Week in Photos

I got a text from Artie out of the blue requesting a coffee date so I could meet his now 6 MONTH OLD, Jude!  I was so so happy that this worked out because Artie is one of the best people I know who I so rarely get to see.  Jude melted my heart - he is the happiest little guy around, which I'm sure has to do with how awesome his parents are and how excited they are to have him :)

 

A little swing action at Richmond Beach Saltwater Park.  We went with the grand idea of me running the stairs "a few" times while Ben and Greg hit the beach to throw rocks.  But "a few" runs up the stairs was actually more like a 3/4 run up and my struggling to even WALK the remaining stairs to the top.  Jeeze.  And the bridge to the beach was under construction.  At least we had the playground and this beautiful view :)

 

 

Ben spotted the tropical umbrellas I had tucked away in the back of my coffee drawer, and proceeded to deliver one to my cup of coffee one morning.

 

 

A visit with Grandpa, who let Ben type letters on the computer and eat M&M's!

 

 

The Christensens came over for dinner.  After dinner and some intense playing outside, they took a rest on the truck.  Ben was in heaven.

 

 

More pictures from school!  He now comes home happy every day and tells us that he likes his friends at school. :) 

 

We attended the retirement party for one of my coworkers this past weekend and had SO much fun!  As soon as we got to Rhea's house, his 8 year old daughter Kyra snagged Ben away from us and we rarely saw him the rest of the evening.  She was so great about coming back upstairs regularly to check in, but then away they went.  She even took him potty!  LOL.  Adorable.  I might have to borrow her more often.  (Also, check out that view). 

Taking selfies.

We have recently created a reward system for Ben.  Whenever he is extra helpful or awesome (helping me collect the garbage around the house, picking up his toys the first time I ask, putting his dishes in the sink, etc.) he gets to earn a quarter to put in his "truck fund".  Over the weekend, he helped Greg clean up the wood chip disaster that Greg had left after chopping wood. 

Mondays are one of my work from home days, and I'll be honest, it's starting to become a struggle entertaining Ben while responding to work requests.  I've recently been given quite a few more responsibilities, some of which require me during work hours (vs my old set up where I could kind of manage my time more freely).  I've had to get creative on Mondays, which is the only day I don't have something else lined up for him to do.  This week, we made huge messes and that seemed to help a lot :)

Meal Planning: Week of March 30

Review from last week:

The enchiladas came out more like a casserole, but the flavor was good.  I've become a big fan of adding poblano pepper to any Mexican dishes we are making.

Pork carnitas made in the crockpot.  This one called to be cooked in a mix of lime juice, orange juice and salsa - I think I might try it with chicken next.

 

A light "meal" of Sauvignon Blanc and butter lettuce salad.

 

 

In a desperate attempt to hold off on grocery shopping until our Blue Apron delivery came, I threw together some pasta with roasted cherry tomatoes, garlic, arugula and topped with parmesean cheese.  YUM!

 

 

We wrapped up the week with 3 delicious Blue Apron dinners:

 

One of our favorite things about Blue Apron has been their amazing fish recipes!  I had no idea there were so many different ways to prepare fish, particularly salmon.  This one consisted of tossing fennel, red onion and green olives in EVOO and salt and pepper, laying it all down on a sheet pan, and then putting the salmon (seasoned with salt and pepper) on top of it and roasting it in the oven (about 18 minutes at 450).  The salmon came out PERFECTLY done.  I am definitely going to try this method again.

 

 

As you probably could guess, the pretzel pub burger (with hoppy cheddar sauce) was Greg's favorite this week.  I'm a little concerned that I now know a recipe for pub cheese... :/ #pubcheeseoneverything 

Thai chicken noodle soup.  Delicious.  Greg and I agreed this would be the perfect soup to eat when you are sick.  It definitely cleared out our sinuses!

 

Plan for next week:

 

Saturday:  We are attending the retirement party for one of my coworkers, so no cooking!

