I have the artistic talent of a fly.

When school first started, I could not think of a single thing to send in Blake's lunch, except Lunchables (ew, gross!) I searched blogs and websites and cookbooks and the library; I stumbled upon genius: Bentos (for definitions, or better yet, pictures, go here, here and here - this last one seems the most authentic, culturally speaking.)

Unfortunately, I lack the artistic abilities that come naturally to some people - like my sister-in-law Emily, who is so artistic that everything she touches turns to gold......except, of course, for the food she eats, and the people she loves, but you get my point, right? So this is the best that I could come up with (I think I got better with each one?)

I first bought the cheap plastic divided containers, but found that it was too much space - Blake never finished even half of it, and it just didn't look as pretty if every square centimeter wasn't full of food! I was checking out Pottery Barn Kids (my favorite kids store, evah!) and found their Spencer Storage Containers at 75% off! I was in Bento heaven! I also found that Blake was very into packing his own lunch, now that I had these fun, colorful containers, and creative ways to serve him his food (I really like the cupcake pan idea, I just can't imagine any child NOT eating their lunch when served that way!) I also thought a bit more outside the box, no pun intended, when it came to his menu choices - he HATES sandwiches (seriously, the day I sent olives and cute little pb&j cutouts, he ONLY ate the olives (which, aside from carrots, is the only vegetable I can get him to eat.....oh, wait, don't tell me. Olives are actually fruits.) Apparently, my disguise wasn't creative enough.)

Now I just need to work up the motivation to make three sets every night, and let my other two sons eat their "school lunch bentos"!