A Couple of Bentos from the Week!

This is my crazy time of year - after April vacation until the last day of school.  Concerts, general performances, report cards (before I know it!!), daily classes, and then room clean up.  I feel like the end of June will be here before I know it....and I'm so overwhelmed already!

I still make Hailey's "cool lunches" every day, bu I know I'm a slacker with taking the photos and posting.

Here are a few from this week:

This one has cheese, a mini potato roll, kielbasa, goldfish, grapes, and a small piece of my homemade vanilla mousse cheesecake. :-)

For tomorrow: grilled cheese, grape tomatoes with ranch, goldfish, grapes, and a brownie with vanilla frosting (yum!).

This was the busiest weekend we have had in quite some time!  Hailey came down with strep throat on Friday. My brother got married in Boston on Saturday (and Hailey was the flower girl - you never would have known she didn't feel well.  She did awesome!!). Paul's grandfather celebrated his 80th birthday today in the form of a HUGE surprise party.  Lots of fun and excitement, but now, everyone is exhausted!!

Needless to say, it pained me to take the girls grocery shopping at 5:00 on a Sunday evening.  I truly contemplated having the two of them buy lunch tomorrow and send for a Peapod delivery. But, we managed, and I made Hailey a decent lunch for school on Monday.

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow:

Ham and cheese on wheat (with a container of mayo), cheez-its, peach yogurt, strawberries and grapes, and some gummy snacks.

Couple Bentos

In this lunch, Hailey had ham and cheese roll-ups, grapes, carrots with ranch, strawberries, popcorn, and a little debbie easter snack cake thingie.  

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow is much less colorful, but I simply can't be bothered.  My DVR is calling my name this evening. ;-)

A heart shaped grilled cheese (looks more like a broken heart though!!!!), grape tomatoes with ranch, cheez-its, cantaloupe, applesauce, and some pez. 

A Bunch o' Lunches!

I take the photos, but I can never get on the computer to update my blog (blame Paul).  Here are some of Hailey's lunches from the past week.

A wheat and cheese palm tree, some goldfish, carrots and ranch, yogurt with blue sprinkles, strawberries, and a few jelly beans.

Peaches, carrots, ranch, cheddar cheese, crackers, grapes, and a cookie.

This was the start of T week at school.  I thought I'd have Hailey search for T things in her lunch. :)

Cheese on wheat (like mommy like daughter!) in triangle shapes - with a little turtle pick to hold it together, cheese-itz, a teddy bear container with mayo, grapes, toy story gummies, and some vanilla pudding with the letter T spelled out.  

I don't think I like daylight savings anymore.  We were all running late this morning, more exhausted than ever. I think schools should have a late opening the Monday after "Spring Ahead" weekend.  It would make for more pleasant children, and more pleasant mommies (well, a more pleasant ME anyways).

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow: a turkey and cheese rollup help together with a heart pick, baby carrots with a container of ranch, grapes, peaches, and some vanilla pudding with pink sprinkles.

Beano

Just kidding!  That is for Angie who can never remember the word Bento. ;-)  I wanted to stick with a "rainbow" type lunch for tomorrow.  The pre-schoolers are having a Pizza Party since they filled their marble jar - I hope Hailey has room for lunch (we were told to pack one anyways!!).

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow:  Cheddar cheese and wheat crackers, applesauce, broccoli, carrots, a container of ranch, strawberries, grapes, and a sugar cookie.

R Week

Hailey is very excited for R week at school, so I thought I'd give her an "R" lunch.  I tried to get a rainbow of color in there!!

A soynut butter and jelly sandwich (cut in a Rectangle) with a cheese R on top, cheese it crackers, grapes, strawberries, carrots, broccoli, and a container of Ranch, and a half of a brownie from the batch she and I made this morning.

Cookies!

Last day of February, and I've met my goal of finding 20 followers!  I think for March, I'll look for 5 more. :)

Cailyn has mastered a word - cookie.  It was originally cute: every time she would pass through the kitchen, she would say in her cute little angel voice "cookie?".  She was obviously good....we all gave in every.single.time.  Well, then it became funny.  Each time the pantry would open, no matter where she was, her little feet would come running, no longer asking for a cookie, but demanding "Cookie!".  I stopped giving in, but Paul wouldn't.  I found it was becoming a problem when I told her no one day, and she flopped on her belly kicking, banging the floor, and crying while panting the word over and over.  Who would have thought I would have a 15 month old terror!  The final straw came just last week, while in the grocery story, she screamed the word in every aisle we were in.  

