School Lunch

Boys… I hope you love the school cafeteria because if this morning was any indication you are going to be eating there. A lot.
With school hosting special mother’s day lunches in the formal dining room this week they asked that the kids bring their lunches for the days their class wasn’t celebrating. Luckily that left me with just 2 lunches. The first lunch, a fish themed lunch with tuna fish sandwiches cut into the shape of a fish complete with eyes and fins, a fish shaped boiled egg (awesome!), fish shaped jello, goldfish, coral (carrots), and fish eggs (grapes) went off mostly without a hitch. Other than discovering that Ryan’s lunch box is adorable, but doesn’t fit any food container except the lego bento box.
I decided on a Mexican theme for day 2. I thought I had this lunch all thought out. Burritos to be kept warm in the thermos. Tortilla chips. Salsa. Fruit. Dessert. Sounds easy enough right?

Only try finding a thermos that is tall and skinny instead of short and fat. Or one that the lip at the top doesn’t curve in so that you can get your burrito out. Thermos people are you listening!?!? Because I didn’t find it anywhere. And I looked. Everywhere. Twice.

Luckily I had picked up some novelty thermoses (designed to look like crayola crayons) a while back. They are tall, and don’t have the lip issue all the others do. They also don’t keep the food very hot – they claim to keep it “warm” ~100 degrees for 5 hours. So we will keep our fingers crossed… and hope the foil helps. Sigh…

At least there are the chips. You can’t go wrong with chips. Unless your husband polishes off the whole big bag. And a giant jar of salsa. Without telling anyone. Luckily we had a little bit left of another bag that got hidden behind other things. And by little I mean the last 1/6 of the bag. So the boys got chips. I got crumbs…

And Salsa? The kids seems to vacillate on what’s hot and what’s not so you never know. Decided to play it safe and picked up a guacamole dip. Only this morning I couldn’t get the lid off. No matter what or how hard I tried. Where’s Kevin when you need him!?! So, mom, you can add a jar opener to my Birthday/Christmas/holiday of the day/just because you love me wish list.

And the perfect salsa dipper Tupperware I got out and put on the table to have it all out and ready? Kevin lost one while “cleaning up the table” this morning. Clearly they were not meant to have guacamole dip. Or salsa.

At least the fruit part was pretty painless. I picked up some strawberries last night. Cut them up, put them in a container. And the dessert – two of our favorite Mexican places serve ice cream for dessert – one for everyone, and the other as part of the kids meal. So the ice cream shaped marshmallow treats seemed like a good idea, too. Dropped a couple in a little container.

And then I started packing the boxes. Connor’s mystery machine easily handled the thermos, chips, ice pack, Gatorade, strawberry container, and dessert container. With room to spare actually. My favorite Rachel Ray fared even better – The front outer pocket boasting enough room for the thermos, chips, and dessert, leaving the cool compartment for the ice pack, drink, salsa, and strawberries. Ryan’s on the other hand…. No matter how I attempted to rearrange everything just would not fit. I eventually gave up and pulled his thermos out to carry separately. I tried talking him into a different lunchbox this week. Anything you want. Just pick one. His response? “But I don’t’ want a new one. I like my Lightning better.”

They polished off every.last.bite of their fish themed lunch earlier this week. And asked if they could have it again, and again. Hopefully they will be as enthusiastic about today’s Mexican themed cuisine.