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!

Sunday Supper

On top of spaghetti. . .

Dinner tonight: Whole grain pasta, organic tomato sauce, homemade turkey meatballs and parmesan cheese.

Simple and delicious. A quick meal all three kids are guaranteed to eat. Perfect.

Orange You Glad I'm Doing An Extra Bento?

Lunch 61

Lunch: Macaroni and cheese, orange segments, prune, colby jack cheese cubes, a few yellow -> orange candies and carrot match sticks (took the picture before I added them on either side of the orange and forgot to take another, oh well, you'll have to use your imagination). 

Snacks: Cheddar goldfish crackers, a banana

Drinks: Orange juice, water, chocolate milk from school.

"Friend Bear"

I had a crazy busy day and neglected my blog yesterday. I was too busy playing in the snow with my kids! This is my first color theme bento, inspired  by the bento blog network. I think I'll do many more of these because it was fun.  Maybe a rainbow theme too.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Fancy Friday

Lunch 60

Lunch: Teddy bear grilled cheese on whole wheat bread with raisin eyes, craisin mouth and cherry "puff" buttons donated by the baby brother. Kid sized granola bar. Chocolate chip cookie cut into wedges, raisins, carrot sticks and a little piggy bottle of ranch dressing.

Snacks: A banana and cheddar popcorn.

Drinks: Juice box, mini bottle of water and chocolate milk from school.

So, while cute, this one was done in a hurry. There is a magical time warp in my house. It goes from 6:20 am to 6:50 in barely a blink of the eye almost everyday. During that time I can be found staring at nothing and randomly demanding my kid actually eat the untouched breakfast that has been sitting in front of her for 20 minutes. Maybe we are all actually still asleep at that point. Being awake is only an illusion. 

Wild Hair on Wild Card Day!

   
    So, I do some fun things to my daughters hair. I can't help myself. She has amazing, flowing hair that just begs to be played with and done up "princess" style. Here is a couple pics from halloween. She was a "snow princess". 
Yes, that's a vacuum. Very glamorous pictures!

    I used a silver pearl necklace as the "crown" and it goes through the braids so it stayed secure. I used matching pearl earrings to decorate the front of her hair and the front of the dress. I had planned on curling the little tendrils, but she would not let me near her with the curling iron!

    Lunch 59

Lunch: Mini bagel with cream cheese, mini pumpkin muffin, grapes, apple, cheese stick

Snacks: A fruit cup and a granola bar

Drinks: Water, juice box.

Two for Tuesday

An example of lunch at home:

PB&J duck on whole wheat, banana, pear, carrot sticks, red pepper and cherry halves.

I say example because I keep forgetting to photograph the home lunches (and dinners!) This one was from whenever the last of the fresh cherries were being polished off.

Lunch 58

Lunch: half a pear, grapes, celery sticks and carrot flowers in the top.

Cream cheese pinwheels, two prunes and black olives in the bottom.

Drinks: Iced tea and chocolate milk.

The side of her bento box says this ^. It cracks me up because it's the only lunch vessel that she ever wants to take! 

Easy Peezy. . .

. . .Lemon Squeezy.

Lunch 57

Lunch: Mini bagel with cream cheese, carrots, half an apple and grapes

Snacks: Mini muffins (blueberry and pumpkin), popcorn and a banana

Drinks: Juice and chocolate milk

It's the little things in life that makes it all run more smoothly!

These are snapshots of the inside of my kids' dresser drawers. These are actual photos of what they look like at any given moment. Not perfect, rifled though, yet still organized.  

     I see all the time in organizing type articles the mention of rotating clothes in kid drawers so that things don't get forgotten at the bottom and outgrown before it gets worn. It's beginning to dawn on me that not everyone stores clothes like I do. This may be old hat to some of you, but it makes my life so much more sane. Maybe it'll help someone else out there!

    All their clothes get stored so that every shirt in the stack is visible. Basically the piles are stored horizontally. We have long sleeved shirts in the first row, followed by short sleeved, tank tops and then pjs. I can fit a ton more in each drawer this way and they can easily find the item they are looking for, without pulling the whole thing apart. I fold all these according to how deep the space is. I do the same thing for pants, sweatshirts and leggings. Fold them to fit the space length wise and stack them on their sides. Socks, tights and underwear have their own baskets in the closets and everything else gets hung up. 

This system works really well when I actually manage to keep up with the laundry folding!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Run, Run As Fast As You Can!

You can't catch him, he's the . . . muffin man?

Lunch 56!

This pumpkin muffin man was made by spreading about 3/4" of pumpkin bread batter in the bottom of a large, foil lined loaf pan. After baking, I used a cookie cutter to cut out the men. I made a teeny tiny batch of vanilla cream cheese frosting (a few spoonfuls total) and made the apron, hat and secured the detail with it.  He has a Craisin mouth (ok half a craisin), chocolate chip bits for eyes and white and semi sweet chocolate chips "glued" on, just for fun. He's making a snow angel on a bed of cheddar popcorn.

The other half of this lunch is in a totally different season. A hard boiled egg flower and green pepper stem and leaves sit in front of a grape background. I was going for a mosaic effect here, just for color and fun. A little red lizard is going along for the ride today.

Snacks: A banana, a granola bar and a bag of pretzel sticks.

Drinks: Juice, watered down of course and chocolate milk from school.

The muffin men hung out together in the fridge last night. The one without added details got devoured by my 13 month old for breakfast and the one with white eyes mysteriously disappeared when left alone (for a minute!) with a three year old this morning. Not a trace has been found. Strange.

Gingerbread Houses and Lunch 55

We make gingerbread houses every year. It is one of my most treasured traditions. This year (in december) we made mini ones for my daughter's kindergarten class. The surprise of the year, she built them all by herself! Never underestimate what a 5 year old can do with a pastry bag! I was so impressed with her. Her little sister was in charge of selecting the matching pairs of cookies.

They made such a great team! I was pretty much only supervising!

The finished project! After they were dry, I filled in any gaps so they would be nice and strong and packed them up for school the next day. I brought in colored and "glue" frosting and little foil covered bases for the houses and the other families provided the candy! Everything was all set up when I got there, thanks to her awesome teacher. The kids did an amazing job decorating their houses and I had so much fun watching them do it! They also decorated extras to give as gifts to their special teachers (music, art ect). I am so glad I was able to share my little tradition with the class. 

Lunch 55

Lunch: Mini bagel with cream cheese, pretzels and fruit snack pieces in the bottom half.  Honey crisp apple, grapes and carrot "coins" in the top bento tier. 

Snacks:  A banana and goldfish crackers with a string cheese stick.

Drinks: Chocolate milk, watered down juice.

Friend: A little jaguar.

Wild New Year

It's Wild Card Wednesday and a Brand New Year!

I am excited to take this blog and do something fun with it. I am excited to see what wonderful things this year brings! Happy New Year to everyone!!!

This is the most perfect snow angel I have ever seen. There are more unintentional details in this angel than I ever thought possible. I think it's beautiful. My 5 1/2 year old daughter made this over the weekend. It lasted about two minutes before she walked through it, so I am glad I managed to snap a picture.

Lunch 54

Lunch: Pizza (Freschetta 5 Italian Cheese Brick Oven frozen, everyone's favorite here), string cheese cut into chunks, two prunes, red grapes, carrot hearts and half a honey crisp apple.

Snacks: granola bar and Smartfood cheddar popcorn.

Drinks: bottled water from home, chocolate milk from school

Friend: Funshine bear

New Year, New Format

So, I am boring myself with just lunches. . . you too? New plan!

Still doing the lunches, of course, but I'm starting the new year with a totally new and more varied approach to the blog.

Mondays - These really do seem crazier than the rest of the week. Mondays will feature something that makes my life easier.

Tuesdays - Two lunches. One home lunch included so my middle child can have famous food too!

Wednesdays - Wild Card Day. This basically means that I haven't nailed down something interesting enough to give it a whole category! Plus this will leave me a little wiggle room to throw in whatever is on my mind that week.

Thursdays - For whatever reason, this part of the week seems easiest and the least stressful. I am most likely to get artsy or crafty then, so my goal is to include something along these lines every thursday.

Fridays - Fancy Lunch Day. This is going to be my super bento day. A day when I actually think in advance what will go into the lunch. Not something thrown together as I rub my eyes and attempt to wake up.

Sundays - Supper! Some yummy dinner ideas and a photo of an actual dinner served here at home.

Better Late. . .

. . . Than Never

Lunch 54

Lunch: Cream cheese on whole wheat heart, fruit snack pieces. Not shown: hard boiled egg, carrots and grapes (forgot the pic!)

Snacks: Mixed dry cereal. Banana. Pumpkin muffin.

Drinks:Chocolate milk. Bottled water.

Friend: Red Eyed Tree Frog.

Fried

Lunch 53

Lunch: Cowgirl hat and boot sandwiches, turtle friend, cheese cubes, orange bell pepper and kiwi slices.

Snacks: banana and a granola bar

Drinks: water and chocolate milk from school

So lately I am fried. Done. Toast. Stick a fork in me. Chronically over tired to the extreme. The simple act of posting seems overwhelming to me when I have averaged 3 hours of sleep a night for weeks. My brain is just not functioning like it should. I cannot wait until my kids are not sick for two whole days in a row.

I had big blogging plans for last week: gingerbread, crafts, lunches. . . Let's see if I can make it happen this week. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. . .

Two for Tuesday!

Lunch 51 and 52

Lunch: Cream cheese on whole wheat star and the number one sandwiches. Cheese cubes and "streamers". Carrot and grape "balloons". Vanilla custard filled, cream cheese frosted, home made chocolate mini cupcake. Not shown is half a honey crisp apple and two prunes in the other half of the bento. Birthday candle.

Snacks: White cheddar popcorn and a blueberry cereal bar.

Drinks: Chocolate milk and a bottle of water

This bento is in honor of my baby boy's first birthday!!! The fact that is coincided with the weekly bento challenge theme on the bento blog network was just too perfect to resist. I made sure to make a mini version of his birthday cupcakes just so my daughter could take one in her lunch. I think it turned out cute!

Monday's Lunch

Lunch: Nutella and whole wheat hearts. One cookies, in two pieces. Two prunes and a little green car. Honey crisp apple and carrot flowers.

Snacks: Banana and a granola bar.

Drinks: Chocolate milk and bottled water

So I fell off the blogging wagon and got busy. Crazy busy. Still hectic, but I was feeling major blogging guilt and jumped back on! Gonna have some fun stuff on here this week!

Mini Milestone!

Lunch 50!

Lunch: Cold pizza (the best way to eat it!) Apple, orange bell pepper, prunes and shelled pistachios.

Snacks: Pumpkin mini muffins. Cereal bar.

Drinks: Chocolate milk and juice.

Friend: a snake!

So I've officially posted 50 lunches. That feels big! I am going to be making some changes and this feels like a great time to do it. I've had some practice, learned some html and my photos are so much better. They have lots of room for improvement, but my "photo shoots" (hahaha) are about ten seconds each, usually one handed. So I'm ok with them for the moment. So, onward we go. Hopefully to bigger and better places.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Lunch 49

Lunch: Bagel with pumpkin cream cheese, craisins, prunes and a maple cookie in the bottom. The top has half of a local honey crisp apple and orange bell pepper slices.

Snacks: Blueberry cereal bar, pistachios and a banana (not shown)

Drinks: Chocolate milk and juice poured over a bottle full of ice.

Friend: ummm, I think it's an iguana. I need to brush up on my lizards!

I must say, I love the smaller bananas that are available now. They aren't the mini ones but small, perfect, really yummy ones. About 2/3 the size of a regular one and perfect for packed kids lunches. I try to remember to put little notches in the skin so they are easy for my 5 year old to peel.

Bow Wow

Lunch 48

Lunch: Puppy dog sandwich with fruit leather and carrot details. Cheese cubes and fruit snack pieces in the bottom bento half. Top contains grapes and carrot flowers.

Snacks: Yogurt and a granola bar.

Drink: Iced tea

Friend: Tiger

Winter Wonderland

Lunch 47

more snowflakes. . .

Lunch: Two nutella and whole wheat holiday tree sandwiches. "Frosted" hard boiled egg. Carrots, grapes and a cookie. Home made, holiday themed, shrinky dink style plastic food picks and characters.

Snacks: Granola bar and mix of pretzels and multiple flavors of goldfish crackers.

Drinks: Chocolate milk from school and cranberry-peach juice from home.

This week's bento challenge: make your own food picks. I used the clear plastic tops from last week's pies and sharpie markers. A little coloring, cutting and baking and ta daaaa! I was amazed at how much they shrunk! About 75%! Impressive and fun. The kids were almost as amused as I was.