 

Sunday: Steak and salad.

 

Monday: Paleo Nachos

 

Tuesday: Out to eat - Indian Food.  (We should never buy Groupons - I feel like we are always having to scramble to use them before they expire)!

 

Wednesday: Crockpot Tomato Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

 

Thursday: Japanese Pancakes

 

Friday: Leftovers or grilled tandoori chicken.

 

3.5 year old chatter

Last night at 9:45 PM:

"Mommy, are you getting cozy?  I like to get cozy with you.  I like to get cozy with dada.  Can we watch Cars?  Please?  Can we watch the red car?  Can we watch the tow truck?  What is Mac doing?  Is he driving?  Mama, LOOK - he is driving with the red car!  Can I have a snack?  I want crackers.  Rocket ship crackers.  And juice.  Can I have juice?  DADA, will you get me juice please!?  OH YOU GOT ME JUICE.  I'm going to drink it.  Mmmmmmmmmmm it's SO GOOD.  Mom, do you have your water?  CHEERS!!! (Coughs).  I coughed!  I have a yucky cough. Coughs are so yuck.  DADA, where are you goin'?  Are you going potty?  Are you going potty like a big boy?  Mama, can you tickle me?  Whose tummy is this?  IT'S BEN'S TUMMY!  Can you do that please? (Laughter).  Mama, are you sleeping?  Are your eyes closed?  Mama, you don't want your eyes closed.  You want to be awake!  Can we read the hippopotamus book?  But not the hippopotamus!  But YES the hippopotamus!  They are drinking juice!  (Now singing): This is the way we wash our face, wash our face, wash our face, this is the way we wash our face, so early in the morning.  This is the way we go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, this is the way we go to sleep so early in the morning. No, we don't want to go to sleep.  I'm AWAKE! (No shit). Mama, should we whisper?  Can you tell me a secret?  DADDY, Mama is SLEEPING, let's BE QUIET and WHISPER.  (Not whispering). Mama, I want to see Grandma.  Is Grandma coming tomorrow? (Yes).  Is Grandma coming tomorrow?  (Yes).  She is coming?  She is going to drive her red car up the driveway?  (Yes). OH GOOD, I love Grandma.  Are we going to make cookies? Can I make cookies with Grandma?  I love you Mama.  Can we go to Benny's bed?  And read books?  And look at the stars? (We go to his room).  I have to go potty!!! (I take him). I went a LOT.  That was a LOT of pee."

2 realizations:

1) There was a time when this type of chatter was only a dream.  I knew I would look back one day and think, "Man, that silence was so nice"!  That time is now.

2) I think we might need to start cutting his afternoon nap a little bit shorter.

Meal Planning: Week of March 23rd

Review from last week:

The beer can chicken came out so great that we MIGHT make this for Easter dinner!  It's either this, or Julia Child's Roast Chicken, which seems quite a bit more complicated than my putting Greg on BBQ duty.  TBD.

This salad that we made almost weekly last summer is one of our absolute favorites.  The Spring weather we were having got us in the mood for this one again.  And it's so pretty, too.

 

The Tom Yum Shrimp and Fresh Rice Noodles had a great flavor, but the consistency of the noodles was a little too worm like for our liking.  I think with a different type of noodle this one would have been amazing.

The turkey chili recipe from Blue Apron called came with 1 jalapino.  It said to use as much as you want, depending how spicy you want it.  I decided to use the whole thing, assuming that since I had removed the seeds it wouldn't be THAT bad.  The result - Greg and I taking one bite, then racing around the kitchen to try to find something, ANYTHING to reduce the fire happening in our mouths.  Oops.  (Sour cream and beer helped in the end).

 

The corned beef seasoned flank steak with cabbage and potatoes was our favorite from the week.

 

Plan for next week:

Saturday: The Christensens are coming over for dinner.  I'm planning to make Poblano Chicken Enchiladas and fresh guacamole.

