First Day of (Pre) School

Update on the Bento Box: When I picked up Gracie from preschool this afternoon, I asked about her lunch. Ms. Donna said she did not like her morning snack (mini blueberry muffins in pre-packaged pouch) and then opened her lunch box when we got in the car. She had eaten every single thing in her lunch box, with the exception of the confetti ritz crackers. And in her defense, these crackers are supposed to be like cookies - they are so not!

Gracie's first day of school at Victory Baptist was this morning, and while I teared up a little and she seemed kind of hesitant to go sit with the other kids who were "at the movies", she finally let go and then forgot to hug me so she came running back. The morning was pretty much uneventful, I got up about 6:30 to make Gracie's lunch and make sure I had everything ready to go. I had finished up most of the labeling last night of everything she needed labeled. I woke her up around 7:00 and we dropped her off a little after 7:30. This first picture is of her first ever bento box lunch:

There is an apple fruit bar, grapes, 4 little chicken vienna sausages, some confetti ritz crackers, and cheese that I cut into the shapes of hearts and circles. I actually bought individually wrapped slices of cheese, but decided to do the shapes this morning. It only took me about ten minutes to pack the lunch, but that also involved deciding what to pack for her first day. Plus I was warned in advance that the first week is touch and go with how much the kids will eat, mainly because they are only given twenty minutes and there is a lot of excitement the first week. That is the main reason why I packed mostly things I knew she would eat.

On the whole bento box thing....I have had a lot of family members giving me grief (playfully, of course) about this "fancy" lunch box and how/why I bought it. I have known about the bento boxes for a few short months, and up until I found the Wendolonia website, had only seen bento boxes used for sushi style lunches. My main reason for buying this box was because first and foremost, Gracie is not a sandwich eater. She loves fruit - particularly grapes, apple slices, and mandarin oranges. She also likes cheese (several kinds), and she's a big fan of the viennas and also small teriyaki beef jerky sticks. She likes crackers and fruit snacks. And when I saw the Wendolonia website, I realized that I could incorporate a lot of her favorites into this little box instead of packing 15 different things in a ziploc bag. I am no Martha Stewart and this was my first attempt at packing the little box, but I finally worked everything out. That doesn't mean Gracie will be taking a bento every day. She might take spaghettios one day, or a lunchable sometime. Her school also does pizza on most Fridays, and Gracie is an okay eater when it comes to pizza. I just took into consideration my child's eating habits, and decided that while bentos are basically unheard of in our neck of the woods, this would be a useful tool for my family's needs.

Off my soapbox! Now on to the "first day of school" pictures:

Wearing one of the many outfits I bought her at Children's Place when we went to the beach. Victory Baptist doesn't have a dress code, but they do require certain things - skirts have to have shorts underneath (thankfully, this is a "skort") and no spaghetti strap shirts or dresses.

She wanted to try on her sunglasses (from her goody bag at Jackson's birthday party) with her new school clothes.

Sitting down

Tina and Kayla came to see her before her first day of school, and then Tina had to leave for her first day of high school as a junior.

So it was pretty much uneventful except for the almost crying I had this morning. It's kind of weird to be at home now, and not hear her little feet pattering in here to tell me something. Bryan and I are both off, so we might - for the first time since Pursuit of Happiness - be going to the movies this afternoon before we pick Gracie up. That is excitement beyond belief because we haven't been to the movies in forever!