Back To School!

Well, we survived the first week of school!

I am loving having Sophia in Kindergarten, because she's so excited to take her lunch every day!

Here's a recap of the first week's lunches! Wednesday of last week we had to leave earlier than usual, and I didn't get a pic of that day's meal... so there are only 4.

Bentos [2.14-2.19]

As a family, we eat way too much processed junk.

I used to be so, so good at keeping my kids shielded from kid-focused marketing when it comes to franken-food, and keeping it out of our home.

Then, life happened and I just kind of stopped. I feel so bad! So, the past couple of weeks I have been making an effort to get us back on that healthy eating wagon as a family. Not banning candy or chips, but definitely cutting way, way back. The kids do not NEED cookies every week to survive (and lets face it, I don't, either). 

Here are a couple of lunches from the week. I don't think I'll ever not have pepperonis in the house for Sophia. Those are her all time favorite. But we are cutting back on them. Olivia is much easier since she LOVES all fruits and most vegetables. 

Olivia's got the Lunchbots Uno container, full of veggies and a trail mix that I got at Aldi. It has peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, almonds, craisins, golden raisins, peanuts, and cashews in it. She's got a side of fruit and a side of ranch for dipping her veggies in.

Olivia is always saying "derp" and things are "derpy," so I used letter picks to spell out DERP in her pineapple. :)

Sophia's lunch is super simple but it still was "too much" for her-- she refused to eat the cheddar stars (she currently only likes babybel and laughing cow wedges as far as cheese goes). She also LIKES kiwi but she's super weird about when she will eat it. This time, she didn't want to eat it. So she asked for seconds on the clementine (which she got, and last month she wouldn't even eat clementines at all). 

What are you doing to entice your children to eat healthier? Or are you? Do you focus on that for your kids, or are you just happy they eat at all? When I was growing up there was not a real focus on fruits or vegetables. My sister and I both love them, and our brothers not so much. Its amazing how the tastebuds work!

Easy LunchBoxes Bento

Here we have in the Easy Lunchboxes container, our BBQ Chicken Rolls from yesterday, chocolate chip stuffed strawberries, 3 mini cookies, cheez-its, and spicy cheetohs. Not pictured Olivia has an apple sauce. I need to go buy more fruit! ;) 

Have a fab day! xo

Back To School :: BENTO!

Well, its here, and I can hardly believe it. It is the end of summer, "officially" officially. Ok, I know the calendar year doesn't declare the end of summer until later, but the start of school for the kids really does signify the end. I can't say I'm sad about it… with the beginning of school we welcome cooler weather (almost, anyway), a buzz of autumn activities like ballet and vino league, football (I'm just here for the food, y'all), and so much more!

So, you probably know by now, but….
TOMORROW IS THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

Both my kids are excited for school and bentos. I am, too!

For the first day of SIXTH GRADE, Miss O has a cute lunch in a LunchBots container.

In the Lunchbot Uno we have a leftover BBQ rib with cheese letters (my husband is the GRILL MASTER, and these ribs were so good!), ritz crackers and a babybel cheese, strawberries with edible glitter, and a trail mix I threw together of sixlets, almonds, sprinkles, and mini chocolate chips. There are also tiny m&m's cookies our sweet neighbors brought over for us earlier today. In the "fit & fresh" tupperware container, there are sliced peaches. This lunch is a little heavy on the sweets, although I didn't really think about that when I was packing it. We'll just say its a special treat for the first day of school. I will send along a bottle of water with fresh lime slices as well. I wrote a cute little first day of school note on a blank note card from LunchboxLove.

Olivia chose a new lunch bag last week at TJ Maxx, and it is so cute. 

That's our first day of school bento. If you created a bento style lunch, post the link in the comments! Make sure you like my page on Facebook, /PoiriersPlantRoots

xo
kP

2014-2015 School Lunch Re-Cap (and other bits of life)

Well hello there!

It has been a million years (ok, just two).

I can not believe the last time I posted over here was in 2013. So, So sorry for that. Except I did kinda keep up a tiny bit over on the Facebook page.

So much happened, I don't even know where to begin. Maybe a bullet list will work best. :)

• We worked super hard renovating our historic home in our adorable but not entirely safe historic neighborhood
• We got right up to the buying point for the home and discovered that there was asbestos and lead paint on the outside of the home and in the structure (window frames, inside and out)
• We snatched up a realtor (who so happens to be my BFF #CALLCASSIE) and started seeing houses like, that day
• After a couple of weeks of searching frantically, we found a home we loved in a neighborhood we loved that is so, so safe and lovely
• WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!
• We skipped Thanksgiving with our families to move (2014)
• We are PROFESH at moving and were 100% unpacked in our new home by the end of the holiday weekend (like, 2 days and BOOM! we were home!)
• Best Christmas ever in our forever home
• Lots of entertaining in our new home, Vino Leagues, friends for dinner, more friends for dinner :)

Now it is SUMMER VACATION and I'm just sitting here on my couch, in my home, and I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful that this is ours. 

So with all the crazy moving and crazy life going on.. we didn't bento as much as usual. But we still DID bento.. next year there will be more of it. :) 

Crazy Arkansas Weather

... where to start!? I haven't posted since Valentines' Day!

We have been super busy! It has been snowing like crazy for a couple of days, then 70 degrees and sunny for a couple of days.. then more snow, more sun, and so on! Yesterday was a gorgeous day, and today its raining and soooo cold- in the morning we're expected to have snow and ice! With all the weird weather, the school has gotten out early, or been closed.. or we haven't had groceries so I haven't made a photo-worthy lunch. We're all guilty of that, sometimes!

The week of Valentines' day, I made the trek to Mountain Home, Arkansas to get our sweet new puppy! I am very pleased to introduce you to Artemis. She is a french mastiff, and super sweet. My husband searched for her for months, we found a dog that was due for puppies around Thanksgiving. She was FINALLY ready to come home to us as our family Valentine! Mountain home is 4 hours away from my house, so it was a crazy long drive by myself. I enjoyed it though, listening to what ever I wanted to on the radio, and as loud as I wanted! It was so funny though.. it was nice and fine outside and on my way home it came a freaking blizzard! ha!

Here she is: Artemis!

And so today, when I finally got to make a decent lunch, I decided to go with a puppy theme.