Recent Photos (and video)

The three of us took a trip to the zoo.  We wanted to get one final visit in before our annual membership expired at the end of March.  We will not be renewing again, at least until he is older and more interested in going.  Just as he was the last time we went (along with his reaction to the aquarium), Ben doesn't seem to be that interested in this type of activity.  I had high hopes (especially since we make lots of animal sounds these days).  Maybe in a few years things will change :)

After the zoo and a big lunch of fish and chips, Ben was more than ready for nap time.

We had a beautiful weekend (sunny, but still pretty cold), so we took a long walk and ended at Starbucks for, what else - a cake pop!

My car was in need of a fill up and washing, so we decided to attempt the car wash again (probably the first time going through one in a year).  The last time, Ben was terrified....

This time, I explained to him what we would be doing prior to going.  He continued to say "wash mama's car" all morning, but once again freaked out completely as we went through.  Whoops.

Our little buddy Myles turned 2 on 3/24!  The evening before the party, Becca let all of the moms know that Myles had come down with a cold, that the party was still on, but beware of germs.  On the group text, literally EVERY other mom replied saying that their kid was sick also, so they could all be sick together!  Since I'm still suffering from PTSD from the last illness, I opted to leave Ben at home with Greg and hit the party solo.  But they were nice and let me sneak a cupcake home for him :)

Bronson and Ben having a jump-a-thon!  

Enjoying a relaxing afternoon at home :)

Ridin' dirty at Fred Meyer.

Helping dad care for the lawn.

Getting up close and personal with Thomas.

Playing with another toy from my childhood.  Every few months, my mom seems to find another old school gem :)

On another rainy morning, we went to Bell Square mall so that Ben could walk around and play at the kids area.  This time, he seemed to be waiting for (and creating) opportunities to use his new favorite word - STOP!  It was cute the first few times (Go Ben!  Way to use your words instead of shoving the other kids around!) but it quickly became comical, and then became clear that we needed to put some parameters around when STOP is appropriate :)

On Saturday night, we had the pleasure of watching baby Raleigh for a few hours so that Rachel and Peter could attend an engagement party for their friends!  Raleigh was such a doll.  Greg was his usual baby-whisperer self and managed to soothe him through a few of his fussier moments.  And Raleigh ended the evening by falling asleep in my arms.  

Meal Planning: Week of March 31

Review from last week:

I had Shauna and Bronson over on Friday night for tomato soup and grilled cheese.  The kids were too busy jumping and being cute together to bother eating much, but the adults all liked it.  I need to remember to make a double batch of this soup because one batch is simply never enough.

The Salad Tacos were great.  Ben had his nacho-style, Greg had it in a soft tortilla, and had mine as a taco salad.  

The roasted tomato linguine was just okay.  I think my pasta to tomato ratio was off, and the whole thing just seemed to be dry.  It could have benefited from some meat or a rich sauce or something.

And once more, the Blue Apron meals were wonderful.  I have found both with last week and this week that the "2 servings" each meal is supposed to make really ends up being closer to 3 or 4.  Ben and I typically share a serving, and if it's something he isn't really into, his half ends up being my lunch the next day.  It is making it a lot easier to justify the cost, especially when our last grocery trip was significantly less pricey.  

This was great - cod with an amazing remoulade sauce.  (I had never heard the word "remoulade" before this week).  The only change I would have made to this would have been to just saute the cod instead of putting a batter on it and attempting to fry it in the pan.  The sauce was the best part of the recipe anyway.

The turkey sliders were great, too.  Greg has not been a fan of ground turkey ever since a certain "food-poisoning" incident several years back that he still has not recovered from...but he also has always felt like turkey lacks flavor.  This time, however, the recipe made them very tasty, I was happy to find a way to prepare turkey that Greg and Ben liked. 

Plan for next week:

Friday: Since we went out to La Palmera tonight, tomorrow will have our last Blue Apron meal from last week - pork tenderloin.

Saturday: Night in with Ben and Baby Raleigh!  Keeping dinner simple and making chicken tenders with sweet chili sauce and rice, with Brussels sprouts.

Sunday: Layered Beef Chili

Monday: Leftover Chili

Tuesday: Blue Apron Meal: Tilapia Veracruzana with Yellow Rice

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Zucchini and Ricotta

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Roasted Chicken with Jalapeno-Herb Salsa, Mixed Citrus & Cracked Wheat Berries

Sand Table

Due to Ben's recent obsession with digging, we bought him a new sand and water table to keep on the deck.  With a short break from the rain yesterday, we finally got a chance to play with it. 

