Food ideas for kids! And in other news... we're moving!

Don't know about you but December's felt like a lifetime ago and yet I can't believe we're in January.  Much has happened and I'm feeling tired, but what keeps me going is the potential for better sleep and thus a more productive, efficient and cleaner home.  Right now it's tough to do anything while the kids are sleeping as they are just on the other side of the wall when we're doing dishes.  By the end of January, they'll be on another floor and I hope to look at an empty sink every morning!

What else happened in December?  It actually goes a bit back to November when I was trying to get my maternity leave extended.  Long story short I spent a month in vain to get another month and then had to scramble a way to get a few hours here and there under my belt to keep my job, but it had to be carefully planned to work around Derek being at Grandma's and Kristen not yet weaned.  We also went to look at a few townhouses and semi-detached houses and made a decision within the first week of December, which is incidentally when I went back to work.  Eventually we decided that it wasn't worth keeping the job because, as much as I love being a barista and having some kind of life outside of my wonderful family, it wasn't worth hiring a nanny at $14/hr while I made just over $11/hr, never mind the tiredness of a physical job then dealing with the kids.

Edit: How could I forget about the blackout due to the ice storm?  We lost power on Sunday 3:30am, made it through the day (yay for tea lights to warm up baby food!), planned to go to in-laws the next day, bundled up for sleep at night,  was woken by a fire alarm at 5am, stayed up until the fire trucks cleared, walked 22 floors down with 2 kids and light luggage, had breakfast at Cora's, then camped at my in-laws until after dinner Christmas eve.  Thankfully power came back the morning of the 24th!  Most of our fridge contents had to be chucked though, but I did save the lactose-free milk!  It was an ice block in our fridge for 2 days defrosting!  My quads, however, took about 4 days to return to normal.

So that's a bit about me going from 2013 to 2014.  We'll be moved in by the end of January and the anticipation of a fresh start to organize and clean the home has got me pretty excited!  Much packing to be done in the mean time of course.  Plus, I just found out that I might have 2 cavities and one looks pretty set in. =S  Hopefully that will be dealt with quickly and with little pain.

As for the part of this post that would be helpful to you, my dear reader, I have stumbled across this truly great post by another blogger for ideas on food to feed the little ones with tips on storing them for quick access.  I can't wait to put this in action in my new kitchen!  My husband usually handles Derek's food and I'm dealing with Kristen but now that she's eating more solids, I hope to have more prepared so we can have more variety and more healthy options.

Here's the link, and here's a blurb from the post by Lisa Leake:

1. Whole-Wheat Pancakes or Waffles.
   We use these to make sandwiches with all sorts of fillings like cream cheese, jam, cinnamon, raisins, and even peanut butter (or other nut butters).
   
     
2. Spaghetti and Meatballs.
   Our family thinks homemade meatballs are pretty awesome. Combine them with cooked whole-grain noodles and organic sauce and freeze them in a jar – you now have yourself a lunch to get excited about. (See freezing notes above.)
   

Derek loves his waffles so a waffle sandwich will be right up his alley, and I'll finally get to use the waffle-maker Benny got me last year!

How about you?  What tips do you have for feeding your kids? Which recipe or suggestion are you eager to try from Lisa's post?  What's been your greatest challenge in getting them kids fed?