Jess gets new hair

Back in January, I was looking for an American Girl doll for Kierynn. I put a lowball bid on Jess, Girl of the Year 2006, with a pixie cut that I found on ebay. I then found a nice Samantha on a board for about what my lowball offer was so rather than miss out on Samantha, waiting for the Jess auction to elude me as well, I got Samantha. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I won Jess as well!

Once Jess arrived, her hair was not as bad as I expected and was sorta cute. Kierynn thought it was sorta cute as well and we toyed with the idea of finding someone to trim it into a nice shape. After looking at it closely, I realized that it was cut short enough in places that there was no way to get it into a nice shape.

Through an adventure with a second Jess arriving at our house, this one with long hair, we made the decision to send her in to AG and get her head replaced. (No, I didn't buy a second Jess. The seller I bought Jess from sent me a second Jess by mistake. I contacted her and send that Jess on to her correct owner) It is about $50 to get the head replaced.

On an AG board, someone had a JLY doll wearing the most adorable wig. I knew that was the hair for our Pixie Jess! I found out the details and purchased the wig.

Rewigging is really not difficult but I have never done it. I watched loads of videos and read through tutorials on how to do it. Since it was my first time, I expected that it would be a 2 hour epic struggle, complete with sweating, a few choice words and me vowing to never do it again.

Armed with my tools, I set to work. I carefully soaked her hair line, waited a moment and insert the spoon. Less than 5 minutes later, Jess was totally bald. That was so much easier than expected!

Her new wig is in position and is sitting there for a few days to be sure that this is really how I want it. I may make some minor adjustments but basically, this is how she looks with her new hair. I think it is super cute on her!

Blah!

I am not overly thrilled with how tonight's lunches look. I didn't realize how much beige/brown there was in this lunch but I also don't want to toss MORE food in there just to color it up some more.

It was no surprise to see that Rhys didn't eat most of his ham and cheese chunks. He did eat one of the picks of them but left the other two. Overall, he ate the vast majority of his lunch so no real complaints.

The "sushi" sandwiches were by request today. I am not sure why they call these sushi sandwiches, I have never made sushi and I don't know that they have ever seen it. In any event, they like it and it is fun for them to eat. I use a rolling pin to flatten a slice of bread, remove the crusts and then after I put peanut butter and jelly on it, the slice is cut in thirds and rolled up.


Kierynn(pink box): strawberries and pineapple, sushi peanut butter, pound cake and granola flower
Rhys (blue box): same thing as Kierynn
Greg: PBH, pistashios, berry mix, grapes, cheese chunks, cookies

Kaitlyn (top): PBJ, granola bar, strawberries and grapes, pound cake
Iain (bottom): Ham, strawberries and pineapple, pound cake, granola star, cheese slices

There may be a bonus set of pictures tomorrow, not sure yet. Kierynn and I are going to the American Girl store in New York on Saturday. We will be having lunch there but I am bringing snacks for us to eat on the bus. Since we can bring a cooler, I am thinking our Ziplock boxes are going to be my best bet for packing. Since it is Kierynn, she is willing to eat a lot of different fruits and veggies.

Clementines, grapes, peppers, carrots and apples will be coming along. I will bring some crackers, a few cookies or semi sweet things and then some sandwiches. I may also bring some ham or turkey rolled up and cheese too. I think we will eat something before we get back on the bus but it is always good to have some snacky stuff. Of course, the downside is that if there is snacky stuff...I will eat it.

Good news was that on Tuesday, I was down 1 lbs. This is good since a few pounds began to creep back on and I really need them to go away.

I *love* those things!

Rhys fairly flew off the bus this afternoon and raced to me, clearly with something incredibly important to tell me.

"I loved those round things you put in my lunch! I want them every day!" I was so not surprised to hear this. The older, more wise to my ways older ones, looked over at him and slowly shook their heads. "She won't do it. I bet we only get them sometimes." My kids really do know me.

Kierynn informed me that she doesn't like raisins. I said I knew that. Then she wanted to know why I put some in her lunch. I told her they were blueberry flavored craisins and after she tried a few at home, she ate the ones she had left in her lunch box. Let's keep Monday's chocolate covered raisins a secret, shall we? She thought they were just soft chocolate chips.

When I opened boxes to clean them out, I found that Rhys actually didn't eat most of his lunch. Oh, he ate the "good stuff" (sandwich, chips and donuts) but left everything else. His lunch for tomorrow is a bit smaller and we will see how it goes.

As predicted, Ryan asked me to back off on the jelly since I put too much for him. Gah, what did I let myself in for?

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to just make 5 lunches and not worry about kid A doesn't like apple so if I cut an apple, kid B gets apple too since she will eat it, Kid C doesn't like cheese cut so don't cut the stick, Kid D will eat strawberries and most fruits but not apples and so on and so on. So why do I do it? 'Cause they are cute and I love them to bits! Seriously, they won't see it now but when they open their lunch each day, I am telling them how much I love them and how much they mean to me. One day, in the far distant future, they will look back and clearly hear me say "I love you!" when they think of their lunches. They won't remember that I put them in strange containers or made patterns on their sandwiches but theywill remember I took the time to make a lunch specifically for them. Okay, sappy moment over...on to the pictures!


Kaitlyn (upper left): PBJ, entire cheese stick since apparently one cut into pieces is somehow faulty, grapes, chocolate chip muffin, fruit shapes
Iain (lower left): ham and cheese chunks, crackers, grapes, chocolate chip muffin, fruit shapes. I had enough room that I put his drink in there too.
Greg (right): PBH, grapes, cheese chunks, pistachios, mixed berries and grapes. Not pictured are his cookies and his mini muffin...in a separate bag.


Kierynn and Rhys: They pretty much have the same thing, Kierynn has more apple slices. ham and cheese chunks, crackers, chocolate chip muffin, fruit shapes, apples.

Since Rhys didn't eat his apples in his previous lunch, I am trying cutting them into chunks and sticking a pick in it. He usually is more willing to eat something if it has a pick in it. I ordered some Pokemon cupcake picks and we will see how they work. I think they may be too large but will know for sure when they get here.
I put their drinks in the lower tier of the box.

Cold, not warm

I finally figured out why Kierynn seems to be having an issue with cheese in her lunch. She eats cheese normally with no problem. When I am making something with a block of cheese, she asks for a chunk. I just could not figure out what the problem was. I let her know the cheese in her lunch today was the regular cheese that I use (Colby Jack) and expected when she got home, she would be thrilled. Nope. Then she finally TOLD me why she didn't want to eat it...it was warm! She likes her cheese cold and a bit firm. After a little more probing, she said string cheese was fine but no more block cheese. Okay, Miss Picky.

I took two pics of the lunches for today, it is just too much to try to get into one shot.


Kaitlyn (upper left): PBJ, baked cheese crackers, string cheese chunks, blueberry flavored craisins, grapes, apples, granola shapes and a few gummy hearts.
Iain (bottom left): PB, baked cheese crackers, string cheese chunks, blueberry flavored craisins, grapes, apples, donut holes
Kierynn (right): PB, honey, banana sandwich, baked cheese crackers, blueberry flavored craisins, apple slices, donut holes


Rhys (left): See Kierynn's lunch...they have the same thing today.
Greg (right): PB, honey and banana sandwich, grapes, pistachios, cheese, baked cheese crackers, berry mix (blue, black and strawberries), 2 cookies (not in the pic)

Kaitlyn doesn't have donut holes since she is the reason we have them. Her French class is having a party and she is bringing in donut holes. Since she is having them in class, I didn't put any in her lunch. I rarely buy donut holes so the wee ones should be fairly thrilled to see them in their lunches.

After I make lunches, they generally go into a lunch bag and then into the fridge overnight. Rhys and Kierynn just carry theirs or put it in their bag. Here is what they look like, ready to go in the fridge overnight.



After using the new boxes again today, I like that I can put the drink in there. I just need to get some better dividers to keep things from moving too much. Ryan asked me to make his sandwich again. Yesterday, when I asked him, he said he wanted a medium amount of peanut butter. Apparently, his idea of medium and mine differ since he asked me for a lot of peanut butter today. I think I put about 3 times as much as I would normally put on and he said that was okay. Yuck! Glad I am not eating it.

Brownies went very well this evening. We had a Cadette troop come in and lead us. The girls learned about camping, dunk bags, what to bring and then we played several games. We played one from England, Zimbabwe, Japan and the US. This means the girls there earned the Playing Around the World Try It.