I (and others) have noticed how much this kid does not like to get his hands dirty.  If one of my hairs ever gets intertwined between his fingers, he immediately stops everything and works hard to remove it.  Callie has reported that he was quite hesitant when playing with shaving cream on their table.  And if he ever falls down outside and gets dirt or bark on himself, he wants it off right away.  So funny!  He was the same with the sand - he really only wanted to touch it with the shovel.

Trucks need naps, too

For some reason, my excellent napper didn't want much to do with nap time yesterday.  We had a Direct TV guy over doing an install, so it could have been all of the "excitement" with new wires, remotes, a ladder on the deck and a big van in the driveway....but either way, he struggled to go down.

At one point, he requested I bring a truck ("twuck") in.  I brought his (silent) dump truck, but he freaked out until I brought what I knew he really wanted, his Garbage Truck (with lights and sounds).

It took awhlie, but eventually he and the trucks laid down and took a legit nap.  

Meal Planning: Week of March 24th

Review from last week:

This roasted red pepper/prosciutto stuffed chicken is one of my favorite recipes lately.  I had it (with brussels sprouts) the next day for lunch also and it was great as a leftover.  I'm already craving it again, so it's going on the menu for this week again.

Our pizza party was a blast.  Toooooo much wine was consumed.  Easy to do when you are having fun and have nowhere to drive ;)

  

I also made corned beef, cabbage and potatoes paired with Irish soda bread that Becca and Jess brought over, (plus black and tans made by Greg), but I failed to take a picture!  It almost feels like it never happened! ;)

But I did get this adorable picture of Myles and Ben going for a wagon ride!

Having our blue apron meals this week was a dream.  I'm going to continue this next week.  The great thing is that it is easy to cancel (provided you give 6 days notice) so there is no pressure if you change your mind.

On Tuesday around noon, my Blue Apron box showed up on my front porch.  It had ice packs to keep everything cool, was neatly organized with labels on all of my ingredients, and included laminated 8x10 recipe cards with clear, step by step instructions (with pictures and everything)!  

From our box we made:

1.  Cabbage rolls stuffed with beef, rice and tomato sauce.  Greg's feedback was that it needed more of a "kick" (and he probably could have done without the cabbage part), but I loved it.  



2.  Blood Orange Roasted Salmon with a salad consisting of cucumber, chickpea, red onion, fresh dill and goat cheese - tossed in EVOO, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Freaking DELICIOUS and possibly one of my favorite meals I've had in a long time.  This meal alone convinced me to try this service for at least another week.  Greg has never been a big fan of salmon, but apparently prepared the right way he is very into it! 

3. Two-Cheese Chicken Quesadilla with chive sour cream and spinach and apple salad.  This was another great one.  Chives + sour cream (and a squeeze of lime juice) is the bomb.



Friday:  Shauna and Bronson are coming over to hang after work - so I thought tomato basil soup and grilled cheese would be an easy, kid-friendly dinner (plus I never made it last week as planned).

Saturday:  I'll be teaching yoga Saturday afternoon, so I think I'll ask Greg to make Salad Tacos for us to have when I get home.

Sunday:  Roasted Tomato Linguine (from Kitchen Revelry).  

Monday: Roasted Red Pepper with Prosciutto stuffed chicken breast and roasted veggies.

Tuesday: Blue Apron Meal: Turkey Burger Sliders and Arugula Salad.

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Pan-Seared Cod and Roasted Red Potatoes.

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Fennel-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

Pizza party!

Another fun pizza party with 'zaw artisan pizza!  Different chef, different pizzas, different wines to try - but same, great experience.

It was so fun to visit with Jamie and Collin, who just got back from their Honeymoon in Belize, and hear all about their travels.  We took lots of selfies, enjoyed a dance party in the kitchen (led by Laryd, Ben and Greg), and consumed more wine than 6 people needed to.  A great night!

Getting Chatty

"I dig, mama - this is dirt".

It has been awhile since I have posted an update on our progress with Ben's speech!

It is pretty amazing the amount of progress he has made since we started this process about 9 months ago.  I know that a lot of his development has been simply with age, but I also know that a lot of it has been due to the strategies and new ways to communicate we have learned.

We are continuing to work with a speech therapist 3-4 times a month, which we plan to do until he is 3 years old (which is when the program we are doing ends).  When we started with her, Ben was really only using about 15 single words to communicate with us.  Today, I cannot even count the number of words I hear from him in a day, and combine that with him starting to add several words together, well, he is starting to become his own little person :)

Some of the things we are hearing lately:

"Honey!!" - which he will call out to me in the mornings when he is ready to get up.

