Bob from Rhyming Dust Bunnies

The lunch:

PB&J with Empire Jack nose, eyes, block & American "Look;" fruit snacks, Turkey Bites & grapes

The lunch with the book:

An adorable book that got lots of giggles from John! It has at least one sequel that I noticed at the library. We'll be getting that at some point to read, too!

And the book itself:

The Duckling Gets A Cookie!? and my blog gets hijacked!

First lunch:

Ham & cheese sandwich, Mini Slim Jim, mozzarella string cheese, grapes, fruit snacks & a cookie!

There are few things that give John as much joy as a Mo Willems book!  
The Duckling Gets A Cookie!? is no exception.
He cracked up time and time again while he was reading it ... and then, again, when he saw his lunch!

OH NO! We're being hijacked!
Oh ... it's just our good friend, Keith, from Oh!Bento

Hello everyone,

My name's Keith and I am high-jacking Karen's blog for this one little post. ( She did give me permission. I promise!)

I write the Oh!Bento blog and I am hoping to publish the first English language bento tutorial magazine, I want the magazine to be full of tutorials, product reviews, recipes and other foody tid-bits. I also want the magazine to be highly interactive, I want the readers to have a say in what is included as well as the readers being able to submit their own recipes, tutorials and bentos while being credited for them.

I have created a Kickstarter page in the hopes of making this dream come true. I want to, with your help, spread the word of just how great healthy lunches are. I believe this dream is achievable and I will do everything I can to get this magazine to you all.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I will now pass back to the more than capable Karen and her amazing lunches. Take care everyone.

Five Little Monkeys

John loves the Five Little Monkeys books. He has the original on the stand next to his bed for a regular bedtime read and he was super excited when my last trip to the library had me bring home a different one in the series!

PB&J on whole wheat with Empire Jack cheese features, 5 and letters; Turkey Bites; grapes; fruit snacks; yogurt tube

Henry's Amazing Imagination! by Nancy Carlson

(also known as the book from the lunch in the lunch from the other lunch)

... and John in an @EasyLunchbox, too!

I've gotten lots of suggestions as to what the lunch looked like in my lunch yesterday ....
Here's the actual inspiration for it all!

 

And the picture that the cheese picture is based on ....
with the book that the lunch in the lunch is based on ...

(I'm sure he'll actually get the lunch based on the book sometime this week!)

Me In An @EasyLunchbox

'Nuff said.

Give Thanks For Each Day (@Storia_eBooks)

Although I grabbed Give Thanks For Each Day for John thinking it would be a great Thanksgiving read, it really is an every day book ... and will probably be read and re-read throughout the year!

 I had John pick out which page he wanted, of course, and got all warm and fuzzy when he picked out the one of the Mommy bear with her cubs.

 PB&J on wheat, grapes, colby jack cheese stick and Teddy Grahams. It's his last day of school before Thanksgiving and they'll be getting a special treat for snack time so I didn't want to give him a very heavy lunch!

Stickfiggy Presents The First Thanksgiving from @MeMeTales

Thanks to the wonderful JDaniel4's Mom we have a wonderful new reading app on the iPad called MeMeTales (it's also available for Android and computer). They have a huge selection of books and an awful lot of them for free .... including the wonderful StickFiggy Presents The First Thanksgiving that John and I read Sunday afternoon.

We loved how there were two different sets of text on most pages -- a "narrator"/Mommy line and then a larger (and easier) John line. John loved the simple but wonderful illustrations and the fact that it was set up for us to read together. I loved those aspects and also that it was more accurate than most Thanksgiving stories. No turkeys to be seen anywhere (that didn't become the norm until the 1800s)!
John does, however, have turkey (bites) in his lunch... along with with colby jack stick cheese, grapes, fruit snacks, yogurt and pb&j!

ThrifTee Gear Waste Free Lunch Bag Giveaway (and review!)

GIVEAWAY CLOSED! CONGRATS TO BETH!

