mommy + me lunch box

Join us on a Jolly Holiday Blog Hop  sponsored by Bento Blogger and Friends! Miss C doesn't like her sandwiches cut lately. She likes the crust so she's been asking me to just cut her sandwiches in half, diagonally. By cutting the gingerbread out of the bread, Mommy can get her creative on and she can still have her crust. :) Gingerbread Nutella sandwich,  diced chicken with ketchup and green apple packed in  EasyLunchBox Please click on the picture below and look at the yummy lunch made by my friend Christine of My Epicurean Adventures ! note: This post may contain Amazon Affiliate links

Smile! It's picture day at school! Miss C's Lunch: Ham and Cheese camera sandwich green peppers and applesauce Packed in an  EasyLunchBox note: This post may contain Amazon Affiliate links.

*sniff*  Today marks the first day of school. First grade.  With the "big kids" as Miss C call them.  Apparently, Kindergarteners are the babies.  Well they are ALL babies to me! Stop growing, Miss C!!!   Between getting myself ready for work, getting Miss C ready for school and Baby E's things for daycare, and packing lunches, I was a disorganized mess this morning! I'm trying to figure out how to juggle everything. This 2-children morning thing is so new to me. But Miss C did not miss the bus today and I was at work by 8:30am.   So I consider this morning a WIN! Miss C's Lunch:   mini PBJs faces (at her request)  blueberries and raspberries, peach yogurt  and a small piece of chocolate packed in an  EasyLunchBox note: This post may contain Amazon Affiliate links.

Summer has officially started! Miss C had her last day of school a couple weeks ago.  Miss C's Last Lunch of Kindergarten: at her request: Almond butter sandwich (using LunchPunch Sweet set ) colby jack cheese frozen strawberry yogurt cherries packed in an EasyLunchBox note: This post contain Amazon Affiliate links

Miss C's lunch:  Peanut Butter Sandwich Goldfish crackers Carrots w/Ranch Jelly candy Applesauce Miss C loved the store-bought organic applesauce pouches. So when I saw this reusable pouch from Squooshi  I knew we would be able to put it to good use.  There are 2 sizes to choose from, 2.5 and 4.5oz. The Panda is the larger size, I was able to put about 2/3c of applesauce. (I will save the smaller size for the upcoming baby!) Miss C loved the panda pouch and my husband loves the fact that it's dishwasher safe! My toxicologist mother would love the fact that it's BPA-free, PVC-free, lead-free and phtalate-free. I love the fact that it's both cute and environmentally friendly! The peanut butter sandwich was cut out using  CuteZCute  panda cutter. Panda picks and cups are from AllThingsForSale

Did you know February is National Children's Dental Health Month ?  Our whole family schedules our 6-month cleaning in one day so we don't forget and to easily fit in into our busy schedules. Miss C also has her first loose tooth! The tooth fairy is definitely on-call ready for this big girl milestone! Ham & Cheese Sandwich carrots, yogurt and strawberries packed in an  EasyLunchBox featured on

I consider myself and my daughter very lucky that she does not have any nut allergies.  So we can celebrate National Peanut Butter Day today!  Peanut Butter and Jelly Dino Sandwich with applesauce, grapes, celery and ranch Celery with Peanut Butter pineapple, hardboiled egg, chips and salsa Simple PBJ, clementine, raisins and cookies. This was a last minute "I change my mind, I don't want school lunch today!"  I literally had less than 2 minutes to find something in the pantry for food to pack.

Happy New Year!  After 2-week long winter break from school, Miss C headed back to class yesterday. I took a week off work during Christmas week and we loved the lazy-lounge-around days, with late bedtimes and sleeping in. It was awesome. But this week, it's back to reality. Full week of work for me and Daddy, and back to school for Miss C.   Is it spring yet? :) Flower Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwiches, oranges and almond cookies packed in an EasyLunchBox .

I'm joining my bento blogger friends for another fun hop (you hop from one blog to another.) This is week 2 of 3 of the Holiday Hop. Our bento circle of friends is growing so we thought we'd split into 3 smaller hops. (Check out Holiday Hop Week 1 )  Miss C's lunch: Cucumber Christmas Tree with Carrot  Ornaments , ranch in a  Gift , cheese  Star and a peanut butter  Snowman  Sandwich  with caramel marshmallow hat and blackberries. (packed in less than 15 minutes using a 2-tiered red bento box ) Check out Bento Days below and hop around to see other  Holiday/Christmas lunch inspirations.

Miss C had a field trip to the pumpkin patch last month. A disposable sack lunch was required. I used a container I saved from leftovers from a restaurant. She requested 2 PBJ sandwiches (must be going through a growth spurt.) I used the CuteZCute pig cutter and a pumpkin cookie cutter. Angry Birds graham crackers, a clementine, cheese stick and a candy from her Halloween stash rounded out this lunch.