"Cake pop", which he learned from Maylee when Callie takes them through the Starbucks drive thru.  (Thanks a lot, Callie - it's now all I hear each time I am grabbing coffee with him, haha)!  One night, he even was talking in his crib before bed saying, "I want a cake pop".  Love it.

"Park, swing, dada, take" - each time we drive by one of the various parks Greg takes him to.

"It's funny" and " I'm happy" when describing his moods.  Every time my mom comes over, he will say "Grandma, happy!".  Adorable!

"Binkie, crib, nap" before nap time.

"I'm hungry", "Want a sip", "Snack, cup", "eat".

"Tickle dada - mama help!"

"I love you", which sounds more like "I you", and sometimes "Au jus", but is still the sweetest sound I've ever heard in my life.

When requesting an activity, it's always "I jump", or "I dump", or "I want to run", or: kick, kiss, hug, paper, dance, paint, outside, dig, blocks, brush (teeth), etc.

We also get a lot of narrative about what we are doing and seeing: "Drive up or drive down" when driving or walking up/down a hill or our driveway, "kitty", "doggy", and "I'm helping"!

"Please" and "thank you", which I'm very happy to have in the regular rotation of words!  And when he says them, I tell him that he is "so nice", which he will repeat after me in the funniest accent that sounds exactly like Borat.  "SO NICCCCCCCCCCCCCCE"!

"This is you!" when he sees any picture of himself.  Followed by "this is Ben", and finally "it's me"!

Ben also has started singing and humming, which is new and adorable.  I've also noticed him remembering and reciting parts of books both when reading them and even after the fact.

And this is just a sampling of what we are hearing lately.  It's so much fun to be able to get through an entire day with hardly any frustration on his part for not being able to get his point across.  Even when he doesn't get his way, it is a LOT easier to explain why and what we will be doing instead.

And while I do believe he is still a little behind where some of his peers are in terms of the number of words he says and how clearly he speaks, WE speak Ben fluently - and it's only going to be a matter of time before he catches up. :)

Meal Planning: Week of March 17th

Review from last week:

It definitely felt good to eat again.  I swear, I thought I would never been able to look at food the same again.  Yes, I'm being dramatic, but it kind of was a traumatic experience ;)

At Greg's request, we made a batch of Santa Fe Chicken over the weekend.  It wasn't part of our plan, but he was craving it.  I stuck to Ramen.

The butter basted Halibut was really good.  (Isn't everything with capers good, though)?

Stir-fry with sweet chili sauce:



Chicken Parmesan - this was a funny night. Ben ate sooooo much of the pasta we cooked up for him to go with the chicken.  I think he had thirds.



This week we are trying something different!  My friend Denali recently blogged about her experience trying Blue Apron.  It's a food delivery system that will deliver a box to your doorstep weekly containing 3 recipes and ALL of the fresh ingredients to make those 3 meals.  Denali had a few links to send people a free 1 week trial, and I'm so excited she sent one to me :)

While I have been loving my meal planning each week, I sometimes do not enjoy the grocery shopping aspect of it - particularly buying an ingredient (like a whole bunch of parsley), when all your recipe calls for is 1 tablespoon.  I also tend to do my grocery shopping at the end of the week, on a Thursday or Friday, but we still find ourselves needing to swing by the store a second time by Monday or Tuesday for something we missed or a missing ingredient for a meal I plan to make.

So, I'm going to see how I like this system and decide if it will save us $ or if it will actually cost us more.  My thought is that I can meal plan for Saturday, Sunday and Monday, have food delivered to cook dinners on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then either have left overs or go out to eat on Friday.  This way, I can save my grocery shopping for the weekend and eliminate one more thing I have to do on a week day.

Also, you check out the Blue Apron Cookbook for a bunch of recipe ideas and easy, step by step instructions on how to prepare them.

Saturday:  On Saturday, we are have some friends over for another 'zaw pizza party!  We had so much fun at the last one that I had been watching for another deal to come out to do it all over again. I am planning on making a few appetizers though to serve before dinner, but I think they will be simple veggies and dips (to save room for the carb-fest later on)

Sunday: I'm teaching yoga Sunday night, so we will keep it simple for dinner.  Our favorite soup and grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade bread.

Monday: Saint Patrick's Day!  We have been going over to the Christensen's for this holiday for the past few years, but this time I'm going to try making Corned Beef and Cabbage myself!

Tuesday: Blue Apron Meal: Blood Orange Roasted Salmon

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Two Cheese Chicken Quesadilla with Chive Sour Cream and Spinach and Apple Salad

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Rice, Beef and Tomato Sauce