Meet the Dubiens

cute lunch idea: a lunch for a Queen!

2013-05-21T15:48:00.002-04:00

This past weekend was a holiday long weekend here in Canada. Monday was Victoria Day in honour of Queen Victoria. I made the kiddos this really fun lunch, inspired by that day. Please visit Canadian Family to find out how I made it!

this week in bento boxes

2013-05-19T20:38:00.003-04:00

Happy Sunday everyone! So sorry about the lack of posts lately, but I'm really working hard on getting my new site up and running and it seems to take quite a bit of my time. I'm really going to try hard and step up my game, lol. Here are some recent bento boxes that my kiddos have enjoyed:

Here are a couple almost matching bento boxes for the kids afternoon nutrition breaks. These were packed in a couple new boxes I recently received. One section held a panda bear sandwich made with the CuteZCute cutter set. The other section held fresh strawberries, sliced cucumbers and carrots (Kirsten's were cut into flowers). I added bear picks to Cam's lunch and panda bear picks to Kirsten's.

Here's a sweet little ladybug lunch for Kirsten's afternoon nutrition break packed in a Trudeau Fuel Everest sandwich box. She had a scalloped cut square sandwich with a cute piece of ladybug baran on top. There were 2 silicone muffin cups, 1 with sliced baby carrots, and 1 with fresh strawberries with ladybug picks. I added some sliced cucumbers to finish it off.

This was a really easy morning nutrition break for Cam packed in our blue steeltainer snack container. One section held some fresh kiwi slices and sliced strawberries with a lion pick. The other section held a rectangle silicone muffin cup with a sliced cereal bar.

And finally, another really easy morning nutrition break for Cam packed in our 4-square lock and lock container. I put some green silicone muffin cups in 2 of the squares to add some colour. The squares held a sliced granola bar, fresh red grapes, a minigo yogurt, and some pretzel twists.

Here are the supplies I used to make these lunches:

cute lunch idea: birdie in a blossom tree

2013-05-13T16:44:00.001-04:00

After the snow storm we had this past weekend, I'm not entirely sure that Spring is here, lol. Regardless, the trees have begun to bloom and the birdies are busy making nests and laying eggs. The flowering crab apple trees were my inspiration for this cute lunch and you can get all the details at Canadian Family.

this week in bento boxes

2013-05-12T08:30:00.001-04:00

First off, Happy Mother's Day to all my readers! I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing day. Today is my hubby's birthday too (Happy Birthday!!!), so I will be sharing this day with him. We have a very busy day planned with the kids and a few surprises planned too! I wanted to share some recent photos I've taken of the kids and I from instagram. I'm loving that I'm finally taking more pictures of me with my kids. With my DSLR, I'm always the one taking the pictures, and seldom in the pictures. Using instagram has enabled me to quickly capture those moments that I was missing before. I love it.

You can find me on instagram here.

Now onto the bento boxes! These are all from the archives because I didn't take any pictures of my kiddo's lunches this week. We're doing some renovations around the house, and it's been a crazy hectic week. Here's hoping I can get my act together this week, lol!

First up is this sweet little May Flowers afternoon bento in an EasyLunchboxes bright container. The largest section held 4 flower cut jam sandwiches, and the other sections held checkerboard cut cucumbers, and a flower silicone muffin cup filled with blueberries.

This fun little bento was for Cam's afternoon nutrition break and packed in a blue two-tier bento box. The top tier held a fishie-shaped container filled with sliced baby carrots and an icing eye, and colourful goldfish crackers. The bottom tier held a circle cut chicken sandwich with 3 marble cheese fishies on top, and a silicone muffin cup filled with sliced pears.

This simple little snack bento was for Kirsten's morning nutrition break and packed in our steeltainer snack container. One section held an oatmeal bar, and the other section held flower-cut cantaloupe, sliced kiwis and blueberries with 2 cute flower picks.

This easy little two-tier orange bento was for Kirsten's morning nutrition break. The top tier held fresh blueberries with a cute giraffe pick. The bottom tier held a silicone muffin cup filled with a sliced cheesestring and a sliced cereal bar.

And finally, an afternoon nutrition break bento for Kirsten packed in our goodbyn bynto container. The top section held 2 purple flower silicone muffin cups with sliced baby carrots and sliced cucumbers. The middle section held a whole wheat wrap with chicken, lettuce and cheese, held together with a cute elephant pick. The bottom section held 3 fresh strawberries.

