My kids brown bag it to lunch at school more often than not. Well, maybe not in a true brown bag since that wouldn't be nearly as cool as the colorful or character lunch boxes they take these days. And they're not really even boxes...they're more like rectangular shaped carriers made out of some strong fabric material. But whatever you call them, they serve the purpose of transporting their lunches to school on days they choose not to buy.

My goal is to have a little part of me go in each of these lunch boxes - a little snippet of Daddy. A little laughter, a little cleverness, a little inside joke, a little rhyming...and a ton of love. I want my kids to be reminded every time they open their lunch at school how much they mean to me. How much I love them. And maybe be a little entertained in the process.

So every lunch I make has notes in the lunch box. You should try it too! Feel free to use any of the notes you see in this blog in your own kids' lunches. Or use them to be inspired to write your own.


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Monday, February 28, 2011

Or at least a 'warm'

Sometimes when I'm coming up with lunch notes it helps to think like a child would think.  (Believe me...that's easy for some of us!)




That's a perfectly logical train of thought describing a perfectly illogical name for an illness.  And I can totally see my 4 year old coming up with that, or my 10 year old jokingly asking the question.  I'm not automatically cold when I have a cold, and being out in the cold can't cause a cold on its own, so it just doesn't make sense.

Which is another reason I feel sorry for people trying to learn to speak English!



Saturday, February 26, 2011

Do birds like veggies?




It's tough to get kids to eat veggies, so when you find one they like you need to make sure they eat a lot of it.  Carrots are one of my girls' favorite veggies, and we buy them in all shapes and sizes...baby carrots, carrot wedges, big long carrots with the stalks intact, etc.  Now that my girls are old enough to peel raw carrots on their own they have them for snacks a lot - mostly for the fun of peeling in my humble opinion!

I'm not sure if parrots eat carrots or not, but if they do then I wonder if they would also eat them cooked...since my girls sure won't!  But some would argue that raw is healthier anyway, so it works for us.

Also, if you want to make my bro & sis-in-law happy and help some parrots in need go here:

(But please don't send any carrots!)




Friday, February 25, 2011

A strange combination

I don't want you to jump to conclusions here, but this udderly hilarious lunch note was full of no bull...




The kangamoo is the only animal that is a native of Australia and the South West United States.  It is unique because it has not only the familiar kangaroo-like pouch, but also cow-like udders hidden within the pouch.  This is great for the kangamoo's young ones (called joeycalfs) who spend their days in the pouch having milk squirting wars and milk squirting distance contests.

Hey...that would make a great name for a band.  Captain Kangamoo!





Thursday, February 24, 2011

A fast little singer

Celebrity names can always be fodder for jokes.  Since jokes are great for lunch notes matching the two is fun.






Taylor is a very talented singer and songwriter, someone whose music is very accessible to adults and teens/tweens alike.  We first saw her several years ago as a 16 or 17 year old opening for Tim & Faith on their SoulIISoul 2 tour.  We didn't know much about her, but her performance won us over.  We took our girls to see her in concert a couple years ago and made it a surprise - we didn't tell them where we were going on the way so they were very happy.

I like my notes to be truthful though, so can someone please find out if Taylor really is quick or not?




Tuesday, February 22, 2011

It's lunch time sports fans!

I coach soccer for one or both of my girls' teams each spring and fall, and this spring their ages land correctly again so that they'll both be able to play on my team.  Soccer sign ups are happening now, which reminded me of this note:





It is always fun, whether doing it at a formal practice or with your siblings in the backyard.  But the backyard does have it's hazards...our dog has taken to digging craters out there lately which could lead to some twisted ankles.  Not to mention the the brown squishy mines she leaves everyday...extra poop patrol duty is definitely necessary for playing soccer out back.  We don't enjoy cleaning that stuff out of our carpets!





Monday, February 21, 2011

President Daddy

Today is President's Day.  So this lunch note is very appropriate:





Yeah, I think life would be full of drama if that were the case.  Limo rides to school, secret service following you around, sleep overs at the White House, having a First Daughter title...  Things would be very different, and a bit more stressful, but hopefully fun.  At least there's a pretty cool playground on the White House grounds now!




Saturday, February 19, 2011

Bunny bank?








The whole concept of a piggy bank is pretty strange - why did the pig become the ideal form for a place for children to store their money?  I always think of an image of a piggy bank being smashed on the ground or broken with a hammer to get to the money.  Does that ever really happen?  Every piggy bank I've ever seen has a hole on the bottom with a little rubber stopper so you can access the money.  But I guess if you're really trying to save money then the break-only method is a good deterrent and keeps your money safe for longer periods of time.

But really, wouldn't a bunny shaped piggy bank be called a bunny bank?






Friday, February 18, 2011

Lunch note food groups








This was a day when their lunches were full of grapes.  Grapes rock.  They taste best cold, but don't necessarily need to be refrigerated, so they keep well in lunches without a cold pack.  Plus when you're sitting at the lunch table you can squirt your friends with grape juice if you bite down just right!

Now if only my daughters liked grape tomatoes...





Thursday, February 17, 2011

Lean mean lunch note machine

We usually try to limit the junk in our kids' lunches - they often get at least a fruit or veggie or sometimes both.  This note must've been written on one of those days where there was more 'good' food than bad.






Don't know why I use the 'roses are red' thing so often in these notes.  I guess it just helps get the note started so my brain gets into the mode to come up with the rest.  I'll have to start using different colors though - roses can be any color you want these days!





Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Float like a butterfly...









What, you've never heard of space butterflies before?  I'm not surprised, since they're very shy and private creatures.  They're actually pretty fat and lazy too.  Strange, I know...an overweight butterfly?  Is that even possible?  Well, yes it is.

Think about it - when you see a butterfly here on Earth they have to work pretty hard to combat gravity.  Sure their bodies are light, but when they fly all they're doing is flapping flapping flapping.  There is no gliding or soaring or riding the wind like a bird.  If they don't flap then they plummet.

But a space butterfly has no gravity to contend with.  None at all!  So it's one flap and they're off to their destination.  That equals no calories burnt, and makes them very lazy and large.  Even the ones who live near the moon (to take advantage of the spacious cocoons of course) have much less gravity to deal with, so 4 or 5 moon flaps equals something like 40 or 50 Earth flaps.





But the fattest and laziest space butterflies of all are the ones that insist on using the moon rover left behind by Apollo 15 as their sole source of transportation!