Meal Planning: September 30th - October 6th

Review from last week:

Ricotta meatballs!  

Grilled chicken kale salad and an amazing bottle of wine to celebrate being parents for 6 years!!!

Greg and I went out to The Bine, a new spot in downtown Bothell, and had a burger and a beer!

An amazing vegetarian meal from Blue Apron (that I cooked up for me and a girlfriend when Greg was out with friends): spiced freekah, roasted carrots & garbanzo beans, with cherry tomatoes!  So delicious.





 

 

Plan for next week:

Saturday: Grilled Burgers

Sunday: Zucchini Spaghetti Puttanesca

Monday: Texas Braised Brisket street tacos with avocado lime crema

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Soup and Salad

Thursday: Sesame Chicken with Bok Choy over Rice

Friday: TBD

Meal Planning: September 23rd - 29th

Review from last week:

Made a tuna salad for myself one night.  Documenting here so I can remember how delicious it was.

Failed to take a picture of one of our Blue Apron dinners (chicken tacos), but here was the other one: Beef Lo Mein.  Spicy and delicious.

The other Blue Apron meal I'll cook up on Friday night!

Plan for next week:

Saturday: Ben will be at a birthday party having dinner while we are running around preparing for Ben's birthday party!  So dinner will be whatever is easiest :)

Sunday: Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw

Monday: Ricotta Meatballs in Chianti Sauce

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Staff dinner for me...so probably mac and cheese for the boys

Thursday: Tuna Salad

Friday: Out for pizza and a movie!

Ben's First Husky Game

WOW what a fun (and busy) day we had last Saturday.  After staying up late with friends on Friday night, we all got up bright and early to work out, hit Ben's soccer game (which they dominated btw - 13-1), and then surprised Ben with his first Husky football game!  

The day before we had been offered free tickets from someone who couldn't make it last minute.  We were so excited to take Ben, as he is so into football, Laryd, and the weather was going to be amazing.  Total score.

We spent the entire afternoon tailgating before the 6:30 kick off:

Greg, as a Michigan fan, was so stoked to see Ben all decked out in purple :)

 

The seats we were given were amazing.  Row 19, right on the 40 yard line:

Greg was so excited watching Ben get into the game :)

After the first quarter, we joined Dan, Jeannette and Laryd at their seats by the tunnel:

The boys got to high-five all of the players at halftime!

We were all exhausted (mostly me, although Ben crashed hard on the drive home) and we left towards the end of the third quarter.  (The Husky's were killing Fresno State and had put their second string in by then).  SUCH a fun day!

Meal Planning: September 16th - 22nd

Review from last week:

Greg and I are both big fans of this dish.  Had it 2 nights this week.

Not pictured, but on Wednesday night we ordered take out Chinese and had that for a few days (for lunch and dinner)!  We both hadn't ordered Chinese food for so long that we ended up ordering way too much!  (Not complaining).

These aren't dinners, but I made a few batches of these crispy spiced chickpeas to have as snacks and with lunch and they are SO good!  II call this series: Chickpeas with Other Stuff over Greens for Lunch

- with Tuna

- With Lentils

 

Plan for next week:

Saturday: Husky Tailgate and Game!

Sunday: Indian food and an early birthday celebration for Ben with my parents :)

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Blue Apron Meal: Ancho Chile Chicken Tacos with Blistered Shishito Peppers & Cabbage Slaw

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Sesame Beef Lo Mein with Bok Choy & Shishito Peppers


Thursday: Tomato Soup and Salad

Friday:  Blue Apron Meal: Spiced Freekeh & Chickpea Bowls with Glazed Carrots & Lebneh

Kindergarten

 

Ben had his first day of Kindergarten on Monday, September 11, 2017.  What a big change from the last time he started at a new school.  This time around there were NO tears, no clinging (except on my part), just pure and utter excitement at getting to spend the day with friends new and old.  

I drove Ben to school on his first day.  As we walked in, hand in hand, he suddenly let go of mine saying "I don't need to hold a hand".  When he saw the look on my face, he quickly grabbed it back.  We found his teacher, he lined up with his class, and then they all walked in together.  (The teacher, wisely, decided to take the kids back to the room by herself vs. letting parents say goodbye in the classroom.  I think she avoided a lot of emotional meltdowns by doing that!).  I had planned to pick Ben up at school on his first day, but he told me he wanted to ride the bus home with his friends.  He also bought hot lunch (because it was pizza) and had a great first day!

And for the rest of the week, he has rode the bus to and from school each day - loving every second of it.  (And so am I)!

