Making Our Own Lunch in a Egg Carton

Take the picture already! We want to decorate!

Today I decided we would do a little craft before lunch. This is one the the minions' favorite things to do. Luckily we have friends and family that save their egg cartons for us.

I needed this to be a quick craft, so I used my foam stickers. I purchased these at Walmart for about a dollar a bag. You can also purchase basic ones at the Dollar Tree. After each holiday I hit up the seasonal clearance area at Walmart and pick up the seasonal ones. My minions are younger, so they do not care if they are in season or not. Plus, then I also have extra for the next time the holiday season rolls around. I bought 2 small packs of pumpkins and acorns at Walmart yesterday for about $1.25. Sadly they did  not have any more. I have 2 shoe boxes full of these. I just kinda mix them all together.

 I took a few out of the box and made sure the extra bits were off them. If I put the whole shoe box out, we would be sitting there all day long. Not to mention they would some how migrate all over the house.

Colonel Sanders always has perfect timing. I had hopes she would remain napping during this. I have 55 minutes between getting Clark on the bus, feeding the other minions, and taking Tyke to school. Colonel Sanders fell asleep as I was getting Clark ready. She apparently decided a 15 minute power nap was all she needed. Here she is joining us at the table.

Normally I would add some paper to the top of the egg cartons so that you can see everything a little better. Also it allows the boys to use marker and crayons to help them decorate the top. I had planed on this craft last night, but decided I was to lazy to glue on paper.

See what I mean? They are having great fun, but it would be nice to not see all that ink.

In the mean time, I went to the kitchen and did some lunch prep work. I made the little sandwiches last night. Most of the veggies were already cut. One of the veggie trays was on sale at the store when I went shopping. It was near the sell by date so I got it for 40% off. I learned that for the most part, these are still good for a week. You can't beat buying one of these for $3.50ish.

I know the table is a mess. What can I say. Going from left to right, we have blackberries, ham, pomegranate, Biscoff sandwiches in the shape of a D & a duck also Hello Kitty & the letter C, cheddar cheese, figs, and a veggie tray.

I put one sandwich and the matching letter into their cartons. From there they took over. I told them to put a few bites into each spot. I know it does not seem like a lot of food, but if you filled this up and then emptied it out, you would have more than enough to feed an adult.

Tyke showing off his lunch. It looks like he grabbed a little bit of everything.

 Pork Chop and his lunch. I know he only picked some of the items because he wanted to be like Tyke. Either way, both of them had great fun picking out what they were going to eat for lunch.

Poor little Colonel Sanders was given leftovers. I don't think she minds though. She happily ate 2 pieces of ham, some cheese, one of the sandwiches, and then some pomegranate.

I know the boys really enjoy the chance to make their own lunches. Most days I make it before hand or hurry to do it while they play. I need to remember to set aside time and do more lunches where the minions help.

D is for Dolphin

I know it has been a bit. I am sorry. I have had some personal problems recently.

Anyway, I chose to use the longer bento today because of the dolphin. I found a new bread cutter in the store with 2 dolphins and a heart in the center.

On the top I have sliced carrots, strawberries, and Colby cheese. To the right of that is pasta salad. Hidden from view there are some cucumber bits, black olives, and tomato mixed in with the tri colored pasta and Italian dressing. This was a bigger hit than I thought it would be. The number 15 is made out of a whole wheat tortilla and colored with food safe markers.

On the bottom is some folded deli turkey, a peanut butter dolphin and heart, and some baby dill pickles. The D is also cut out of a tortilla.

D is for Domo

 Aunt Agnes made some banana bread the other day. I have to say that I love hers. Not to much banana to make it mushy and it is not sweet either. It's perfect! Yet for some odd reason, the minions refuse to eat it.  They refuse to eat it even when it is sweet. So today, in preparation of me baking another bread to try, I decided to see if I could get them to eat it. Remember, I refuse to spend more than 15-20 minutes. I have 4 under the age of 5 and 3 are solid eaters.

I was talking to my anime friend and Domo came to mind. Yes! They are brown and would be perfect. There is not much I could do to mess this one up. So I cut the bread into a little bit more of a rectangle shape and added pretzels for arms and candy eyes. The mouth is made from strawberry cream cheese and mozzarella cheese for the teeth.

I have some not so ripe peaches, kiwi, and colby jack cheese helping to keep the arms steady for transport to the table. Minions are not to careful with their bento's. And we have bologna D's stacked up for their enjoyment as well.

Did they eat the bread? Yes! Pork emptied out his bento onto the table before he went after the Domo. Tyke ate them first thing while pointing to the peaches and telling me they were apples and how much he loves apples.

The frog bentos were purchased from AllThingsForSale.com . My Father-in-Law purchased the first one for me and the minions fought over it so much I had to purchase a second. Have I mentioned how much I love that site? Love cannot even begin to describe it.