Lunches February 20th - 24th

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. Each night, Boogs reads one book to me and I read two books to him. I usually post his lunches once a week. Click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post to see lunches from previous weeks.

The Luck of the Loch Ness Monster, A Tale of Picky Eating by A.W. Flaherty
Boogs is facinated by tales of monsters and was excited to read about the Loch Ness Monster. This book tells the story of a little girl who hated eating oatmeal, the national breakfast food of Scotland. She threw her oatmeal out the ship's porthole and a small worm ate it. The worm followed the ship, continued to eat her discarded oatmeal, and grew to be the Loch Ness Monster. It was a cute story, but I was hoping it would not give Boogs any ideas about being a picky eater. In the lunchbox: almond butter & jelly ship, cheese waves, Pirate's Booty clouds, blueberry ocean, cucumber Nessie on a bed of spinach & carrots, applesauce "bowl of oatmeal", and yogurt.

The Magic Hat by Mem Fox
A magic hat blows into town and changes several adults into fun-loving animals. Boogs loved reading the repeated phrase "Oh, the magic hat, the magic hat. It moved like this. It moved like that." It was fun to guess what animal each person would change into after the hat landed on their head. In the lunchbox: ham magic hat, cheese H-A-T, cheese frog, cheese giraffe, cheese bear, asiago cheese bread slice, carrots, grapes, & dried apricots. 

Animals That Live in the Tundra: Snowy Owls by Ramon Patrick
Boogs brought this book home from his school library and asked me to "make another fact lunch". In the lunchbox: pb&j female Snowy Owl (only the male owls have all white feathers) eating a small cheese animal for its lunch (owls eat lemmings, mice, rabbits, and other small animals), Babybel moon & orange sun (Snowy Owls hunt both night & day), kiwi "eggs" ( mother owls make nests on the ground and lay 3 to 11 eggs at a time), and a green salad for the times the Snowy Owl heads south to hunt.

Like Butter on Pancakes by Jonathan London
You can tell that Jonathan London is a poet. The words and phrases that he chooses provoke beautiful imagery. It is the story of a boy and how he spends his day. He wakes when "first light melts like butter on pancakes, spreads warm and yellow across your pillow." At night, the "spoons sleep nestled in the kitchen drawers." Boogs favorite phrase was "a cloud drifts by dragging a shadow." The boy in the story plays outside all day long and comes in when his Mama rings the dinner bell. This reminded me of growing up, I had to go home when the street lights came on.  In the lunchbox: Johnny cake (cornmeal pancake) with grape eyes & strawberry mouth, bacon, grapes, dried apricot, veggie pancake, and yogurt. We love veggie pancakes and have used this recipe for years.

Bella and Stella Come Home by Anika Denise
Bella and her lovey Stella have to say goodbye to her old house and move into a new house. Bella is upset by the strangeness of the new house. Her old house had 3 steps to the door and the new house has 10 steps. The new house does not feel like home. It is bare, the colors on the wall don't feel right, and it is kind of spooky. Bella eventually begins to feel comfortable in the new house and even makes a new friend in the neighborhood. We moved twice last year, from old house to apartment then apartment to new house, and it was tough for Boogs. We have been in our new house since July and Boogs is finally comfortable here. After reading this book, we discussed the old house, the move, the new house and his feelings about it. He told me that he no longer remembers living in the old house, but he does miss the pool at the apartment complex. In the lunchbox: almond butter & Nutella new house, Stella the elephant cheese, ten ham "steps", raisins, carrots with ranch dressing, and strawberry Greek yogurt.

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