Bento Love

(Harmony's lunch on Friday. Tuna salad w/ crackers, cherry tomatoes, Hello Panda snacks, string cheese, juice and in the closed container is a dried fruit trail mix)

(the bento boxes)

My interest in healthy kids lunches has been festering for awhile. Having 5 kids (although only 4 that eat "real" food) I know that I will be making lunches for a long time. So I might as well make it fun right?

Well, a little over a year ago, I googled the phrase "ideas for healthy kids lunches" and I came to a site about Bento lunches. You can visit the site here

Bento is in laymans terms a Japanese brown bag lunch. Everything the Japanese do is beautiful right? So you can imagine what they do with their lunches!

I oohed and aahhed at people's creativity but knew I so wouldn't be doing that. I showed some of the most fun ones to Harmony and she loved them too!

Harmony finally convinced me to buy her one! I bought mine off of Amazon. Anyway I started making hers and the boys got jealous! So eventually *gulp* I bought one for them too. I am going to say it right now...not a cheap purchase. They better last forever! (:

We have had so much fun putting their lunches together. They are a fun way to use up little leftovers.

Now here is a disclaimer (lol) I use the term Bento very loosely when I talk about what I make. People have way more time and creativity then I do. I just like to look and get fun ideas!

Works For Me Wednesday-ketchup packets

(my boys goofin' around at the food court one busy day in December)


Ooh I haven't participated forever! Glad to be doing this again. I am linking Works For Me Wed. over at We are THAT Family

When I was in highschool, I spent a lot of time at my best friends house. I still remember that every time they ate out, her Mom would keep anything leftover in the bag that wasn't used...packets for condiments, napkins, straws, silverware...whatever. She kept a container in her fridge with all those little packets in.

Now as a Mom making lunches every day, I keep all mine too! From ranch dressing to bbq sauce, ketchup etc. It is a great way to give your kids ketchup or whatever in their lunch bag. My son's friend always gives him the mustard packet out of his lunchable just so he can give it to me. How precious is that?!

My friend also gave me a fun tip. Whenever she has extra packets, she puts them in the freezer. When one of her kids has a small boo boo, but insists they need ice, she lets them put one of those on it. It is a good size for little hands and perfect when it is just a little ouch!

So keep those packets!

**I have read in frugal books/magazines suggesting that you go and take these from restaurants. I am not suggesting that. I am just saying if you have any left over AFTER purchasing a meal!**

***I am also having a GIVEAWAY for the Pioneer Woman Cooks. You can sign up here

quick & easy

Have your ever had one of those days when by 10am you knew what you would be having for dinner? Down to the side dishes and possibly even a dessert? Where you felt like wife/Mom/homemaker of the year?

Well last night, was NOT one of those nights!! After a very long stressful day of trying to find a Developmental Pediatrician for my 5 year old, getting an occupational therapist for the baby, trying to get a perscription renewed by a doctor who is currently deployed, the baby didn't get a nap, my husband came home late and I had to remind him that the boys had Cub Scouts....Made for a long day!

Instead of heading to get a McDinner, I made one of my absolute favorite easy recipes. I originally found this in a Kennedy family cookbook. I have seen others make it though. It is good, cheap, and my 3 out of 4 of my older kids like it! Although, this is not quite *Connor approved* (my pickiest!)

I used to measure everything, now I don't!

Chili Pie Casserole
grease whatever size dish you would like to use!
layer fritos on the bottom (my husband likes to use chili fritos but they don't have them on Guam)
pour 2 cans of your favorite chili on top.
Add onions. Chop your own or get a bag from the freezer!
top with handfuls of your favorite cheese
add another layer of fritos
another layer of chili
I don't add more onions because then my kids wouldn't eat it as much!
top with as much cheese as you want
Bake at 350 until warm and gooey...about 30 minutes

Obviously this can be adjusted bigger or smaller depending on how many people you are feeding!

I like to top mine with sour cream and green onions but the kids don't!

picky, picky, picky

How sweet is this boy? Pretty darn cute right? With those gorgeous blue eyes, eyelashes a mile long and the sweetest smile he just melts my heart. But when it comes to lunch...I have to really try not to strangle him!! This morning as we were making lunches he gave me the "run down" of all the things he doesn't like in his lunch...

pb&j (seriously what kid doesn't like pb&j? Oh that would be mine)
cheese (string, cubes, sliced etc)
oranges (except mandarin)
ham
wheat bread
cream cheese
honey mustard pretzels
dried fruit
yogurt covered raisins
nuts

I think that is it...note that most of it is pretty healthy. So what do I feed him? Here are some ideas that are *Connor approved* (:

chicken nuggets
pizza pockets (warm in microwave and wrap in foil to hold the heat)
mini meatloaves
bagels (ok he is weird he likes mayo instead of cream cheese) w/ lunch meat
pb & honey
turkey & ritz crackers
mini corn dogs
bite size pepperoni's
left overs of foods he liked at dinner
turkey sandwiches on a hoagie roll
tuna w/ club crackers
quesadilla


sides:
apples w/ fat free caramel
slim jims
yogurt tubes
apple sauce ( I buy the container and than put it in a small sized gladware)
cheddar pretzels
mandarin oranges(also in a gladware)
trail mix
Gardetto snacks/Chex mix
fruit snacks
Kashi strawberry cereal bars
Quaker low sugar granola bars
He also of course loves any junk food offered!



Those are just a few ideas. I don't buy individual packages for him. I buy in bulk and then divide it out.