Thumbs up

Everyone brought back totally empty boxes today (except for the stuff they should bring back) The adorable fish shaped bread was a total success and it has been requested for sandwiches from here on out. I let them know that it was a special occasion bread, it would show up now and again but probably not on a regular basis.

Ryan surprised me by asking if I would make him a sandwich this evening when I was making lunches. I did but he resisted all my efforts of cutting it, drawing faces on it or doing anything "weird" to it. Who is he calling weird? Both Ryan and Kaity asked me if I would get some whole grain bread for lunches. Sure!

You will notice that Kaitlyn's lunch is missing. When the kids get home, I become a broken record asking for them to put their lunch bags by the phone. I normally ask the smaller ones several times before the migration from book bag to counter begins. I asked Kaity to bring hers up since I was planning to start lunches. She did not. At 14, I am not going to hold her hand so I went on with my lunch making and she brought it up as I was setting up the photo shoot. I declined to make her lunch even thought she batted her beautiful blue eyes at me and said please. I told her to make sure it was up tomorrow since I am not going to get everything out again for her one lunch. I don't really think she is that in awe of my mad lunch making skills, I think she just likes not doing it herself.



Here is the line up for today (or tomorrow...depends on what you want to call it. I make it today, it is eaten tomorrow) This goes left to right
Iain: PBH, cheese bits, grapes, cookie, chocolate covered raisins
Rhys: PBJ, cheese, grapes, apples, carrots, cookie, chocolate covered raisins
Kierynn: PB, cheese, grapes, apples, carrots, cookie, chocolate covered raisins
Greg: PBH, cheese, grapes, carrots, cookies, pistachios

As you can see, I found some new boxes! I took Ryan to Grand Mart to look at the fruit and he got some canned jackfruit and magenstenos. While there, I decided to look around and found these boxes. Kierynn and Rhys said they would like to use them so we got them.



Once I actually started to pack them, I quickly discovered that they are HUGE! They don't look that big but there is a lot of room. I decided to put their drink in there and it worked out well. If you look under Kierynn's drink, you can see her cookie peeking out.

Yes, that is elephant and train shaped cheese. I am not sure if it will be eaten. Both of the two younger kids have said they don't like the cheese I have been using (mild cheddar) I went back to the even more mild Colby Jack and I will see how they like it. They do eat Colby Jack so who knows.

You can't see it but Iain got all the leftover bits from when I cut out the shaped cheese. Greg has bits left from a few days ago. I keep all the extra bits in a bag to use when I need shredded cheese. I also have a bag of crusts in the freezer from when I cut sandwiches so I can make breadcrumbs if needed.

Who knew bread could be cute?

I have used bread cutters for several years now, starting with the Pampered Chef cut n seal. It is just a round shape but takes the crusts off so the kids are happy. I have a load of different cutters for sandwiches, including hearts, butterflies, dinosaurs, stars and I recently got a 4-in-1 that has a bear, dog, kitty and heart.

Rhys really loves his Pokemon bento box but a traditional sandwich is not going to fit in there unless I cut it and really, his best bet is the 4-in-1 cutter. Lucky for both of us, he actually likes his sandwich being cut (and cute) Iain won't touch his sandwich if it is cut at all, no way, shape or form.

As I was shopping, there is always demo tables set up. One was being manned by a very nice German lady who was offering samples of some bread by Pepperidge Farm. Can you guess?? You betcha, it was goldfish shaped bread, complete with the smile!! Since it was new and there was a coupon, I grabbed one of the wheat ones. Even with a coupon, it is more than I would normally spend on bread ($1.50 for 8 pairs) but I could not pass up the cuteness.

I showed Rhys and Kierynn who gave me a thumbs up and even Kaitlyn asked if she could have a goldfish shaped sandwich tomorrow. When I took it out of the bag, I was a bit concerned that it would be too large for the Pokemon box. It is not, it fits in there nicely so tonight, I made his lunch and laid the sandwich on top. It worked like a charm! Have mentioned that I am impressed at how much food I can actually get into that box?




