Snack Time!

I haven't blogged for awhile. Our lives have been so incredibly busy that it feels like when I finally get a chance to sit down, I can't remember why I thought I had the time to sit down, but I can think of a thousand reasons why I should get back up and start moving again.

So when thinking about blog topics-I started to wonder why life seems so busy all of a sudden in the first place. It could be because I am working full time this year instead of part time. It could be because my 13 month olds secret identity is "Mr. Incredible" and I spend half my life catching what he drops, fixing what he breaks, and stopping him from creating an intricate step system that allows him to climb on top of anything he wants. It could be because I'm the only one in the house that thinks of the process it takes to clean clothes (everyone else thinks they magically appear clean). I think it's more subtle than any of the reasons listed above, though. I think the reason that my life is so incredibly busy is because of snack time.

Seriously. You may think that increased snack time is the result of a busy life. And for you, that could be true. But right now I am electing to blame all of my stress on snack time.

Here's the thing-

When my daughter was 2 and 3, she basically survived on Dino Chicken Nuggets and waffles. That's still mostly what she will eat, with the occasional apple slice or hamburger thrown in. Snacks were not a part of our lives. Mostly because I forgot. We would be at a play date and the other mommies would announce snack time and all the children would come gleefully to the table to receive their snack. My child would come to the table and wonder where her nuggets were and why lunch time seemed so early. I would have to sheepishly explain to the other moms that I had forgotten a snack and they would generously share whatever they had brought, because that's the kind of friends I have. They forgive me my faults and understand that because my daughter ate carpet fuzz and the inside foam of her car seat for the first 18 months of her life (I didn't feed her that, it's just what she found most delectable), snack time was somewhat of a mystery to me.

Enter pre-school. My daughter goes to preschool twice a week and there is a sign up calendar for snacks. All us mommies are required to sign up for a day or two a month and bring a snack that contains two different food groups. I started to sweat at the thought of this, but they provide a list so as not to freak the moms like me out. (or maybe they just provided the list for me...). Cheese and crackers are on the list. So are pretzels and fruit. That seems easy enough, so I signed up and now I have a date on my calendar to bring snack to preschool.

Along came soccer. Soccer in and of itself is another blog topic-but let's just say that real soccer moms (the ones that have been involved for more than one season) take snacks very seriously. Our ultra-soccer, multi-season participator team mom provided a schedule for us on the second day of practice of who would be bringing snacks to each game. In other words, we didn't get to pick the date. This would usually be okay with me, but my snack jobs were starting to pile up and I was hoping to go grocery shopping and take care of all snack tasks and once. Now I was responsible for remembering to bring snacks to something during two separate weeks.
On top of that, the rules for soccer snacks are a bit more complicated than the ones for preschool. You have to provide snacks during and after the game. You may not provide sugar snacks during the game, but you can after as long as they aren't too sugary. You have to provide from different food groups (again with the food groups). And if you need to switch snack days, please call the team mom and let her know. I'm not calling the team mom, I'm terrified of her.

After pre-school and soccer snack days were set, I started bringing my kids to church with me on Tuesday nights because I volunteer to help with the Middle School Group. I'm a small group leader for 8th graders, who wanted to set up a snack schedule for our small group right away. The adults who watch my kids on Tuesday nights at church had a sign up sheet for bringing snacks and a movie sometime during the next 8 weeks.

Luckily, the 8th grade girls want something like "brownies" for snacks. No food groups for them.

My calendar is so full of snack time reminders that I hardly have room for anything else. Everytime I go to the store now I just buy snack items thinking it will come in handy at some point during the week.


The baby eats all the time anyway. The day is one long continual snack time for him.

I know there is no end in sight to this as snack time is something that carries through until your teenagers go off to college. And then they still want to come home and raid your fridge. And you end up feeding all their friends along the way too.

And that's okay with me. Secretly, I'm a foodie. So one of these days I may just skip the string cheese and crackers and bring in pastry puffs topped with brie and carmelized onions. If I have to bring snacks, then I might as well go gourmet every once in awhile. Maybe one day my daughter will not ask for Dino nuggets but will ask for steak and a port wine reduction sauce. And I will get to remind her that at one point she ate carpet fuzz for a snack.