Friday picnic

What amazing weather! 80 and slightly cloudy with a breeze. Bean thought it was a perfect day to take his lunch out to the screened porch. Yesterday I got tired of the cobwebs and spontaneously cleaned the porch out, which then lead to moving the furniture around (told you it was a habit). Arlo is pleased that the sectional no longer blocks this perfect little sunbeam in the corner. We sat out there and listened to the birds and the squirrels and watched the butterflies and bees hard at work.  Weather like this mixed with the first smells of fall makes me dizzy with ideas and planning. Love it!

Is there any better place for a pug?

Ian thought his crazily-presented food tasted even better than the conventional presentation, and 15 minutes after this picture he handed me an empty container all closed up.  That is an apple ring, in case you were wondering.

I have been packing the boys lunches bento-style since Gav was in kindergarten. I don't think it is any secret that kids love food presented in a fun way, and I love the ease of the bento. It reminds me to pack each of the important food groups and there is no waste. And there isn't even food waste, since Gav eats everything everyday (the biggest challenge with him is packing enough!) and Merritt knows that if he didn't finish lunch, the container opens back up when he gets home at 1:00 and he finishes it before there is any talk of snacking. I am pretty hard-core like that.

Here is a picture of their lunches on the first day of school this year. The extra food on the counter is for their snack times. The bento boxes are from a company called Laptop Lunches. As I said earlier, I have had one of them for 4 years and despite the heavy use and daily dishwasher cleaning, it is in near-perfect shape!

Just today I discovered a website dedicated to Bento lunch packing, called Another Lunch. It is pretty awesome and I am excited to try some of the ideas I read over there. I do confess, I scoff at the things that look tedious (I am packing lunches at 6:30 in the morning), but I admire the concept and I enjoy feeding my kids healthy food. And I LOVE opening empty lunch boxes at the end of the day!