Brrr!

Oh yes. Definitely Autumn here! Don't let those unseasonably warm days we've been having up here in the PNW fool you - it is most assuredly October! Yesterday morning the neighborhood was shrouded in fog as I walked the girls to school, and this morning it was downright chilly when we stepped outside. There was a rapid rush back into the house for jackets and sweaters. Up until now the weather has been warm enough for them to not be needed, but today called for something warmer. I think a hot cup of chai latte is in my very near future.

Today is preschool story hour at our library and Beaker usually requests a picnic in the park after the story, but he may change his mind when he feels that nip in the air. I packed him up a lunch, but if we skip the park maybe I'll show him how to make the dining table in to a fort and let him eat lunch in there.

For him I made Nutella 'sushi' sandwich rolls, baby carrot sticks, cucumber slices, and grape tomatoes with ranch, and a peeled and segmented clementine. There are also a few Annie's Organic Bunny Grahams tucked in around his sandwich rolls (which look more like cinnamon rolls to me, and have me daydreaming of Cinnabons hot out of the oven).

This bento box is the perfect size for Beaker. It's the one I found for a buck at the thrift shop! Super cute lid, right? If anyone happens to be able to point me in the right direction for more stuff by this company, I would appreciate the tip. The copyright says "Caramel" and the back of the box is imprinted with Japanese writing, but I haven't been able to find anything more from them online, either with these characters or by the company.

Today for snack Bean has chocolate animal grahams with applesauce in a small container I found tucked away in a dollar bin at a grocery store. The pack held two containers with lids for $1 and is the perfect size for regular silicone cups.

For Bean's lunch, she has... pumpkins! Of course. It's October! In the upper corner is Greek yogurt with a mini silicone cup of granola pressed in. It did not occur to me until much later (hey, I don't do so well with the whole thinking thing in the morning, remember?) that when she pulls the cup out to dump the granola in to the yogurt there is probably going to be a bit of a mess, with yogurt all over the bottom side of the cup. Lesson learned ~ don't do that again. She also has a peeled clementine with a leaf food pick and three small orange pumpkin candies. The clementine is supposed to look like a pumpkin, but that leaf just makes it look more like an orange. I'm going to have to find or make a more pumpkin-leaf-like pick, I think. She also has a sandwich with a cocoa Jack o' Lantern face made with a furikake stencil, baby carrot sticks and cucumber slices with ranch, and a silicone pumpkin cup of party mix.

Princess wanted butterflies. Not a Halloween lunch? "Nope. Butterflies." But, it's October. What about a fall harvest lunch? "No, maybe later. Butterflies, please." Okay, butterflies it is!

She also has Greek yogurt with the bad-idea cup pressed in holding granola. Hers is a pink butterfly shaped mini silicone cup. In the next compartment of the Easy Lunchbox she has cucumber slices and baby carrot sticks with ranch dip and a gummi butterfly. In the large section are two butterfly Nutella sandwiches, grape tomato 'flowers' (using flower stem and flower food picks), a peeled and segmented clementine in a pink flower silicone baking cup, and some mini Triscuits.

A close up of the butterfly garden: