So, after I aired all my dirty laundry in my last post, I thought I deserved a little reprieve. It turns out, I do (sometimes) have mommy successes and I need to broadcast them as the come. 
I’ll be the first to admit, however, I hate making my kids breakfast and lunch. Breakfast I hate, because, well, I highly dislike most breakfast foods. Luckily, my kids don’t and would be perfectly content with cereal every day. I often feel guilty about letting them do that.
In the case of lunch, however, I am the one who would be content with PB & J’s every day. It’s so much easier… such an efficient lunch. And yet my kids grow weary of them. Unfortunately, when I try to get creative, it usually blows up in my face. I read about all kinds of moms who make lunch out of things they can put in muffin tins. My kids just stare at muffin tins and then look at me like I’m nuts for trying to serve them something in such a ridiculous manner.
I’ve tried making “ants on a log,” or a various assortment of things rolled up in a wrap. They occasionally eat quesadillas, but once I got the healthy tortillas, that lost it’s appeal as well.
But today, I succeeded. Mylie has been studying butterflies in preschool this week, and for some reason requested a butterfly lunch on the way home from school today. I took the opportunity and ran with it!
I give you:
I neglected to take pictures of the actual lunch, so I’ll have to describe it.
Eggs
Butterflies lay their eggs on leaves, so for this portion I took one leaf of baby spinach and added some dried cranberries on top.
Caterpillar
From the egg, a caterpillar emerges. Keep in mind, I was punting here… but a baby carrot made a fairly acceptable caterpillar representation.
Chrysalis
Anyone who’s read The Very Hungry Caterpillar knows that after he eats his way through a smorgasbord of food, the caterpillar wraps himself up in a cocoon and becomes a Chrysalis. I was stumped on this part, but finally figured it out. I spread cream cheese on a tortilla and cut it in half. In each half I rolled up a baby dill pickle. Voila! Chrysalis.
Butterfly
The main reason I’m so ecstatic about sharing this lunch was that it was a raging success! Both my kids devoured every last bite, and asked for more. Of course, if I were to offer any of those things to them individually, they’d give me that crazy look again. So, thank you Eric Carle, for inspiring healthy eating in the Winter’s Home.
Way cute…and slightly creepy to think of eating butterfly eggs. But none the less very creative.
You're a great mom.
We're gonna tri.
This is adorable! My son loves sushi, so I sometimes put "sushi" rolls in his lunch box. Only, it's a rolled up tortilla with sprouts and turkey and whatnot, cut into little bites. He thinks it's great. Kids can be so gullible!