Pumpkin MTM

Since A was home today for the holiday, I did a lunch tin this week.  The theme was pumpkins.  I absolutely love pumpkins and fall is my favorite time of year, so this was fun.

Yay for a monochromatic lunch!  Imagine this tin times two - A had already started eating hers by the time I got a photo.  I made some carrot onigiri (I got that idea from my friend Kristin) pumpkins with a little piece of sausage for the stem.  Then there's a peanut butter snowball and a couple of orange wedges.  In the lower three spaces, there's chicken nuggets, pumpkin shaped cheese cut outs, and a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie (we baked them this morning, they're our favorite!).

Sport Day Bentos

That's a lot of bento.

In Japan, "Sport Day" is a national holiday.  Like, a REAL national holiday where you have the day off from school or work.  But the schools put on quite a show for Sport Day.  It's one of the biggest events of the year at A's Yochien, and this year was her school's 51st Sport Day Festival.  The event lasts from 9AM till 2PM, so parents are expected to come prepared!  I knew A would be famished after a whole morning of outdoor physical activity, so I packed us big lunches.  Daddy took a thermos of soup, so I only had to pack three lunches instead of four.  Still, three lunches was a whirlwind of effort at 6AM!

A's bento - she ate all of it!

C's bento

My bento

The bentos are pretty much all the same as far as content.  I made some pasta and tossed it with garlic sauteed zucchini, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese.  For the kids, I topped the pasta with Mickey and Minnie Mouse pan-fried ham slices (decorated with nori), mine I topped with left over rotisserie chicken.  Then there's a mini zucchini muffin, spinach and ricotta bites, kiwi, corn, red grapes, and in the kids there's a strawberry jelly.

The lunches went over pretty well - it was definitely interesting to get to watch A eat her bento for once - and Sport Day was AWESOME!  We missed out on going last year (C was a lot smaller and under the weather, daddy was deployed, and I was having a hard time juggling everything - a whole-day affair seemed like a daunting idea!) and I'm actually pretty sad about it.  It would've been really nice to go.  I was extremely impressed by A's abilities and efforts.  She did SO well!

Why October Rules

I experimented in the kitchen yesterday and came up with some really awesome lady bugs.  And then I was like...  I can't do LADYBUGS in A's lunch!  It's OCTOBER!

What was I thinking?!

So I changed my plans and gave her a spoooooky lunch.  She was elated this morning when she saw the photos.

I feel like I went a little overboard for a bread and milk day lunch, but I couldn't even control myself.  So, it is what it is.

On the left, A's got chicken nugget tombstones with BBQ sauce "RIP" and edamame.  Mmmm...

On the right, a half a kiwi with an owl pick, a Babybel cheese and olive eyeball - which is sitting on top of some spooky ghost marshmallows, some carrot-o-lanterns and a "boo"-berry white chocolate dipped strawberry ghost - which are sitting on top of a few grapes.

Biscuit Dough ...Nuts

After I picked up A from Yochien yesterday, I was bored.  She was bored.  C was even bored.

I perused Gourmetmomonthego.com for a while and then stumbled back into the doughnuts recipe.  (By the way, I'm sure you were wondering - I prefer to spell it "Donut".  Don't ask why, I couldn't tell you.)

I thought for a minute.  Biscuit dough.  Biscuit dough.  Biscuit.. - hey!  I HAVE that!  You really don't need much else - powdered sugar and cinnamon/sugar are pretty much staples in our house and I generally have them on hand.

A thought it was the funnest project ever.  I even gave her the camera while I supervised the frying and she snapped most of the photos.  Till C broke a toy and A had to rush to her rescue, of course.

Please note that we cut out the "holes" with a flower cutter  - A's request.  Also please note that INSANE farmer tan!  Holy jeeez!  I should really remember to put sunblock on her before school!  :(

Succcess :)

The best part is that daddy got home early and took the girls to the playground to run off some of the sugar and I managed to clean the kitchen up while they were gone.

This morning I made Weelicious Zucchini Muffins for breakfast and the girls loved them.

Hello Kitty Pizzas

Ok, so my friend sent me a photo of these ADORABLE Hello Kitty mini-pizzas last week and I decided I just HAD to make them.  A is like the biggest Hello Kitty fan ever.

