Briar's Castle Birthday Party: Part One

After three weeks, we finally hosted Briar Rose's third birthday party: A Castle Theme.

As usual this birthday party was all about the dessert table.

The first step to any dessert table is to create an amazing birthday cake.  After Briar chose a castle cake from a Wilton catalog, I humbly tried to recreate it.  While my attempt was no where near perfect, Briar found it to be everything she had hoped for!

Next I decided to bake some yummy gluten-free cupcakes for all the Celiac's in attendance, i.e. ME!!!

Here are a few more gluten-free mini treats.

Now these silly marshmallow pops were the bane of my dessert-loving-existence.  Originally they were to be Bakerella cake pops, when that failed, I attempted candy coated Rice Krispie Pops.  Again, FAIL!  Amazingly the kids could care less and LOVED the plain-jane marshmallows pops!

Oh and the pink candy filled treat bags were another sweet hit with the kiddos.

Paper covered water bottles,

and Good and Plenty filled bud vases rounded out one very pink dessert table.

After placing a few tissue paper decorations on the dinning room table,

Briar and I were ready to welcome our guest....

for a fun-filled evening of friendship and fellowship!

Stay-tuned for Part Two tomorrow!

Llama, Llama We Love Gabe's Momma!

Yesterday was pretty much the best bento day, ever! After a sweet hug from my friend Rebekah (the first in three years) she handed over these authentic Peruvian llama picks.  Squee!  But, it gets even better!!!  That same day on a late night HEB trip I found my coveted Fuel Sandwich box.  That's right, instead of paying $8.50 a box for an Amazon order, I snagged four for only $9!!!  Can I get another, SQUEEEE!!!  My bento life is complete.

Our Peru themed lunch includes:  Sun Butter and Jelly Sandwich Square, Pretzels, Carrots, String Cheese, Apple, Bologna and Grape Llama Picks and a P*E*R*U cheese message.  All a hit with both of my girls!

So thank you Gabe's mama, for bringing a South American smile to our face with a pair of llamas

Butterfly Bento

B is still for Butterfly!

A Bento Butterfly Lunch.

{Field Trip} B is for Butterfly

B is for Butterflies, specifically the Amazing Butterfly exhibit at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens.

Metamorph with us!

Life Cycle 1: Egg

We'll rhyme our way through the egg stage with poems!
Life Cycle 2: Larva

Next we'll experience the exhibits Cooperative Crawls,

climbing leaves,

pinball with ants,

and even be nibbled by a bird!

Life Cycle 3: Pupa

Before long the girls we will big fat caterpillars, ready to become a chrysalis!

With a few twist and turns, poof they'll emerged into a beautiful butterfly!

Life Cycle 4: Adult

However, beware butterflies, don't get caught in a web... a spider might eat you up!

Instead enjoy a matting dances,

lay a couple of eggs,

and do lots,

and lots of flying!

The Amazing Butterflies exhibit was the perfect way to spend an afternoon learning about butterfly behaviour,

and the letter B!!!

Don't Miss The Glory Of God

In my sermon notes from last Sunday I wrote in big bold letters something our pastor Randy pointed out, "Don't Miss The Glory of God", six words that hit close to my heart.  This year has presented itself with many challenges for our family, we've dealt with anaphylatic allergies, Sturge-Weber Syndrome symptoms, and a miscarriage, but through it all I've come out smiling.  That's not to say I haven't had my fair share of tears, melt downs or even a few momentary pity-parties, because I have, but I smile because the Holiness of God brings me joy!

In raising these two precious gifts,

I am prayerfully and humbly training them to use their life to glorify God, because he deserves praise and adoration in every situation thrown our way...even a peanut allergy, miscarriage and a very rare neurological condition.

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 139:14, I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.  Just because my children (all three of them) didn't come in the picture-perfect package I expected, does not mean they aren't a blessing from the Lord.  To the contrary, they are wonderfully crafted and worthy of thanksgiving.

Which makes the decision to have surgery on Brie's port wine stain so difficult.  My biggest fear is that by performing surgery to remove something "fearfully and wonderfully made" by our Creator, I'm turning a non-issue into a big deal.  Suddenly this birthmark we've been teaching her to use as a tool in bringing glory to God, becomes something we no longer want.

Ahh...being a parent is tough bees-wax friends, it's a good thing our God is indeed Holy!  So please pray with me in making this very tough surgical decision (that some say is medically necessary and others not)!  It is only through God's wisdom will we come to a decision that truly glorifies Him.

{Muffin Tin Monday} B is for Boo!