I threw this lunch together in less than 10 minutes. PBJ pocket sandwich using CuteZCute cutters (does it look like a lion? Kinda?) Grapes balloons and Cucumber flowers. Yogurt with sprinkles packed in an EasyLunchBox

It's a short week at school as Miss C has a day off for Fall Break tomorrow.  Toasted Leaves peanut butter and jelly sandwich veggie chips, mandarin oranges, and a maple leaf brownie

 Miss C had a field trip on Monday to a local fire station. She was supposed to bring a disposable sack lunch. I reused a plastic clamshell box that the strawberries came in. I lined that with a napkin and added cupcake cups as food dividers.   PBJ panda sandwich using CuteZCute animal cutters with veggie chips, carrots, chocolate panda cookies, grapes and strawberries

pocket peanut butter sandwich carrots with ranch, cherries and fruit snacks "applesauce on the go" Over the summer, I saw the applesauce and other fruit squeeze things that come in these pouches. The fruit squeeze pouches intrigued me. Miss C loves applesauce and it was great to take on vacation, I didn't have to worry about washing fruit, bruising, forgetting its in the suitcase and rotting. When we saw some organic fruit pouches in Florida, we snagged a few flavors to try. Applesauce was a definite favorite. I wish I can say about the rest... well, because they tasted like baby food, like fruit purees in those teeny jars. When Miss C was a baby, we sort of did this baby-led weaning thing where we skipped purees altogether and had table food that was mashed or diced or chunked. So she never really had a lot of jarred "baby food".  Miss C did not like the other fruit puree flavors, and I don't blame her. She was, however, totally in love with the ap...

This is a set of brand spankin' new cutters called CuteZCute . This versatile cutter can be used as a sandwich cutter, cookie cutter/stamp, rice mold and more! Each set comes with the head and panda, kitty, frog and piggy faces. It also comes with that handy dandy pick to push out the food from the little detailed holes. Miss C absolutely LOVED this! Panda Grape Jelly Sandwich with hard boiled egg whites,  cheese cubes, blueberries and raspberries Banana bread, tomatoes, turkey rolls and cheese cubes, grapes and peanuts in a Panda container. We also love our new Trio Lunchbot !  It is stainless steel, a great alternative to plastic boxes. It may look small and compact, but it holds a lot more food than you think it will! For these lunches, I used:    

jelly sandwich, edamame, cheesestick watermelon, cherry yogurt My daughter can finally have PBJs at school (we were nut-free for preschool last year) and she asked for "just jelly sandwich."  She chose her favorite Chobani cherry Greek yogurt and a cheese stick for protein. Packed in one favorite boxes, Laptop Lunches bento lunch box .

My first souvenir purchase in Florida during our vacation was a Mickey sandwich press. Then we went to Whole Foods to meet a fellow bento blogger, Sarah of Bentoriffic , where I passed by a Laptop Lunch bento display. I couldn't help it. I had to have one.  Mickey imprinted ham and cheese sandwich, simple salad w/tomatoes and ranch, yogurt w/diced strawberries, hummus with pita chips The salad, hummus, and yogurt little containers had lids. I did not buy a bag specifically for the Laptop lunch box, and most of my bags were too small for it. It fit in a regular rectangular lunch box, but did not have room for her drink or ice packs. It had to travel upright in a ThirtyOne thermal tote. Miss C reports that the containers did not leak, and that she ate all her salad.  My husband will not like it because there are more containers for him to wash. (Can I say again that I love that man? You'll probably get sick of reading that, if not already. haha!) Her...

Second day of Kindergarten. The elementary school is not nut-free.  I'm assuming they will have a table separate for those with allergies, and when I asked, the teacher said that there are no allergies in her class. So Miss C can enjoy her PB&J sandwiches again. The nut-free alternatives for peanut butter were okay. She wasn't fond of Sunbutter unless I mixed it with chocolate syrup. Speaking of chocolate, we are absolutely in love with Nutella, a chocolatey hazelnut spread. So yummy. In moderation. And I may or may not have eaten Nutella by the spoonfuls out of the jar.  Nutella pocket sandwich cherry tomatoes and mozzarella kabobs strawberries and blueberries and half a Clif brownie bar

Today we went to our local county 4-H fair for their Kids Day. They had booths from local agencies, hospitals, and businesses that were geared towards kids, kids safety, and activities. We visited the chickens, goats, mommy cows and baby calves. It was also wristband day where you can purchase a wristband that will let you go on unlimited rides in the kiddie land area (geared for the younger children). I packed a couple lunches since my friend also came along with her 3-yr old.   We had Nutella mini sandwich bites (shape like the 4-H clover logo) with carrots/ranch (in pig and chick dip containers), applesauce and yogurt covered raisins

Miss C turned 5 during the last week of school. So between end of the year activities and party planning, I had to figure out preschool birthday snacks. Her birthday party that weekend was going to be Strawberry Shortcake theme, so we ran with the strawberry theme all week.   Her preschool snacks: Easy Strawberry Mini Trifles Using clear party cups, layer the following: - cubed angel food cake - vanilla pudding - strawberries w/syrup - a dollop of whipped cream.  Her birthday lunch!  "Cake" turkey and cheese sandwich  blueberries, grapes, veggie and snap peas chips.  The cake cutter is from the SWEET set from LunchPunch. She also wanted to share a snack with her lunch buddies at her extended preschool class. Since I know that all of the kids will have packed lunches, we just did mini strawberry kabobs with flower marshmallows for that little sweet treat. That weekend, Miss C had her Strawberry Shortcake themed birthda...