These are the supplies I used to make these lunches:

freebie for mother's day!

2013-05-08T19:10:00.000-04:00

With Mother's day coming up this weekend, I really wanted to do something special with my kids. They're at that precious age right now where they are so curious about life and absorbing everything that is going on around them. I thought it would be fun to whip up a cute little sheet with questions all about me. I pulled each kiddo aside separately last night and had them answer my questions. I just love their answers of the innocence of them. I will surely treasure these answers for years to come. Check out the questionnaire I made:

I love this mother's day questionnaire so much, I wanted to share it with you guys too. I purchased all the clip art from the fabulous Miss Tiina (I just adore her work)!

Want to see what my kiddos think about me?? Here you go....

So cute! Even if my son thinks I'm 40,000 years old and weigh 40,000 pounds! Gotta love him, lol.

Do you want your own copy to print out? Click on the link HERE to download. I hope you guys love this as much as I do and you're able to get some fabulous answers from your kiddos! Enjoy and Happy Mother's Day!!!

cute lunch idea: May flowers

2013-05-06T19:07:00.001-04:00

Yay! Spring weather has finally arrived. The old saying is true, April showers do bring May flowers. We've got buds popping up everywhere and I couldn't be happier. I made this sweet little lunch for my kiddos to celebrate this. To get the details, please visit Canadian Family.

this week in bento boxes

2013-05-05T09:28:00.000-04:00

Happy Sunday!! It has been a gorgeous weekend here, and I just love it! We had snow for WAY too long and I'm just loving this Spring weather. Here are some recent bento boxes that my kiddos have enjoyed at school:

This really cute panda bento was for Cam's afternoon nutrition break. I used my nesting scalloped square cutters to cut out a ham sandwich and placed a piece of panda baran on top. He had 2 silicone muffin cups - 1 with sliced baby carrots and 1 with 2 fresh strawberries with panda picks in the top. I finished the lunch off with 4 slices of cucumber.

This cute little giraffe bento was for Kirsten's morning nutrition break and packed in our yellow lunchbots pico container. One section held an oatmeal breakfast bar with some mini pretzel twists. The other section held some fresh pineapple rings (sliced in half) and some fresh blueberries with a cute giraffe pick.

This fun 'under the sea' bento was for Cam's afternoon nutrition break and was packed in our blue tier-two bento box. The top tier held some sliced cucumber and sliced carrots with a cute octopus pick. The bottom tier held a silicone muffin cup with whole wheat crackers, sliced pepperoni, and a babybel cheese with a cute little fishie cut out of the wax.

This little rainbow bento was for Kirsten's afternoon nutrition break and is also packed in our blue two-tier bento box. I used my nesting scalloped circle cutters to cut a chicken sandwich and placed some rainbow and cloud baran on top for instant decoration. I also put some mini pretzel twists and a babybel cheese with a cloud shape cut out of the wax in the bottom tier. The top tier held some sliced cucumbers and sliced baby carrots.

And finally, a morning nutrition break bento for Kirsten packed again, in our blue two-tier bento box. The top tier held some fresh blueberries with a cute koala bear pick. The bottom tier held a silicone muffin cup with yogurt-covered blueberries, and an oatmeal bar.

Here are the supplies I used to make these lunches:

cute snack idea: frozen yogurt shapes

2013-05-03T20:35:00.001-04:00

I've seen this idea all over the internet, and I had to share it with you guys in case you haven't seen it yet. If you follow me on instagram, you may have already seen this picture. This is a pic of a snack my kiddos enjoyed a couple weeks ago. You can pour yogurt into silicone ice cube molds and freeze them. When they are completely frozen, the shapes will pop right out. They make great little bite-sized frozen yogurt treats for kiddos! You can make them in any shape mold you can find, any yogurt flavor and even put some colouring in them if you wish. You can even make them in your kids favourite characters if you want to earn some extra points with them! Really easy, really fun, and the kids love them!

