Friday September 24th

  Yesterday when I was volunteering for my son's school some of the yard duties were telling me "Wow you have so much patience" and "Oh I bet that takes all morning...I'd never have time to do that". So this morning I thought I might share with you how I keep myself organized.
  It really isn't much harder than the regular old sandwich style lunch. Yes, it may be a little more time consuming to make a warm lunch but aren't you or your kiddos worth the little extra effort? I also like to pack little bits of leftovers in their lunches to same me some time. As we clean up after dinner I am always thinking about what I can reuse so I set small portions aside in tiny Tupperware. It may be a scoop of rice, a few meatballs and a spoonful of marinara. Slices of roasted chicken, or even steamed broccoli. All of this combined with a few pieces of fresh fruit and veggies make the perfect lunch. I alway have these on hand chopped up and ready to go. I also have canned fruit for those days when the produce doesn't look too good or I just don't feel like shopping. Here's a picture of what I have on hand in my fridge now:

Bananas, canned pineapple, canned mandarin oranges, cucumber,cherry tomatoes, chopped watermelon, fresh raspberries and figs, kiwi, grapes in a strawberry container, and strawberries

It also helps to have all of your boxes and accessories organized too. I set aside two drawers in my kitchen just for this. One for the boxes and one for their accessories like picks and cupcake liners:

This is my accessory drawer, as you can see I just used some old strawberry baskets nothing fancy:)
In here from top left to right I have assorted cookie cutters for sandwiches or quesadillas, etc., colorful pick, silicone cupcake holders, small fork style picks, paper cupcake liners and heart shaped silicone hearts, some round silicone liners, 3 xtra small storage containers on the edge, mini shot glass style green cups, mini shaped silicone holders, tiny shaped cutters, tiny condiment bottles and cups, and finally at the very top I have their  special picks and food color pens! Whew!!

In this fuzzy picture:) I have a bunch of the kiddos lunch boxes ready to go. I also helps if you put them away with their lids so that you can find everything you need.

  Well I hope this helps someone out a little! With the right preparation it really is not hard to do at all, and here's the picture of What my kiddos had in their lunch box today...

Both kiddos had the same lunch but Z's on top has cucumber slices with one lone giraffe, Fresh figs (from grandpa's tree) strawberry yogurt with sprinkles, some watermelon, and a ham and cheese frittata.