Friday, May 9, 2014

Halfway to Homecoming Military Kid Lunch

We've just passed the halfway point of Sailor Boy's deployment, yay! We read one of our favourite deployment comfort books which inspired me to make Bella a "Daddy loves you" lunch with a cucumber deployment chain:

Military Kid When Dad's At Sea Storybook Lunch
A deployment chain is a paper chain that some military families make when their loved one deploys, to count down the days left until homecoming.  

When Dad's at Sea, by Mindy Pelton tells the story of a Navy family about to be separated by deployment, and the ways they cope.

One of the fun things they do is make a paper chain with a link for each day the Dad will be away, and hang it on the wall so the little girl can take off a link each night and see she's one day closer to her family being together again! The story's filled with great ideas for staying close during separation :)

Military Kid When Dad's At Sea Storybook Lunch

Bella's EasyLunchbox is packed with a cucumber chain representing the deployment chain in the book,  cheese-filled tortilla secured with a long heart cocktail pick, tomato with anchor pick, cantaloupe balls with hugs & kisses, & a Lunchbox Love note, all to remind her that her Daddy loves her. 

Military Kid When Dad's At Sea Storybook Lunch
Now that we are looking forward to Sailor Boy's homecoming, we've started shopping for welcome home gifts for him.  I got us a pair of mugs from Say Please, the folks who make our Lunchbox Love notes - aren't they sweet?

Say Please mugs

The sproutlets are full of ideas for presents for Daddy - my favourite so far is signing him up to play hockey with his favourite NHL team,  the Detroit Red Wings, haha! They're sure he would be great - they're so proud of him :)  
Here are Beanstalk & Bella a few years ago, ready for their school's Dress As Your Hero Day. They dressed as their Dad 

My Navy Kids dressed as their Hero, Daddy

I'm so proud of them, and their Dad!

By coincidence, today happens to be Military Spouse Appreciation Day! 
I've been getting lots of thanks for all I do for my Sailor, and I'd like to say the same to all my fellow spouses, to my parents, and to our extended families and community too, who hold us all up! I couldn't do it alone. Thank you to everyone who supports our military & their families 

       

Some stuff featured in this post:

  

4 comments:

  1. How did you make the cucumber chain? I can't see any breaks anywhere!

    I love the idea of doing a special bento whilst Sailor Boy is away so that your kids can get excited about his homecoming!

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    Replies
    1. Only 3 of the rings have a cut, which is hidden where they are looped through the whole ones :)

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  2. Sounds like a cute chain countdown. Great that dad is comiong home :-)

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  3. I love this lunch. Yay, that Sailor Boy is coming home soon.

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