Packing Their Own Lunch. - Picture Heavy

Tyke putting peanut butter on a homemade mini roll. Well, maybe not a roll per say, I used bread dough, flattened it, let it rise a little and baked it to make little bread rounds to use for sandwiches.

Oh look, he wants to make sure you knew he was using his Spiderman box (we found it at Walmart).  Tyke loves Spiderman.

I set out the veggie tray and pre cut fruit for Tyke to pick what he wanted. I lucked out and both were on sale this week. I love it! It was cheaper for me to buy these than it was to buy the same weight in non cut fruit and veggies. Unless I just bought carrots and spinach. The minions are not a fan of spinach though.

What a good boy! Tyke picked some cauliflower all by himself. I gave no direction other than to remind them to only take what they will eat.

Lunch!

You ever wonder why their hair looks this way sometimes? Clark is Autistic with Sensory Processing Disorder. Clark thrives on a loose routine. We have certain things we do on school days and we can add in other activities, but on school days we always take a bath. He will refuse to get on his coat if he does not have a bath. We have learned that he becomes very excited on the bus (he is on it for 45 minutes). To help him regulate that excitement, we needed to provide him with some sort of sensory input before he gets on the bus. We chose to use the bath tub because personal hygiene is a very good habit to get into. Especially for someone who needs any sort of routine . Also, Clark loves water. Water helps calm him on really bad days. Luckily we moved into a house with a very large tub.

Forty-five minutes before it is time to get on the bus, I put all the boys in the bath tub. They have a great time in there. Clark never wants to get out. Fortunately we are the very first stop the bus has, so our pick up time is very consistent. Ten minutes before the bus comes I get Clark and any remaining male minion out of the tub. Most of the time Tyke and Pork are already out and dressed, but sometimes not. I get everyone dry, dressed, and Clark out the door for the bus. While we wait for the bus I encourage him to run in circles, pull the wagon, or some other activity. On really bad days we do joint compressions until the bus comes. Those days I have to carry Clark onto the bus kicking and screaming, put him in his seat, and fasten him into the harness. By the end of the bus ride he is normally calm enough for one of his class aides to get him off the bus with little problems.

Anyway, back to Tyke's hair. Tyke had just gotten out of the bath about 10 minutes prior to this and his hair was still wet. He likes to comb it once it dries. That is why their hair sometimes looks a bit off.

Pork's turn!

Mmm... Peanut butter. I picked my Organic peanut butter today because it is much easier for Pork to spread. Biscoff and Sunbutter are a little to thick for him.


Pork Chop spreading peanut butter on his bread. He was so proud of himself.

THIS is why Pork always goes last with fruit picking. He picked out every last grape and blueberry. Never mind he most likely will not eat them all. I had to swipe some of them out of his box for Colonel Sanders.

Finally picking some other fruit.


Lunch! All the fruit and one or 2 carrots are hidden under the ham. They insisted they wanted some.

Don't worry, we did not forget Colonel Sanders!

 Her bento is a snack box from All Things For Sale. The Colonel loved her lunch.

Now, here is a question for you... How many Sea Monkey habitats do I have?

Our friend came over...

Clark, Pork, and Colonel Sanders lunch

I have been kinda out of it recently. Lots going on and I am afraid I have been a little depressed. I still make lunches, but I do not always take pictures or blog. Thank you to all who still come here and look to see if I have posted.

T's Lunch

Today we have the same lunch, 3 different ways. We had a guest over and I know she loves Hello Kitty. She also does not like cheese. In addition to that, Tyke had decided that he no longer wants his lunch "cut". He wants his sandwich whole. Clark and Pork still want "lunch cut". So I tried to please most people.

Tyke's Lunch

We had organic peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, The cut outs were of a reindeer and made of either ham or salami (Nitrate free), cheese, and fruit on picks.

I just had to make this one large. Look at Colonel Sanders stuff her ham into her mouth! Doesn't she make a cute Pooh Bear? This poor outfit was bought used and it has now been worn by all 4 minions! The Colonel likes it so much that she would "yell" at us if we put the hood down. This is not a costume either.

