3 Things

Hi all! I’m going to be starting a new series here called “3 Things” where I’ll share the latest and greatest things (or people or places!) that are making me smile. First installment:

1. Bento boxes! My boys are 5, 3 and 1, and I’ve been trying to think of ways to make mealtime more fun and interesting (and also figure out how to get them to eat more vegetables—like every mom on the planet, right?). Well, my latest solution is bento boxes! I ordered three cute bento boxes (a frog, a duck and a panda) and a bunch of cute bento accessories (vegetable presses to make carrots look fun; seaweed presses to make animal shapes to put on rice; and rice presses to make triangles, flowers and heart-shaped rice balls). My kids are loving this. Every day they get excited about what’s in their bento boxes and are less likely to complain when I throw a veggie inside. I also am crazy about these cute little critter-shaped fork-picks that make veggies and fruit more fun to eat.

2. Mason jars. I’m on a mason jar kick these days. I bought a pack years ago when I decided I wanted to get into canning. But I never did. Instead, I use mason jars for all other sorts of things—vases for flowers, food storage, and my favorite new thing: mason jars as portable water glasses (my dad got me started on this). So much healthier than plastic water bottles and they’re so easy to clean!

3. My new garden. I’m discovering all these great things in the garden at our new house, like this amazing flower (not sure what it’s called!). I can’t wait to harvest the figs from our fig tree, and the plum tree is loaded with little green Italian plums that should be ripe in a month or so. Also, Jason and the boys planted pumpkins, eggplant and lemon cucumbers for me!