This morning, I walked to the grocery store before breakfast. If you know me, then you know how out of character that is. I did have a cup of coffee first though, very important. What I learned was pretty fun. I ran into the boys down the block walking the mile and a half to their school which I didn't know they did. My brain immediately began to figure the distance from our house to the girls' school... 5 miles? 6? no, too far but how fun. I greeted another neighbor walking to the bus, that was fun. I had an in depth conversation with the nice lady cashier about the gloomy weather to come but still how exciting weather is and that was fun. Maybe I can be a morning person after all? This all happened because I needed a few things for their lunches, like berries, summer sausage, mushrooms, cheese, and kiwis. Okay, so I needed almost everything for their lunches but it sure was a nice morning stroll.

Last week of school! I love the last week of school, almost as much as I love the last week of summer, and almost as much as I love that I finally made the onigiri I said I would. I'm using up the last of my mini foods like mini corn dogs and mini brats and even pulled out the old mini monkey containers for some shelled sunflower seeds. I forgot to add the chive blossoms but I still like it. Two more days, then summer!!!

Today, I go for my very first mammogram. After my mom's bout with breast cancer, I decided to take it seriously. It made me think of my girls and the women they are becoming, each unique in their own way. It is a wild thing to observe and learn from nearly every day. I don't know how this relates to this bento but it does. They, like the chive flowers, are blossoming. 

I really like organizing things, almost to the point of distraction but having children mostly cured me of that. I mostly accept the chaos of my house as long as I can still do things like this bento where everything mostly fits. Also, because I rarely show the closed boxes, I included a picture of those too. The black and red one I've had since I began making these and actually ordered from Japan. Most of those original ones have broken or been lost by now but this one just keeps hanging on. 

So maybe it's not the Japanese items I planned yesterday but the red bean paste bear buns suffice. There's leftover made-up-home-made-cheesy-chili-mac-and-cheese, frozen strawberries, and some edamame. That's it for the week. This Sunday, maybe I'll actually prepare the Onigiri and tamagoyaki ahead of time. Okay, back to binge watching The Gilmore Girls. 

Nissa keeps reminding me that bentos are fun and meaningful to her. So, last night, we made this one together! Well, the pasta and cauliflower were leftover from dinner, the edamame were pulled from the freezer, and the eggs were boiled, peeled, and placed in molds last night. We put it together today. Nissa added seasoning salt and Parmesan cheese to the noodles, I added roasted garlic salt to the cauliflower, and we worked together to design the whole thing. Hoping she'll keep up the excitement for the both of us. Tonight, I think we'll make some soba noodles, tamagoyaki, and Onigiri. Yep, we can do this!

I would love to claim I created these buns but I can't. United Noodle has them in the frozen section. I didn't even find them, the girls did! They squealed, lol. They are red bean paste filled buns. Thank you oh bear bun creator for making their lunches super cute and super easy!! I added a few edamame beans, a couple of pork dumplings, some sesame rice sticks, and freeze dried strawberries too. Fun bento day!