Here is the one I used, and some others I think would be super cute!! There are so many adorable designs out there!

cute lunch idea: april showers

2013-04-29T19:06:00.000-04:00

Today was a typical rainy Spring day. It's definitely a welcome change from the snow we've been having lately. I'm hoping these April showers will soon be bringing May flowers. I made this cute little lunch for my kiddos and you can get all the details at Canadian Family.

this week in bento boxes

2013-04-28T18:13:00.000-04:00

Happy Sunday everyone! Sorry I've been MIA all week. I've been working hard on the blog this week and have some surprises coming up soon! I'm so excited. You'll have to stay tuned. It's also finally decided to be Spring around here, so I've been spending some much needed time outdoors this weekend. It's so nice to breathe some fresh Spring air. Finally. Here are some recent bento boxes my kiddos have enjoyed:

This was a delicious bento for my kids morning nutrition break using some cute new picks I got. It's packed in our yellow lunchbots pico container. One section held fresh blackberries and strawberries with adorable bee and ladybug picks. The other side held a flower silicone muffin cup with a sliced granola bar and some goldfish pretzel crackers.

This easy bento packed in our Trudeal Fuel Everest sandwich box was for Kirsten's afternoon nutrition break. She had half a ham bagel sandwich with some cute zoo animal picks in it. She also had silicone muffin cups filled with sliced baby carrots and sliced cucumbers. I snuck some mini pretzel twists in behind.

This cute bento was also for Kirsten's afternoon nutrition break. It was packed in our lunchbots duo orange box. 1 side held 2 chicken sandwiches cut into butterflies using a butterfly cookie cutter. The other side held a babybel cheese with a butterfly shape cut out of the wax, a silicone muffin cup filled with sliced baby carrots and a cute pick, and 3 slices of cucumber.

This beary cute little bento was for Cam's afternoon nutrition break and packed in a blue two-tier bento box. The top tier had a mini bear silicone cup filled with sliced cheesestrings and cucumber slices. The bottom tier held a circle cut chicken sandwich with a cute piece of bear baran, and a silicone muffin cup filled with sliced baby carrots and a cute bear pick.

And finally, a really easy morning nutrition break bento for Camden. It is packed in our steeltainer snack container. 1 section held a rectangle silicone muffin cup with a sliced granola bar. The other section held a delicious fresh fruit salad with sliced kiwi and nectarine. I added a cute little pick in there for instant cuteness!

Here are the supplies I used to make these lunches:

cute snack idea: an easy Earth Day snack

2013-04-22T18:49:00.000-04:00

Happy Earth Day everyone! This was a really easy snack that I made for my kids and it helps remind kids to love the earth and be good to it so we can enjoy it for years to come! To get all the details, please visit Canadian Family.

this week in bento boxes

2013-04-21T08:08:00.000-04:00

Happy Sunday! I had planned to do some Earth-day themed bento boxes last week to help celebrate Earth day, which is tomorrow. Well, it didn't happen. I didn't plan before I went grocery shopping, and then I just wasn't feeling the motivation. The kids still had cute lunches nonetheless, but nothing that screams 'love the earth', lol. Here are some of the bento boxes that my kids did enjoy this week though:

Kirsten loves Hello Kitty, so I like surprising her with a Hello Kitty lunch every once in awhile. This Hello Kitty bento box has 2 sections, it's super easy to open and close and it's pretty great. In the smaller section I used a new kitty container I just got and filled it with sliced baby carrots. The kitty shape of this container looks just like the outline of Hello Kitty's face. There are so many cute things I could do with it!! I also put some mini pretzel twists to fill this section. In the larger section, she had a circle cut ham sandwich with a hello kitty ring stuck in for decoration. There were 2 fresh strawberries with bow picks and a few sliced cucumbers. So cute and fun!

Of course I couldn't make Kirsten a Hello Kitty lunch without making Cam a lunch of his favourite character - Spiderman!! I packed this lunch in an EasyLunchbox. The larger section held a circle cut ham sandwich with a spiderweb decoration and a spider ring. I filled the rest of the area with mini pretzel twists. The other sections held cut cucumbers with a spiderman ring pick and a Spiderman Easter Egg filled with baby carrots - see below:

He absolutely loved it!

This sweet little Spring bento was for Kirsten's morning nutrition break and packed in our Lunchbots pico. One section held flower-cut cantaloupe with flower picks. The other section held a silicone muffin cup with a sliced granola bar and goldfish pretzel crackers.