Last night I did it.  It took me forever and was the most frustrating project ever.  I definitely am lacking in patience.  And they didn't turn out half as cute as the original!  LAME!  But A still loved them and I put them in her bento today.  It came home empty, so that's always a plus.

Apple slices, Hello Kitty carrots, orange wedges, a snowball and a jelly...
Two HK mini pizzas and edamame

Oh well.  At least she was impressed!

Circus Breakfast

I did my very first "Muffin Tin Monday"! I have been so excited to jump in on this blog-o-sphere trend but kept forgetting to pick up a couple of half-dozen muffin tins for my kids to eat out of.

I think I may be a little bit of a dunce - I couldn't figure out how everybody's Muffin Tin meals always appeared to be lunch - don't any of these kids go to school? So I decided to make my kids Muffin Tin meals breakfast.

Today, I realized most of these moms make their Muffin Tin Monday meal on Sunday afternoon (I think - difficult to say for sure with the time difference). Oh well. They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I've already committed to making my kids breakfast...  so I am just going to go with it. (Till I run out of clever breakfast ideas, that is!)  Plus, A was so excited about it that she was up early this morning to see what kind of fun I had planned.  All in all, I think it was a hit.

The theme this week was "circus".  It has been SO long since I went to a circus, and sadly my kids have never been to one.  The closest A knows to a circus is Jojo and Goliath!

Oh well, she's all about fun stuff, so it worked out.

A and C's Circus Muffin Tin breakfast

Top row: "Clown hair" scrambled eggs, circus animal crackers, mini "corn dog" (pancake dipped sausage)
Bottom row: Caramel apple bites, peanut butter fluff dip, and "cotton candy" yogurt.

Yum!

Versatile Blogger Award

Huh???

Me???

Ok, well I am completely undeserving of any sort of "Blog Awards" but Nicole passed this one to me anyways!  I appreciate it, even though my blog is a totally unworthy "baby" blog.  I've blogged before but never to a "real" audience.  Mostly just to journal my own thoughts, maybe for a few close friends and family members to read.  So I am new to this but it still made my day when I saw it this morning!  We went shopping at the "big PX" today and my husband ran into a friend out shopping with his family. I was perusing the Halloween goods (which were slim pickin's, but mostly marked down - they are ALREADY moving the Christmas goods in!!  Can you believe that?? - and I did manage to find a few steals) and when I made my way back to the cart with my daughters trailing behind me, M's friend's wife immediately began talking about my bentos, even joked that she'd pay me to make them for her kids.  Mind you, I have never met her in person and my Facebook profile is set to private!  Turns out that she and I have a mutual friend who had been sharing the photos of A's school lunches with her and they were planning to spend a day together bento-ing in preparation for her son's first time in Japanese school.

So, long story short, A's lunches are getting around and even though I think they are absolutely subpar to some of the amazing meals I have seen blogged in my many quests for inspiration...  It makes me happy to know that I'm serving as some sort of inspiration, too.  A "real" inspiration, if you will, since Okinawa is such a small island community and especially within the military realm, we all somehow seem to be connected here.  I'm not far away, I'm a very real "normal" person and I manage to crank out an attempt at these cute lunches a couple of times per week...  Surely anybody can do it!

So back to The Versatile Blogger Award!

To accept the Versatile Blogger Award, the rules are:

1. Thank and link back to who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass it along to 15 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy.
4. Leave your recipients a note, telling them about the award.

My husband chuckled at me this morning as I read Nicole's post to him in shock that I had been included and said, "That sounds like a chain letter."  I don't care!

Ok, so seven things about myself...  I am definitely not the most interesting person, but here goes nothing!

