I'm not sure I've ever put the exact same food in both girls lunches before. I'm strangely excited about that. So these are pretty simple. The containers on the left have grape flowers and orange slice rows decorated with grass and picks. On the right are grass separated steamed dumplings with a tiny bottle of soy sauce and a mini animal spoon. In the inserted container is the last of the carrot purée from dinner. I sautéed up a big batch of carrots and onions then added about a quarter cup of water to the pan and simmered them for about 20 minutes. Then, I put them in the food processor with some penzeys seasoning salt, 3T butter, 3T brown sugar, and whirred it all together until smooth. We all... well not Oskar for some reason... loved it and the girls asked for it in their lunches. So there they are, matching lunches, twin bentos!

We made mini pizza pies and Annie likes them! Yay, I get to put them in one girls lunch! Nissa says she only wants an apple pie. Next time Nissa, next time. So there's a hard salami, olive, tomato and cheese mini pie with a few ears of chicken pieces adorned with gjetost hearts, some regular thyme flowers as well as lemon thyme flowers on the right. The other side has a container of puréed smoke salmon and one of puréed crab adorned with carrot hearts and dill sprugs surrounded by dehydrated apple slivers adorned with mint leaves. My melon was turning and I could only get enough for Nissa's lunch but thankfully I found the Just Apples hiding in the cupboard!

Nissa didn't want a mini pizza pie in her lunch so I had to do some scrounging. She certainly could have been a carnivore in another life because she'd be happy if all she had to eat for the rest of her life was meat and fish. The bottom container has hard salami and chicken pieces adorned with carrot trees as well as containers of crab purée and smoked salmon purée adorned with sprigs of dill and carrot hearts. The top has some melon trees and a tin of rice adorned with a sprig of thyme flowers. I had mint leaves in there but Nissa informed me that they add too much flavor to the melon. I still don't know how I ended up with a child who doesn't like mint!

Other than the fruit tier, this was all Annie! On the bottom there's pieces of chicken and boiled dill potatoes covered with gjetost letters and piggy. The middle has a layer of watermelon covered in kiwi halves and the top is mozzarella balls with slices of tomatoes and dollops of puréed smoked salmon. So maybe the bento making torch is nearly ready to pass along! Go Annie!

So, today started with Nissa having a complete meltdown as she left for school begging to stay with mama. It was an all out scream feast in the car as Norby pulled away and it was all I could do to keep myself from running after them and letting her stay home but I didn't. Norby got her there and left her, tears and all, with the classroom assistant. Annie, on the other hand, was cool, calm, and collected until we walked in the front door of her first day of middle school. Then, for maybe five minutes, I saw Annie slightly shaky and remembered that underneath all her poise, she's still a regular person with fears like the rest of us. Later, when I asked her how long it took until she felt comfortable, she said, "oh, about by 4th period." In their bentos for tomorrow, I have wild rice hotdish with carrot and gjetost cheese leaves. The middle tier has roasted potatoes, mozzarella balls with a black tomato in Annie's and more carrot leaves. The top tier has kiwi slices and melon leaves adorned with mint leaves. In Nissa's, I snuck two california sushi roll slices too in hopes she'll have a better day. Oh and the fact that Norby's driving her there on the motorcycle just might help too!! Here's to continued excitement for Annie, who keeps asking, is it tomorrow yet?, and a return to excitement for nunu.

The middle years of school anyway. Here she goes, growing up on me! The whole middle school came so quickly and seems a bigger deal since Annie is switching schools. She's beyond excited and gets to be with one of her best friends again. I, on the other hand, am a little bit of a wreck, lol. Not too bad just entering the unknown kind of wreck. So, I made her lunch. The top container has watermelon decorated with mint leaves and flowers as well as a small container of black cherry tomatoes (I think they're more purple) from Auntie Cassie, some mozzarella balls with nori and thyme flower decorations. The bottom container is where I kind of geek out because I used my new mini pie maker I got for my birthday!! I made a beef, mixed veggie, and Mushroom pie and surrounded it with nori sheets, carrot flowers, and at the request of Annie, mushrooms! Oh, I almost forgot, the butterflies are made from Norwegian gjetost cheese, a semi soft sort of caramelly sharp cheese. It is amazing and Annie's new favorite cheese! Yep, I feel more relaxed now. On to morning it is!

We survived the flu, woo hoo! Nissa goes back tomorrow as healthy as can be and I hope she'll stay that way for a while. In her lunch, there is a container of watermelon, kiwi halves, mini mozzarella balls with nori decorations, mint leaves, and thyme blossoms. The other container has a beef and mixed veggie cooked rice with green bean, carrot, and mint leaf decorations. She also requested a z-bar so her appetite has returned! Yay! So far, she loved the one day she was there, even without Annie.