Pork chop would not stop moving his head. I think he was overly excited over his reindeer.

Tyke, T, and Clark. Sorry, I do not feel right posting a child's face if they are not my own minion. T actually lifted the cat lid herself and asked me to take a picture. Notice Clark decided to copy her.

This was my lunch. Left over homemade chicken noodle soup... minus the broth because I did not want it to get mushy over night. It still tasted very yummy!

Stocking Lunch and Leftovers again

Tyke informed me that he did not wish to have his sandwich cut. So I left his sandwich whole and just cut out a meat stocking for him.

 Lunch we have is dried cranberries, cheese and turkey, two bows made from cheese and a dried cranberry, and a sunbutter and jelly sandwich in the shape of a stocking. I used dried cranberries on the top.

Today I used a Mini Dipper in an Easy Lunchbox. The Elder is pretty much one handed. So he needed to easily be able to take out non microwave items easily before he warms his meal. I figured the Mini Dipper would work well. That and Julie is only given a 15 minute lunch (really), so getting her food warm fast is a must.

Once again we have some leftovers. The hash in the main compartment was made 2 days ago for dinner. It consists of potatoes, onions, garlic, sausage, and green peppers. To change it up a bit, I added some pan fried carrots to it. I know it sounds odd, but it really does taste good. Also I added some tomato flowers. To the left of that we have cut up fruit in a Mini Dipper and some chocolate I found in the freezer.

Oh look, 3 of the minions! Colonel Sanders decided she wished to stand up and eat at the table. I think she wants to be like her brothers.

Snowmen and Chili with Cornbread

Today I have 4 little ones home. Clark did not have school due to a field trip in the morning. Sadly, we were not able to go on it. :-( That's ok. He already saw Santa. That and we had a busy night last night. So he is still a little on the overstimulated side.

Lunch consists of two Biscoff and jelly snowmen sandwiches with mini chocolate chip eyes and noses, some cheese, two kiwi slices (they remind me of wreaths  and 3 slices of cucumber. The minions have not been eating to much recently.

 The Elder and Julie had leftovers for lunch today. The chili was from 2 weeks ago. There was just enough left for 2 lunch servings. So I put it in a bag and tossed it in the freezer until I decided to use it. Today was that day! I thawed the chili, spooned it into our Easy Lunchboxes, and added some grated cheese and tomato hearts.  The cornbread muffin was a leftover from the night before. I used prunes for the eyes, a dried cranberry for the nose, and nori strips for the whiskers. 

Want a picture of a minion???

Clark dancing at Aunt Becki's wedding. He loves to dance.














Isn't he cute? Clark was the only child to go. We left the other 3 with Aunt Julie.

Blogger did not like my video. So please go to my Facebook page to view it.

Odd Mix Of Items

Today's lunch is an odd mix of items. I could not please anyone at breakfast, so I decided to just give up for lunch. I'll put a little bit of things together and just see what they do. For lunch we have some slices of kiwi, summer squash, radish  carrots, a snap pea, some pieces of cheese, sunbutter crackers, and a ELB Mini Dipper with Italian dressing. 

This one was actually made several days ago. I made several lunches together and I just realized I had not posted this one. I have chicken breast stuffed with ricotta cheese, herbs, and broccoli sitting on a bed of bow-tie pasta and sauce. I sliced two tomatoes to make flowers. To the right of that I have a berry crumble and mixed veggies.

Colonel Sanders is blessing her lunch with her light saber before she eats it. Isn't she cute? She just learned how to undress herself. So I let her eat without clothes. She is much easier to clean up that way anyway.

Pork seems pretty excited over his carrot stick.

Tyke wanted nothing to do with the Italian dressing. Hmm...

What is this? This is my newest project. We are in week 2 and hopefully at the end of recovery of the Kefir grains.

Kiwi Boat and Pasta with Andouille Sausage

For adult lunch we have organic andouille sausage on top of tri colored noodles with an olive oil, garlic, carrot, fresh tomato, and red pepper topping. I also added a piece of summer squash for some color. Besides that we have broccoli and peppermint kisses.

