Last week of January Plus the 100th Day of School

I think that we will be changing the name of our city to Pittsburrrrgh!  It's very cold this week but with the 100th day of school, there was a lot of fun to be had.

We made some fun sandwiches with our CuteZCute cutters.  We added a few flies to our frog (made with mini heart cutters) and some stars to our bear.  Carrot and celery sticks plus fresh strawberries and blueberries rounded out this fun lunch.

February 1st was the 100th day of school for Molly and Bean.  They LOVE breakfast for lunch so we figured that it would be an easy way to incorporate the 100s.  We made whole grain pancakes and used a squeeze bottle to make 100s (and we added a few chocolate chips to a couple of them).  We cut a few strawberries with our mini number cookie cutters to go on top of the other cut strawberries.  We used our food safe markers to put a 100 on a hard baked egg.  Finally, we put a little sticker on a new Chobani Champions tube and added a fun Friday treat of a white chocolate truffle.  Bean dressed up like she was 100 years old and Molly had a shirt with the number 100 made out of buttons on it.  

The first few weeks of January

Since taking a hiatus from the blog, I have gotten a lot more sleep and I'm working on myself a lot more.  I've been trying to be more organized in my shopping and menu planning, plus concentrating on health.  We, as a family, threw caution to the wind a bit over the holidays and needed to get back on the healthy wagon.  

We are still packing lunches for the girls (and so is my husband) every day.  I plan to do a round up like this every week or so.  These are just a few of my favorites from the last couple of weeks.

Our happy winter lunch with a sandwich, peppers, clementines, pomegranates, string cheese (I wrote on the wrapper with a Sharpie marker.) and a fun Friday treat of white chocolate dipped pretzels with peppermint in Easy Lunchboxes.

 Our piggy sandwich (CuteZCute Cutters), cucumbers, sugar snap peas, clementines, apples, blueberries and Chobani Champions in Laptop Lunch Boxes.

Our Elephant sandwich (Lunch Punch cutter), cucumbers, clementines, pomegranates and peach yogurt in Easy Lunchboxes.

World Animal Day Hop

The BBFs are at it again.  We are celebrating World Animal Day with a hop of fun animal lunches.  We chose to do a cat lunch because Molly LOVES cats but is allergic to them.  This is our way of letting her have fun with one of her favorite animals.  (Bean likes cats too...especially Hello Kitty!)

Our main entree is a CuteZCute cat sandwich.  We used Peanut Butter and Company's Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter and some thinly sliced apples for our filling.  YUM!

Our vegetable side is a cucumber "yarn ball".  We used a spiral vegetable slicer (link below) to cut our cucumber into a pasta shape and then curled it all together to make the yarn, because cats like to play with yarn.  

Our fruit side is red grapes, kiwi berries and some apple pieces.  We attempted to make a cat face with the kiwi berries and apple pieces.  There are also a couple of grapes on a cat pick in the main compartment.

Finally, our diary/dessert is vanilla yogurt with a couple of Hello Kitty sprinkles.

I know that Marie always has something fun.  Can't wait to see what she's cooked up over at Healthy Eating Starts at Home.  Hop on over to continue your animal experience!

Halloween Naturally Giveaway!

One of our favorite little treats is YumEarth Organic Lollipops.  They are all natural with no artificial colors or flavors and are allergen free.  We keep them in the car for after a doctor visit or for a longer car ride.  With only 22 calories per pop, it's a great little snack.  We've included them as part of our lunch today because we are a part of a fantastic Halloween Giveaway!  Included with the lollipops is some pretty awesome natural face paint included, perfect for Halloween!  See below.

Our main entree is a salami and cheese sandwich that was cut out with our new CuteZCute cutter.  This is a great four in one sandwich cutter that is perfect for for all kinds of fun animal shapes.  They offer a cat, bear, pig and frog.  So Cute and very user friendly!

Our vegetable side is mini red pepper rings.

Our fruit side is strawberries and kiwi berries.  Yes, kiwi berries!  They are about the size of a grape and they have skin on the outside that is similar to a grape but they taste just like kiwis.  We think that the girls are going to go crazy for these.  

Our dairy sides are a mozzarella cheese stick and 2% plain Greek yogurt with honey.

Finally, our dessert is a Yummy Earth Organic Lollipop.  Strawberry Smash for Molly and Wet-Face Watermelon for Bean.  C.J. really likes the Mango Tango and Too Berry Blueberry.  Mama really likes the Sour Apple Tart and Pomegranate Pucker...but then again, Mama really likes them all. 

Now for the Giveaway!!!

WELCOME TO THE HALLOWEEN NATURALLY GIVEAWAY FROM BLOG IT FORWARD MEDIA

With Halloween just around the corner, Blog It Forward Media is bringing you the perfect prize pack to get your little goblins ready for the big event. The two sponsors for this event are YumEarth Candy and Elegant Minerals.

YumEarth Candy is offering a 5 pound bag of their delicious Organic Lollipops

YumEarth is a brand of candy produced by YumEarth. Everything YumEarth makes is certified organic or all natural, gluten-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, and has no chemical colors, artificial flavors or high fructose corn syrup. YumEarth Organics Lollipops come in eight mouthwatering flavors: Very Very Cherry, Too Berry Blueberry, Strawberry Smash, Sour Apple Tart, Pomegranate Pucker, Razzmatazz Berry, Mango Tango and Wet-Face Watermelon.

To make all your costumes as authentic as possible, Elegant Minerals is offering a complete set of Face Paints in 15 colors along with all the tools you will need to apply the make-up as well as the remover to return your ghoul to normal after all the fun.

Elegant Minerals offer a safe alternative to harsh petroleum-based products. All of their colors are lead-free, dye-free, hypoallergenic and made in the USA. You will get all the benefits of mineral make-up in your Halloween Make-up. The prize pack includes all of these colors: White, Black, Light Blue, Royal Blue, Light Green, Dark Green, Aqua, Purple, Hot Pink, Red, Silver, Gold, Yellow, Orange, and Brown. Also included are: 1 - 12 count package of latex-free sponges, 1 - 5 piece package of latex-free disposable applicators and 1 bottle of organic make-up remover. Enter to win today! This contest closes on October 16, 2012. Good Luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open to the US only. Must be 18+ to enter. Giveaway closes on October 16 at 11:59pm est. Only one person per household/IP address may enter. You only need to enter the giveaway on one of our blogs. Molly's Lunch Box is not responsible for prize fulfillment.