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.

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.  

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.

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!!!

Non February Vacation Lunch

This week was supposed to be February Vacation week.  After all of the snow days, we had President's Day off, but need to go to school/work the remainder of the week.  Oh well.  I can't complain after all the days off last month!!  I figured I'll give Hailey a palm tree to pretend that she is someplace warm. :)

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow: A cream cheese and jelly palm tree, baby swiss Cheez Its, vanilla yogurt with green sprinkles, chocolate rice cake minis, strawberries and blueberries, and a small packet of Pez as a treat.

The end of a CRAZY week!

I love snow.  I love the powdery white stuff even more that we have 25.5 fresh inches in our yard.  The storm gave us two unexpected (well, I completely expected one - not two!) days off  from school.  It was so nice to have the extra time just to "be" home.  We didn't have to rush around to a variety of places.  As a matter of fact, even if we wanted to, we couldn't.  The plows didn't have our street cleared until the middle of this afternoon!  It was fun to bake, cook, play dollhouse, read, watch Cinderella, play dress-up...I could do that every day! I'm secretly hoping for a delay tomorrow morning also.  Well, I guess it isn't a secret anymore, but I'll still keep my fingers crossed.

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow:

Soynut butter on celery (she asked for three of these....I'll see if she actually eats them since they came home last time!), a diced cheese stick, strawberries, Pirate's Booty, yogurt, and yogurt covered pretzels

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.

Oh Christmas Tree.....

I'm so excited for this weekend.  We are going to get our Christmas tree, decorate the house, maybe even get the lights up outside (Paul...yes??).  I absolutely love this time of the year - from the cold weather, to the smells of festive candles, to the hustle and bustle of the shops....so much more.  I'm loving making holiday themed lunches for Hailey.  I hope she doesn't get sick of them by the time Christmas is actually here!!!

Hailey's lunch:

A ham and cheese Christmas tree with a cheese star on top, cheddar cheese gifts, cherry yogurt, strawberries and blueberries, cinnamon goldfish, mini marshmallows, a teddy bear of raisins, and some chocolate candy treats.

Hailey asked for blueberries and strawberries when I went grocery shopping last weekend.  Those two items cost over nine dollars!!!  Hence, the reason Hailey has had strawberries and blueberries this week....every.single.day.

Cailyn's lunch for tomorrow:

Chicken and peas, cherry yogurt, cheddar cheese, blueberries, and some animal crackers.

December is almost here!!

I've been listening to the Christmas music for a few days, the nativity, stockings, and advent wreath are in their special places, and my shopping is just about finished.  I feel like I'm actually a bit late starting to get into the holidays this year!  Well, my husband said we weren't going to "get into Christmas" until December 1st.  Well, you can bet that my girls will be up later than normal tomorrow so we can start putting more Christmas in this house!! 

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow:

A cream cheese and jelly santa, a babybel cheese with a star cut out, some strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes, and carrots (I told her these were reindeer snacks!), a rudolph shaped rice krispie treat (even stuck on a little red "nose"), and some vanilla yogurt with holiday sprinkles.  There are some mini marshmallows for an extra treat.

Cailyn's lunch is much less festive.  Let's face it....she doesn't care.  As long as she has her favorites, she is happy.

Cream cheese and jelly, blueberries, cheddar cheese, vanilla yogurt, and some animal crackers

A Gift for Hailey

I bought some cute holiday cookie cutters (made by Wilton), and thought I would try them out (well, the present shape anyways) for tomorrow.  I started to giggle as I made Hailey's "cheddar gifts".  I thought back to the year that my mom, claiming she didn't have any Christmas ideas for me, presented me with a huge basket of cheese and crackers.  A variety of different cheeses.  I was in heaven.  My mother certainly knew that this silly gift would make me smile.  The cheese basket wasn't the only gift I received from my mom that year, but I absolutely loved it.  My girls have inherited my love of dairy.  Maybe one day, I will give them a cheese basket too.

Hailey's lunch for tomorrow: Cheddar cheese presents, wheat thins, veggie sticks, applesauce with a pinch of cinnamon, strawberries and blueberries, and some marshmallows. 



Nice holiday break with the family

It was so nice to have the extra time home with my family over Thanksgiving break.  I've decided the work stress just isn't worth getting worked up over.  I was determined to have a relaxing 4 day weekend, and boy did I!  It got to the point where I just sat in complete silence reading a magazine for a good hour and a half on Saturday. I can't remember the last time that happened!!  I also did get some shopping done, visited with family, ate lots of yummy food, and spent quality time with the best little girls one could ask for.  And, yes, I did manage to get a teeny bit of work done too. :)

Lunch for tomorrow:

Cailyn will have a half of a cream cheese and jelly sandwich, strawberries and blueberries, vanilla pudding, and some animal crackers.  

Hailey's lunch is ham and cheese on a mini bagel, veggie sticks, a container of raisins, vanilla pudding with some heart sprinkles, strawberries and blueberries, and a couple of shortbread cookies.

A Couple of Bentos

I know I've been extremely lazy about posting.  I realized just this past week that I had a 1st birthday party to plan - and what didn't seem like a lot of time to plan it!!  I said I would be "as good" about planing/organizing/doing things for Cailyn as I was for Hailey.  Well, that is obviously not true (seeing as how my pregnancy scrapbook for C isn't even halfway done!).  Anyways....I digress.

Even though I haven't posted lunches, I have certainly been continuing my project....most of the time.  At least one of the girls received a bento lunch each day since I've last posted.  Unfortunately, I forgot to post the pics, and deleted a number of them from my phone.  Oops!!!

Here are two from the past week (both Hailey's lunches) that I DID manage to save.

In this bento, a grilled cheese sandwich (no crusts), baby carrots w/ranch, mini pretzels, homemade cinnamon applesauce, strawberries, and a few mini fudge cookies.

This bento contains a cheese stick (cut into pieces), some crackers, cucumbers with a container of ranch, raspberries, peach pudding, and cinnamon goldfish.

Hopefully I'll be 5 for 5 in posting next week!!! :)