and to leave eggs was his reply. See? He really is listening during read alouds!

He requested a Nim journal...that would be a good idea he said. So, I found him a sea turtle picture. These will go into his ocean notebook along with anything else he does during our unit study of the ocean. If I can keep him in fun, preschool-y activities and he enjoys sitting up at the table with us to have fun...what a year this will be! I think we may have turned a corner kids. Wow.

There you have it...an ocean study update...preschool style. And not to worry. The button ocean is in a workbox that will wait for him each day during our unit.

Muffin Tin Monday

Today's theme over at Her Cup Overfloweth is Trains, Planes, and Automobiles...remember how I said I was gonna be all prepared for it this week? Well...that didn't happen and in the midst of number chip math I realized (since no child mentioned it or whined about it) that it was 1 pm AND it was Muffin Tin Monday. Hmmm...some quick thinking produced a box car lunch.

Muffin Tin Monday

Today at Her Cup Overfloweth there is a celebrate/party! theme for Muffin Tin Monday. I went with the party snack end of things...

We are just back from a four day camping trip having packed out in the pouring rain! I had a meeting early this morning for our homeschool co-op committee. With a few other errands to run after that, we did a Muffin Tin Monday snack tin upon our return rather than lunch.



The kids woke up this morning excited that today was Muffin Tin Monday...how could I deny them the experience?? Even on a busy day?? Thanks go out to R9 for her work in getting it put together with me.

Next week I hope to be more prepared! Uh...let's just see what happens.

Muffin Tin Monday

Michelle over at Her Cup Overfloweth hosts Muffin Tin Monday every week. Sometimes there is a theme and sometimes there isn't. I was intrigued the first time I came across it and started collecting tins with coupons. I'll share what's in my arsenal in another post. I was out of bread today so it was the perfect day to embark on our Muffin Tin Fun. This week there is no theme, but I can see in the future parting from the group theme to do ones that match our schooling adventures. For this week I had fun choosing some items and R9 gave me the idea to use up the fruit slushies from her birthday. So, here goes:

Ham rolls, pretzels, yogurt and a previously frozen fruit slushie, peanuts and milk chocolate chips

Same deal in the blue tins

For the girl who hates yogurt (like her mommy) some almonds instead

A few things I observed by doing this: First, it forces you to find six things or close to it which goes way beyond a sandwich at lunch time. Next, the kids were excited to contribute ideas and they were excited to eat what we came up with. Lastly, it makes Monday lunch FUN! I need fun.

If you look on my right hand side bar, you'll find the Muffin Tin Monday Swap that is coming up. The deadline to sign up is Friday the 31st. I'm looking forward to putting a little someting together for a fellow muffin tinner. I wonder what surprises lie ahead for us. I can hardly wait to see!

Muffin Tin Monday Give Away!

Michelle has a Muffin Tin Monday giveaway going on over at Her Cup Overfloweth. Each Monday she and the many others following along serve up lunch in a muffin tin with a fun theme. She's giving away your choice of these muffin wrappers so head on over and leave a comment. You can enter up to July 7th at midnight.