Friday Lunchbox

It's a lovely cool Friday morning here in the south. I watched my oldest daughter receive an award for running over 10 miles in PE this month! She is a smart, sweet, mature, 7 year old, but isn't too interested in athletics. So this is quite an accomplishment in an area where she really has to work hard to excel. I'm so proud of her!

The girls have the same lunch packed in two different containers today. They will each eat all natural deli turkey and Monterey Jack cheese off picks adorned with jack o lanterns.
A small side salad with no dressing actually consists mostly of cherry tomatoes, which are always a hit with the girls. They have some cinnamon applesauce (and I forgot the spoons!), a mini fruit roll up, a granola bar, and pretzels shaped like bats and pumpkins.

The girls have Monday off school, and we have LOTS of activities planned for next week including a small fall festival Monday morning, which should be fun!

Have a great weekend!

Friday Lunchbox

We had a really busy Thursday between a trip to the pumpkin patch with my oldest and the fall festival so I wasn't able to fit in a lunch box post. I packed 3 lunches including mine, all with celery, cauliflower, snap peas, and grape tomatoes. The girls had ranch for dipping, and I used a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic salt, and Italian herbs. We also had deli turkey and wheat crackers with mozzarella cheese for the girls. They ate some orange slices and granola bars as well. Joplin and I also shared some pomegranate.
Today I packed a pumpkin themed lunch in the one piece containers. Flour tortillas filled with cream cheese are cut with a cookie cutter in the shape of pumpkins. A jack-o-lantern adorned cupcake liner is filled with party mix, and the matching picks have grape tomatoes on them. A cutie orange has a fun face drawn on with permanent marker. They also get a pumpkin iced brownie and some candy corn and mallow pumpkins.
Sorry this post is coming so late in the day, but I spent this morning at the Just Between Friends Sale stocking up on winter clothes for my three girls. We also got a few books, a vanity mirror for my oldest, a lap desk for the car for my pre k middle daughter, and a fine motor skill building toy for the baby.

Friday Lunchbox

I am ready for the weekend! How about you? According to my husband, my sleep talking has been waking the baby up throughout the night all week. She's been waking 6-8 times each night, and it has me worn out! I am also looking forward to a few hours away from the kids, hubby, and house having dinner with friends! I have not been out of the house without baby in tow since she was born!
In light of my groggy state, I made lunch easy today. The girls have baby carrots, grape tomatoes, and broccoli with ranch dressing for dipping. I put marble jack cheese slices in the bottom of a silicone cup, then layered plastic wrap to separate the turkey slices on top. They have whole wheat round crackers, a granola bar, and a whole apple as well. As a treat they each get a snack sized candy from their bag of candy gathered at the homecoming parade last week. Both girls will choose milk and juice from the cafeteria.

Friday Lunchbox

Whoo hoo! It's Friday! I can't believe I actually made it through the week without a single trip to the grocery store, but I did have to get creative with today's lunch since we are out of bread, rolls, and bagels.
The girls usually love cream cheese on bagels or spread on saltines. In order to pack in the nutrition (and flavor) I am packing triscuit-style woven wheat crackers (the Aldi brand) along with a small lidded bowl with cream cheese and a pink plastic knife (leftovers from a birthday party) for spreading. I included a sturdy birthday napkin because the cream cheese can be messy and sticky. A thin napkin will just rip apart if you wipe sticky hands with it.
They will also get two picks with black olives, a Cutie orange, and a granola bar. As a special Friday treat they get two cookies from the fall harvest cookie pack we bought this weekend.
Everything is packed in plastic bags today because we had a really busy Thursday. Between a fall picture session and the high school homecoming parade I didn't have time to wash up the reusable containers.

The girls got new lunch boxes too! We found these at Dollar General on clearance for $3 each. What what?! It's always nice to have a backup lunch box because sometimes they need to be soaked or aired out from having things spilled in them. Joplin's regular box is smelling a little funky, and I'm pretty sure the yogurt she spilled in it last week is festering in the lining so I'm about to give it a good soak in some vinegar and baking soda. I'll do the same to Isis's box just for good measure. 

Friday lunchbox - September 20, 2013

Here's a quick summary of the girls' lunch boxes today. I didn't get a picture for you, but they're honestly nothing special.
They will have turkey and colby jack on whole wheat bread with 2 extra chunks of cheese on the side. I also added a package of cheese crackers with peanut butter, celery sticks, and a large helping of unsweetened apple sauce.
We have a 3 day weekend coming  up, and have some serious shopping to do. A trip to the bulk store for diapers and wipes, a stop at Bed, Bath, & Beyond to find a sturdy reusable water bottle, and hunting for yet another pair of shoes for my 4 year old will take up our entire Saturday.
I'll try to write up a good post about the crafts I've been working on, and my little side business. The next lunchbox post will be Tuesday the 24th.

Friday Lunchbox

Im posting quickly before heading to my 4 year old's field trip to the county fair.
Today the girls will have pizza "mom-ables."
Two flour tortilla circles will be the crust, and the lidded cups contain sauce and mozzarella cheese. In the main bowl they have black olives, and a fresh salad with lettuce, tomatoes, tri color peppers, snap peas, broccoli, and onions for Isis, already topped with ranch dressing. They also get grapes and black plums (not pictured), and will get milk from the cafeteria.

Friday Lunchbox

In an effort to get lunches packed early I decided to forgo our bento containers (and doing the dishes as soon as we got home Thursday evening.) Thankfully I have a pretty large stash of snack size zipper bags to contain the girls' meals.

Each lunchbox has 3 flower-shaped cheese quesadillas, 1/2 cup of organic graham cracker bunnies, and 3 fresh strawberries. My 4 year old loves raisins, and has a small lidded container full in her lunch along with a Fruitifuls juice box. My second grader will have the same juice and some honey roasted peanuts instead of raisins.

These quesadillas are a regular item at home, but a first for the lunchbox, so we'll see how they go over. I used sliced american cheese instead of the usual cheddar or jack because I figured it wouldn't be greasy, and would hold up better in the lunchbox. The girls always have sour cream with these at home, but that's just not an option today without our containers.

I'm trying to keep a "less is more" mindset after the disaster lunch on Wednesday. Less options = more food in their bellies. It worked out pretty well on Thursday, and the girls had fairly empty boxes when they came home. I asked them if they got full, both said "yes.", and they even ate most of their veggies! Success!

On a different note, I was glad to get a letter yesterday saying they have approved our family for free breakfast and lunch. This is great since Isis eats a second breakfast after she gets to school a few days a week, and they both get milk or juice at school for lunch some days. It will be a big break for our grocery bill to not have to buy anymore juice boxes!

I'd love to hear from my readers! What do your kids eat for lunch on schooldays?