Picnic Anyone?

One of my friends posted on facebook that they "really wanted to eat at an out-door cafe today" and those were our thoughts exactly. For you see lately the weather has been delightful. However, after returning from HEB with my wild-rabid weasels of children I had NO interest (or energy) in taking them to a restaurant. (On a side note, what is it about the grocery store that makes ones children so naughty?)! Instead we had a bento picnic in the front yard.


Today's lunch didn't have an elaborate theme, just a lot of cute "food" shapes. It was the lunch box itself that was exciting today. Our new "authentic bento" box arrived yesterday and we just had to use them today.


I found these cutie on Amazon. We've had a gift card lying around for months, thought some fun bento stuff would be a great way to spend it!

The lunch box comes in three layers; two for food and one for utensils.

The smaller top layer held; goldfish, string cheese and grapes (with a cute corn shaped bento pick).

In the larger section I served; an apple shaped raspberry preserve sandwich, a mandarin orange and dried papaya chunks on a cute bento pick.

After lunch (which the girls ate in it's entirety, yeah for bentoing their food) we stayed outside reading books, talking about animals and playing an "unofficial" game of Chutes and Ladders.

The girls loved being outside so much, they even wanted to nap on the picnic blanket.

Who thinks that really worked out???

{What's For Lunch, Bento Style} Bentos, Tigers & Bears Oh My

With the weather being so nice outside, the girl's and I have been active little beavers. This morning's trip to the zoo was no exception. And a jolly fun trip it was!

Let's make no mistake, part of that "jolly fun" was another themed bento lunch. I'm calling this one, "Bentos, Tigers and Bears, oh my!"

By no means am I advanced in my bento skills, but I can't get over how cute their little tiger was. Yes, I could have cut the stripes cleaner, but he's still cute. And looks at those biscuits, don't they just scream cuteness??? Did I mention they're Briar approved? Yep, found them at our local Japanese grocery store. It seriously made me wish I grew up in Japan, who knew food could be that cute!

So how are these meal going over? Actually, really well. It's amazing what a cute bento pick can do for a picky toddler. Yes folks, Brie is eating MEAT!

Briar loves them too, but for some reason she always scopes things out first. Once she has successfully scanned the plate she goes right for the dessert, then the fruit, followed by her savory snack and finally the sandwich. It takes her FOREVER, but she eats the entire meal. Which hasn't been the case for awhile.
Now that's what I call a Happy Meal!

{What's For Lunch, Bento Style} Autumn Squirrel

I'm starting a new segment on my blog called, "What's For Lunch, Bento Style". Today's installment is inspired by our planned trip to Brackenridge park today. I'm calling our lunch Autumn Squirrel...

In our Ziploc bento box we have a squirrel sandwich, acorn cheese, butterscotch "nuts" (because I believe every lunch deserves a treat), raisins, goldfish, grapes and cucumbers. Again a ton of food.

The sandwiches were made with some of my autumn cookie cutter collection, their details were created by cutting cheese and fruit leather.

I even made these sweet cucumber leaves with half of a tiny oak leaf cutter, which I had never used before. Another reason I love bento lunches, I use all my cute baking tools without having to make sugar cookies--gag!!

Bonn Appetite!

All..He Made Was Very Good!

Today was a glorious day; blue sky, cool breeze, zero humidity. I couldn't help but stand amazed at my Creator today. Especially, knowing He created these girls and those flowers. Friends I am blessed.

So what made this day extra special??? A trip to the Botanical Garden's! Until October 24Th the gardens are featuring a Playhouse & Forts exhibit, and we played on all eight!

First up is a Modern Swiss Family Robinson playhouse, complete with solar power and recycled rain water irrigation.

This was the girl's favorite, we spent 30 minute in here alone.

Next was the "Bird's Nest" fort. I don't remember if that was it's official name, but I'm positive it's suppose to resemble a bird's nest.

Briar got her beat on in fort Number 6 using some "Ancient Chinese" musical instruments.

Brie did a great job counting the Hibiscus peddles on fort Number 5, it even helped her earn a prize.

One of the better forts was number 3, which focused on how to recycle materials as planters. The girls seemed to enjoy playing with it's button's and pulls.

Okay so fort Number 2 just annoyed me. Sneezy hay, nasty recycled water and spiders...we didn't stay here long.

Another favorite was the "En Garde" playhouse, my little Monet's loved the art inspiration. It was such a hit we swung by again upon our exit.

Now playhouse Number 8 was by far my favorite. I couldn't tell you it's name (which is common with most of the forts) or it's theme, but it was so cool. And the view of the amphitheater was spectacular. It even came housed with 6 "Brie" kitties and 2 "Brie" puppies that followed us all the way to our car.

As for our bento lunches, they went off just as expected. Lots of excitement and lots of scraps for mommy. Nom, Nom, Nom!

What made the day most special, was listening to my daughter recite Gen. 1:31 all through out the garden. Nothing warms this mom's heart more than listening to my girl's get excited about scripture. Today was the perfect day to meditate on "all...he made was very good"!

Bento Lunch 101

It doesn't take much to get me excited, but bento lunches really light my fire. If the words "bento lunch" are forgein to you, don't worry until just recently I had no clue what they were either. But boy was I missing out!