What a fun adventure he is on these days!

On Monday morning, I woke up to this picture my mom sent of me on my first day of Kingergarten :) 

I was pretty excited to pack lunches for Ben in his new bento luncbox!  I'm taking pictures so I can remind myself of different food options as the year goes along.  The plan is for Ben to purchase lunch at school on all of the days when the menu offers something acceptable to him ;)  I'm hoping with the school having more kid-friendly options, he will feel encouraged to be a little bit more adventurous.  (Not holding my breath there).

Week in Photos: Wine Tasting, Play Dates and Neighborhood Block Party

The boys working on their fantasy football draft.  Serious business.

Red sun and ash falling from the sky.  2017 - what is UP with your natural disasters across the US?

My new friend/neighbor Melissa and I took the boys out wine tasting, LOL!  They had a blast :)

We had so much fun attending the fall wine release party at Avennia with Kristin and Craig.  Ethan Stowell himself was there cooking and it was cool to meet him!

My mom and I just started our second year of having season of Broadway tickets at The Paramount!  This season we upgraded our seats a bit (by 10 or so rows) and the year kicked off with The Sound of Music.  SO GOOD!

Our neighborhood had an end of summer block party!  It was SO much fun meeting so many neighbors and discovering that there are SO MANY young families with kids!  We thought there were only a handful.  It must be because these days people don't just let their kids run around the neighborhood until it's dark like they used to.  We are so happy with where we live and now we love it even more.

One last family photo with our baby before he went off to Kindergarten!

Meal Planning: September 9th - 15th

Review from last week:

Big fat salad with a grilled burger patty on top:

Loaded veggie pasta (half spaghetti noodles, half zucchini noodles) with basil vinaigrette:

 

Santa Fe Chicken:

Had it over rice topped with cheddar cheese one night and with a side salad another night.  Greg makes a quesadilla out of his.

Plan for next week:

Saturday: Dinner out

Sunday: Rotisserie Chicken and Kale Caesar Salad

Monday: Pizza Spaghetti Casserole and Salad

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: I've heard that whole foods offers a full take out meal on Wednesdays for $15.  Entree, side dishes and a salad of your choice.  I'm planning to check it out.

Thursday: Pan-Seared Chicken, Roasted Asparagus and Mashed Sweet Potato

Friday:  Take out Chinese!  Some friends told us about a good spot nearby and it's been about a million years since I've had Chinese food.

Week in Photos: Preparing for KINDERGARTEN and Labor Day Weekend

Me and  my SWEETIE PIE.  We both happened to be wearing flowers this morning which we both thought was hilarious and worthy of a photo shoot:

We are so close I can hardly handle it.  Kindergarten starts on the 11th.  I've never met a more prepared and more excited kid.  He did, however, admit that he was feeling "just a tiny bit nervous but mostly happy and excited" as we were walking into his open house.

The playground at his school is so fun and it's the first time we have played there!

We got to sit at his desk, meet his desk-mates, meet his teacher and get all kids of fun information.  I'm a little overwhelmed with everything to come!  School and classroom iPhone apps, lunch calendars, school lunch accounts that need to be filled, classroom rules (what to bring, what not to bring), pick up and bus schedules, making sure everyone is on the "approved to pick up" list, school supplies, parent-teacher conference schedules, curriculum nights, and ON and ON and ON.  And I consider myself to be a fairly organized and on top of it parent!  YIKES.  I also just called to schedule his annual ear doctor check up and his regular well child check up and now that he is about to start school, his schedule is something I have to consider!  It was nearly impossible finding a good time between their availability, his school hours, his soccer practice and hip hop class schedule and my work schedule - but we managed to do it.

FOR REAL: all of you parents of who have these responsibilities x 2+ kids, may I please bow down to you (and offer you a glass of wine)?

After visiting his class we got to have an ice cream treat with our friend/neighbor Sammy (and the rest of the school - big kids included)!

On Friday night, we went to our first Bothell High School football game!  It was REALLY fun.  We made the rookie mistake of not bringing snacks or cash to buy them, so next time we will be more prepared!  But it was so fun to see and despite their big loss to Woodinville, Bothell has a great team this year.

On Saturday, we hit the gym in the morning and then spent the entire rest of the day at Denny Park with our neighbors Melissa, Marc, Sammy and Sully.  They brought a grill, a paddleboard and a kayak and it was truly the perfect way to spend a hot summer day!

On Sunday we went to the park with Rachel, Raleigh and Pepper, followed by hanging in the pool at our house.