Three Bentos for a Monday!!

I love making Monday lunches. I love that - on Sunday - my refrigerator is full of good healthy, fresh produce.  Heck, I love that my fridge actually has stuff in it!  By Friday, it seems so bare!!  I'm hoping to start sending ore fruits and veggies for myself in the upcoming weeks.  I get those things in there for the girls, so why not myself?  I'm actually quite excited about MY lunch for tomorrow. ;-)

Hailey's lunch: Cream cheese & jelly, cucumber and mushroom (can't say I've ever had a mushroom, myself!!) slices with a container of ranch, cantaloupe, and a few mini vanilla cookies with a sprinkling of M&Ms.  

Cailyn's 1st "toddler room" lunch: Cream cheese & jelly, mini pretzel rods, diced cantaloupe, and diced kiwi.  She has a few extra things thrown in her lunch bag also!

Mommy's lunch: Cheddar cheese, sea salt & olive oil crackers (omg - SO yummy), cucumber slices, carrots, a container of blue cheese, kiwi, and 2 peanut butter & fudge cookies.  Mmmmm!!!!!

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!).

Beautiful Day!!

It was so nice to come home from work to see the sun shining in my town.  Who woulda thought that the temperature would be 15 degrees cooler, and the sky filled with clouds just 25 minutes away from my house.  That said, I was hoping to get a really yummy "spring" lunch to go along with Hailey's "Spring week" at school.  I'm too tired, and still recovering from this past weekend. I had good intentions!

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow: A butterfly-shaped cream cheese and jelly sandwich, grape tomatoes with a turtle pick, flower-shaped cucumbers (and the ever necessary container of ranch - she won't eat the veggies without the ranch!), strawberries, and chocolate pudding with sprinkles.

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. 

I know I haven't posted in a couple of weeks.  I'm going to have to go through my pictures though, because I know I have some that I must just not have gotten around to.

Lately, Hailey is wanting to help out with cooking meals, preparing her lunch on the weekends, and now be a part of packing her lunch for school.  I'm fine with that!  So, here are Hailey's choices for lunch tomorrow.

Cream cheese and jelly on wheat, grape tomatoes with ranch, cheez-its, blueberry yogurt, cantaloupe, and a mini kitkat.  

I think she did a good job!!! :)

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.  

So after a fun-filled (sunny!) weekend, I get back to the grind...making lunches, and trying to remember to take a photo.  Too bad we lost an hour of sleep last night.  I have a feeling that one little hour is going to make this next week draaaaaaaaaaag on.  Hopefully Hailey's lunch will brighten her day tomorrow!

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow: Heart shaped cheese sandwiches (with a container of mayo), carrots and a container of ranch, strawberries, vanilla yogurt with sprinkles, and some jelly beans.

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.

There MUST be an easier way to upload a picture from Facebook.  I have my "bento" folder.  Well, FB has messed with how pictures are displayed, and now it is taking me too long to be able to update my blog.  Any ideas on how to make the photo uploading process easier (I'm using my droid and sending to FB)?

Anyways, things are well for all of us.  It is weird to lose our February break next week, but I don't mind too much.  I'm certainly looking forward to a three day weekend!!!

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow: half a soynut butter and jelly sandwich, grape tomatoes with a container of ranch, blueberries, pirate's booty, applesauce, and a mini 3 musketeers.

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.



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 :)

Mid week, first bento!

It isn't really funny anymore. In one week, we've had two snow days, one day of work, a three day weekend due to MLK day, and another snow day today (oh, and a partridge in a pear tree?).  I'm anxious to get back to work, and I know Hailey is looking forward to seeing her friends and teachers back at school tomorrow.  Hopefully we will have a full day....but, looking at the sheet of ice surrounding my house, I would not be the least bit surprised to get a phone call that we have a delay tomorrow.  

You would think with all the extra time I've spent at home over the last few days, I would have the coolest bento for tomorrow.  However, I'm so exhausted from having all this time off with the girls that I'm counting down the days til February vacation!  Needless to say, I just threw some things into Hailey's Easy Lunch Box container, and I'll add some snacks in the morning. :)

Hailey's lunch: Half a turkey and cheese on a sandwich thin (mayo is in the fish container), some caramel rice cake minis, broccoli with a container of ranch, some frozen blueberries that will thaw before lunchtime, and a small homemade brownie for dessert.

Two More Bentos :)

I did take a picture yesterday, but forgot to post.  It is looking like I won't post again until Wednesday night....big snowstorm predicted for Wednesday!!!!!! YAY!