Of all of the things that I've been thankful for lately one of the most fun has been the opportunity to try out ThrifTee Gear and have my own custom lunch bag made out of a t-shirt of my choosing (being, of course, a Doctor Who bag! I know ... I'm a geek.)!

I love that it's a mom-based company.
I love that it helps further my quest to provide John and myself with waste free lunches in that it's made from an upcycled shirt.
I love that I have complete control over how "normal" or "geeky" it can be.
I love that regardless of the shirt chosen it's pretty much guaranteed to be the coolest lunch bag out there.
I love that they're big enough to fit an EasyLunchbox flat (more on that in a bit).
I love that they're great to take to work or to school. Kids, tweens, teens, adults ... they're great for everyone!
I love that they aren't just for lunch. Mine has already been to work, John's school, and the grocery store as a purse ... holding my reusable shopping bags & wallet!

And what I REALLY love?

I LOVE that ThrifTee Gear has given me the opportunity to give a bag to one of my readers!

Now, about my Geeky Awesomeness ... then on to how you can get your own!

It took me a little while to decide which shirt to use but I finally decided on my Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey shirt. The image was a bit longer than would fit onto the bag. The bag dimensions are 12" x 12" x 4" but for the image it would have been better if I had chosen something closer to 9" long. It's still a great bag that John and I have both fallen in love with!

Before cramming it full of stuff to take to work:

Everything that I planned on taking the night in question -- an Easy Lunchbox, my Psych thermos, the new Christopher Moore thick paperback & wristlet:

And it all fit perfectly!!!

I've already picked out which shirt I'm going to have transformed next, but first you get a chance to get your own bag from ThrifTee Gear! (Keep it for yourself or use it as an awesome holiday gift!)

What You'll Win: An awesome, cool, wonderful, waste-free custom lunch bag from ThrifTee Gear (retail value $19.95)!

How You'll Win: Leave a comment! (or five if you want more chances -- leave a separate comment for each entry!)
MANDATORY ENTRY #1: Visit ThrifTee Gear and comment here about a bag design you like.
ENTRY #2: Like ThrifTee Gear on Facebook and leave a comment on their wall so I can check up on you actually doing it ... and leave a comment here telling me to go spy (or you could just copy the link to your post)
ENTRY #3: Follow ThrifTee Gear on  Twitter and leave your Twitter username in the comment here.
ENTRY #4: Follow ThrifTee Gear on  Pinterest and leave your Pinterest username in the comment here.
ENTRY #5: Share this giveaway! Blog it, Tweet it, Facebook it, Pin it ... just do it and leave me a link knowing where to find it!


When You'll Win: Entries will be accepted starting now (yes -- right now) and will cease at 11:59pm ET on Saturday, December 1st. I will use random.org to pick a winner and will contact the winner on Sunday, December 2nd. If I don't have a way to contact the winner I will have to pick again. PLEASE make sure I have some way of getting a hold of you!

IMPORTANT NOTICE FROM THRIFTEE GEAR: This giveaway is offered to US residents only. Please do not enter this giveaway if you have won or received free product from ThrifTee Gear within the past 3 months.



AND A NOTICE FROM ME: I did receive my ThrifTee Gear bag free of charge and they are also footing the bill for the winner. I was not in any way pushed into saying how awesome I think they are, though. That's all me. And John. (He keeps trying to claim the bag as his own!)

The Littlest Pilgrim (from @Storia_eBooks)

Thank goodness yet again for Storia! I realized that John only has one Thanksgiving book in his collection so I hopped over to Storia and grabbed a few more for him -- one of which was The Littlest Pilgrim. It's a sweet story that little ones can relate to so well. John loved it when he read it last night so today it's lunch!

 PB&J sandwiches on colby jack leaves & pepperoni slices with grapes and Indian Corn.

Wednesday afternoon we had his first Parent-Teacher Conference of the year and one of the things talked about was how they would like him to improve with how he writes about stories that he has read or heard. I decided to expand his normal reading log for his homework (date, title, read alone or with a parent and then level of difficulty) to include a spot on what the book was about. He didn't even complain about the change! (And yes, I know he misspelled "said." I was so impressed that he just went to town writing that I wasn't going to nitpick -- although I did tell him the correct spelling after the fact.)

