what’s working :: snacking camp-style

There are so many beautiful lessons that our family brought home from our week-long family camp experience last month.

One thing that I really appreciated at camp was having three healthy meals and two healthy snacks laid out for us by the amazing kitchen staff at regular times during the day.

I tend to lose track of eating when we are having fun, which has resulted in far too many low blood sugar meltdowns (ahem…and I’m not just talking about my kids).

Since returning from camp, I am doing more meal-planning and crockpot cooking and we are also enjoying a new mid-morning, free-choice snack tray.  

Hummus and carrots, peanut butter and rice cakes and apple slices and cheese laid out on a wooden serving tray invite us all to take a break and nourish our bodies mid-morning, but do not require us to clear the table of our activities and stop what we are doing to eat.

I absolutely love and greatly appreciate the meal rituals that my children partake in at school (table setting, candle-lighting, singing a blessing etc.) and we include many of these elements in our breakfast and dinner meals.

But our days tend to be more relaxed and free-flowing (much like our camp experience) and our new casual, free-choice snack tray, which is often served under the playroom table, is really working for us!

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I’m submitting this piece for Jamie’s new 30-minute Blog challenge over at Steady Mom. Jamie’s blogging resolutions really touched my heart and encouraged me to re-examine why I am blogging and how well it is working with my life. You may have noticed that one change I have made this week is that I am now publishing in the morning. Even though I schedule my posts in advance, I still find myself wanting to tweak and change at the last minute and before this week, that “last minute” was oh…5:30-6:00 p.m….while I’m trying to get dinner ready, clear off the table, feed the dog and while my little ones are most in need of my calm, loving attention. In other words, it just wasn’t working. 

I am so grateful for Jamie who continually inspires me to find my own steady rhythm – in writing, blogging, parenting and in life!