Lunch and Snack for One

Lunch 5

Hard boiled egg, grapes and carrot sticks with pumpkin pancakes and maple syrup. Hedgehog.

Mr. panda!

Juice with lots of ice, cheese stick, mini oatmeal muffin, almonds and craisins.

Another Piece of Cake

Treasure Chest Challenge

For her sixth birthday party, my oldest daughter issued the ultimate challenge: a treasure chest cake. She originally wanted it to open and close, I failed that request! Other than that, I think it turned out great.

This is a two layer almond pound cake with two toned chocolate frosting. The top is made from sugar cookie dough baked over a 1 gallon jar and two half circles, frosted together in gingerbread house style. The sand is brown sugar over vanilla frosting, the coins are cookies with gold sprinkles. The jewels are jolly ranchers. The rings and pearls are plastic.

This is made from marzipan and was on the chest lid. This was the birthday girls favorite part!

Two snacks and a lunch

1st Grade Lunch:
Half an apple, carrots, kiwi, grapes. Cottage cheese,
mini muffins and half a cookie.
Horse.

Pre-k Snack:
Half an apple, cheese stick, mini muffin and half a cookie
in the rectangular container.
Kiwi, grapes and carrots.
Donkey.

1st Grade Snack:
Granola bar and a cheese stick.

Piece of Cake

My brilliant husband decided I should put some of the cakes I have made on here. You know, on the food blog. Why didn't I think of that?

This is an almond pound cake with cream cheese frosting and strawberry filling. The flowers are marzipan and Tinker Bell is wax!

This was my four year old's most recent birthday cake. It was "exactly" what she asked for. Yay! 

We have a challenge in our house, you see. . . I will make them anything they want for their birthday cake. "A green, tall circle cake with yellow and pink flowers that tastes like almond and strawberry but is also Tinker Bell?"  Challenge accepted!

One lunch and a surprise

Lunch 4

Lunch: Mini bagel with cream cheese, small round cheese, piece of a Lara bar, grapes, carrots and vanilla pudding.

Snack: Clif bar for kids, a fruit strip and almonds in the blue topped container.

The "surprise" was supposed to be another post, but instead I fell asleep! Oops.

Manic Monday

Lunch 3

Lunch: Mac 'n cheese with carrot sticks, cucumber slices and fruit salad.

Snack: Oatmeal mini muffins and a cheese stick.

Little Lady's snack: Fruit salad, cheese stick and a mini muffin.

A hedgehog went to school with the big girl while a bunny went to pre k!

Double Trouble

Today's Spread!

Little lady's preschool snack.

Cucumber slices, carrots and grapes. Mini bagel with cream cheese, cinnamon swirl oatmeal muffin and half a cookie. A cow tagged along. The cookie and the sweet little muffin were the only things that were left today. That's my girl!

1st grader's lunch.

Mini bagel with cream cheese. Garlic hummus, the other half of the cookie and a sea turtle in the bottom tier. Top tier has cucumber, carrots and bell pepper pieces to dip in the hummus and some grapes. Her snack was a cheese stick and three mini oatmeal muffins. Every bite of this lunch was gone!

First Day Tradition

Just for fun!

This is our family's little tradition: a bouquet of flowers at the end of the first day of school. 

These are a few flowers from each girl's bouquet.

The First Day Back!

Lunch #1

Lunch: Macaroni and cheese, half a peach, cucumber slices and carrots. Blueberries and a little otter friend.

Snack: Crackers and a cheese stick.

Other snack: Melon and berries. (This was from the school celebration day last week. No lunch needed as there was a barbecue lunch for everyone. I figured that would be pretty boring posted by itself!) Only one snack needed most days though this year.

:

The countdown begins. . .

Starting next week I'll be doing my daily posts again. There are two of them to pack for now! Should be interesting. . . 

We have one peanut free classroom and one peanut AND tree nut free classroom this year.  Time to get creative!

Easter Bento Extravagaza

Lunches 74-78

Lunch: Cream cheese and whole wheat sandwiches. Cheddar cubes, strawberries, bell peppers. Bunny friend.
Snacks: Cheddar popcorn, granola bar, fruit strip.
Drinks: Chocolate milk, juice.

