Sisters... Sisters! Sharing Muffin Tin Meals With Sisters!

I've been going to my sister's house each week to babysit her 2- and 4-year-olds so she can do her student observation at the Elementary school for her early education degree (and so Unka Rop can get in a few weekdays of work, instead of staying home with them!) Little Z calls them her sisters. Apparently Auntie Kayeen and Grammelena are also her "sisters" despite my explanations of family relationships. I think it's because I'd say stuff like "Tually and Pilu are sisters" which didn't help define it, early on. I use the similar wording for dialogue about "friends" so I think Z thinks that "sisters" are friends within a family. Except that the next-door-neighbor girl and her little brother are also Z's "sisters." *shrug*
This week I decided to get a little fancier with their lunches. I got there early on Thursday, so my sister could do a half-day in the afternoon at the school, after she picked up Tually from preschool. So I got to do two lunches this visit!
3/10/11 - Since Little Z had already eaten on the drive up, I made fun lunches for my nieces.

Pilu's Lunch:

PBJ bunny, blueberries, baby carrot

I opted to use the bread heel for Pilu's sandwich. I found that if I put the spreads on the smooth side (outer side) that they don't notice that it's all really crust! But I forgot to make one shape a reverse of the other (by flipping the bread) so I didn't end up getting both pieces crust-side-in. Oh well. I gave her some blueberries that I had brought, and a baby carrot from their fridge.

She ate all the berries and most of the sandwich. I can't remember about the carrot. I added some cheese nibblets from Z's lunch after I took all the pictures.

Tually's Lunch:

Snappea Crisp, pretzel log, baby carrot, fruit medley, cheese stars, and butter sandwich bunny

She ate a few bites of sandwich and all the cheese stars. She tried a bite of the pretzel, but didn't like it, as it was whole wheat. I think she ate a little of the fruit and gave the rest to her sister. She also tried the Snappea Crisp, which she had refused to try when I brought them last time, but didn't like it either.

Muffin Tin Mayhem

3/11/11 - I decided to try a Muffin Tin Meal on them finally, since despite all my prodding subtle hints, my sister hasn't tried it yet. They all shared the tin, since my nieces together eat about as much as Z does all by herself usually. And my sister only has two tins, one of which had been used to make blueberry muffins for breakfast. I again used only cutters from my sister's stash, but I remembered to bring some plastic-lined bento paper cups (with dogs on them) just in case I decided to do an MTM this visit. They were much smaller than the muffin openings, since this tin had larger holes. So I just ended up using one for the dip.
I also brought the Snappea Crisps, TERRA sweet potato chips, and cheese puffs from home.

Snappea Crisps and sweet potato chips; Caesar dressing; berries and grapes; cheese puffs;
Baby carrots, broccoli, and snap peas; cheese shapes and nibblets; pretzel logs;
various sandwich shapes

I made a plain-jelly on bread "without any nuts on it" (ie: not wheat bread) bunny sandwich for Tually, and PBJs for Z and Pilu.  Since Pilu hasn't been eating as much sandwich lately, I gave her a small bee-shaped one, and gave Z the other bee, plus a bunny. For Tually and Pilu, I went through each option and served up anything they were interested in onto their plates. Little Z had a hard time understanding the concept of a community "beautiful lunch" and kept it by her plate and ate right out of the muffin pan.
The whole wheat pretzel logs, cheese nibblets, grapes and berries were all left over from Z's lunch the previous day, and I added some more berries from the extras I had brought.

Unka Rop had bought a four-pack of smiley-face cookies from a local bakery, since his job that day was nearby and he had to pick up something from the house, and brought Tually back from school for me. So naturally no one was interested in eating lunch, once they saw these! I told them they had to eat lunch first, and I determined the parameters for "lunch" based on what I know each girl would normally eat.
Pilu ate all the raspberries and some grapes, but no blueberries. She ate most of her sandwich and several pieces of cheese. Plus some broccoli, half a carrot and most of the "popcorn" (cheese puffs.)
Little Z ate the sweet potato chips, some cheese nibblets, snap peas (dipped liberally in Caesar dressing. I couldn't find any Ranch.) She also ate a few pretzels ad maybe some Snappea Crisps, after I dipped some in the dressing for myself. She refused to eat any sandwich.
Tually ate a baby carrot and a few bites of her sandwich (and several cheese shapes. These girls are shaped-cheese fiends! Well. Pilu is happy with cheese of any kind. Tually covets the shaped ones. Z's been more interested in string cheese nibblets lately.) She may have eaten a snap pea too. But it took several trips away from the table and back again while the other girls ate to get enough lunch into her to earn a ginormous frosted "not a broken one!" cookie. By then, the other two had already earned and eaten theirs. Plus a little more lunch after. Tually decided she was too full and saved her cookie for later.
I ate leftover and half-eaten sandwiches, some pretzels, Spappea Crisps, the blueberries, and whatever else these vultures left for me. Oh. And the fourth cookie in the package. The broken one, naturally.