Bento!

Kristin's bento. She also has a thermos style insulated one. And she wants MY bento as well!


We have gone a little bento crazy around here! Back in high school while I was in Japan, one of the many things I feel in love with was the "bento" style lunch. Bentos are boxed lunches in pretty much every shape and style you can imagine. You can amazingly fit a lot in those small boxes and they are designed for portion control. You are supposed to pack them with the 4-3-2-1 rule: 4 parts rice, 3 parts protein, 2 parts vegetable, and 1 part "treat" (Usually either pickled vegetables or something sweet.) I tend to pack K's with more fresh fruit than veggies and I'm learning some of the traditional ways to pack rice. Luckily she loves rice, which works well since we are gluten free. Of course you can "Americanize" them and pack whatever you want!

Now, as with all Japanese food, the presentation is amazing. And I'll admit, kids are more inclined to eat something that looks "cool, neat or pretty." You can find tons of websites with photos of pretty amazing bento lunches. I have recently mastered the "octodog" which I vividly remember finding in my own bento lunch back in Japan :) I use turkey dogs and have found they work just as well, curling into perfect octo-legs when boiled in water. However, the best legs are produced in the traditional Japanese way of deep frying the dog for about a minute!

Octodogs (turkey dog sliced in half, then quartered....tricky part is getting the legs even)

I have yet to get to that point of making the food beautiful, but I plan to...someday! Here are a couple of the bentos I've made for Kristin.

This bento consisted of turkey dog "flowers" (which didn't turn out so well) with cheese centers, granola, and a couple of baked doritos, strawberry and banana "kabobs" and blueberries.

Here are the octodogs along with a few potato flyer chips (baked gluten free chips), mandarin oranges, bananas, and a few chocolate covered raisins.

Happy eating!!!!

PS....have you heard the news??? We're going to Disneyland in March!!!



Kristin is so excited and has told everyone she sees...even people she doesn't know! As soon as I type this I'm going to book our flight from Tulsa to Santa Ana (I found a good deal and am getting it now!), then I'm booking our room at Paradise Pier! Dare I even say it, but I'm a little excited myself :)

Second Grade at Sunshine!

Bring it on!!!!

Wow! Summer has come to an end! Today Kristin started second grade! This year Sunshine Montessori is starting an elementary program. Shawn in teaching Pre-K-third grade. This year she did not market the program since we won't have the new building until winter. So, she has 7 pre-k kids, two Kindergarteners and Kristin. The two kindergarten kids were going to do Kindergarten at Sunshine regardless of us opening the elementary room, but this is something Shawn has been considering quite awhile and parents are so happy to hear that we are starting an elementary program, me being one of them! I don't even want to think about what we'll do for fourth grade! Anyway, I digress, so I will get back to Kristin and second grade! Needless to say, the one on one individualization and small class size will be wonderful for Kristin plus, Shawn has known K since she was one and knows everything about her...what makes her tick, how she thinks...everything. And Kristin really loves Shawn. I think Kristin is as excited as I am, though she'd never admit it!

Here she is ready to go!









Kristin and Ms. Shawn

Today and Friday Shawn is letting the kids help get the room ready, so technically they really won't start school in the academic sense until Monday. The new building will be completed by Christmas at the latest. But they said it most likely won't take that long, considering it's basically one room, with a bathroom. I, of course, will have pictures of the building when it's finished! Here is their schedule....makes me want to go back to elementary!!!

7:00-8:00 is for Full Day students only

7:00-7:45 School opens
7:45 Breakfast
8:00 Go to Elementary Building; Sign in, Get settled
8:15 Large group time
8:35 Work time (focus on language and math)
10:00 PE
10:15 Yoga
10:30 Work time (focus on language and math)
11:45 Lunch and outside
12:30 Story time (focus on character building)
1:00 Pre K nap
SA work time(focus on science, health, geography, social studies); Once a week visit library
2:30 Pre K children wake up

Special classes
Monday--science lab
Tuesday--music appreciation
Wednesday art appreciation
Thursday music activities
Friday art activities

3:00 Large group time
3:15 School dismissed

3:30 All school day children picked up; Pre K join preschool

3:30-6:00 is for Full Day children only
3:45 Snack
4:00 Outside
4:45 Inside for free choice, homework, etc

Kristin and I open the school at 7 and we leave at 4....love it!

While Shawn has the elementary kids, Cindy and I have the 2 1/2-4 year old kids. I'll have 8 of the older ones that I will be responsible for doing group time with and indvidual lessons. Cindy has 6 of the younger ones. I think we are going to have a really good group. And there are only two boys...that will be interesting! I'm almost finished with my room...still have some decluttering to take care of, but that seems to be constant throughout the year! I'll put up pics when I get my room done, which hopefully will be this weekend.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic week!