Greg (top left): Deli sandwich, grapes, apples, pistachios, cheese, 2 cookies. After this was taken, I put in a few leftover Pocky in there too.
Kierynn (bottom left) PB, brownie, 2 Pocky sticks, cheese, grapes, apples and a few cheese crackers
Kaitlyn (top right) pretty much the same as Kierynn but she got more cheese crackers
Iain (bottom left)) Ham, 2 Pocky sticks, grapes, cheese crackers, cheese, brownie
Rhys (bottom center) Same thing as Kierynn except no grapes

Monday lunches for the smaller crowd are a bit on the lighter side since they only have a half day. This means the short lunch time is even shorter. Once they get home, they all grab a snack anyway.

Little Debbie has made her first appearance in lunches. I really dislike how so many things are double packaged. I used 2 packets of brownies here and split them between 4 kids. I considered cutting the brownie into a star or something but then the trimmings would be tempting me to eat them so I left them as a square. Even though the Pocky has chocolate on it, it really is not a lot.

When I did my shopping, I looked at things differently, trying to think of how they could work in the bento style lunches. I still have 2 hold outs on me and since they are a 15 and 16 year old boy, I am not too upset that they make their own lunches still.

Nifty things

Today was a day for nifty things. No, not the IEP meeting or the kid dental appointment (2 fillings needed) but other stuff I found or had mailed in.

First, I got a couple of skeins of cotton yarn for only .79 each. Between the 2 skeins, I can get 3 dishcloths made. Then, I found wooden candle holder tops that are just perfect to be made into doll bed legs. It is currently drying overnight in the garage. I will post a picture of the bunk beds when they are completed. I found some super cute cupcake papers for .50 a pack, which is good since Iain can toss them.

I found these little beauties! Each pack was only .79 so I got one of each pack they had. They are supposed to be for clay but as you will see below in the lunches, they work just fine on cheese.



Rhys was super excited when I told him his Pokemon lunch box came in the mail today. I used a guideline I found and got him a 450ml box, which is what was recommended for his age. It was smaller than I expected but it works and he is in love.



And finally, the complaints today were: Can I not have any picks in my fruit? What was the green thing on my cheese? (My attempt at a shamrock) and I don't want any berries of any kind...blue or straw. How did I get these picky kids? Lucky for them, they are cute and I love them bunches so I am willing to accommodate them (to a certain point)



Kaitlyn, top left: PBJ, cheese stars (see how nicely they cut?), cherry tomatoes, clementine, grapes, chocolate chip cookie, pretzel snaps
Iain, bottom left: Ham rolls, cheese, crackers, grapes, chocolate chip cookie
Kierynn, upper right: Ham rolls, cheese, crackers, apple slices, chocolate chip cookie
Rhys: bottom left: See Kierynn's lunch. Now, what is interesting here...they have almost the same amount of food. Kierynn has more apple slices because she will eat them, Rhys will more than likely bring a few home.

No lunch for Greg since it is Friday tomorrow and his office usually provides lunch.

Getting Easier

It is getting easier (and thus faster) to make lunches. I tend to do it in a set order. I do the three younger kids first, all the stuff that is not a sandwich. Then I do Kaitlyn's sides. I do all the sandwiches for the kids and put the lid on the box. Next, I do all of Greg's lunch at one go. After his lunch is done, I take the lids off and take a picture. The lids go on to keep the bread from drying out while sitting on the counter. I know it is only about 10 minutes, maybe a bit longer but I got a complaint about dry bread.

Kierynn said her cheese tasted like cantaloupe...which is odd since it was no where near her fruit. I think she just didn't like it cut into strips, she prefers chunks. Iain was not too pleased to find some bread crumbs on his cheese strips. I had just tossed them in there with his sandwich, no separation. Silly me. You will notice that in the latest batch of lunches, his cheese is not touching his sandwich.

'Member how I told you that Iain tossed my cute lil picks I put in his lunch? I sent plain ole wooden toothpicks today and guess what he brought home? ::facepalm:: He throws out the cute stuff that I wanted brought back and brings back the stuff that was okay to put in the trash.




Top left Rhys: PBJ rolls, cheese crackers, cheese chunks (see my attempt at a shamrock?)baby carrots, clementine, 2 grapes, teeny oreo cookies and 3 gummy hearts
Top right: Iain Ham sandwich, cheese chunks, cheese crackers, baby carrots, oreos, gummy hearts
Bottom left: Kierynn Peanut butter rolls, cheese chunks, cheese crackers, baby carrots, clementine, oreos, gummy hearts
Bottom right: GregBPH, baby carrots, cheese chunks, pistachios, grapes, blueberry/strawberry mix and 2 chocolate chip cookies

Where is Kaity's lunch??! She was home from school today and since her lunch was just in the fridge, she can bring it with her tomorrow.

