The other day John was talking about the possibility of joining us for lunch on a regular basis. “We’ll save grocery money,” he said. “Because we won’t have to buy two sets of lunch stuff, one for my office and one for home. You’ll just have to make a little more of what you are already making.”

Hmm, I sat for a few moments quietly. Something tells me this won’t be as easy as it sounds. I realize that John has no idea of what happens here at lunch when he isn’t here. “We are usually eating leftovers or cheese and fruit,” I say. “Oh.” is his only reply. John doesn’t like leftovers, unless it was exceptionally good the first time around.

But we don’t eat leftovers all the time. Sometimes lunch is very creative, but by creative I mean in an artistic way. If I don’t have leftovers begging me to use and not waste them, then lunchtime is my time to give the kids something that they will eat, that doesn’t require a whole lot of work from me. And it helps if it is really fun.

For example, sometimes we do mural lunches. I cut up whatever fresh fruit and veggies I have on hand. Then I dice some cheese quite small (I’ve found that I can stretch 2 slices of cheese between all three kids by cutting it into little tiny cubes). Then I create a mural design with the items and all the kids dig in. Today we took this a step further. I left all the food on the cutting board, gave each kid a plate and instructed them to create something and then eat it. Since we had missed craft-time today to go to the grocery store, this was a way to combine creative time with lunchtime. Elise designed a very cute owl. Will made creations with mostly apples and tomatoes. And Seth wouldn’t stop eating long enough to make anything. So I made him a monster.