These cute little steeltainer snack containers were for the kid's morning nutrition break. In one section they had alternating slices of orange and fresh pineapple rings (sliced in half) - I stuck in a cute little pick to make it cuter in an instant. The other section held a silicone muffin cup with a sliced granola bar.

And finally, another morning nutrition break packed in our steeltainer snack container. I used some of my favourite mini silicone cups and put them in the body of the steeltainer - I just removed the removable steel divider. I packed sliced kiwi in the pea pod, sliced orange in the orange cup, and sliced red plum in the cherry cup. I also packed a Quaker oatmeal-to-go bar on the side.

Here are the supplies I used to make these lunches:

we've got the whole world in our hands

2013-04-18T16:12:00.001-04:00

"We've got the whole world in our hands. We've got the whole world in our hands. We've got the whole world in our hands. We've got the whole world in our hands." Earth day is this coming Monday - April 22nd, and I've got a fabulous craft to do with your kiddos. This craft is a good reminder for kids that we are the ones who are responsible for the planet and we need to treat it with love and respect. Everybody can help makes changes. This craft was really fun and the end result is pretty cute! Kirsten helped me make these last night and the kids have been playing with them for most of this afternoon. Want to make one - here's what you'll need:

What you'll need:

foam craft ball - any size will work - mine were 4 inch
green tissue paper
blue tissue paper
pink or red tissue paper
white kids glue
paint brush
scissors
black sharpie

Directions:

1. Cut your green and blue tissue paper into 1-inch squares. You will need several of these to cover 1 ball, so cut quite a bit.

2. Cut your red or pink tissue paper into small hearts. You'll only need a few of these - I used 3 per ball.

3. Pour some white blue in a bowl and grab your paint brush. Start painting glue all over your foam ball. As you add glue to the ball, press blue tissue paper squares on the glue. Continue this until the entire ball is covered in blue tissue paper squares. Brush the entire thing with a thin layer of glue to seal the tissue paper squares onto the ball.

4. Now we're going to add some green squares for land. Put some glue over the blue tissue paper in areas where you want to add land. Put your green tissue paper squares over the glue. When finished, brush all the green squares with a thin layer of glue to seal them.

5. Grab a pink or red heart and place a dab of glue on your earth where you want the heart. Stick on the heart. I repeated this 3 times (placed the hearts on top of eachother) to make it stand out more. When finished, brush a thin layer of glue over the heart.

6. Place your earth on top of a cup or a plastic bottle cap and allow to fully dry. Mine took at least overnight. Once dry, carefully remove your earth from the stand (cup or bottle cap).

7. Grab your black sharpie and draw a sweet little face on your earth. Kirsten even added eyelashes to hers - pretty!

Here's mine:

And here's Kirsten's:

So cute, so easy and such a great reminder to love our earth!

Meet the Dubiens Earth Day Roundup!

2013-04-16T19:09:00.000-04:00

Earth Day is this coming Monday - April 22nd. We've done quite a few fun crafts and foods over the past 3 years and I have a couple new ones to post this year too. First, I wanted to showcase some of our favourite things from the past. These are in no particular order and just click on the title to bring you to the actual post where you can get all the details!

1. hand(print)s around the world

2. playdoh planet earth

3. earth day bento boxes

4. handprint paper plate planet earth

5. dirt and worm cups

cute snack idea: birdie in a nest

2013-04-15T19:12:00.002-04:00

Spring has to be coming, right? Although we just got a lot more snow this weekend, I'm certain that Spring is on it's way soon. One of my favourite things about Spring is mama birds making their nests and sweet little baby birdies hatching. This snack was inspired by just that. Visit Canadian Family to find out how I made it!

this week in bento boxes

2013-04-14T07:48:00.001-04:00

Happy Sunday everyone! Why can't the weekends be longer, lol?? I never have enough time to get everything done. Anyway, here are some bento boxes that the kiddos have recently enjoyed:

Here's a fun bento that Cam recently had for this afternoon nutrition break packed in a brights EasyLunchbox. The large section held 2 sandwiches cut into scalloped squares and then stamped with a smaller square cutter using my new nesting square cutters. I also used a small star cutter to cut a piece out of the middle. I filled in the empty space with cute leaf baran. The other sections held a some fancy sliced cucumbers, and a silicone muffin cup filled with blueberries.

