Meal Plan: Week of October 5th

I loved sharing my kitchen with Marcia this past month.  It's been been awesome getting to eat all of our favorite dishes that she makes.  She is spending this week cooking and freezing some of them for future dinners (!!!).  I've especially loved making dishes for HER that we thought she might like (which she did!) :)

As I am resuming the responsibilities of all things domestic next week when she heads home, we are back to meal planning.  I'm also signing up for Blue Apron for the first time in awhile!  And how fun, they now offer wine pairings!  

Greg and LOL'd when we read that they will send a bottle "perfectly sized for 2".  It was a half bottle.  They were definitely not targeting Greg and I with that. ;)  But they still list the wine type and flavor profile they would pair with each dish, so we might pick up our own FULL-SIZED bottle to try.

Monday: Thai Shrimp Soup with Coconut, Lemongrass and Red Curry.


Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Merguez Lamb Sausages with French Lentils & Mint-Yogurt Sauce

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Seared Salmon & Creamy Farro with Brussels Sprouts, Apple & Hazelnuts

Friday: Seared Chicken & Caramelized Fennel with Crème Fraîche & Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Saturday: Our 8th anniversary! We are heading out to one of our favorite restaurants, Staple and Fancy.  Gluttony awaits us.

Sunday:  Turkey Sausage, Kale and White Bean Soup.

Week in photos

A few things we have been cooking this week:

Butter chicken:

Chicken Pot Pie:

 

Quality time with Grandma Marcia.  (It's so funny to hear him refer to his grandmas as "Grandma Marcia" and "Grandma Nancy" now)!

 

  

Ben at school - "Superhero Yoga":

Last week at the Y, Ben received a "high five" for being a good sharer!  Loved to see that!!

Temporary tattoo!

Birthday art on the driveway!

Stacking his new blocks:

We all failed to look directly at the camera here, but birthday cake for Benny!

Ben's first day of soccer!  He loved it!

Out to dinner at Manolin with Lisa and Evan.  So much fun! Get the Mole.

Evan and Greg rejoicing over the availability of a random, Midwest beer.

Fun times at school:

Peter and Rachel threw a Gourmet Hot Dog Gala, and it was amazing.  We played Beanboozled, which was fun and very disgusting!

The chef:

The food:

Maureen sent me this photo she snapped at Ben's birthday.  My sweet little 4 year old, waiting for cake I think.  He was so freaking happy that day.

My Baby is Four

 

Dear Ben,

After days weeks of asking me a minimum of 25 times each day, "Mom, am I four?", I'm happy to finally tell you that YES: YOU ARE FOUR!!!  (We actually told you on the 19th that you were four because OMGSTOPASKINGUSJEEZE".

I remain more in love with you than I ever thought was possible.  The day you were born and every day since then have been the best of our lives.

I love how much you LOVE to be tickled.  I love that you giggle in your sleep.  I love watching you play pretend with your matchbox cars, using high-pitched voices for them when you have them "talk" to one another.  It's seriously the cutest.thing.i.have.ever.seen.  I loved that time when you woke up out of a dead sleep and shouted "CANDY" before falling back asleep.  I love how you referred to the stairs at my parents' house as "a bumpy ramp".  I love how you still want me to give your owies a kiss and how that instantly fixes almost everything.  I don't love how you only want to eat treats and snacks and would prefer to never eat a real meal, but I will give you a pass until you are 5 and then I will force feed you sushi and Crème fraîche.  I love how when I take you to Menchies, you will watch carefully as I put the ice-cream and candy in your cup and always stop me by saying "that's good".  It's always a modest amount and I'm always so impressed by that.  I love how much you love your friends.  You LOVE them.  You refer to kids whose names you don't know or can't remember as "friends".  I hope that you keep that outlook on people forever.

Here is a list of your favorites (as you tell me today):


Show: Paw Patrol
Toy: White Car
Game: Computer
Pair of Jammies: Blue and White Striped Jammies
Teacher: Miss Vanessa...I like hugs from her
Movie: Minion movie
Number: 4
Letter: D
Color: Red...and white and yellow
Place to go: The park!

It's mind-blowing that you are 4 years old, but as parents often say, it is hard to remember a time before you were with us.

Love, 

Mom (and Dad)

Ben's Birthday at the Park

We celebrated our (almost) 4 year old with a birthday party at our favorite park: Miner's Corner Park, right down the road from us.  For the entire week leading up to it, we expected it to rain the entire day - but we lucked out, kind of.  No rain at ALL, but huge gusts of wind that I could have done without :)

In a complete change from last year, this year I was able to ask Ben what he wanted for his birthday party!  His response was: Friends, the park and CAKE.  Chocolate.  He also let me know what colors he wanted for the balloons and who he wanted there.  It turned out perfectly.  Exactly what he wanted!

And after a day of eating ONLY candy, cake and Doritos, Ben passed out hard at 5:45.  Success.