1. I can't stand not wearing something on my feet.  I live in socks.  I hate bare feet on tile floors, for whatever reason, and my house has only tile floors.  Which is annoying.  Oddly, I can't sleep with socks on, and I won't wear the same pair of socks twice.  For example, if I put socks on and then take them off to nap, I must have a fresh pair of socks after the nap.  Even if I just sat there the whole time I had them on and did absolutely nothing.  You may be starting to agree with me now about my not being the most interesting person.
2. I love arts and crafting, but I'm kind of lacking creativity.  I can do a lot of things if I have thorough enough instructions but I'm not nearly as crafty as I'd like to be.  I'm not as organized as I'd like to be, either, which I think plays a role in that.
3. My husband and I have this goal that if he is making the military his career (which it appears he is), we should milk it and get as many cool experiences out of it as we can.  I made this deal with him the last time he reenlisted (nearly three years ago), and then the DoD moved us from California to Texas and then six months later from Texas to Japan.  I'd love to get as many overseas duty stations as possible in his remaining years of service - I love the opportunities available to my children while we live in foreign countries.
4. I'm not a people person.  We live in a 9-story tower apartment building and I can't stand the close quarters.  We're used to living in detached or semi-detached homes..  At the very worst an open-air apartment/multiplex-type set up.  Living with a shared hallway and elevators drives me crazy!!  A takes after my husband and is extremely social.  C, on the other hand, is like me and tends to immediately reject "new" people.  Warming up to people takes her quite some time.
5. I have a sewing machine and I love it, but I've only used it like ten times, total.  I made A a dress and a shoe bag, I've mended a few things, I helped my husband construct a ghillie suit, and I've sewn on name tapes.  The sewing machine - though it's super basic - intimidates me half to death!  One day I'd love to learn to quilt.  Particularly rag quilts.
6. I love Disneyland.  It is my FAVORITE place in the world.
7. My grandma is my best friend.  She's AMAZING!

Whew!  That wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

On to the 15 blogs I enjoy - hard to choose since I ADORE wayyy more than 15 blogs, but I will give it a shot:

1. Holy Cannoli Recipes
2. Café Groenhout
3. olive and ollie
4. A Bit Of This and A Bit Of That
5. BentoLunch.net
6. Sonoma Bento
7. Hawaii Kawaii
8. Sugar Bee - Craft Edition
9. Crouching Mother, Hidden Toddler
10. Bentobird
11. Adventures in Bentomaking
12. All About the Kids
13. A Pumpkin and a Princess
14. Mommy of Twins
15. Hawai`i's Bento Box Cookbook, Bentos and More for Kids

Wilton Give-Away

Kelly at Crouching Mother, Hidden Toddler (the title of her blog cracks me up every time!) is hosting an awesome Wilton Give-Away!  Go check it out!  :)

Blonde Hot Dog Kids

Meh.

Today's bento.  Meh.  If I'm being honest, I'm not thrilled with it.  But quite frankly, I think I deserve a squish of extra credit for it because I was up before 6AM this morning.  My husband's promotion was this morning so I had to actually get myself put together properly before we left the house so that we could attend.  I had a very important role in his ceremony and was responsible for "pinning" on his new rank!  Basically, this all means that my alarm clock was pestering me at 5:30AM.  I am not a morning person.  If I had the chance to re-make this lunch now that it's nearly noon and I've had coffee...  It'd probably turn out a lot cuter and less...  Thrown together.  Oh well.  It does the trick.


Today to go with the school-provided Friday bread and milk, A has tamagoyaki, a couple of hot dog kids (new and improved with angel hair!), edamame, a strawberry, a jelly, some carrots, cheese, apples and kiwis.

:)

Also...  Congratulations honey!  :)  We love you and are so proud.

Five years ago today, before we had children, before the military moved us away (far away!) from our "home" state of California...  I pinned on his previous rank.  Today I was thrilled to be a part - and have our children be a part, as well - of this newest big event in our family and in my husband's career.

Jack-o-Lantern Stuffed Bell Peppers

I am using up too many Halloween recipes too soon.  I can't help it though, I love fall and all the awesomeness it brings with it.  Pumpkins, dressing up, candy, goodies, decorating, and of course all the other fun holidays that trail behind it.

After I got A from school yesterday afternoon, I had to go by the fruit stand for some produce for her lunch today.  They had these huge baskets of multi-colored bell peppers for sale for something like ¥190 (about $2), so I couldn't resist.  I thought of this recipe immediately - I browse Allrecipes.com wayyyy too much - and snatched them up, big plans in mind.

I had A sit down at the table with me and help me design the faces and scoop the insides out of the bell peppers.  She had a blast, of course.

Waiting for stuffing

She definitely enjoyed choosing her funny faced "pumpkin" out of the bunch to eat, too.  It was a success.  :)

Eat me!

Oh, yeah - they tasted pretty good, too.  ;)