This easy little bento was for Cam's morning nutrition break and packed in our blue steeltainer snack container. One section held a rectangle silicone muffin cup with a sliced granola bar. The other section held a fresh pineapple ring, cut in 2 pieces, and some fresh blueberries with a cute lion pick.

This fun bento was for Cam's afternoon nutrition break and was packed in a Lunchbots Duo. One section held 2 sandwiches cut with an elephant cookie cutter. The other section held a babybel cheese with a star cut out of the wax, a silicone muffin cup with sliced baby carrots and elephant pick, and 3 cucumber slices.

This fun little Spring bento was for Kirsten's afternoon nutrition break and packed in a pink two-tier bento box. The top tier held some flower-cut cucumbers and some smaller flower-cut carrots. The bottom tier held a stack of whole-wheat crackers, a babybel cheese with a tulip shape cut out of the wax, and 3 slices of pepperoni.

And lastly, Kirsten's morning nutrition break bento packed in our really fun polka-dot dome bento box. The top tier held a blueberry muffin bar with whole grain oats, and the bottom tier held a fruit salad with sliced peaches, green grapes, sliced kiwi and orange segments - all with a cute little pick.

Here are the supplies I used to make these lunches:

how to make your own yogurt drinks

2013-04-11T18:20:00.001-04:00

My kids love yogurt drinks. The problem is I hate to buy them because they're pretty expensive and Cam goes into the fridge and steals them. I can't keep them in the fridge for more than a couple days. I found the solution to this was to buy yogurt and milk (which I always have on hand), and make my own! It's cheaper, it's easy and the kids drink them right up. I don't find them as sweet as the regular yogurt drinks, but my kids don't seem to mind - I think that's a good thing. Less sugar makes me happy! You're not going to believe how easy this is:

Gather your supplies. That's right - just yogurt and milk. You're also going to need some drink containers. I saved some from some of the yogurt drinks I have bought (yay for recycling!) and I also have some goodbyn bynto drink containers that are great. I like the bottles with the screw cap lids because my kids can open them easily.

Next, fill your bottle a little less than half way full of yogurt.

Then fill your bottle (leaving some space at the top so you can shake it) with milk.

Close the lid and give it a good shake.

If you find it too thick, you can add more milk. If you find it too liquidy, add more yogurt. It's that easy. Like I said earlier, they aren't as sweet as store-bought yogurt drinks because they don't have any added sugar. My kids are good with that, if you want it a little sweeter you could add some sugar, or honey, or flavoured drink syrup.

This is going to save me money, and I won't have little thieves stealing yogurt drinks out of the fridge anymore. It's a win-win. If the kids want one, I can whip one up in seconds. It's a marvelous life :-)

Here are a couple bento boxes with these yogurt drinks too. As long as you have an insulated lunch bag with ice packs, these will stay nice and cold for your kiddos to drink.

Fisher-Price Favourites and a 20% off coupon code!

2013-04-09T19:34:00.000-04:00

If there is 1 brand that has remained constant in my household since the birth of my first child nearly 6 years ago, it would be Fisher-Price. From baby necessities to today's hottest toys for kids, Fisher-Price has you covered. It's a name that is recognized world-wide for quality and you know you can trust it's products. Fisher-Price recently identified the Fisher-Price Favourites - 12 items that have made moms’ “must-have” lists over the years.

As I look through the list, I can see why these items were selected! Many of these items are items that I used with my babies, and I bet you can say the same too.

These items include:

1. Ocean Wonders Aquarium
2. My Little Snugabunny Cradle N Swing
3. Infant to Toddler Rocker
4. SpaceSaver High Chair
5. Discover’n Grow Jumperoo
6. Brilliant Basics Rock a Stack
7. Laugh & Learn Love to Play Puppy
8. Laugh & Learn Say Please Tea Set
9. Laugh & Learn Click ‘n Learn Remote
10. Brilliant Basics Stroll-Along Walker
11. Little People Wheelies Stand ‘ n Play Rampway
12. Little People Animal Sounds Farm
I'm thrilled to see that one of my most favourite Fisher-Price items of all time made the cut! The Laugh & Learn Say Please Tea Set was one of my daughter's very first toys she received as a baby, and it remains one of her favourite toys to this date - and she's 5 years old. It's held up amazingly over the years (it still looks brand new!) and it's a gift that I love to buy for all little girls I know. The songs are just adorable and I'm not ashamed to admit that this little teapot helped my daughter learn some of her very first manners! This is a toy that is played with again and again in my house and allows my daughter so much imaginative and fun playtime.

