Did not, did not, did not

This morning did not go very well. I did not get up on time. Pickle did not cooperate about getting ready for school. I did not choose the sproutlets clothes last night, so I had to rush around putting outfits together this morning. I also did not give lunch any thought before going to bed so had to scramble in my preparation this morning. We did not have enough bread. Beanstalk and Sprout did not want cold lunches, so I had to make them ramen noodle soup to take in their thermoses. I did not dress the kids for the rain. We did not leave for school on time and barely made it. Birdie did not want to me to leave her at preschool and I did not want to leave her crying. Ugh.

I tried to make a cheery lunch for this not so cheery rainy day. Made a sunny fruit & veggie garden for Bella. Almonds in the blue container. For the carrot butterfly antennae I used a fork to poke 2 holes in the baby carrot and stuck carrot slivers in them.

A smaller version for Birdie. She also had a little container of ramen noodles. 

And a peanut butter sandwich Koi pond for Pickle.

Tomorrow, I will be more prepared. Tomorrow WILL go better. Fingers crossed.

A Lunch fit for a Queen...

 I  ♥ my little royal pains! So even though it's MY birthday and I could have slept in and let their dad pack their lunches, I got up and made them something cute. OK, OK, so I wanted to get up, I admit it, I like making their lunches :) 

Bella had a crown shaped sandwich cut out with a Lunch Punch, crown shaped cheddar, cucumber hearts, carrots, strawberry yogurt, and - you might have to look hard to see them stuck on the Easy Lunchbox lid - fruit leather hearts. I stuck them there to keep them from getting crumb-covered from the bread - hopefully they were easy to peel off at lunchtime! 

Sprout & Birdie also had sandwiches, cheese, yogurt, and fruit leather, with heart shaped eggs and fruit twists. The fruit twists were from the toddler food section, they are Gerber Graduates - I thought they were cute. I tasted them and they are good - they taste just like the fruit leather bars and the nutritional content seems the same - but you only get 1/4 of the amount for the same price as the fruit leather, so this will be the one and only time we have them!  

The girls don't like fruit chunks in their yogurt - they prefer the smooth "kids" yogurts - so I bought one six-pack of Trix yogurt, stirred the contents of one little container into two equal parts plain yogurt, then divided it between the three girls - less sugar, less money, but still smooth, yummy and a pretty pink.

Can't forget about my little Peanut Butter King! 

Today's sandwich is #25 in my 101 peanut butter sandwiches challenge! 

Nearly a quarter of the way there; only 76 more to come up with ... 

Yesterday the school age sproutlets opted for the school cafeteria hot lunch - they do breakfast for lunch on Tuesdays so they had waffles and fruit bar. There was also sausage offered but none of them care for that.  They like having the school hot lunch from time to time - but they are always ravenous when they get home those days, so I really don't get why...  and yesterday was no exception, they needed a big snack after school. I baked oatmeal muffins to go with breakfast so at least I knew they went off to school with full bellies...

Here is what the preschool girls took for lunch:

Sprout wanted to take macaroni and cheese in her Hello Kitty thermos, so the small container of carrots, mozzarella and egg is hers, Birdie got the bigger one, with 2 chicken nuggets (cooked in the toaster oven - but she'll eat them cold) plus a muffin.

Some stuff used to pack these lunches:

Taco Time!

Bean Sprout and Baby Bird are having a taco Muffin Tin Monday. This is pretty much how they eat them when the family has tacos for supper anyways; they like all the taco ingredients, just not together in the shell :)

Tortilla chips, romaine lettuce, shredded cheese,

yogurt, tomatoes & cheddar smiles, & taco meatballs.

The bigger sproutlets had some of the taco meatballs as well. Bella had

 hers with cheese quesadillas, lettuce, tomatoes, and mandarin oranges.

Beanstalk had his with navel orange slices, mozzarella 

string cheese, spicy almonds, and tortilla chips.

Pickle had peanut butter sandwich "tacos" and his 

usual yogurt and oatmeal cookie, cut into wedges.

 

There's no real recipe for the taco meatballs, I just mixed up ground beef with all the spices I usually use to season tacos - chipotle chile pepper, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, italian seasoning, onion powder, salt, and pepper (I rarely measure spices, just give a good shake of each) - added breadcrumbs and an egg, made little balls and cooked them in the toaster oven at 400°F for about 13 minutes.

Lunch Ahoy Sailor Boy

When I asked the husband if he wanted me to make him a special lunch, he said "No thanks, you can keep me out of your lunch shenanigans!"

I made him this anyways ♥

Pepper jack & cheddar  quesadillas on romaine lettuce, taco meatballs,

 peppers, little tub of raspberry vinaigrette for the greens, spicy almonds.

The little tub holding the dressing is a mini play-doh tub! 

Get more ideas for budget bento gear here :)

Stuff I used to make this lunch:

Teddy Bear Day, you say?

Yesterday was Teddy Bear Day. I had no idea myself until I saw a facebook post by Lunchbox Fun - and since they are in Australia, it was still the night before for me, and I hadn't made the lunches yet. I was pretty wiped out from all the first day of school stuff though (remember, I have 5 kids at 3 different schools), so while I did have some fun ideas, I had zero desire to put them together. I did have bear shaped cookie cutters though, so they got a peanut butter teddy bear family. And teddy grahams :)

This is Bella's ↑ Besides the bear family, she had rolled up ham secured with a little flower party pick, baby carrots, and cucumber flowers. Beanstalk's was very similar, but I subbed apples for the veggies. And no heart for him. ... Don't the bears and flowers look so cute peeking through the Easylunchbox lid? ↓

 I also threw in a FruitaBü smooshed fruit roll.

Pickle informed me that "we just had bears" (yeah, at least a month ago!) so he didn't want them again. What, no repeats? Great. I put his bears aside for Sprout & Birdie, and packed him some Cheerios and a little bottle of milk instead.

I remembered their lunchbox notes! Yay me :) I used several of the free printable ones from MandyRivers.com. Bella kept hers nice for a bookmark, but Pickle's came home crumpled, crumb-covered and yogurt soaked - and who knows about Beanstalk's - I bet he hid it as soon as he read it, heheh. 

I added some baking sprinkles, stuck on with peanut butter, to Pickle's rejected bears, and made them cute for Birdie & Sprout.

Happy Teddy Bear Day my silly sproutlets!