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...

Body Art and a Trip Down Memory Lane

Kate loves to draw with markers. (Washable, of course.) She is very good about drawing with one marker at a time, and putting the lid back on the marker before she moves to the next color. On this particular day, I gave her some markers and paper to draw with in the kitchen while I was working on dinner. I looked up to see that she had taken the red marker and colored all over her arm. It was cherry scented, and her arm smelled of cherries even after we washed it off. Mmmmm, cherries.

This little incident reminded me of a similar one that occurred when Rachael was just about Kate's age. -For some reason, Morgan never drew on herself.- Anyway, one day I gave Rachael some paper and a pen to draw with while I did the dishes. After a while I looked over to see that she was drawing on the table. I cleaned it up and we moved on with our day. Later on that night as I was going to put Rachael in her jammies, I discovered that not only had she colored on the table with the pen, she had also covered her little tummy with the pen. Nice Rach. Nice.


*Side Note: It was with Rachael that I learned all about washable markers and Mr. Clean's FABULOUS magic erasers. She was quite the little artist. Walls, floors, furniture, carpet, etc.

The Flying Piglet

Each spring there is a marathon put on here in our city called the Flying Pig. To promote physical health, the 2nd graders at our elementary school train by walking, running, or getting a mile's worth of physical activity a few times a week for the 6-8 weeks leading up to the marathon. On the day before the big race, the children and their families can go and complete the last mile of the race on the actual course. Participants get t-shirts, medals, and get to experience the race scene. It is really cool. As Rachael is in second grade this year, we had the chance to do work on this and do it as a family. It was really fun. The girls and I logged our mileage as we walked, ran and played together, while Chris logged his mileage as he ran from one hospital to the next. It was great because it was something we could do as a family and it promoted physical fitness. Hooray!

*I was telling Chris that they should call this little race 'The Flying Piglet', a name inspired by the name of the actual marathon. I thought I was pretty original, clever and a bit witty. Guess what words were on the medals that the girls received. You got it, 'The Flying Piglet'. Boy, whoever came up with that name was pretty original, clever and a bit witty. Don't ya think?

Chris and the girls before the race. Go team Runyan!

Kate and Daddy being a bit silly before the race.

Morgan and Rachael after the race with their medals. They were so proud, they wore their medals to church the next day. Not your typical neck attire to wear to church, but it was pretty cute anyway.

The Treasure Pot

Kate has discovered the wonderful joy of putting treasures into the toilet. This particular morning I heard Kate exploring under the bathroom sink, but didn't really think anything of it. We don't keep anything harmful under there, and I knew she was okay. A minute or so later when I went in to check on her, this is what I found:
Nice. Just two hours later on the same day, I went into the restroom to find this:
So, first some tampons, next some "pretty rocks" as they are called at our house. What will be next? Only time will tell... As I was making dinner later on that day, I caught Kate walking down the hallway on her way to the bathroom with my favorite measuring cups in her hands. Phew. That would just be too much. Even after some major sanitizing and a trip through the dishwasher, I am not sure if I could bake with my measuring cups knowing that they had been in the "Treasure Pot". Blech.

Spring Break

Chris was able to have time off during the girls' spring break again this year, which was so nice. We wanted to take a little trip somewhat close to home, so we rented a cabin for a few days in Indiana. For the first night, we left the girls with my parents and had our first overnight away since Kate was born. It was such a treat to have some time alone. Then we picked the girls up and had two great nights as a family. The weather was rainy, but we had a blast spending time in the hot tub, playing the wii, watching movies, playing games, and just enjoying one another's company away from all of our usual responsibilities. The last night that we were there, my parents joined us for a little barbecue and mallow roast. It was such a nice little vacation. Sigh.

The hot tub was great. All three of the girls loved it. Chris and I did too.

Morgan and Rachael playing the wii. We all did our fair share of wii playing this trip. The game of choice: Harry Potter Years 1-4. Chris and I may or may not have stayed up late each night playing this game so that we could earn coins, characters and spells 'for the girls'. The sacrifices we make for our children...

Kate in the Wiggles Zone. We brought along the portable DVD player for the drive, along with a few of Kate's favorite Wiggles videos. She loves the Wiggles. -We discovered the Wiggles when Morgan and Rachael were very young. They enjoyed them, but Kate truly loves them. She will sit mesmerized, dance along, and then sit some more. On this trip, Kate learned how to open the DVD player and turn on the Wiggles herself. She is 18 months old. Oh boy.

Roasting mallows. For some reason, this never gets old.

Grandpa, Rachael, Morgan and Daddy in the hot tub.

Just For Fun

One Saturday in March, it was sunny and quite pleasant. The girls decided to eat lunch on the deck. They didn't want to eat at the table, so they moved their chairs together. The fun thing was that Kate just thought she was so grown up, eating out there with Morgan and Rachael. She laughed and babbled with them and had such a great time, I just had to take a picture.