Hailey's lunch today:

Two mini heart sandwiches (turkey, cheese, and mayo), yogurt pretzels, broccoli and ranch, blueberries, a couple caramel rice cake minis (those came home though...guess she didn't like them!), and a truffle.

Lunch for tommorrow:

Yogurt, Pirate's Booty, cheese (with a festive little snowman pick - I'm SO excited for this big storm!!), yogurt pretzels, strawberries, and a mini candy.

Is anyone looking at this?

To an extent, I'm doing this for myself.  I like getting some ideas when Hailey says "I don't know what I want..." or just putting this bookmark down as a time when I was somewhat creative (well, in this manner anyways!).  I figure, Hailey won't like these lunches forever.  Quite honestly, she may decide that she hates them as soon as she enters kindergarten.  But, for now, she loves them, and I'm going to continue making these bentos, taking pictures of them, and posting for the whole world (umm....me?) to see. 

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow: Cheese and crackers, grape tomatoes on a bed of baby carrots with a container of ranch (the carrots can't really be seen in this picture), vanilla yogurt, pineapple cubes (frozen...will thaw in time for lunch, of course), a small container of raisins, and a mini candy for a treat. 

Crazy week

So THIS will be a crazy busy week due to Hailey's 4th birthday and the shortened holiday week.  I'm SO excited!!  Truly, this week can take its sweet time.  I'm going to savor every moment.

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow: ham and cheese Santa crackers, mini pretzels, peach yogurt, blueberries with a Santa pick, carrots and a container of ranch, and a rice krispie Rudolph resting on a red of snow (mini marshmallows).

Baby It's Cold Outside

I love the cold weather.  I don't mind walking to my car when it is cold, the wind whipping against my cheeks and ears, my girls don't cry or complain about the weather (as a matter of fact, Hailey loves it!).  It gives me the perfect opportunity to crank the heat on our ride to work/school, wear lots of layers, or snuggle with my girls under a blanket at home.  I can't do anything about the freezing temperatures, so I may as well look at the positives!!

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow: ham and cheese with present skewers, grape tomatoes and ranch, cinnamon goldfish, diced pineapple, and marshmallows (REALLY hoping for a snowy weekend....maybe this is just as good as doing a snow dance??) under a Christmas tree. :)

I cannot get enough Christmas right now.

Hailey is starting to get SO excited about her upcoming birthday and Christmas.  I figured I'd play into it.  Well, let's face it.  I'm super excited too. :)  I know of some coworkers who wouldn't mind getting this lunch tomorrow either. :)  Let's see if they are reading tonight!!

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow is:

A cream cheese and jelly gingerbread man, grape tomatoes and ranch, cheddar cheese cubes with a Santa Claus pick, blueberries, vanilla pudding with holiday sprinkles, and two marshmallows on a present pick.  

Snow!

There was no snow on the ground when I left my house, so I was shocked when I saw snow on the ground in the town where I work!  I loved seeing all the flurries outside my classroom window today, and it made me really want to get hit with a BIG storm right about now. I will keep my fingers crossed. :)

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow:

Ham and cheese on sandwich thins, with an extra cheese santa on top, grape tomatoes and a container of ranch, a clementine, mini pretzels, and a marshmallow snowman.

Cailyn's lunch isn't colorful, but I know she'll think it is yummy!  She is having homemade mac and cheese, applesauce, clementine, cheese, and some animal crackers.  I'm sending some yogurt also.

It's the holiday season!

This week will be a busy one.  A full week of work, my 29th birthday (ok 31, but is anyone actually reading this?), my Winter Concert with school, and a night out with my bestie.  Too bad the weekend couldn't have lasted an extra day.  We ended up cutting down our tree for the 1st time this year (fun!), decorating with the girls, finished up most of the holiday shopping, got Cailyn's 1st birthday pictures/family pictures done (finally!), and more.  Seems like the weekend FLEW by, and I'm just plan exhausted.  I wish I could just go to bed right now, but it is only 7:30.

Anyways, here are Monday lunches for my cuties!

Hailey has two candy cane sandwiches (cream cheese and jelly), a babybel with a candy cane cutout, goldfish, yogurt, and two mini sugar cookie presents under a Christmas tree.  I also sent reindeer snacks with ranch (think she will eat them if I refer to them as reindeer snacks?  We will see!)

Cailyn will have cream cheese and jelly, cheddar cheese, peaches, and yogurt.  I may send her some vanilla pudding also.  Hopefully, I will remember!