Some days are rocky others are easy as pie but I am choosing to love them all, so shows this Bento. Grapes and hearted apple bites; Cherry Tomatoes, Sweet Peas, and hearted Kiwi; Mini Onigiri and hearted Korean Pressed Pork.

The lilacs have started to bloom in the backyard! I've even seen some tulips popping their heads up. Hence the budding bento! Quail egg and carrot tulips over a soba noodle salad and a tomato olive salad too. Oh, and some grapes with their own little tulips. I like this one, but it's still not quite what I thought it would be in my head as I lay awake planning it this morning.

Blooming lilacs! Can't wait to see the beautiful purple flowers soon.

No matter what he says, I will always try to tale pictures of his Bentos! East = dumplings, Steamed Green Beans, East Coast = Crab Caked, and West = Everything Else. Looks like he can be super organized too!

Trying out some new angle shots. The top one is kind of cut off but it still shows everything. In the top are chikuwa slices stuffed with olives, strawberries and grapes. In the bottom are two broken tomatoes stuffed with a tomato basil cream cheese, more cherry tomatoes, carrot and pickle leaves, and tomato pickle skewers.

My brain must not be completely functioning because lately the Bentos I've been making look sooooo much better in my head, lol. Dumplings, Mochi bites, little bottle of hoisin and mandarin oranges on top. Carrots, cheese and turkey leaves and a couple little sandwich rolls on the bottom. Once again, she ate everything! That's most important really.

So I meant to use this picture. The differences between the two are very small but significant enough to me that I had to post both, lol.

Each row is really filled with little foods, otherwise known as appetizers. Smoked turkey, cheddar cheese and kamaboko with flowers; fruit salad dressed with lime juice with flowers; and pretzels with flowers. It was so hot yesterday that I swear the flowers will be growing today! I should start using some other cutters but I really like the flowers!

Norby made his own incredibly creative bento. It's packed with yummies like salmon, soba, star/heart eggs, tomagoyaki and sun burst cheese slices, all dressed with oyster sauce and nori strips. Good job Papa!

Bear head eggs with hoisin lines and carrots on top of a kamaboko salad. An "Alice in Wonderland" inspired fruit row and more soba noodles. We have all fallen in love with these. They are dressed with soy sauce, sesame oil, and scallions and that's it, but they are heavenly.

More spring time wishes! Cheese and carrot flowers, interspersed orange and apple slices, lentil mash, chicken & leek dumplings with nori frogs. The lettuce was quite limp very fast. I think iceberg will work better next time.

As much of a winter person as I normally am, I'm so incredibly excited for spring this year and this bento is reflecting that. Carrot flowers and scallion grass decorate soba noodles and tuna salad. A few triscuits, mandarin oranges, and a penguin of mayo finishes it off.

Leftovers made it easy to have fun with this bento. Meatball girlies in spaghetti and springy kamaboko flowers with a mandarin orange and surprise!, lucky candy. Yes, I actually put candy in her lunch. After, how crazy and sad Annie's last day of school was last week, hopefully the smiley girls and lucky candy will remind her that life goes on and the sun always comes back out.

Didn't have much for protein except one egg, so that's what she got! Remembering Norby's super cute star punch, I decided to use that theme. Star pressed eggs with little stars, skewered tomatoes and cheese, blackberries and kiwis with little stars too. Also, I included a hello kitty container of Annie's Cheddar Bunnies since the filling foods seemed small this time. Here's to my little Star!

Annie is 9! Can't believe how time flies and yet, I can't imagine life before her either. Just goes to prove that time is static. Anyways, this one has all of her Swedish favorites; blackberries and kiwi with cheese flowers; blueberry stuffed Swedish pancakes with some more blackberries and a penguin of powdered sugar; tomato roses on one side, sweet peas on the other, both with cheese flowers and some wrapped up pickled herring. Oh and I almost forgot, to make the Swedish theme complete, she has a lingonberry juice box from Ikea too!

I wanted a picture of the penguin but when I put this bento together, I liked the balanced look of it so I included a picture without the penguin too.

Happy Birthday Boo Boo!

My second messiest bento ever! Proud? Well, sure. Still good food choices and still slightly thematic. Apples and cheese skewers with carrot leaves in top row; cheese, quail eggs, carrot and apple leaves and Annie's Cheddar Bunnies in the middle row; and an entire row of dumplings with carrot leaf garnishes.

Also, I realize my pictures have become entirely uniform so I tried a new angle. I should really pull out the real camera to take these pictures instead of simply using my iPhone. One of these days, I suppose I will! Picture taking was my first obsession anyways.