Mediterranean Chickpea salad, 2 byntos, and a sweet almost 6 month old!

 First off, I'll be completely honest. My boys would not touch this salad with a 10 foot poll! I made this for me. My husband and I ate this with pasta added to it, while the boys ate homemade mac and cheese. I tend to make a box of pasta and then two sauces, so this salad was our sauce.

I don't love chickpeas, but this salad disguises them really well.

It's packed with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, red onion, mozzarella cheese (I didn't have feta), and chickpeas (rinsed and drained). I added salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, Z'ataar seasoning, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was really tasty!

 Here is sweet Madeleine. She will be 6 months old on September 10! I can't believe it. She is showing off the dress her Ludee made. I'm determined to learn to sew. I'm also determined to start running and lose nursing weight. Yes, I lose baby weight, then gain nursing weight. It's so frustrating and stresses me out, so I'm hoping to run when the big boys are in school and perhaps Saturday mornings too. Wish me luck!

 My big first grader gets the more civilized lunch:) He has an English muffin ham and cheese cut in half to accommodate the little dipper filled with craisins. We watched a movie Sunday night and had veggie straws mixed with potato chips. He has some from that bowl. The bottom container is filled with cut peaches and a lion pick.

My crazy sweet handful of a middle child Drew starts tomorrow. 

He will be 5 in October, so he is still with Mrs. Elliott in her pre-k class. 

I hope you have your best year yet. He is excited about learning to read. 

His box is filled with carrot sticks, ham and cheese skewers, goldfish (in a Star Wars cup) with an ABC pick, a Darth Vader Easter egg filled with craisins, and grapes with a light saber pick.

Happy 2nd week of school, Adrian!

Happy 1st week of school, Drew!

Happy quiet week, Madeleine!

I hope and pray you all have a great week with your kids too!

Swimming Snack and How to make Lego picks

 Today, my boys have swim lessons after Adrian gets home from school. I packed small snacks in their Goodbyn small meal boxes to hold them over til dinner. They each have an Organic Z bar, craisins in the little dipper, veggie straws and a clementine. I used frog cups I found years ago at my local grocery and  green pick...which is actually a bunny, but I like all the green:)

This is yesterday's lunch for Andrew. He starts pre-k next week, but really liked his brother's Star Wars lunch, so we made one for him to eat at home. This child rarely eats bread, so it's a ham roll up tucked in an Angry Bird ring, cut up cheese stars and moons. In the top, he has a clementine with a light saber pick and carrot sticks in his little dipper.

Today, I packed a Lego lunch for Adrian to take to school. It was just a simple pb&j cut in a rectangle with two circles of cheese on top to look like a Lego brick. I can't remember which blog I saw these on, but I was ready to create these Lego picks for his lunch.

These picks were originally hearts from Dollar Tree. They came in a pack of 100, so I had plenty to use.

I just simply broke off the heart and hot glued the pick into the Lego. Easy Peasy!! 

First Day of School for my BIG first grader

My big first grader asked me for a Star Wars lunch for the first day of first grade! It's filled with applesauce (covered with a cupcake liner), orange crescent moons in a star cup, half a ham and cheese sandwich topped with stars and a rocket ship. Right next door is a handful of goldfish topped with a few cheesy moons. The cut up cheese is inside the sandwich=no waste!

In the bottom section is some cut up peaches with a light saber pick. 

If you have any extra cupcake liners hiding away, get them out! It's that easy!
Enjoy, sweet Adrian! I hope you have the best school year yet!

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

Both boys had the same lunch today. 

A carrot egg (Dollar Tree!) filled with carrot sticks,

a jumbo muffin cup (World Market!) filled with apples, 

strawberries and oranges with a bunny pick (Dollar Tree!)

A bunny and flower ham and cheese sandwiches and baby chick cheese and a little Pirate Booty.

A Perfect Snowman

 I LOVE Christmas. 

I think it's a magical time of year. 

The history of Jesus born in a manger to save the world 

from all its sin still amazes me. 

He sent his Son to save a wretch like me.

We celebrate Christmas in all its capacity. My boys have a Jesus Advent Tree (pictured above). We read a devotional each day and hang an ornament to represent the waiting time for Jesus' birth, how each story leads us to Jesus and what he came to do.

 We also LOVE snowmen. 

I've been collecting snowmen since I was in college. I found this book at Cracker Barrel and thought it perfect for my boys. My sweet friend Lisa invited us and 100+ other people to her friends and family 45% off sale and regular priced items last night. 

We'll read it tomorrow since my boys are home with me on Fridays and eat another snowmen lunch!

The Christmas tree silicone cups were in a baking set a couple years ago, but you can still find them online. The snowglobe picks are from bakeitpretty.com. The ornament picks were from Target a couple years ago.

