Bento SCORE!

The kids needed new lunch boxes.  The sandwich size boxes and two-tier boxes no longer hold enough food to fill them up.  These are growing kids!  I have been searching and searching for a good replacement.   Laptop Lunchboxes and LunchBots have been high on my "coveted" list.

Last week, I almost broke down!  I had a shopping cart ready to go with a Laptop Lunchbox system for each kid..to the tune of $60+ !!  For some reason, I couldn't pull the trigger.  The very next day, I went garage sale-ing and SCORE!

That's right, a BRAND NEW laptop lunchbox set plus two Buddie add-on sets and a napkin.  The mom said her kids did not like the sets!  I paid $2 for everything in this photo!!!  TWO DOLLARS!  I was beyond thrilled!   I also scored four brand new (tags still on!) wide-mouth lunch thermos for $3 from the same lady.  Talk about a bargain shopping high!

It gets better though!  I went to a church rummage sale yesterday and found ANOTHER blue Laptop Lunchbox system for $1.  This one was used and was missing a small inner container, but who cares?  I have plenty of spare inner containers and now I have two outer containers.  $60 plus worth of lunch boxes for $3.  So great!!

First Day of School

The First Day of School!

I wasn't really prepared to make fancy lunches.  There were forms to fill out, backpacks to pack, school supplies to purchase...lunch was at the end of the list.  I did manage something nice though.

M had a sandwich stamped  "first grade" and "I love you". She also had cut fruit and a yogurt (not pictured)

W had stamped McQueen and Finn McMissile sandwiches along with cut fruit and a Mater pick.  He too had a yogurt.

Scones!

A friend suggested the Cheese Board Collective cookbook to me.  The recipes are AWESOME!  I have made the scones numerous times now.  I cut the scones in half  before baking to make 24 small scones.  They are delicious and satisfying.

Chocolate Chip Scones and plain scones awaiting a maple icing drizzle.

Mars Birthday!

Mars Rover Curiosity was scheduled to land the day after my birthday.  I showed my kids the Seven Minutes of Terror video.  They were fascinated and intrigued.  Both kids wanted to know more about Mars, space and the planets.

W kept associating the landing of Curiosity with my birthday.  He would come up to me with great anticipation and say "Mom, are you ready for your MARS BIRTHDAY?!?"

Clearly, I had to make a Mars Rover Curiosity cake to celebrate my big day.

I used the same Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake that I used for W's birthday.   I tinted the leftover Magnolia Bakery frosting and used extra chocolate rocks too!  (talk about frugal!)   We happened to have a little rover toy that W got from the Children's Discovery Museum.  It worked perfectly on the cake.  M took care of the flag and awesome alien!

Overall, it was a great cake!  This time there were even leftovers for me to enjoy the next day!

Construction Party!

My boy turned four!  He wanted a Construction Party.  In addition to filling our back yard with tons of cardboard boxes to paint, 200 lbs of sand to dig in and numerous other construction related activities, I baked a cake.

This was one of the easiest cakes I have ever decorated.  The theme was CONSTRUCTION, people.  It didn't matter if the cake stuck to the pan or broke, it was going to be demolished anyways!

I used Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake recipe with icing for the cake.  I also made cupcakes using Magnolia Bakery's Vanilla Birthday Cake and Frosting.   The cake was a huge success and VERY tasty.  There were no leftovers. I highly recommend the Hershey's recipe.

The sand is pulverized Nilla wafers with two Oreo cookies added for color. The dirt is pulverized Oreo cookies.  The rocks are chocolate rocks that I purchased from a local candy store.  The kids helped me decorate.

My favorite part of the day was when W walked into the kitchen, looked at me with a cheeky grin and then pinched a chunk of his cake.  He declared "It is my birthday and my cake and I want a bite!"  It didn't hurt the look of the cake, so I didn't argue!

4th of July Bento

Yes, it is true, my kids go to school during the summer.  It is mostly summer camp with a month of actual school thrown in!   I pack lunches year round!

To celebrate American Independence Day, I made the kids a patriotic lunch.  It consisted of an open-face harvarti sandwich with USA gummy letters on it, some salami slices, grapes and some raisins.

Proper English Breakfast

Finding a Proper English Breakfast in California is not easy!  Neither is cooking one.  I did my best to celebrate Father's Day.

Sorry for the blurry iPhone photo!  I need to find my camera....