I never thought I would have to do the "cry it out" method over a cookie.  The pediatrician's office said it would be a rough couple of days (um, yes, very!), but then the habit would be broken.  Well, it is.  She is perfectly satisfied with a few animal crackers after dinner.  Occasionally, I will catch her looking at me with that coy smile as she walks by the pantry.  Now, when I hear "cookie?" it is followed by a little giggle as she walks away.

Cailyn's lunch for tomorrow: peas and carrots, quartered grapes, chicken nuggets (diced), and mozzarella cheese.  There are a few animal crackers in there, too. ;-)

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow: wheat thins, a cheese stick, goldfish, chicken nuggets (with a turtle pick), a container of ketchup, celery, grapes, vanilla pudding with sprinkles, and some Toy Story gummies.

Last week I tried to use a lot of leftovers.  I didn't want to make lunches, let alone post photos of them.  As a matter of fact, I didn't want to even be in school (it was supposed to be our February vacation, after all!), but now it is a new week.  I'm hopeful it will be a good one!! :)

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow: cream cheese and jelly on whole wheat, pirate's booty, grapes and strawberries, yogurt, yogurt covered raisins, and a container with a few jelly beans

I was SO excited to see jelly beans in the grocery store this weekend.  I may have to hide them from now on though - Paul has already finished the bag!!!

Monday!

"This is going to be a good week" is going to be my mantra.  I figure, if I keep chanting it, it is bound to be a good week, right?

Cailyn's lunch for tomorrow: half an open-faced grilled cheese, cut into bite sized pieces, grapes (cut into quarters), a few animal crackers, and applesauce.  I'm also sending some yogurt in case she is overly hungry.  She is feeling much better now, but is now unpredictable with how much she will (or will not!) eat.

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow: Half a grilled cheese, minus the crusts, with a little cupid pick, pirate's booty, pudding with sprinkles, grapes, and some animal crackers.



How Many Days of Work This Week?

The snow is comical at this point.  I can't do anything about it, so I had better just be able to laugh about it!  They weather icons are either snow, ice, or freezing rain for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday of this week.  Absolutely nuts!! 

Cailyn spent the weekend recovering from bronchiolitis and pneumonia...my poor baby!  Fortunately, she responded really well to the antibiotics, and she seems to be her happy, smiley self again.  The downside is that she still hasn't seemed to regain her pig-like appetite yet.  I'll see how she does with lunch tomorrow.

Cailyn's lunch is an open-face grilled cheese, grapes, pirate's booty, and applesauce (in the container).  I'm hoping she eats it all, though I wouldn't be surprised if more than half of it comes home.  I will certainly keep my fingrs crossed.

Hailey helped pack her lunch this evening.  She chose every item that went into this lunch - even the salad!!  Good choices, Hailey!! :)

Cheese and crackers, salad, a container of ranch, grapes, pirate's booty, applesauce, and a little chocolate candy treat.



Forgot to post yesterday!

What a nutty week (yet again)!  We had only one full day of school because of all this snowy weather.  I wonder when we will ever have a full week again?  We haven't since....hmmm.....the middle of December??  Insane!

This was Hailey's lunch from today:

Half a cream cheese and jelly on multi-grain bread, pirate's booty, yogurt, grapes (with a snowman - how apropos), and some scooby doo gummies.  

Can it be??

Two days of school in a row???  I'd better not jinx it......