 Lunch: Nutella and whole wheat flower sandwich. Trefoil girl scout cookie, almonds and two mini eggs. Apple, carrot, bunny friend.
Snacks: Mandarin orange fruit cup, cheddar popcorn and a granola bar.
Drinks: Chocolate milk. Juice (shown in water bottle. 60% water, 40% juice, as usual, in small bottle)

 Lunch: Grilled cheese bunnies. Squirrel Friend. Pumpkin pie custard and pineapple slices.
Snacks: String cheese stick, granola bar and pretzels.
Drinks: Yogurt smoothie, juice

Lunch: Cream cheese bunny and flower on whole wheat. Apple, strawberries, carrots and cheddar cubes. Friend (not shown, another bunny)
Snacks: Cheddar and pretzel goldfish crackers, 2 shortbread cookies, granola bar and a fruitabu, which is an organic fruit roll up type of thing.
Drinks: Water, juicebox (rare treat) chocolate milk from school.
The little finger there was a strawberry being swiped, caught on camera! I caught the retreat!

All the lunches this week had a nod towards Easter in them! Life has been crazy and I haven't had much time for posting so I thought I'd do them all together!

Twoooosday

Lunch 73

Lunch: Apple cider pancakes with real maple syrup. Cucumber and bell pepper slices, grapes and cheese cubes.

Snacks: Granola bar, fruit strip and a banana.

Drinks: Bottle of water and chocolate milk from school.

The haunted blog

Lunch 72

A double lunch day, just for fun.

 Lunch: Nutella and whole wheat hearts, conversation candy hearts. Cucumber and carrot slices, kiwi and strawberries. Cheese cubes in the cups and a fairy hitched a ride.  

This post is going crazy on me. It is haunted. Or I am not very smart today. It keeps flipping and randomly moving my pictures and crashing my internet. It's probably my computer. My computer needs a new life as a door prop or something. . . Whatever. I am not even attempting anything fancy. They are staying where blogger dropped them! Enjoy!

Wednesday Feb 22nd

Lunch 71

Lunch: White cheddar melted onto whole wheat, cut into a pumpkin shape. Black olives, almonds and fruit snack pieces. Top has two prunes, half an apple and red pepper strips.

Snacks: Granola bar and mixed cereal with an organic fruit strip.

Drinks: Lemonade from home, chocolate milk from school

Tuesday: Snooze Day

Lunch 70

Lunch: Buttered whole wheat sea creatures. A small chocolate chip cookie. Happy face carved mini babybel cheese. Half an apple, surrounded by cucumber, red and green peeper chunks and a mini bottle of ranch dressing.

Snacks: Granola bar, whole grain pretzel twists.

Drinks: chocolate milk and water.

The youngest member of our little clan decided to keep everyone awake from about 1 am to 5 am. We are all pretty sleepy today!

Lunches, lunches

Lunch 69

Lunch: cream cheese and jelly pinwheels on whole wheat. Chocolate orange section. Apple half, prunes and black olives. 

Drinks: Juice and chocolate milk.

Friend: bear with a fish in it's mouth.

Triumphant Return!

 Happy Valentine's Day!

Lunch 68

Lunch: Whole wheat hearts with cream cheese and strawberry jam in the top. Red bell pepper and cucumber hearts, jello jigglers hearts (blackberry fusion flavored), mini babybel cheese and strawberry hearts in the bottom. 

Snacks: Granola bar and a chocolate pudding cup with a few animal crackers

Drinks: Chocolate milk and cranberry juice.

Heart Shaped Crayons

What does one do with a pound of broken crayons? Make rainbow crayons of course. Even better, make them into hearts and give them out to the kindergarten class with their valentines!

The first and worst job was getting all those wrappers off! Then we put them in a foil lined baking dish and melted them in a 250 degree oven.

After about ten minutes in the oven and another ten cooling, a small metal cookie cutter turned them into hearts!

