Hey guys! Here are the lunches Wyatt took to preschool this week:
Wyatt (my preschooler) styled our bento photo on Tuesday. I had gone to the store on Monday, so he had lots of options for his lunch. When I rattled off the list of stuff he could choose from he said, “I want all that stuff in my lunch.” I decided we needed to pare down the list a little bit but we still managed to fit in six different items: low sodium salami, home made french bread, strawberries, grapes, cheese stick and a mini blueberry muffin. He also picked out the papers to use for the background and arranged the box on the paper. All this involvement paid off too — he ate his whole lunch!
Wednesday’s lunch was pretty similar to the previous day’s, but a bit smaller. He got banana chunks, grapes, a cheese stick, salami and a mini muffin.
Wyatt is robot crazy, so I wasn’t surprised when he picked this paper for Thursday’s photo. His lunch had a bit of a multi-culti thing going on too, with the children of different tofu races holding hands. I also sent some more home-made bread (my second batch of the week), another cheese stick and some strawberries.
I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired to make a cute lunch on Friday, so I pretty much just threw it all in a box and called it ready. But you know — that’s OK. Not every lunch has to be a visual masterpiece (really, none of them do) and Wyatt enjoyed it which is what really matters. Do you like my half-hearted attempt of jazzing things up by putting the stars on the bun? That didn’t do much to help things, I’m afraid. I also put in salami and a half banana.
February 19, 2009: This bag functions as both a diaper bag and my purse. On any given day it holds diapers, butt paste, wipes, a couple of changes of clothes for the baby, my wallet, sunglasses, a camera, baby leg warmers, plastic bags (for the stinky ones), hand sanitizer, lotion, gum, and about a million receipts.
February 20, 2009: Wyatt is often quiet on the car ride home after preschool. He’s usually pretty tired, hungry and a little cranky.
February 21, 2009: Saturday rain threatened all day, but we decided to go to the playground so Wyatt could run off some steam before the deluge began. It stayed dry the whole time we were there and we also had the good luck to run into a preschool friend. The boys entertained themselves by twisting their swings up and then spinning around. Remember doing that? I’d forgotten all about it.
February 22, 2009: We went up to the Lawrence Hall of Science with our neighbors on this rainy Sunday afternoon. When we were leaving, Wyatt decided to carry his umbrella in his mouth rather than over his head.
February 23, 2009: I made home made bread this week. I use the french bread recipe in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. I forgot how easy the recipe is. I’ll definitely be making this bread a lot from now on.
February 24, 2009: My three boys, getting cuddly on the rocker before bed time. Note the attractive vacuum cleaner in the background.
February 25, 2009: This is what preschool pick-up looks like. Wyatt is often a little clingy in the mornings when I drop him off, but when I come to pick him up it’s almost impossible to get him out of there.
I was up at 6:00 am this morning to change a poopy diaper and never got back to sleep. I know I’m supposed to say, “I love these times of peace and quiet when everyone else in the house is asleep,” but I DON’T. I hate being up that early. I hardly get any sleep as it is, so it’s like a slap in the face to wake up an hour earlier than usual. And it wasn’t quiet because the garbage truck was making its way around the neighborhood. Also, there wasn’t any sugar for my tea. I’ve been kind of cranky all day. Wah! Wah! Wah!
So I’ve decided to make a list of things I actually like — even love — to flip my mood around:
I love fresh baked, home made bread. I love Augie’s fat little wrists. I love phone calls with my mom. I love when my dad posts to his blog. I love when Wyatt’s play involves him talking in a robot voice for ten minutes straight. I love when people comment on my blog posts. I love when people comment on my photos on Flickr. I love how Augie growls when he bites his toys. I love tea (when I have sugar to put in it). I love taking photos of my kids. I love my new scrapbook paper. I love Tina Fey and how funny she is and how we would be BEST friends if we ever met. I love to write. I love magazines. I love unemployment (except for the no paycheck part). I live unemployment insurance. I love walking around with the baby in the carrier. I love laundry that’s been folded. I love giving Wyatt toys and cookies and candy and letting him watch movies (but I hate showing restraint for his own good). I love cookies. I love Augie’s heart-shaped tongue. I love how my bento supplies look in their box.
February 12, 2009: I made a big batch of cookie dough this week and baked off a few at a time for a couple of days. I make great chocolate chip cookies. The secret is to replace half of the vanilla extract with almond extract. Yum!
I don’t think the cookies were the cause, but Thursday night I got a terrible case of food poisoning. It lasted several hours and I was completely broken the next day. Even though being sick dominated the next 24 hours, I decided there wasn’t a picture I could take (or wanted to take!) to document the experience so instead you get this nice photo of Wyatt’s valentines:
February 13, 2009: Wyatt had his first ever Valentine’s party at preschool. He collected a bunch of cards, but they didn’t let the kids open them until they got home. He looooooved opening each valentine up and checking out the little treats. The valentines he handed out were pretty cute. They were a sticker sheet with a car or motorcycle on it and a bunch of decorations you could pull off to decorate each vehicle.
February 14, 2009: We had a nice Valentine’s morning. I made heart shaped pancakes for everyone, then gave the boys their gifts. Wyatt got some robot colorforms and a packet of Pop Rocks and Augie got a kitty doll. Zach and I had a hard time getting it together for Valentine’s day and it’s not something either of us are very into, so we decided to post-pone until we could get a babysitter and have a nice dinner somewhere. I love them all.
February 15, 2009: Both Wyatt and Augie woke up at the crack of dawn — which I define as before 6 a.m. — and I was just unable to cope with motherhood. I put Augie down on a blanket on the floor to practice moving around and I introduced Wyatt to Fat Albert via hulu.com. Then I drank about 40 cups of tea and read a magazine.
February 16, 2009: We had a lot of rain this week, so Wyatt was stuck inside a lot. Here, he rides on his rocking horse in an effort to dispense with some of his energy.
February 17, 2009: This is the view from our front porch. That white car is our VW Fox. I bought it in 1996 and it’s still running pretty well.
February 18, 2009: The light in our bedroom was awesome, so I did a little photo shoot with Augie on our bed. You can see more of the photos I took over on Flickr.
Wyatt is on a cheese stick kick this week, so you’ll be seeing a lot of those below.
Tuesday’s lunch had strawberries, a blueberry jam sandwich (“NO peanut butter, Mama!” — Sheesh! I know, I know!) and a cheese stick. I also added a fruit leather star for decoration.
Wednesday I sent another cheese stick, apple slices and deli turkey roll-ups on picks.
Thursday’s lunch was super! It had a half a hamburger bun, baked tofu and strawberries. I couldn’t resist photographing it on the new paper I got.
OK, more new paper in this photo. Wyatt is obsessed with this paper pad, so I predict you’ll be seeing a lot of it in the coming weeks. Today’s lunch (fit for a space exporer) is strawberries, banana, cheese stick, saltines (the only kind of cracker Wyatt will eat — believe me, I’ve tried lots of others) and cheddar cheese bears and men.
I’m cooking out of the freezer again this week. I’ve been socking stuff away in there for a few weeks and now it’s too full to get any ice cream products in there, so it’s imperative that I use some of the stuff in there up.
Wednesday: Lamb chops, some kind of boxed rice pilaf, veggie
Thursday: Sour Cream Salsa Chicken, rice, salad.
This is our favorite crock-pot dish! It’s so easy. Put 3-4 chicken breasts into the crockpot. I usually put them in frozen even though I know that’s a health department no-no. That being said, we’ve never had a problem. Dump a jar of salsa on top. The better the salsa, the better the dish. Cook it until the chicken is done. I usually cook it on high for 3-4 hours, or on low for 6-8 hours, but it will depend on your crockpot. When the chicken is cooked through, shred it with a couple of forks (or not). Dump it back in the crockpot and stir in anywhere between 1/2 cup to 1 cup of lite sour cream. Let it warm up a bit and then serve it over the rice.
Friday: Baked Turkey Chimichangas (Six O’Clock Scramble), salad, chips and salsa (I never got to this last week)
Comments
bentos · food · photo · preschool
. I forgot how easy the recipe is. I’ll definitely be making this bread a lot from now on.
), green veggie