I will probably discuss Connor more because he is picky at every.single.meal!

Another GIVEAWAY!

As I was linking up my menu, I saw a giveaway being advertised by another blogger. I looked through her site and it's such a fun blog!

The site is called Happy Little Home and she is giving away some stinkin' cute reusable produce bags! They are adorable. If you want to enter her giveaway head here

The deadline to enter is this Friday Feb. 19th (my husbands birthday!!) at 5pm Eastern time!

Menu and a GIVEAWAY!

**I am having an issue loading pictures on to my computer. If they are just in my picture folder they don't want to come up. But I am linking to Menu Plan Monday at

I couldn't leave my post picture-less though!(: So this is the pizza that my little 5 year old made me at school one day!

Food. I plan it, make it, eat it, pack it, cook it, bake it, and clean it up. I swear my life revolves around food! Anyway, here is my meal plan for the week. It is an unusual week for us as we are eating out 2x's for birthdays. But here we go...

Monday: macaroni w/ chili & tomatoes, corn, rolls, PW's potato skins

Tuesday: comfort meatballs (Pioneer Woman recipe), mashed potatoes and gravy with salad and rolls

Wednesday: teriyaki chicken in stir fry, brown rice

Thursday: eating out

Friday: My hubby's birthday! The menu is t-bone steaks on the grill (Mom and Dad only lol)the kids get turkey burgers, roasted corn salad (PW recipe), crashed hot potatoes, salad, and red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting (of course!)

Saturday: my son's birthday! He requested...TACO BELL. He's 8 what can I say?

Sunday: chili pie casserole, green beans, corn bread

Other recipes I am trying this week: PW's pico de gallo!! (:

If you noticed, lol, I am making a lot of the Pioneer Woman's recipes this week. I found her blog through friends and have been a HUGE fan ever since. I was excited for her cookbook to come out but was worried it wouldn't be on Guam.

However, on Saturday, while walking around our Navy exchange store, I saw it! The last copy on the shelf. I picked it up without hesitation and it went straight into my cart. I was so excited I started looking at it on the drive home.

The book is complete and total eye candy. The food, photos, stories...oh I just love it! My husband opened it and looking through the recipes said, "oh this is so not good for our diets!" (:

I ended up with an extra copy, so I am giving one away! If you want to enter to win the greatest cookbook of all time, all you have to do is...leave a comment telling me what your favorite go to cookbook is. If you want a second entry, you can become one of my followers! Pretty easy right?

I also have one other book to give...a copy of Southern Living Comfort Food!

Can't wait to see your favorite books!

Aaargh!

(my friend made this cake! I am upset that I didn't get better pictures of it! She said she got the idea from Family Fun magazine.)

(knowing these were coming down soon, I didn't want to print them off on vinyl. so I just used regular construction paper)

(a bad lighting picture of the invite)

(the front door)

(the bigger flags were not as tedious!)

(balloons hanging from the ceiling fan)

(the cupcakes that went to class. The swords are a little hard to see but that is what the flag is attatched too)

(pirate banner flag surrounding the living room, there were also some outside the house)

My sweet little Ivan turned 5 last week! For the longest time, he had wanted to have an Indiana Jones party. I looked up ideas (thank you Google). But as I started looking at ordering things, I was bummed to find out that more than half of my ideas would not be shipped to Guam!

Frustrated I made a trip to our local BX and looked to see what they had in their birthday section. I then worked very hard to convince my son to have a pirate party instead! Luckily he agreed easily!

For Christmas this year, I got a Cricut by Provo Craft and I love it. In one of the cartridges that came with it, there are a few pirate-y images!

First thing I made was the invitations. I loved how they turned out. I made over 20 invitations. Then I realized that I didn't take a picture of one. So I quickly made one to take a picture of. But I was tired of making all those teeny tiny jolly rogers! The picture of the cupcakes has the flags that I made.

One way I try to save money is by not buying too many "theme" items. Instead of "Pirates of the Carribean" plates, I decided to just use red,black and white.So all the tableware (including tablecloths) were those colors. I also grabbed red, black and white streamers.

I ordered my goody bag items from Oriental Trading co. While they charged me an arm and a leg in shipping, it really helped with the theme! The goody bags included: bracelets with pirate sayings, bandanas, telescopes, pirate necklaces, gold coins, goldfish, a fish gummy candy, Swedish fish, pirate rings, and eye patches.The kids also went on a treasure hunt and found candy necklaces, ring pops and gold coins.

A friend made Ivan a FABULOUS pirate ship cake.

We had lots of balloons, jolly rogers etc. I also printed off "yo ho ho" and "aaargh" to go on the walls.

The day before his party, he brought chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting to his class. Each one had a jolly roger attatched to a sword toothpick and a gold coin. The tiny jolly rogers were all seperate pieces. So I was a tad frustrated as I was making 28 teeny tiny flags. My husband who was watching tv said, "You know those kids are just going to throw them away right? They wouldn't care if there was anything on top." Sigh. I loved the way they turned out though!

My husband teased me about going a little overboard. Normally we don't do this much for birthdays, but my little guy has never had a party before. Well not a friend party. That is why we went all out. He loved it and loves to wear his eye patch around! He wanted to keep the decorations up for "20 more days!"

Being on Guam, I am limited in the stores I have. But I think it turned out pretty well!

Just a few ideas, if you have a little scallywag who is interested in having a pirate party!