Oh, a note on the portion sizes here. Each kid got 1/2 a cheese stick. They got 1/2 a pack of the little snack sized bags of Oreos, 1 bag of gummy hearts went between all three. Kierynn and Rhys have a whole sandwich there (2 slices of bread) but it is just cut differently. I did Kierynn's first and she has 4 pieces. I decided that they are just a bit big so when I did it for Rhys, I cut his into 6 pieces. 1 clementine went between the 2 kids (Rhys got 4 pieces, Kierynn got the rest) If they actually watched me make their lunches, I would get complaints that there is not enough there and if I put everything in separate baggies, it would look dinky :)

Kierynn went to Activity Girls tonight and loved it. She showed me the bunny she made, the jelly beans inside and the special chocolate heart she got for finding trash to throw away.

Greg, Tinsel and I went out and did a 3 mile run. It was a bit breezy but a nice evening for a run.

All gone!

Woo hoo! Success! Rhys was very excited when he got off the bus today so he could tell me he ate all his lunch. If it has a pick in it or it is bite sized, he seems to do better with it.

No more cute picks or silicone cups for Iain, he threw them away! I asked him why he threw them out, he told it "it got buried under my trash" Uhm, nothing was in your lunch that goes in the trash. Eat the food, put the picks or cups back in the box and don't go near the trash....that is why the box has a lid. He was not happy when I told him I was not going to give him any thing that I wanted back. He was very much relieved when I told him that I would still use the Ziplock box, just no accessories I want back.

Here are the lunches going out tomorrow: Kierynn (top left), Iain (middle), Rhys (bottom left), Kaitlyn (top right) and Greg (bottom right)



Kierynn: Peanut Butter (by request), cheese slices, mixed fruit, pretzel snaps, 3 girl scout cookies (Dulce De Leche), 3 pretzel snaps, marshmallow bunnies
Iain: Ham (ham and bread only...nothing else. Bleh!) The rest is the same thing Kierynn got
Rhys: PBJ and what Kierynn got
Kaitlyn: PBJ (Chunky), cherry tomatoes, what Kierynn got except the bunnies
Greg: PBH (Chunky) pistachios, grapes, mixed cantaloupe and grapes, cheese, carrots and 2 chocolate chip cookies

Yes, I do tend to make the same things over and over. There are several reasons for this.
1. I know they will eat it
2. For all that I am willing to make minor changes, I am not a short order cook and I am not willing to make 5 totally different lunches
3. I get my fruit at Sam's Club so I have a lot of it at any given time. If I don't put them in lunches daily, it won't get eaten before it goes off


Tomorrow is an exciting day for Kierynn. She turned 8 a few weeks ago so this is her first week that she is able to go to Activity Girls. She has been watching the calendar since January, waiting for this week to arrive.

Too much food!

Rhys is making me nuts, trying to pack his lunch. He is bring the majority home and telling me I am giving him too much, that he doesn't have time to eat it. Now, I am not really giving him more food, I think it is less. It is just spread out. I posted his lunch for today...it was 6 crackers, 6 pieces of cheese (about 1" shaped), maybe 10 thin slices of pepperoni (he likes pepperoni), 10 grapes, 1 strawberry (cut in half), 4 pieces of cantaloupe (1" or less), 1 cookie cut in half and 3 gummy hearts. He ate all the pepperoni, 3 pieces of cheese, half a cracker, 4 grapes, the cookie and the gummies. Everything else came back.

So, for my Rhys man, we are going to have to rethink his meals a bit. I think he is not overly thrilled with the fruit although he does like fruit. Still, no one has complained about the lack of Little Debbie.