Here's a couple pics from a tea party we had recently:

I also saw the Discover N' Grow Jumperoo made the list. When my kids were babies, the Fisher-Price jumperoo was an essential baby item. Both of my babies loved bouncing away and the jumperoo is just so entertaining, why wouldn't they!? The jumperoo offers so many discovery items for babies, not to mention the lights, sounds and music that reward baby for bouncing. I'll never forget the sweet baby giggles that my babies had when they used the Fisher-Price jumperoo! Memories I will treasure forever.

Here's a picture of my sweet little baby Kirsten, loving bouncing in her jumperoo! I miss that sweet baby smile!

This particular jumperoo went through all 3 of my nieces and both my kids. That's 5 bouncing babies - that's how durable it is!!

So, what Makes a Fisher-Price Favourite?

* These toys have been tried & tested through the years, and year over year have been favourites of moms, not just in Canada, but World over.

* They have lasted through generations of kids, and continually pass not only the “Dr Alfono test”, but also the “kid test”!

* They encourage child development and support children in achieving important milestones.

Want to learn more?

Visit the Fisher-Price Favourites website here.

I also have an exclusive coupon code to share with you guys! With the code FISHERPRICE20 you will be able to receive 20% off Fisher-Price favourites at Toys ‘R Us! This PIN is effective until April 30, 2013. Visit Toysrus.ca to use the exclusive PIN code!

So tell me, what are your favourites, and did they make the list??

“Disclosure: I am part of the Fisher-Price Blogger Campaign with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.”

cute snack idea: hello sunshine!

2013-04-08T19:09:00.002-04:00

Goodbye Winter, hello sunshine! Although some days Mother Nature isn't sure what season it is, Spring is coming. I made this cute and easy snack for the kiddos and they loved it. Get all the details at Canadian Family.

this week in bento boxes

2013-04-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope everyone is having an excellent weekend. I had a pretty simple week making bento boxes, so I decided to post some from my unposted archives this week. I make so many bento boxes that so many of them don't get posted. I thought these ones were pretty cute and deserved to be seen!

First up is a fun monster bento for Cam's afternoon nutrition break packed in a Trudeau Fuel Everest sandwich box. He had a circle cut ham sandwich with a cute piece of monster baran on top. There were 2 strawberries with cute leaf picks, a silicone muffin cup with matchstick carrots, mini pretzel twists and my favourite store-bought cookies for dessert. Yum!

Kirsten had a matching bento to Cam's above, but she had a cute piece of hello kitty baran on her sandwich and some cute bow picks in her strawberries!

This cute little bento was for Kirsten's afternoon nutrition break and packed in a pink two-tier bento box. The bottom tier held a stack of whole wheat crackers, some cubed marble cheese and some pieces of chicken lunchmeat held together with cute bento picks. The top tier held sliced cucumbers and whole strawberries.

This cute little snack bento was for Cam's morning nutrition break. He had a silicone muffin cup filled with sliced pineapple and a cute giraffe pick, a granola bar and some mini pretzel twists. So simple, but cute!

This fun little two-tier green bento box was for Cam's afternoon nutrition break. The bottom tier held a stack of whole wheat crackers with a cute car cut out of marble cheese. He also had some lunch-meat roll-ups. The top tier held a silicone muffin cup with marble cheese cut cars (resting on some spinach leaves for colour), and some traffic light fruit and veggies - tomatoes, pineapple and cucumber.

And finally, a cute morning snack bento for Cam's morning nutrition break packed in our blue steeltainer snack container. The steeltainer held a rectangle silicone muffin cup with a sliced granola bar, and some green grapes and blueberries with a cute elephant pick.

Here are the supplies I used to make these lunches:

do you instagram??