This was a really messy project! I'm very glad I only collect that many crayon rejects every two or three years! The crayons and the scraps are lots of fun to draw with though.

M.I.A.

We are 20 + days into fevers and antibiotics. This has been a rough winter around here, illness wise. Weather wise, it's been very mild. I'm betting there's a connection there. Eventually we will all be better and I will get back on the blog wagon.

Fancy Friday

Lunch 67

Lunch: Nutella on whole wheat hearts and cheese cubes with a beloved little lion friend in the bottom. Cracker nutella sandwiches, roasted almonds, craisins and a few m&m's in the top.

Snacks: A banana and cheddar popcorn

Drinks: Chocolate milk, watered down juice.

So, this is not exactly the "fancy" I had planned. This lunch was from a few days ago. A day I didn't get around to posting. Instead of  getting up early and doing the daily thing, I got a wonderful gift. The gift of sleep! I woke to the voices of the alarm clock radio. They were talking about school closings. They were listing our county, and then our town! Snow day! I turned off the alarm and dozed for a few more minutes. Then the phone rang, it was the school. Ahhh, confirmation. I went back to sleep. It was beautiful. 

I did not have to drag a single kid out of bed today. No whimpers from under covers. No moans of being too tired to get up. No rushed breakfast and snow boot hunts. No missing mittens, lost socks, crazy tangled bed heads or forgotten homework. We all got an extra hour and change of sleep. After fighting colds and being worn out from life in general, this was a well needed, surprise mini vacation. Snow days are for moms too!

*under construction*

I am working on a mini tutorial. . . My first!


Today I opted out of taking a pic. Flat out didn't want to! It was all stuff that's already been posted. . . I really don't want to be boring! 


My lovely daughter says that her lunches are very "stylish" and that I am the very best at making stylish foods. I'll take a compliment like that any day!


Ok, off to dreamland. I need to be awake and alert for lunch making in 6 hours.

Wild Wednesday

Today was different. Today I was required to pack and send a non bento lunch. I have never done that before and I was completely lost for a moment. 

My daughter had a field trip and needed a lunch that was disposable. Nothing to carry around after they finished eating. A day of no containers! I was stumped by this until some caffeine hit my brain. 

Sandwich baggies! Duh. Non perishable stuff due to the lack of ice pack. Minimal food so that there was less anguish over tossed snacks. Easy, quick and mess free foods that I'll pack in. . . uhhhh. . . hmmmm. Brown paper lunch bags are not usually something we keep on hand. A paper gift bag! No, kiddo would never throw that out 'cause they're too pretty. A grocery bag? No, too flimsy. . .

I finally settled on a reusable little fabric bag, had the kiddo practice folding it and stuff it in her jacket pocket. She was happy, so I was happy. 

I made the lunch and sent her on her merry way. No picture. My brain was fried from all the extra thinking I did! Oh well, it was just a jumble of shiny plastic bags anyway.

Lunch: Nutella on whole wheat cowgirl boot (girl still needs a little style). Green grapes, carrot sticks, two mini pumpkin muffins, small chocolate chip cookie and a mini Clif bar.

For some reason I decided recently that cornrows were the thing to do that day. I have never been good at those tiny braids. How do people do that? I have tried. My fingers feel like I imagine anyone's would feel at a teeny tiny tea party. Too big. So I settled for this. It's kind of cute. By far the smallest french braids I have ever done in rows. Too big to be official cornrows?

Ignore the clutter that is life, which continues and intensifies when I concentrate on anything other than whether or not the baby is throwing toys and other random things. In this case there were many great gifts presented to her majesty as she was having her hair done. 

Combo Post ~ Three Lunches

Lunch 65

Lunch: Pumpkin pancakes and cantaloupe. Small bottle of maple syrup. Cheese stick. 

Snacks: Granola bar, mixed dry cereal.

Drinks: Juice from home, chocolate milk from school

This particular breakfast for lunch was an attempt to get this kid to eat some food! She has been bringing home more than she eats. I even precut the pancakes to make it really easy. It worked! Almost all the food was gone. Two chunks of melon and 1/3 of the cheese stick were all that was left after school. 