This past weekend, I took Hailey to Barnes and Noble.  Her Uncle had given her some money to buy a book as part of her birthday gift.  So, Saturday morning, Hailey got her little purse, put the money inside and off we went.  She found these "Step Reader" books that she wanted to get, buy 2 get the 3rd free. Perfect!  We then went to Stop & Shop, again Hailey walking in carrying the brown purse with the blue stripe.  The change from the books was clearly burning a hole in her pocket.  She was psyched when she found these little chocolate Tinkerbell Valentine's candies...for $1.29.  I hope she gets excited when she opens her lunch tomorrow afternoon.  I wouldn't be surprised if she tells her teacher all about how she bought the candy (and the books - with the money from Uncle Bryan!) "all by herself.":)

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow:  Cheese and crackers, grapes, pirate's booty, applesauce, broccoli and a container of ranch, and a mini Tinkerbell chocolate candy :)

Busy weekend...back to the grind tomorrow!

Paul surprised us with a trip to New Hampshire this weekend.  We went to Santa's Village, and then traveled to VT to eat ice cream and lots of cheese on Sunday!!  Needless to say, we are all so sleepy...and I'm certainly NOT wanting to go to work tomorrow!  Hailey's lunch is just okay, but I am tired, and haven't been to the grocery store.  Hopefully Paul goes for me tomorrow (hint hint!).

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow is  heart shaped ham and cheese sandwich (with a penguin pick for fun), grape tomatoes with a container of ranch, grapes, vanilla yogurt with heart sprinkles, animal crackers, and some candy corn.

Catching Up

I have been good about making the bento lunches, and even good about taking pictures.  However, then I forget to update my blog!  So, here are my lovelies lunches for Tuesday, Wednesday, and tomorrow.

Hailey Tuesday: Peach Yogurt, grapes, a cheese stick (cut up with a penquin pick), crackers, grape tomatoes and a container of ranch, two shortbread cookies, and a little container of raisins.

Hailey Wednesday: Soynut butter and jelly squares, heart shaped cheese, grapes, peaches, animal crackers, and a container of raisins.

Cailyn Wednesday: Grilled cheese, cheddar baby goldfish, vanilla yogurt, and grapes

Hailey Thursday: A cheese sandwich "ghost" with raisin eyes, black olives and grape tomatoes, some blueberry yogurt, grapes, half an orange jack-o-lantern, and a few indian corn.

I'll be honest, I have NO idea what happened to my photos of Cailyn's lunches from Tuesday and tomorrow. So, I'll post one more from a week or so ago that, of course, I uploaded and forgot to post on here.  

Mini flower sandwiches, goldfish, raspberries, cucumber flowers with ranch, some dried apple, a homemade chocolate chip cookie, and a strawberry-apple fruit twist.

Determined to get back into this!

 going to try my best to post 5 bento lunches this week - for both girls.  Let's see if I can do it! :)

For Cailyn:

Diced chicken nuggets, cheese stick - cut into little pieces, grapes - again diced, and some vanilla yogurt.  Hopefully that is a decent lunch for her!

For Hailey:

Ham and cheese roll up, a few crackers, grape tomatoes and a little container of ranch, grapes, "s'mores" goldfish, and vanilla yogurt with a few heart sprinkles.

First Day of School Bento

So here it is: my first blog entry.  I've decided to begin to document the beginning of my Bento making.  I started trying experimenting with Bentos a bit this summer so Hailey would eat more of a variety during lunch.  She now asks for "cool lunches" each day, and gobbles them right up.  Boring? Maybe to some. A waste of time? I've gotten that also. However, Hailey LOVES them.  Let's face it.  If I'm putting a big smile on my little girl's face as she eats her lunch during her day at pre-school, then this little "experiment" is totally worth it.

This summer, I bought food containers and lunch bags from Easy Lunch Boxes.  So convenient, easy to pack, and big enough without being too bulky for my 3 year old.

I'll have to take some better pictures (the first two are taken with my cell phone), and of course will have to update on a regular basis, but here is Hailey's 1st Bento of the school year.

Hailey's lunch: turkey, and cheese on wheat bread (cut into heart shapes), baby carrots with a container of ranch dressing, strawberries and grapes, vanilla yogurt, and a few animal crackers for dessert.

Day #2

Hailey's Bento today is mozzerella cheese in mini heart shapes with wheat crackers, grapes, applesauce, grape tomatoes and baby carrots with a container of ranch dressing, and two mini chocolate chip cookies.

The rest of the week I'll be on a bit of a hiatus!  Pipe leak at work = no school until after Labor Day!!