Harvest Muffin Tin Monday

Both boys had peanut butter and homemade fig jam acorns...since Adrian can't have peanut butter at school, I usually have it at home. They also had colby jack cheese with an acorn pick (from Party City a couple years ago), Simply 7 chips, planet chex mix from Andrew's Rocket birthday party, and apple / strawberry sauce with fall sprinkles, and craisins for Andrew and salami for Adrian.

Happy Muffin Tin Monday!

Day at the park

My five year old ate most of the top lunch and the bottom was shared by my almost 3 year old and me.

I packed PB&Fig jam trains, goldfish, grapes, strawberries and clementines, cheese elephants and fruit snacks with raisins. There were some extra carrot and cheese sticks in the Goodbyn and some cookies tucked into the little dipper (in the top) and the green frog (in the bottom). 

Muffin Tin Monday

We had homemade pizza the other day.

Sauteed Mushrooms, homegrown tomatoes, apples, pizza with broccoli and salami and a leaf shaped cookie!

My boys are a little picky with certain vegetables, but I can get Andrew to eat mushrooms and tomatoes and I can get Adrian to eat broccoli and cooked carrots, so I work with it!

The mini forks are from Japan via eBay and the cups are from HEB.

3rd day of kindergarten

My sweet Adrian had this 3rd day of Kindergarten. He attends two full days and one half, so yesterday he ate lunch at home.

His goldfish sandwich is adorned with a Colby Jack starfish. he also had apples, ham & salami roll ups, raisins and an assortment of Angry Birds and Goldfish cheese cracker.

We're still adjusting to not napping everyday...some days are better than others! 

The sea creature picks are from a local supply store, but you can find them on Amazon

First day of Kinder Bynto

  Where did the time go? 

My sweet little Adrian, who is now 51 pounds and 46 inches tall (!), 

starts kindergarten tomorrow. 

He got a school bus sandwich (PB&Fig Jam) adorned with Colby Jack windows and fruit leather wheels and driver, Alphabet cheese its, raisins, an apple, a few animal crackers and marshmallows in the little rabbit box.

I hope you have the best day ever, sweet boy!

Little brother is on his 3rd day of Kids Day Out and still loves it. He has the same, but with a carrot road, and Alphabet pretzels.

We still love our new Goodbyn Byntos and bags!

The silicone cups are part of my Wilton train set, the sauce cups and picks are from eBay.

Never a dull moment!

Snack Time

 My boys both had a snack Muffin Tin with 

fruit snacks, cheddar (with bacon) bears, pita chips with hummus,

nuts and carrots for Andrew, and cranberries and grapes for Adrian.

I learned to turn the muffin papers inside out to show the circus theme from Muffin Tin Mom a couple years ago.

I'm joining in!

Beary Cute Bento!

 It's only Wednesday, but this week has been all sorts of crazy, I don't even remember when the boys ate this!! 

I made two bento snacks in our Fuel Boxes. 

I ended up putting the Ice Cream shaped marshmallows in the little bear sauce cups before packing them away.

They both had cubes of Colby Jack (tried stacking them neatly like I've seen on BentOnBetterLunches...kind of wonky!), Ham and Salami roll ups, goldfish and red grapes!

The blue and orange cups are from World Market 2 years ago. They still carry them in their baking section. The green squares are part of my Wilton Train cupcake set. The picks and sauce cup are from Japan.

I just received my order of Byntos and their lunch bag. So excited. I love the size. I'll make Andrew's lunch in it tomorrow...posts to follow!

Sweet Circus Bento

This cute little bear set is perfect for my boys! The snack cup is perfect for trail mix or extra goldfish!

A special thank you to JeeJee at Allthingsforsale.com!

She was kind enough to send us a sample of products as we start bento lunches for the school year! 

 This set of circus picks also came in our package. I love the dancing bears!

I made peanut butter and jelly sushi, a circus tent made of pepperoni stacks, string cheese bites, and grape balls for the elephant to balance on!

Thanks again, JeeJee!

The bento box and circus picks were provided by Allthingsforsale.com. The opinions are all my own.

It's a great day to be 5!!!

Originally, I put the plates on the table, but Adrian's guests will be solving puzzles and coloring place mats, so I set it up buffet style on the island.

I used the same runner with Team Umizoomi cut outs scattered, added Team Umizoomi straw cut outs and a few cute bowls for Goldfish. I found these for $1 each at my HEB.

 Bot the robot cupcakes! 

He has a belly screen made of graham cracker and icing!

 Super Shape Strawberry skewers (from Pier One a couple years ago), Bot's Spinach roll ups (spinach tortilla wraps with Ham, Salami and Muenster Cheese), Cheese cut outs. (I used fondant cutters and just switched them with each other.)

These were easy!

Lay out Spinach Tortilla and spread on cream cheese.

Layer ham, salami and muenster and Colby Jack Cheese. I had them cut on a 1 or thinner.

Roll them up and cut on the bias.

 

 I'm linking up

Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish

BNOTP for Tablescape Thursday
Miz Helen for Full Plate Thursday