Here are the lunches going out tomorrow, top left to right: Kaitlyn, Rhys, Kierynn, Iain and Greg



Kaitlyn: PBJ, cherry tomatoes, grapes, cheese chunks, graham crackers, cookie
Rhys: 1 PBJ cut in 4 shapes, 4 grapes, 1 strawberry, cut in half, cheese (1/2 cheese stick, 2" slice cut in 6 pieces), 1/2 graham cracker, 3 marshmallows (I used a food safe marker, didn't work out so well on bread) I know, it looks like more but really, this is less than I would have packed 2 weeks ago. I would have given him a full cheese stick, more grapes AND a Little Debbie snack!
Kierynn: Cream Cheese, grapes, 1 strawberry, cheese, graham crackers, 3 marshmallows
Iain: Ham, grapes, cheese, graham crackers, 3 marshmallows and after I took the pic, I threw a handful of pretzel snaps above his sandwich
Greg: PBH, grapes, cheese, pistachios, blueberry/strawberry mix, cookie

We went out running tonight, Tinsel enjoyed it. It was the first time in awhile that Greg and I went out together running. GW Parkway Classic 10 miler in April!

Another week

This week is the first full week where I am doing all the lunches bento style.

Last week I learned: Rhys doesn't recognize grapes unless they are green OR I specifically tell him they are grapes. On Friday, when I asked why he didn't eat his grapes, I was informed I didn't give him any grapes. I pointed out the red grapes in his box and he said he thought they were tomatoes. Same boy will not eat a strawberry with the pretty green leaves still attached. I also discovered Kaitlyn does not like marshmallows and despite me seeing Greg eating marshmallows, he really didn't want the sweet lil bunny marshmallows in his lunch. Kaitlyn also told me next time I put chicken nuggets in lunches, she would like some.

Here are the lunches for tomorrow. On the left is Kaitlyn (top) and Rhys (bottom. Right side is Kierynn (top) and Iain (bottom) Greg's lunch is in the middle. Why is his sandwich in plastic wrap? He likes peanut butter and honey and the honey tends to get drippy so I put plastic on it to contain the ooze of honey.



Kaitlyn: PBJ, cherry tomatoes, cheese bits, chocolate chip cookie, cheese crackers, cantaloupe and strawberries
Rhys: Whole grain crackers, cheese, pepperoni, grapes, cantaloupe, strawberries, chocolate chip cookie
Kierynn: Whole grain crackers, cheese, pepperoni, grapes, cherry tomatoes, cantaloupe, strawberries, chocolate chip cookie
Iain: Whole grain crackers, cheese, pepperoni, grapes, cantaloupe, strawberries, chocolate chip cookie (I am not sure he will eat the cantaloupe so he has a few extra strawberries)
Greg: PBH, pistachios, cheese bits, cantaloupe, grapes, chocolate chip cookies

Can you make my lunch?

As I was getting out things to make lunches this evening, Kaitlyn asked if I would make her lunch. She seemed surprised when I said sure. I mean, seriously, I am already making 4 lunches, adding one more is not an issue. I grabbed another thing of containers (made by Ziplock, not Glad) so I was good to go.

Rhys didn't like his banana slices and so they came back along with some grapes. This box is too big for him. He has a Pokemon box incoming so for now, I am going to just make due with what I have.

As I was making lunches, Greg noticed I had tomatoes out. "Are you giving me tomatoes?" I looked at him and said "No, I didn't think you liked them. Do you want some?" He assured me he did not. I would think after being married to him for over 25 years, I have a good idea of what he will and will not eat! And for the record, I don't like tomatoes either. The girls do like them so I buy them.


From the top down, on the left are: Rhys, Iain and Kierynn. On the right are: Greg and Kaitlyn




Iain, Kierynn and Rhys have basically the same thing: Chicken nuggets, strawberries, grapes, cheese chunks, 2 lemon cookies, marshmallows. Kierynn has some tomatoes in hers and Rhys has a sugar cookie and lemon cookie rather than 2 lemon cookies. All of them will eat these chicken nuggets cold, when I have left overs on the stove but I am not sure how they will react to them in lunch.

Greg: PBH, carrots, grapes, pistachios, cheese chunks and a mix of strawberries/blueberries. His cookies are hidden on the bottom. Then I felt badly he didn't have any marshmallow bunnies and put a few in there.

Kaitlyn: PBJ, grapes, strawberries, tomatoes, cheese chunks and cookies with a few marshmallows.

Did you notice I got some cute picks in? I still need to get some silicone cups since the paper ones work but they are not that great.

You may see that the strawberries still have their leaves. I left them on for the color but they were washed.

Success!

Wow, I thought Iain was going to be my tough sell on a new way of doing lunch but I was wrong. As we walked home from the bus, he asked if I would do a "creative" lunch for him tomorrow. I showed him my Glad containers I found at Giant today and he was willing to give it a go as long as his sandwich remained uncut. I got out a slice of bread to show him it would remain cut free.

Greg raved about how great his lunch was. Hmmm, while I think it was a good lunch, I have to wonder if he was just really happy he didn't have to make it himself :D

Rhys was happy with his lunch but did say he didn't like his sandwich being hidden (food was on top of it) and the blueberries were not sweet enough for him.

So this evening, I did 4 lunches bento style. Description below the pic. I decided to take one picture of all four rather than individual shots.



Greg's lunch, upper left: Ham and cheese sandwich, red grapes, apple slices, pistachios, cheese chunks, blueberries (with a little bit of sweetening on it) and 2 cookies. Wait, I also stuck a few baby carrots in there.

Iain's lunch, upper right: Ham sandwich, plain (as in nothing but bread and ham) and UNCUT!, cheese chunks, red grapes, apple slices, cheese crackers, gummy snacks and 2 Tagalongs. He also gets an in class snack in the late morning, usually popcorn.

Rhys's lunch, bottom left: Dinosaur strawberry jam sandwich, red grapes and banana slices, cheese chunks, gummy snacks, cheese crackers and 2 Tagalongs.

Kierynn's lunch, bottom right: Cream Cheese sandwich in a circle, cheese chunks are under it, cherry tomatoes, red grapes, banana slices, cheese crackers, gummy snacks and 2 Tagalongs. She also has an in class snack in late morning, tomorrow will be pretzel snaps.

I would say it took me maybe 25 minutes to do all of these. I did them in assembly line style. All sandwiches first, then I started arranging things. I think the box Rhys is using is actually too large but he wanted to use it. I think if I get him the Pokemon box he wants, it will fit him a bit better.

Bento!

I had looked at Bento lunches before but the overwhelming amount of information just blew me away and I dismissed it as entirely too time consuming. All the lunches I saw seemed to be food my kids would not touch and while cute, I didn't want to spend 90 minutes to make Pikachu out of cheese and cherry tomatoes..no matter how cute it is.

A message on Ravelry got me to look at Bento once again and then a friend posted a link to another lunch, a great Bento site. After looking through that site and also at Lunch in a Box, I thought maybe this would be something I could do. I don't have to use all the Bento specific gear, I can use what I like. (And how silly is it that I feel like I have to give myself permission to use what I have and like??)

I want the kids to eat their lunch and like what is in their lunch bu it seems like that is not the case. Maybe by packing it all in one spot rather than multiple bags, I can break away from packaged foods and get them eating better (and I admit it, it looks pretty!)

Rhys is on board and he wants his box here now! In the meantime, a snap and lock box will do for him. Since Greg has been bringing his lunch to work, he is another test subject.

First up is Greg's lunch...this box was meant for Rhys but since Greg left his snap and lock box at work, Rhys gets to be downsized to a smaller box. As it is, I think that this box would be too big for Rhys. I grabbed it at Wal-Mart for under $4. I don't have any silicone cups so paper cupcake holders work for now.


Peanut butter and honey sandwich, pistachios, blueberries, grapes, baby carrots and on the bottom, where you can't see it, two chocolate chip cookies.

This is for my Rhysie. He is generally a good eater but is not a big eater.

Strawberry jam sandwich. I used a crust remover/shape cutter thing and made it into 4 pieces. When I laid them in there, there was a nice diamond pattern in the middle so I filled it with chunks of cheese. He also has some blueberries and pretzel snaps. After I took the pic, I added a test cookie on the top. This little snap and lock container is the perfect size for him and fits in his current lunch bag.

Kierynn had a birthday party over the weekend where the guests decorated sugar cookies. I made a batch of cookies prior to the party, my test cookies, to be sure they would work well. I told the kids they could eat the test cookies but not the other cookies so now Rhys is calling all sugar cookies test cookies.

I am working on Kierynn and Iain. I think once I get some cute picks, Kierynn will be on board. Iain...he will be more difficult but I think I will get him turned. The trick with him is to get him more involved in what can go in his lunch other than a load of sweet junk.