We're still "Eating Through The Alphabet", but this time with a Halloween Twist!

B is for Boo!

Inside our Muffin Tin Monday pan you'll find: A haunted BROCCOLI forest, BOLOGNA, ghostly BANANAS, BLUEBERRIES, BLACKBERRIES and a Sun BUTTER spider web sandwich!

Who knew the letter B could be oh-so scary!

The Snack Princess

What makes a great soccer snack, you ask???

First one needs some super cute, themed snack bags.

Next one should find a variety of healthy (and special treats). 

And finally, one MUST have a Snack Princess to hand out all the yummy goodness!

EEK, A Spider!!!!!

You guessed it, another Halloween bento lunch post.  I just can't help myself.  Especially after the girls spotted these cute candy spiders at Walmart.  These eeky-jewels were the perfect accessory to any spider web sandwiches

So, what have you been bentoning lately???

A is for Inedible Apple Pie

A normal apple pie lesson should go as follows: Prepare apples.Mix pie dough. Roll out dough.Form pie pockets. Bake.
Enjoy.

Unfortunately for the girls, today was more of a lesson in how to gracefully dispose of inedible food from ones mouth. Not how to make a tasty apple pie. Yep, these William Sonoma Apple Pie Pockets were that bad. Guess that's what I get for making up my own gluten free pie crust recipe.

Before you begin to feel too bad for the girls, today's experience was the perfect opportunity for me to help them put into practice this weeks bible verse. Proverbs 10:4 "Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth". Tomorrow we'll be making another attempt at Apple Pie Pockets, maybe this time with store bought crust (wink, wink)!

Duck & Goose Bento Lunch

One of my favorite children's book series is, Duck & Goose by Tad Hill. His book titled, Duck & Goose Find A Pumpkin inspired today's bento lunch. Duck & Goose is a story filled with a lot of silliness. In his adventure the two friends go on a hunt for the perfect pumpkin, in all the wrong places.The search takes them to a log, leaf pile, apple tree, pond and stump where they come up empty hand each time. It's only when Thistle (a small, but wise bird) senses their despair and directs them to the pumpkin patch where the team finds a plumply-dumply pumpkin. Duck and Goose: Babybell cheese, candy eyes and edible marker.
The Pond: Yogurt and sprinkles.
Leaf Pile: Grapes and Leaf Pick.
Log: Pretzel Stick.
Apple Tree: Apple cutouts.
Stump: Rolled Ham.
Pumpkin Patch: Sandwich slice and candy pumpkin.

Wilton Food Writer

Today's bento post is all about Wilton Food Writers. I used the black pen to create Briar's Jack-O(range)-Lantern. As well as, Brie's haunted forest ghoust (made from string cheese)!With Wilton Food Writers the bento possiblities are endless!

Muffin Tin Monday, Home School Edition

For the last year I have been saving the book Eating Through The Alphabet by Lois Ehlert for this very moment. Muffin Tin Monday, Home School Edition.
We have finally reached the letter portion of Brie's curriculum, making this our first of twenty six Lois Ehlert Muffin Tin Monday's.Today we learned all about: Apricots, Asparagus, Apples, Avocado and Artichoke. While the girls gobbled up the apples, asparagus and chips, we only sampled the other "A"wkward foods. But hey, at least they tried them, right?

Mr. Pineapple

This weekend I made a trip to HEB a midnight, and came home with an awesome bento box. Meet Mr. Pineapple! I actually found this $6 bento cutie in the baby aisle, but it's perfect for my little rug-rats. They love to eat variety, making these six small sections perfect for a well rounded lunch. Mr. Pineapple even holds three different dip options in the top leaf portion, if you can get your kiddo to actually eat a condiment (mine refuse). Happy Bentoing, Friends!

Picky Bento Brie

Brie has turned into a bit of a picky eater these days. This doesn't exactly bod well when making bento lunches for the girls. Instead of making identical meals, I sometimes have to create two separate designs! Today I packed our Halloween themed lunches in my tried and true Crayola Sandwich box. If you think there isn't possibly enough room for your kids entire lunch in this box, don't. Check out Another Lunch's post on turning two slices of bread into these adorable sandwich rolls.Unfortunately, Brie is in a no-orange phase meaning Briar's super-cute pumpkin orange was replaced with Honeycrisp Apple cutouts. And carrots, ha, don't even think about it...Brie enjoyed a few extra grapes instead!

The beauty of this lunch is it's also another gluten free friendly lunch. Just take out the Oreo and you're good to go. Especially now that Synder's makes these awesome GF pretzels, at a price that doesn't break the bank!