Lunch 66

Lunch: Whole wheat and cream cheese hearts. Two prunes. Apple, grapes and carrot sticks.

Snacks: Pumpkin muffin, granola bar

Drinks: Iced tea and chocolate milk

Lunch at Home. . .

Grilled cheese strips, kiwi and cucumber slices. Green pepper and green grapes. Star fruit slices. Ketchup in the center of one plate.

It never fails to amaze me, when the food is put in a pattern, it vanishes much faster. It doesn't need to be cute. It just needs to be interesting.

Sunday Supper

Simple Supper

Sometimes there is nothing more satisfying than warm, tender and tasty chicken sitting on top of a fresh salad! We had this friday night and I was a few bites in before I remembered the pic! 

Ok, back to enjoying our lazy sunday.

Lucky Stars

Lunch 64

Lunch: Cucumber and green pepper stars. Small bottle of ranch dressing tucked behind them. Ham, cheddar and lettuce roll ups. Kiwi stars, green grapes and star fruit. 

Snacks: Banana and granola bar.

Drinks: Juice box and chocolate milk.

Friend: Sea turtle.

The "lucky" color around here is green. So when the bento challenge this week was green, lucky stars were my first thought. My daughter said it looked like a leprechaun's lunch! 

Very cool thing about this lunch, she had never tried star fruit before. She LOVES it. She's begging me to buy more. Love it when that happens.

Thursday. . . thursday

Lunch 63

Lunch: Cowgirl nutella sandwiches on whole wheat. Tiny fairy toy peeking out. Ranch crackers, cheese stick and almonds. Pear fruit cup.

Snacks: Granola bar and a banana.

Drinks: Juice box and chocolate milk from school.

An entirely veggie free lunch due to a fresh veggie free fridge. Had to restock! I could have given her some frozen corn, but I didn't think about it until it was too late.

So thursdays have been kinda dull. I've been kinda dull lately. Next thursday WILL have something creative. 

Since it's been so cold, I thought I'd share a pic of last night dinner!

Home made split pea soup with ham, carrots and potatoes. My favorite! Served it up with toasted and buttered mini bagels. The girls were strongly opposed to the color, but this time (the very first time ever) they ate it! We challenged them to eat with their eyes closed. A bit messy, but it got the job done! Baby boy devoured his. He is not opposed to much in the food department. He's very anti pear, somewhat anti chocolate, but that's all I can think of. Well, whole peas are more fun to smash than eat, but I don't think he really dislikes them.

Two for Tuesday

So, the holiday messed up my schedule a little, so I'll do a regular lunch and something that makes my life easier. Still two posts! Plus I haven't made a grand home lunch, unless you count cookie cutter sandwiches. We've been snacking instead of eating meals for the last couple of days. Everyone is in a funk and hungry at different times. So. . . without further ado:

Lunch 62

 Lunch: Provolone and turkey roll ups, red grapes, pretzels, apple, two prunes and two spice drop candies.

Snacks: Granola bar, cheese stick and oatmeal squares dry cereal.

Drinks: Chocolate milk from school and lemonade from home.

Now, the good stuff!

Meet Charlie! 

He's my laundry buddy! 

Seriously though, I love this stuff. First and foremost, it usually costs me $12 for this size. That's right folks, $12 for 80 loads of laundry. 80 loads of HE laundry. But wait, there's more, Charlie's does not require fabric softener. In fact it's preferred that you don't use any.

Oh, the savings. 

It is scent free, dye free, fuss free, cloth diaper friendly, good stuff. 

No more sneezing. No more itching. No more worry about whether it'll bother the wee one's skin. 

It won't. 

I use it for everything, even hand washing those dance clothes. Our clothes smell clean, not perfume-y. They are soft and they seem to be lasting longer. The towels soak up more water. Did I mention no more sneezing?

I am in love. It makes my life easier. It's cheap and I trust it.

I do keep a bottle or two of stain remover on hand though, because no soap is a good match for three kids on spaghetti night!