2013-04-04T18:04:00.000-04:00

Hi, my name is Jill and I have a new addiction. I am an instagram junkie. I am notoriously late to the 'social media game' and can never seem to find the time to 'stay connected.' I am technologically challenged to say the least. I put off getting a facebook account for this blog for forever, and I still don't have a personal facebook account so I am very limited on what I can do on there. I only just recently joined twitter and I'm really terrible at keeping it updated (thank goodness for automatic updates from facebook, lol!). I try to keep up with my pinterest boards, but have a hard time finding the time! I've known about instagram for awhile, but never took the time to really look into it. Well I looked into last month, and now I'm hooked. I love that I can document our everyday life in photos and I love seeing what other people are up to! It's a photo addicts dream come true. It takes seconds to snap a picture and post it and I'm loving every second of it.

If you would like to stay connected with our everyday life (99% of the pictures I take for instagram will never show up on this blog!), come find me on instagram! I would love to follow you too - leave me a comment with your instagram username. I need more people's pictures to ~~stalk~~ look at!

My username is kirstenreese and you can find me here.

cute meal idea: breakfast in disguise

2013-04-02T17:31:00.001-04:00

Did you play any little tricks on your kiddos yesterday for April Fool's day? Although I'm not a big fan of playing tricks on people, I do like serving my kids a little food fun on April Fool's day. This 'breakfast in disguise' was super simple to make and the kids just loved it! This may look like a plate of eggs, toast and a glass of orange juice, but you'll want to visit Canadian Family to find out what it really is!

Happy Easter!

2013-03-31T11:12:00.001-04:00

Wishing each and every one of you a very Happy Easter! If you want to check out more of what my family has been up to this Easter - check out my new addiction - instagram!!

You can find me on instagram by clicking here.

this week in bento boxes

2013-03-30T08:40:00.001-04:00

I'm sneaking in one more Easter-themed week of bento boxes before Easter tomorrow. The kids are SOOO excited for the bunny to come tonight. They've been counting down the days for weeks. Today we'll have a fun-filled day of dying Easter eggs and going for Easter dinner at my parents - yummy!!

First up is this fun bunny and carrot bento packed in an EasyLunchbox. The main compartment held 2 chicken sandwiches cut into carrot shapes with cheddar cheese and baby spinach leaves on top. The other compartments held a fun carrot-shaped Easter egg filled with sliced baby carrots, and a silicone muffin cup filled with cucumbers and a cute bunny pick!

Next up are these 2 adorable bento boxes that the kiddos had for their morning nutrition breaks. They are packed in our pico Lunchbots. One section held a cute silicone cup (bunny and chick) filled with blueberries and a sliced oatmeal bar. The other section held a flower silicone muffin cup with sliced kiwi and a cute pick and some orange slices.

This fun little bento was for the kiddos afternoon nutrition break. It is packed in our 4-square lock and lock box and I removed 2 of the boxes. The top section held 3 sandwich rolls with cheese on the inside and turkey bologna on the outside. I used a cute bunny sandwich roll cutter to make the bunnies. I used ketchup to dot on some cute cheeks. The other sections held a silicone muffin cup filled with mini pretzels and a silicone muffin cup with sliced baby carrots and a cute bunny pick.

This easy bunny bento was for Kirsten's afternoon nutrition break and packed in our pink 2-tier bento box. The main compartment held a circle cut chicken sandwich with a cute piece of bunny baran and a silicone muffin cup with sliced baby carrots and a cute bunny pick. The upper tier held some sliced cucumbers and a mini bunny silicone cup with sliced cheesestring.

This was a really easy morning nutrition break bento for the kiddos packed in our steeltainer snack containers. One section held alternating slices of orange and green apple with cute bunny picks. The other section held a rectangle silicone muffin cup with sliced granola bar.

And lastly, an afternoon nutrition break bento packed in a Lunchbot duo. One section held a chickie-egg sandwich with chicken and cheese. I cut the top piece of the bread to look like an egg shell. The chickie had icing eyes and a carrot nose held on with cream cheese and I added a couple pieces of silicone flowers for decoration. The other section held flower silicone muffin cups filled with blackberries and sliced baby carrots and used 2 Easter egg ring picke for decoration.

Here are the supplies I used to make these lunches:

hard-boiled chicks

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My kids go through phases where they either love hard-boiled eggs, or won't touch them. Right now, they're lovin' them. I decided to make the kids a cute little breakfast last weekend that would be perfect for Easter! They loved that these little chicks were sitting inside Easter eggs - and I loved it too! So bright and colourful.

I just took some peeled hard-boiled eggs and used carrots and sprinkles for the details. They fit right inside most standard plastic easter eggs! Enjoy!