In case you're curious, this is the new log. I added lines after he was finished doing the one for The Littlest Pilgrim since the end of his lines went a bit haywire ;)

A Thankful BBF Blog Hop

 With Thanksgiving coming up we decided it would be a great time for another Hop but not necessarily with the traditional turkeys and whatnots. Instead we all decided to pick something that we're thankful for and go with that. After seeing what I'm thankful for be sure to swing by to see what Keith has to be thankful for at Oh!Bento!

My first thought was to not do it at all.
Then I thought I would but with a not-at-all serious twist (which ended up being the Zombieland lunch).
Then I thought about what (besides my own little family) I really truly am the most thankful for:
my BBF BFFs.

I could go on and on about how much these girls (and guy) mean to me and how much I would want certain ones of them to be there to continue raising my darling John if anything were to ever happen ...but then I would get all sentimental and sappy and would probably start to cry and it's no fun crying. 
So now just go check out Keith at Oh!Bento by clicking on the button below and keep clicking from there until you make it back here!

Chicken Little

One of our favorite Disney movies is Chicken Little. It's one of the few that we've actually had to replace the dvd for because it was so worn and beaten from being watched repeatedly. When I asked John to pick out a book for last night's reading I was pleasantly surprised when he came down with a book that I had even forgotten that he had based on the movie!

Chicken Little is pb&j on wheat and is just a simple circle cut using a drinking glass and then drawn on with AmeriColor Gel Paste Food Color. His comb is cut from a Cherry AirHead. He also has popcorn (also a favorite snack of our favorite chicken), grapes, fruit snacks and a Mini Slim Jim.

Pokémon - Max & Shroomish

John was actually a little bummed that I made myself a Pokémon lunch yesterday and he hasn't had one yet (which was all part of my evil plan .... bwahahahaha). We picked an episode at random to watch and it ended up being "Taming of the Shroomish" from Pokémon: Advanced and decided that Max and two Shroomish would make a great lunch!

Max is May's little brother and is too young to be a Trainer, but he's pretty much an expert on the subject and tags along with Ash. I think him being just a little older than John played a large part in him being "the chosen one" for John's first Pokémon lunch!

Max is pb&j (of course) and he also has his usual grapes, Mini Slim Jims and fruit snacks. He also has skinny carrot sticks with spinach dip. I'm hoping that having the carrots cut smaller than usual will make them more likely to be eaten!

Pokémon - Munchlax

The theme for this week over at Bento Blog Network is Pokémon! I didn't think John was familiar so I started watching the cartoons on my iPad .... only to find out that he already knows a lot about them thanks to his friends. I have to admit that some of them are pretty cute so since he doesn't have school tomorrow and I've REALLY wanted to make one, I decided to make one for myself! (I'm sure he'll get one at some point during the week, too ... just maybe not in time to link up to BBN!)

Munchlax is pieced together with scraps of provolone and American cheese leftover from cutting letters for other lunches and it sitting on a slice of turkey breast on top of ramen noodles. "Munchlax" is cut from American and is also sitting on turkey on top of mixed vegetables. 

Make sure you click on the link for BBN above to check out all of the Pokémon lunches and especially make sure you swing by starting Wednesday to vote for your favorite ... even if it isn't mine!

Edible Geekery Firefly Hop

Another Edible Geekery Blog Hop! This time we're honoring the memory of one of the most awesome shows ever to hit television -- Firefly. Haven't seen it? Get thee to Netflix ... or tune in to the Science Channel for an all day marathon on 11/11!

I've done other Firefly lunches before -- Kaylee, Jayne and River have all graced the blog in the past.

This time around I've got a simple lunch featuring a quote from the episode "Our Mrs Brooks" where Shepherd explains to Mal where he'll burn if he takes advantage of his new wife.

 I've got a roast beef sandwich with colby jack letters, cinnamon sugar popcorn & vegetable beef soup.

