Guess Whooooo Loves You

Today's lunch was inspired by one I saw at Cookie Cutter Lunch.

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  2 heart shaped turkey and cheddar sandwiches made on whole wheat (stacked). Owl decorations are made from carrot (beak), sugar eyes, cheddar (feet), the crust of bread (wings) and cucumber peel (eye brows)



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  Blueberries and strawberry slices



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  Purple cauliflower with ranch



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  Dove Promise
  

Flower Power

Tomorrow's lunch is all about flowers!

• 2 flower shaped sandwiches (Haley has ham and cheese and Avery has...you guessed it...PB&J!) on whole wheat with provolone and cheddar flowers.


• Broccoli and a cherry tomato/corn/pea center and ranch for dipping


• Blackberry flower with raspberry center


• Pretzel snaps

Teddy Bear Bento

Tomorrow's lunch was inspired by this one over at http://susanyuen.wordpress.com/:

Here's ours:

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  Turkey/chedder or PB&J teddy bear sandwich. The face is made from a cheddar circle, hardboiled egg and black olives.


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  Cucumber slices


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  Cherries

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

We went to our town's minor league baseball game last night and had a great time. I used it as my inspiration for today's lunches:

• Salami and cheese or PBJ on whole wheat sandwich with provolone baseball decorated with food safe markers.


• Carrots with ranch


• Red and green grapes with a baseball pick

and of course

• Cracker Jack for dessert!

Check out What's for Lunch Wednesday for other lunch ideas!

Puppers

Anyone who knows my oldest daughter has probably met Puppers. He is her most loved and prized possession and has been around pretty much as long as she has. He's a little stuffed brown dog. In fact, this morning she told me that if there was a fire in the house and she can only grab 2 things, she'd take Puppers and Phoebe (our cat)...Sorry Avery, looks like you are on your own! (By the way, we talked about how if there was a fire, she needed to get out and not worry about grabbing ANYTHING. But, anyway, I digress...)

Tomorrow's lunch is a tribute to Puppers:

• 2 salami and cheddar, with yellow mustard, sandwiches on whole wheat (stacked). The ear, nose and tail are made from the crust of the bread and he has an icing eye


• Strawberry flower with a blackberry center


• Steamed broccoli with ranch


• a mini Snickers

Phineas and Ferb

The girls discovered Phineas and Ferb this summer! I have been waiting all summer to surprise them with a Phineas and Ferb bento. I don't make a lot of "character" lunches so I think they will get a HUGE kick out of it.

When I saw this one on What's for Lunch at Our House, I knew I had to give it a try. I don't think mine does Shannon's justice...So, I'm not going to show the girls the original ;)

• Turkey and cheese (or PB&J) sandwich with provolone Phineas and Ferb. Their features are made from cucumber peel, hard boiled egg and carrot.


• Peas


• Blackberries


• Pretzel snaps
  
  

First Day of School!!

Did that sound enthusiastic? I'm trying to be excited because the girls are so excited...but in all honesty, I'm sad that tomorrow is the first day of school and summer is over. I'm going to miss them!! This will be my first year when they are both in school all day, every day. My babies are growing up. Sniff, sniff.

Ok, enough of the pity party...on to lunch!

• 2 pencil shaped sandwiches (stacked). Haley has turkey, cheddar and honey mustard on whole wheat and Avery has PB&J. The pencil decoration is made from cheddar, provolone cheese and a strawberry marshmellow as the eraser. I used a black food safe marker to color the tip of the pencil.



• Red and green grapes with an apple pick



• Carrots with ranch



• A couple of kisses (hershey kisses, that is) from Mommy (I didnt notice until after I took the picture that because of the angle, you really can't see them. They are next to the carrots).

Check out What's For Lunch Wednesday for other lunch ideas!

With You As My Teacher, I'll be One Smart Cookie!

Ok, I know it's not bento related but I thought this was too cute not to share...

Today is "Meet Your Teacher" night at the girls' school. So, I thought it would be sweet to have a little gift for them to take their teachers. I got this idea (and the downloads) from the ladies over at Eighteen25 -- I LOVE their blog!!

Instead of using the cookies from Einstein Brothers, I made my own bite size chocolate chip cookies (that way there are leftover cookies!!) and then put them in disposable cups with lids. I had each of the girls write a personalized message to their teacher and sign their names to the back of the papers.

New School Year, New Box!

Okay, I know I don't NEED any new boxes...But, I saw this box in the "Back to School" section of my local Meijer today and couldn't resist.

Our school requires that in addition to lunch, we send a healthy snack for the kids to eat in the afternoon (or morning, depending on when their lunch time is. But so far, my girls' have always eaten it in the afternoon). I think this new box will be PERFECT! I LOVE that it has it's own ice pack and dip container built in.

(Sorry this picture is sideways...I don't know what the deal is. It's NOT sideways except when I upload it to the blog. )

Animal Tracks

Avery is going to a program at a local park this evening to learn about "Animal Tracks". She's supposed to bring a dinner with her. So you know, I had to go with the theme!

• 2 PB&Js on whole wheat (stacked) with fruit leather paw prints.


• Carrots with ranch


• Raspberries and blueberries


• Ice Animal Cookies

Zoo Camp - Day Four

I asked Avery what animals we should do for her lunch tomorrow and she yelled "GIRAFFES!" So, this is what we came up with:

• PB&J on whole wheat sandwich cut into circle. Cheddar giraffe colored with food safe markers and heart shaped fruit leather.



• Carrots with ranch



• Red and green grapes



• Pretzel snaps
  

Grandma, we were thinking of you as we made this one! :)

Check for What's For Lunch Wednesday for other lunch ideas...

Zoo Camp - Day Three

In my opinion (which may be a wee bit bias), our zoo has one of the nicest aquariums around. So, in tribute to it, tomorrow's lunch is fishy themed.

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  2 PB&J fish with cheddar stripes and icing eyes


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  Broccoli* with ranch for dipping and a fishy pick


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  Strawberry slices and blackberries


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  Iced animal cookies

* Did you know fish eat broccoli? Sometimes when we go to the aquarium at the zoo they will hang stalks of broccoli in the tank and we watch them nibble. I don't know if Ave will pick up on that or not ;)

Zoo Camp - Day Two

The animal theme for Day 2 is lions!

• PB&J on whole wheat (halved and stacked) with a cheddar and provolone lion. The lion's face is made from cucumber peel.


• Cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes with ranch


• Red grapes with a lion pick


• Iced animal crackers