The minions have cheese cubes, lil' smoky links (or whatever they are called), a boat made form half a kiwi and a slice of hot house cucumber, a letter P for Pirate made out of homemade cheese bread, and some Uncle Sams cereal (GMO free).

How did I get the boat and cereal to stay? A little bit of sunbutter does wonders! The minions are so use to me using it for glue that they do not even question it.

All lunches were put into our Easy Lunchboxes

Lunch "on sticks"

Someone knows what time it is! Yes, she saw me pick up the boxes and went right for her chair.

One of the boys made the background for me. Sadly the glue does not dry clear.

Tyke was requesting his lunch "on sticks". So I happily complied. We have strawberries, blueberries, and a piece of fresh pineapple on long heart picks. Also I made 2 that has sliced turkey and cheese. Also in the container is a snap pea, date, slice of red pepper, slice of summer squash, and some radish.

The first thing Colonel Sanders grabbed for was her slice of summer squash.

Pork debating on what to eat first.

Do you think Tyke is hungry? Look at him shove that turkey into his mouth!

"I no eat bean phone. I feed to guinea pigs!"

Still enjoying her lunch.

Today in our Easy Lunchboxes we have steamed carrots, some peppermint kisses and quinoa with pork and pears.

Manicotti and dinosaurs.

I am still trying to work on the lunches, working 3rd shift, being mom all day, and sleep. Sleep is in short supply right now. Sadly I have not been taking any pictures.

In our Easy Lunchbox we have cheese and broccoli manicotti, chicken, a slice of mozzarella cheese, and some grape tomatoes. To the right of that we have steamed broccoli and an old fashioned caramel candy.

We used our Gerber Mealtime Organizer we have nitrate free salami, sliced cheese, celery, carrots, raspberry, and sunbutter and whole wheat tortilla dinosaurs. I rarely use this box because it is a little on the clunky side and easily pops open if a minion drops it.

Tyke is showing us his veggie stick. You can see Colonel Sanders standing in the background. She decided to stand and eat her lunch today.

 

 Pork enjoyed his salami. Aunt Julie was sent home from work early today since they ran out of work to do. So she joined us for lunch.

Colonel Sanders is a very messy little girl today. She was helping her brothers color earlier and then snacked on some blackberries before lunch. Did I mention her runny nose too. *sighs* I should have changed her, but she would just have gotten messy while eating. So I opted to change her after lunch.

Car lunch

We have apple cars made with apples, biscoff spread to hold on the wheels, grapes sliced into wheels, and whole grapes. To the right of that we have a stuffed car sandwich, chicken sausage and cheese kabobs, and a ham and cheese kabob.

Colonel Sanders had the same as her brothers, only I cut things into smaller pieces.

 I had to work, so I made 3 of these. One for The Elder, one for Julie, and one for myself. I have kisses for a desert and some steamed broccoli. 

In the large compartment I made linguine  fresh diced tomatoes, yellow pepper, garlic, and olive oil topping. On top of that I made everyone a chicken and apple sausage.

I got the stuffed sandwich idea from one of my fellow bloggers. Sadly, I cannot remember who. So here are a few who have done it before!

BentoBloggy has an egg salad stuffed sandwich. 

Bentolicious has a tutorial.

Mountains of Molehills made characters out of gluten free bread.

Susan Yuen has a tutorial on a DIY mold using a cookie cutter.

Bentoriffic has a heart stuffed sandwich.

And there was someone who used a jello mold to make stuffed sandwiches. I am not sure who it was and I have had no luck finding them. Anyone who knows who, please let me know so I can add them.


The minions did not eat to well. I know Colonel Sanders is teething. Yep, my little girl is getting 3 molars at once! I think she is an overachiever. So she is not to interested in food.

Pork played with the car and ate the ham and some fruit, but not much else. I am not sure why he did not eat. It is almost unheard of Pork not finishing his bento.

Tyke did not finish his either. I know he likes the meat and cheese kabobs. Good thing the boxes are easy to close and store. I just put the tops on and placed them in the fridge for an after school snack.