Planes, Trains, & Boats...

Well, tomorrow is a big day around here, Friends. Huge milestone for my 15 yr old...I'm taking him to get his driving learner's permit. All this nervousness of mine....for what? He has been very responsible and has prepared well for the written test, and he's attended a professional driving school. So, I'm certain that he's going to pass the test. And, the hubs has insisted offered to be the driving teacher in our fam. (Ok...I'm actually kind of glad for this.) But, it scares me sometimes to think of my baby out there on the road with all the crazies. Seems like only yesterday he was driving a tricycle. It's really hard to let our kids grow up sometimes, isn't it? Our kidlet's grow up in the blink of an eye, don't they? So, think about me tomorrow around 3:00...I'll be the parent of a teenage driver. Holy Mackerel!! Please pray I remain sane!! HaHa!

The little guy wanted his lunch in the Goodbyn Bynto today. He chose these cute transportation picks. These picks started out as buttons...yep, buttons. Give me a hot glue gun, and I can turn just about anything into a cute lunch accessory. Food grade plastic picks + hot glue gun + buttons= super cute lunch picks! Get your hot glue gun out, Friends, and see what kind of cuteness you can create.

This lunch is packed in the Goodbyn Bynto.

• peanut butter and strawberry all-fruit spread sandwich
• cheddar cheese crackers
• natural applesauce
• Hershey's milk chocolate square
• carrot rounds
• red seedless grapes

I added a few fun transportation themed picks for a bit of cuteness.

Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

A Whole Foods Market lunch...

Whole Foods Market....I LOVE Whole Foods. I walk in and I'm suddenly in a hypnotic food trance. I love the variety of interesting fruit choices. I love the unique fish and seafood selections. But, I ADORE their deli area with all the delicious different salad and prepared food choices. My lovely sister and I spent waaaay too much time there yesterday. The hubs always clutches his wallet with a death grip when he knows that I'm going. Going to Whole Foods is like going to Costco....it's impossible to leave without spending a bazonker amount of moolah. Am I right? Hence, I can only visit Whole Foods every couple of months or so. Much to my hubby's delight, though, my Whole Foods haul was quite modest this time. I'd like to share a few of the things that I bought:
Fresh squeezed orange juice- WF has a machine that squeezes the orange juice fresh on the spot. A-MA-ZING!!
Tequila Lime catfish fillets- delish!!
Nonni's Thinaddictives cranberry almond thins
Murcott honey mandarins
Sun dried tomato and salmon bisque- super yum!
California quinoa salad- This salad was so good that I'm going to make a copy-cat recipe.
Balsamic grilled chicken strips
Orange mashed yams with cranberries
Asian pears
Garlicky kale salad- This did not go over as well as the California quinoa salad.

So, today's lunch features some of the things from my Whole Foods shopping trip.

This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.

• WF balsamic grilled chicken
• Rold Gold pretzels
• Babybel cheese
• Nonni's Thinaddictives cranberry almond thins
• WF quinoa salad- This salad was delicious! The quinoa was mixed with almond slices, red onion, raisins, mango, coconut flakes, edamame, and red pepper with a very light balsamic dressing. My little guy loves balsamic dressing, so I included a bit more in the froggy container.
• red seedless grapes and Murcott honey mandarin slices- These Murcott mandarins were so sweet and delicious.

Linked to: BentoLunch.net/ What's for lunch Wednesday

Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

Smiley snowman lunch...

Welcome to Friday, Friends! WooHoo, it's Friday and Monday is a holiday for the kids from school. I'm loving it! The weather here is actually pretty nice today. The high is 56*... quite the change from the -8* we had 2 weeks ago. This weekend and Monday are going to be in the low 60's. We may try to make Monday a zoo day. The animals at our zoo are always so active and frisky when the weather is cool. It's only January, so I'm pretty certain that the cold winter days will return. We're still hoping for a snowy winter wonderland. So, I thought I'd better sneak in another winter lunch just in case Mother Nature throws us a curve ball and our weather remains very moderate. That's Ok, though. Spring is right around the corner.

This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.

• peanut butter and strawberry all-fruit spread sandwich cut into the shape of a snowman- He has sprinkles for buttons and a winter cap pick.
• white cheddar "snow" balls
• blackberries and red seedless grapes with snowman pick
• carrots cut into the shape of snowmen, black and green olives
• 2 milk chocolate Hershey's Drops in the snowman container

Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

Ham croissantwich

Well, we are still in the deep freeze here. When it's this cold, I find it difficult to even leave my house. A cup of coffee and my warm, toasty heated blanket just calls my name. But, I did manage to throw on my parka and boots and do a little shopping at Costco with my mom yesterday. I love shopping at Costco with my mom. Most of the things we buy, we split....fruit, veggies, cheese, and meat especially. Yesterday, we bought and split these ginormous croissants. These things are HUGE! They were four inches thick. Z loves croissants, so today's lunch is a ham croissantwich. I actually cut the middle of the croissant out to make the sandwich smaller. It's still huge, and I fully expect that he won't eat all of it. Mom and I also bought the Costco chicken salad to split, and it is yummo on the croissants. Good eatin' yall!!

This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.

• Natural Selects ham and Monterrey Jack cheese croissantwich
• Rold Gold honey wheat pretzel sticks
• Cuties clementine and red seedless grapes
• baby carrots and red seedless grapes with Ranch dressing for dipping

Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

Baby, it's cold outside!!

Well, the title of this post says it all....Baby, it's COLD outside. The high this morning was 8* with a windchill of -10*. Yes, I know that there a lots of places with colder weather than this, but for the M-town, this is fridged. You know it's cold when my cold loving Spoo refuses to be outside for more than 5 minutes...even with his sweater on. (What!! Your dog doesn't have a winter sweater? Ok...I admit. He's pretty pampered.) The weather man is predicting some frozen precip on Sunday, so you bet I have some happy kids. Snow is a rarity around here, so I myself wouldn't be too disappointed by the fluffy white stuff. So, winter is the theme for today's lunch in our Goodbyn Bynto.

This lunch is packed in the Goodbyn Bynto.

• Natural Selects nitrate free hotdog and black olive mini skewers
• Honeycrisp apple wedges
• four bean salad with mittens pick
• Yoplait lemon yogurt with snowman shaped cupcake icing decoration 
• small square of brownie brittle
• Rold Gold cheddar cheese pretzels

Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

Welcome 2015

Hi friends!! Welcome to 2015!! Seems like it's been forever since I made a blog post. The kiddos winter break sneaked up on me, and we were super duper busy from the first day they got out of school....no time for blogging. Today is their first day back to school, and it was HARD!! The little guy was up and raring to go....so ready to see his friends again. The 15 year old....not so much! Me....ummm, let's just say after 2 cups of coffee, I still had major "no homework, sleeping late, love having my babies home" back-to-school blues. (Insert frowny face here.) Lunch with my bestie cured that, though. (Insert smiley face here.) I hope you all had a great winter break and enjoyed lots of time with your kiddos. I'm looking forward to a great 2015 with lots more fun lunches, and I hope you will continue to tune in.

This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.

• Natural Selects nitrate free hotdog slices
• baby carrots with Ranch dressing for dipping in the green cup
• Yoplait Trix yogurt- We love Trix yogurt! It has no artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners.
• whale shaped cheese crackers
• strawberry slices
• cheddar cheese wedge

Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch: