Doll Suitcase

I so desperately want to make this, too!

http://www.prudentbaby.com/2011/11/make-doll-suitcase.html

Peg Doll Dollhouses

I HAVE to make these for me..... uhhh.....I mean Sophie!

http://anniescupboard.blogspot.com/2010/07/wont-you-be-my-woodsy-neighbor.html

I can see peg/clothespin dolls very easily becoming a new obsession of mine.

Night Owl Party

This lady is amazing! I want to do a party like this for Sophie some day (when she's a little older). Check out all the details on her blog!

http://snowybliss.blogspot.com/2011/02/night-owl-party.html

Seriously?!

Found these on Pinterest. Amazing. I need some. Now. Only I could never eat them.

See more about them here.

This is going to be amazing.

Yum!

Plain wite rice onigiri (with a little sugar sprinkled on top), shaped tamago, string cheese squid, and sweet "sushi" (Rice Krispy Treat rolled in fruit roll-up, the real fruit kind from Macey's). =D

REAL bento food!

Onigiri & shaped tamago

Are those eggs not the cutest thing ever?! They are shaped hard boiled eggs! How did I do that, you ask? Magic. : )

Ok, fine. With these little egg molds. You hard boil the eggs, then while they're still really hot (you can cool them just enough to be able to peel them without burning your fingers off), you place them in these little molds, carefully close the lid, and put them in the fridge for 10 minutes or so. Cool, huh? I would have never thought you could do that with eggs.

The pink thing is my new onigiri (rice ball, although their never really shaped like balls) mold. You can do this by hand, but it's much easier to just scoop the rice into the mold and smoosh it. I found all of these at our favorite Japanese Sage Market (1515 S. Main Street). The onigiri mold was $2 and the two egg molds together were $2.


The green stuff on the onigiri is nori (seaweed). I will not eat it. It smells just like fish food. You know, the stuff you sprinkle in your fish bowl for your goldfish. Gross. But Scott likes it. : ) I made some plain one's for me and the kids. These one's are just plain rice. Some have seasoning or fish flakes in them. Others have some kind of seafood in the middle. Salmon would be really yummy, but I didn't have any on hand this morning. Scott pulled out some tuna and tried it and said it was really yummy. So next time I'll smoosh some tuna in the middle of them. For today I have a little microwave yakiniku don thing I'm going to try with my onigiri. It's beef and vegetables. It will be yummy! The kids like to just eat plain old rice. Maybe I'll sprinkle some sugar on theirs. *GASP* Don't tell Scott. I'll get in big trouble. Sugar? On rice? Unheard of in Japan! hehe

Now I just need to find bento boxes for me and Scott. I want this one! Totoro!And here are a couple other things I'm going to learn to make.

Tamagoyaki
Japanese Omlette


Takoyaki
Octopus Balls
(Not as disgusting as it sounds. hehe It's a tiny piece of octopus in this pancakey ball.)

Bento!

Thanks to Deneigh, I may have a new obsession. Bento! Check out this lady's blog.

http://www.anotherlunch.com/

I'm hooked. Her boxes are so cute! Someday mine will look like that. But for now, here is what I have. : ) Five hours, five stores, and $30 later, I have this measly collection.....

(Ignore the sideways pictures. I hate blogger.)

The boxes are the Sassy On the Go Feeding Set from Babies R Us. They are the perfect size for my tiny, picky eaters. I love the little compartments that you can take out, and that they each have their own lid. Sophie loves the little spoon that attaches to the lid. And the best part? Only $6 each! And dishwasher safe.

I found these tiny alphabet cutters at Spoons 'n Spice.

Also in the first picture are some little picks I found at Zurchers, some skewers (drink stirrers, also Zurchers, although I realize now they won't fit into these particular boxes. I'll save them for when they graduate to a bigger bento.) A sandwich decruster/sealer I found at Harmons (great for Jack who hates messy fingers, and me who hates crust, hehe), and some fruit leather (also Harmons) for the alphabet cutters. The fifth store (and first one we went to) was Target, but they didn't have anything. I also searched everywhere for silicone baking cups, but only found heart shaped one's at Harmons. I might try Hobby Lobby today. I also really really REALLY want to get all the cute little picks she has! I'll have to start looking online. : )

Anyway, here was my first attempt at making a bento box! Nothing fancy, but still fun. Also, terrible lighting, camera phone, and boring background. hehe
Pb&j sealed sandwich with fruit leather "HI", Nilla Wafers, strawberries, baby carrots, and some grape picks.

Sophie LOVES strawberries! Jack, not so much. Jack LOVES carrots, Sophie chewed one up then spit out the mush. So they traded.


The boxes were the first thing we bought yesterday, and they carried them around the entire rest of the shopping trip, and were so anxious (impatient) to eat from them. So they had a bento dinner. Then last night I decided to make them a bento breakfast. So I put some cereal in the bigger insert and half a Nutri-Grain bar in a little one and snapped the lids on to keep them fresh. I put applesauce in the other little one, snapped on the lid and put it in the fridge. This morning I just pulled out the applesauce and poured milk on the cereal, and voila! They were so excited that they got to have their boxes for breakfast! Jack polished off every bite, and Sophie is still working on hers. She slept in late. : )

I LOVE BENTO! I can't wait to get some really fun stuff and make some really cute and creative one's! Now if only my kids weren't so darn picky......... Jack's too smart to be fooled into eating something just because it looks fun, and Sophie is just stubborn. She didn't touch her sandwich yesterday. I ended up eating it and giving her a piece of plain bread.

Scott will also be getting some bento lunches, as soon as I can get a nice big box (I'm thinking the Planet Box would be good for him, nice and manly) and an insulated lunch bag. Although he says a bento isn't a bento without rice. Next step, learn to make rice balls. Both kids LOVE rice!

"Hewuh Kikee!!!"

Note: This will not be an everyday thing. But think how fun it will be for holidays, outings to the zoo, parks, etc! =D And next year when Jack's in 1st grade, it will be a great way to send lunch, without all the wrappers and plastic bags to mess with.

Jack

My 5 year old just wrote this all by himself on the iPad.


In a world of peace
Eraeth
a spescel planet was eraeth
Daknes is aloroud
Intil the crashd in the galaxy
A spescel animal came
To the world



Where did he come from?!

Animal Crackers

Blue Bird is almost ready to go up for sale! I'm just waiting for a couple of testers to finish up. So here is my newest design to add to the collection. : )

"Animal crackers in my soup. Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop. Gosh oh gee how I have fun, swallowing animals one by one."

You should watch the show. Seriously. "Curly Top" starring Shirley Temple