 Now click on the image below to hop over and see what's going on over at BentoForKidlet!

Veggie Tales: Bob and Larry's Creation Vacation

Wednesday night John learned about the creation story from Bob and Larry via Bob and Larry's Creation Vacation. His favorite day was the sixth day when God created the creatures of the land and he asked for it for lunch. He's got pb&j on wheat, animal cookies, colby jack "6," Scrabble Jr Cheez-Its "DAY," fruit snacks and grapes.

A simple plane by request

This and a tub of yogurt. That's all John wanted for lunch today. I have to admit that I was totally okay with it, too, because my ideas were all along the lines of "get it at the cafeteria." ;)

Smash! Crash!

One of the first books I ever ordered for John through a Scholastic Book Club form was Smash! Crash! from Jon Scieszka's Trucktown. It's the book that went to bed with him the most often -- as evidenced by the fact that the cover is taped on and the corners are all curled and crinkly. He still loves it, though, and last night he discovered that he can finally read it almost all by himself!

Izzy the Ice Cream Truck is pb&j with a cheese ice cream cone and Mini Oreo wheels. He also has Craisins, pretzel sticks, pepperoni slices and will have a yogurt tube or cup on the side.

Jake & Finn from Adventure Time!

I don't know how or when John got hooked on Adventure Time but all of a sudden he loves it. He was super excited when we were trick-or-treating and he got a big pile of comic books from Batman in one of the stores and while we were waiting for dinner to be served at Johnny Rockets he killed time by reading the Adventure Time one. Of course, it would have to turn into lunch sooner than later!

Making The Best Of The Zombie Apocalypse Review, Giveaway and Lunch!

I love it when awesomeness comes my way and I love it even more when I can share it with people I really like -- like my readers! My latest awesomeness came in the form of a novella by Alisha Adkins called Making the Best of the Zombie Apocalypse. [Please note: This is NOT a book for kids!!!]

In case you didn't already know: I freaking love zombies.

It's a humorous, heartwarming and disgusting tale that I read over the course of one wait at the bus stop and one slow night at work. I actually laughed out loud several times and "eeeewwww"ed out loud several others which got me some strange looks from co-workers and passers-by but it was totally worth it.

My lunch for work is actually based on the Survivor's Thanksgiving held by the support group attended by the two main characters:

In my EasyLunchbox: Oreos, "cherry pie" (made with Chobani Black Cherry Yogurt on top of crushed shortbread cookies), roast beef (since there was no fresh zombie flesh to be had nearby), broccoli, mashed potatoes, fruit cocktail and applesauce

It's so good to know that there could still be decent food available after a Zombie Apocalypse!

Do you know what ELSE is good to know? Alisha Adkins has generously offered to send one of my readers a copy of the book! All you need to do is leave me a comment about your favorite zombies. Your favorite zombie song, movie, book, tv show, whatever! It's going to be a fast turnaround ... almost as fast as a zombie infection sets in ... a winner will be chosen TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6th around 2pm EST.  (Make sure I know how to get in touch with you if you win!)

* Alisha Adkins provided me with a copy of the book to read and review but I totally would have purchased it on my own if she hadn't. If you don't want to risk not being chosen by random.org and want to just go ahead and buy the book now just click on the book cover. And then still enter the giveaway because you'll want to share it with a friend without having to give up your copy!

The Geekiest Knock Knock Joke Ever in @EasyLunchboxes

First things first: go enter my MOMables giveaway while you still have time!

Now lunch:

Inspired by:

just in case you didn't get it ....

Dino Pets

Dino Pets was John's latest read from the library ... and will be Friday's lunch! (Thursday was just a mish-mash of snacky stuff thrown together before the bus. Halloween threw just about everything out of whack!)

Only one dino pet in lunch in the form of pb&j on wheat. His leash is from a Twizzler Pull 'n' Peel and is being held by a cheddar boy (and the words are also cheddar). He also has banana chips and mini Oreos and will have a GoGurt tube as well.