One day while searching birthday party blogs (a favorite flame ignitor) I came across this blog, Another Lunch, and well--I fell in love. Bento lunches were like my birthday parties, but one could have a party EVERYDAY! Not to mention the added bonus of allowing me to quality control all of Briar's food items (blood test results confirmed she is severally allergic to peanuts--and we must stay away from all forms of nuts)!

After being inspired by Melissa's amazing creativity and healthy lunches, I decided to try my hand at bento's. Because, yes, I want to be known as the mom who makes her kids lunches like this...



There is a theme behind this bento lunch, I'm calling it "Garden Playfort". Tomorrow I'm taking my lovelies to the San Antonio Botanical Garden to enjoy God's creation (which ties nicely in with Brie's memory verse this week, Gen 1:31) and monkey around on their Playfort exhibit before it goes away. But anyway back to my lunches...

Hopefully you can get an idea of what's going on, but I'll explain anyways. On the top left we have a fort (cinnamon honey butter sandwich topped with a graham cracker and fruit leather), next to a tree (golden raisins and celery) and on top of a few wild flowers (cheese and crackers).

In the top right corner are two flowers planted in soil (turkey, red vine and pretzel gold fish).

And finally I finished of their lunch with some love and sunshine (homemade chocolate chip cookie, fruit leather and HEB Whole Sun crackers).

That my friends is my first ever bento lunch. Although I almost forgot the best part, I only have to make lunch for two now. The lunch is filled with so much food, mommy can live off the scraps . Stay tune to see if this bento lunch is a love affair for both mother & daughters.

Going Punk

Well folks, Briar decided to go punk a little earlier than I anticipated. I don't think I was ready for this.

Note to self, mover permanent markers even higher. That's right folks, Briar's California blonde locks will be rocking a blue streak for a while! Amanda Williams eat your heart out!

Happy Fall

There is only one way to spend the first day of fall--playing at the park. Especially if you live in San Antonio. And definitely if you are a wild, monkey of a Dohner girl!

So today we pushed mom's nerves by climbing up ladders,

and rock walls.

We zoomed down one slide,

and zipped down another.

We swung ourselves across monkey bars,

and pulled ourselves up on beams.

We climbed trees,

ate snacks,

drank juice,

and generally had a fabulous time.

I always love it when the weather cools off, then my monkeys can tear up the park--not my house!

I'll Have a Drumstick, But Hold the Peanuts

On Saturday I had the scare of a lifetime, my sweet baby Briar went into anaphylatic shock after finding a tiny-tiny peanut leftover from daddy's Drumstick. Thankfully I had an Epipen on hand and with the help of EMS I was able to give her one shaky injection of Epinephrine. I then rushed everyone in the car (minus any shoes) and drove (and cried) like a crazy lady all the way to Children's Hospital 3-5 miles up the road. I was so crazy I even dropped my car off in the over priced valet.

When we arrived Briar looked like this...

While the doctor's were able to stabilize her breathing, they were unable to control her rash. As time went on she began to look like this...

...a sad, sick little Briar.

Her rash had gone from her face, to her trunk, to her feet all with no relief.

After six hours, five medications and lots of diarrhea the doctors finally broke down and gave her another Epipen, and by the grace of God it work.

I took my sleepy Briar home with two lesson's learned. First no peanuts in any form are allowed in our house, second I serve an awesome God. If He can provide protection and provision in the BIG thinks, I should not fear the little things.

Just Another Tuesday

Brie started back up at Paint Paper Scissor's today and she was not happy I brought the camera!

("Mom I'm working here, you're making me mess up the colors.")

Briar being almost two was old enough to participate and she was T*H*R*I*L*L*E*D!


(dot, dot, dot--glue, glue, glue)





To celebrate our first day we decided to put our artistic skills to good use by baking a bouquet of flowers.

Brie was such a great help, especially after mommy gave herself a second degree burn (note to self: next time wear a mitt when closing a 350 degree oven rack).

Briar was big helper too she was on sample duty, I mean sprinkle duty.

Now if only I hadn't let them have that last cupcake at 8pm, maybe we would have avoided tonight's snooze cruise.

(sorry about the picture quality the girls dropped my camera and now it's acting up)

Bake it Pretty (Birthday Thanks)

**Because I'm really bad at mailing out Thank You cards, this blog is dedicated to all my friends and family that sent their love on my birthday***


Yesterday I put on my green bangle, cupcake necklace, refilled my Einstein Bagel coffee cup and headed out to Macy's for some post-birthday shopping. I left my girls home with their dad, making it easy to visit my favorite place in all of Macy's, The Martha Stewart Collection. There I purchased a new pumpkin pie pan, pie guard and a nifty flour sifter.


Next I headed over to World Market (Anthropolgie on a budget) where I was able to feed my addiction to baking for parties by purchasing these two matching black cake stands. Aren't they so chic?!?

I also bought this pastry basket to hold goodies for Briar's Green Apple birthday party next month. I'm thinking apple muffin would work well or even these Apple Cupcakes from my What's New Cupcake cookbook. You'll just have to wait and see!

The abundance of fall products at World Market made me crave a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice latte (I love gift cards for coffee!), and it was just what I needed before heading into Home Goods. There I was in search for one last pretty. They had so, so, so many cake plates; purple, blue, green, red, seriously SO many. I finally settled on the tall black plate to match my World Market purchase.

My mind is already racing with how I can use all my new bake-ware.

With most my birthday money spent (I may have a few more lattes left) I think I'll take my last $9 and buy some butter, flour and sugar. I'm ready to put my new pretties to good use!