Sunday: Slow Roasted Pork Carnitas

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Canned soup and salad (working through our pantry)!

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Short Rib Burgers on Pretzel Buns with Hoppy Cheddar Sauce and Roasted Sweet Potato Rounds.

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Spicy Thai Chicken Noodle Soup with Red Curry and Mushrooms.

Friday: Blue Apron Meal: Roasted Salmon, Fennel & Castelventrano Olives with Cara Cara Orange, Farro and Salsa Verde.

 

Week in Photos

A couple random cute things I wrote down that he has said over the past few weeks:

After going through the carwash we got to pick out an air freshener.  I chose Coconut, to which Ben yelled "COOKIE-NUT", followed by "I WANT COOKIES"!!

From the back seat, every time we have driven somewhere the past few days, "Mommy, you are a nice driver"!

Wearing Greg's hat. 

Enjoying a lovely evening at Callie's house making "Mores" (as Ben calls them).  Randomly, I asked Ben last week who his best friend was and he responded without a beat, "Callie". 



Often times after school, Ben will come home SO dirty  that it requires an early bath (which is awesome - dirt definitely indicates a good day)!  He has been obsessed with wearing his bear robe my parents got him for Christmas.  We snuggled and watched a little Cars before his nap.

Greg got a golf net for the backyard, so on the nice evenings, the boys have been going outside to dig and hit balls.  :)





Last Friday was had an awesome evening babysitting Raleigh while Rachel and Peter went out for an evening!  They bought us beer and Indian Food while I got to remember what having a 1 year old was like (snuggles, bottles, and early bedtimes) - so I'm not sure who got the better end of this deal!

Funny side note: When they got home, Rachel and I talked and hung out while Greg, Peter and Ben played some Grand Theft Auto.  Every day since, Ben has been telling me that he "wants to drive the black car", which I had assumed he meant MY car, until he elaborated and said "I want to drive and crash the black car, with Peter, at Baby Raleigh's" and then I understood what he meant.







Some fun at the park:



And finally, a school update! I am happy to report that just as everyone predicted, school is getting SO much better!  He still will tell me he doesn't want to go to school, but I'm almost positive it is only because he would probably still PREFER to be at home.  When he is there, he is napping, playing with other kids, getting outside, and getting a routine in his life :)  He comes home singing all kinds of songs and talking about random things and when I ask, he tells me he learned it at school.  I love it.

Today when I picked him up he and a little boy were chasing each other around the room.  When I dropped him off this morning, a little girl yells out "YAY! Ben's here"!!  And then I died.

As I was walking out the door to my car this morning, a little girl coming in with her mom goes "That's Ben's mom".  So, that was cute.

I can't explain how relieved I am.

Here are some of the pictures we have received from his time at school:

 

 

Meal Planning: Week of March 16th

Review from last week:

Due to an early an unexpected arrival of Callie's brand new nephew on Saturday, we rearranged our dinner plans that evening and headed over to the Christensen's instead!  They made beer chicken on the BBQ, which was so totally delicious!  I'm making Greg make it this weekend :)

 

 

Meatballs in Chianti Sauce! 

 

Slow Cooker Chicken and Biscuits.  This one was just okay - I think I prefer my chicken pot pie recipe to this.



Ben also wasn't on board:



The rest of the week was leftovers and another batch of Kalua Pork. 

Plan for next week:

Saturday:  Out to dinner with friends

Sunday: Beer can chicken (on the BBQ), mashed sweet potatoes and sautéed snap peas.

Monday: BLT Salad with Corn, Feta and Avocado with grilled chicken

Tuesday: Creamy tomato basil soup and grilled cheese sandwiches

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Tom Yum Shrimp & Fresh Rice Noodles with Gai Lan & Thai Basil

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Turkey Chili with Avocado & Cheddar Cheese

Friday: Blue Apron Meal: Corned Beef-Spiced Flank Steaks with Braised Cabbage & Buttered Red Potatoes