Valentine Bento

These are the Valentines for her class. She picked the deer picture online, told me what she wanted them to look like, cut them out and glued them to index cards, carefully wrote out each kid's name, and signed them.

This is the first batch of cookies, for her teacher and for her. She had nothing to do with these. I was too tired to do a participatory baking project, and I did them myself after she went to bed.

Hair Tie Bento

Back to the plain container for today because R says she needs to practice closing her new bento box. You forget what kinds of things are stressful when you're six. The bell is ringing, and you can't get your lunch box put back together fast enough, and you're the last kid out of the cafeteria but "you can't run in the hall, but also you can't be late behind your class, so what can I do?" It's not a very complicated box, but I can see how that would be hard. Anyway, I am so restless for something new on the lunch landscape that I made a bento pick out of one of her old flower ponytail ties.

Flying Charlie

He achieves liftoff sometimes. Playing in the snow is his favorite. He and R had a ball after school today.

The pile of green fabric is the remains of his Snakey, a six foot long stuffed snake that R generously dedicated to him when he was a puppy. Snakey had a good run of it--he persevered through some rough treatment. Charlie seems to like him even more with the stuffing removed. I wonder how much Snakey stuffing is waiting for us under the snow. I'm sure we will be pulling tufts of him off branches and brambles well into summer.

Charlie is whispering, "Psssst . . . don't eat that snow. Don't ask why. Trust me."

Charlie's eyes turn the most amazing shades of brown and amber, depending on the light.



Love that little face.


Kids and dogs and snow and happiness. I ran around with them for awhile, and then I pulled a hamstring. Utterly pathetic.

New Bento Box and Swirling Snow

Looking out the kitchen window this morning.

And this is one of two new Shinzi Katoh bento boxes I bought for R. It should inspire me to be more imaginative with her lunches. I have been in such a Tupperware rut lately.

First lunch in her new box. It's the perfect size, and I love the ready-made divider in the box. I made some custom bento picks because I'm tired of the ones I have. The indoor photos are still so bad. I'll have to come up with a better lighting setup for stormy days when I can't take pictures outside.