Bento Box Lunches

This year a friend and I decided it would be really fun to start packing our girls' lunches in bento boxes.  (She has all girls too.) Since my girls have food sensitivities, I have to pack their lunches every day.  It is really not that big of a deal, but as soon as I have to do something, it seems to become drudgery quickly.  I started bento-ing in the Fall at the beginning of the school year, and the feelings of drudgery melted away.  In fact, I actually find joy in packing lunches.  It has become a fun creative outlet for me and the girls LOVE to eat their lunches. 

Both Morgan and Rachael have always been good eaters at home, but Rachael struggled finishing her lunch at school.  In truth, until this year she never did.  Now, she eats everything I pack her.  This is because bento lunches are all about presentation, smaller portions and variety.  For example, instead of sending her a snack sized bag full of grapes as a side dish in her lunch, I will send 4 grapes on cute picks, a strawberry, and half of a kiwi cut into triangles with a little animal fork so she can eat her fruit.  One of our favorite bento supplies is the small dip container.  It is tiny and the perfect size for a squirt of ranch dressing to accompany veggies.  I am not sure who has more fun with the bentos, me in packing them, or the girls in eating them.  *Kate also LOVES eating fun lunches and snacks now.  What toddler wouldn't want to eat cheese in the shape of a duck or strawberries with a little doggy fork?*

 Inspiration for my lunches has come from Melissa and her blog another lunch.  She has creative ideas that are just plain cute and simple to implement.  Once you get the hang of it, it really does not take much time to throw together a fun lunch.  Also, using bento supplies we don't use brown bags or plastic bags so we are producing less waste.  Go us!  Here are some of our favorite lunches from this school year, complete with names.  Enjoy!

You Quack Me Up

Pizza Rocks!

I Heart You

Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star

Bronto-Bento

Some Bunny Loves You

Boo!

 

 

Where I've Been and the Great Family Catch-up

So, where have I been?  Weeeelllll, right here livin' a rather crazy set of months.With a 4th pregnancy and a husband who is a resident, things just got away from me.  I am not as organized as I think that I can be, and this is something that I am trying to work on. I started to catch up a bit  in the Fall and then the holidays and my last trimester hit at the same time.  (Unfair.)  When the nesting stage of the pregnancy set in, I put that energy into organizing my house, painting the nursery, and just plain surviving rather than blogging.  Then our sweet baby Ruby was born with an issue that needed immediate surgical correction, and she sand I pent two weeks in the NICU.  It has taken me nearly three months to emerge from the newborn fog, but here I am.  Hooray!!  I would like to personally thank Miss Ruby for beginning to sleep so well so that I can feel more human again.  Also, my older children and hubby for being so helpful through the past months.  Y'all rock and are the bestest.

My goal is to write current posts and then a catch up post or two per week.  I am crossing my fingers and my toes so that I can achieve this goal.

*Side Note*
It has been so long since I last posted that blogger looks different.  That's pretty sad...