Friday, August 14, 2015

Week in photos

Spent a lazy morning drinking coffee and building towers and cars with Ben.


As of late, we have been going through a transition from nap to no nap.  We are currently at the point where Ben can easily go without a nap.....until about 4:30 or 5pm, when he often hits a wall and just.cannot.deal. with life's harsh realities (like me or anyone else telling him no).  On the days where I can convince him to nap, he will often sleep for 2-3 hours, waking up at 5pm, being delightful for the remainder of the evening, but isn't interested in sleeping until after 10pm.

On these nights, when he is wide awake when Greg and I are ready for bed, we have been bringing him into bed with us.  (Okay, FINE - he has been starting the night off with us for the past month or two at least).  It's great, because extra snuggles are always welcome, but it is also strange - because Ben has always been such a happy, independent sleeper.

On this particular night, I was up late watching housewives with these two passed out HARD next to me.  

PS carrying Ben's 40 pound body back to bed is probably why my back has been hurting me the past few weeks!


In the back corner of our yard is Ben's "construction site".  After our weekend away, he was really excited to get back to his digging. 



I stripped him down outside after playing trucks, but he insisted on "helping" me with dishes before getting into his bath.


While Rachel and Peter were in Cabo, I had the pleasure of spending an evening with Raleigh!  We had less than 2 hours together before he was ready for bed, but we made the most of them :)






Met Callie and the girls at the park to ride bikes/scooters and play!  A blast as always :)
This past week I've been on vacation, which has been so nice!  (Vacations at home are excellent).  We kicked it off with at date night out!  After our dinner with Denali, Kyle and Oliver a couple weeks ago, they offered to take Ben for an evening while we went out on our own! (THANK YOU, again)!!


Meanwhile, Ben was having a blast with Oliver!






Spraying Greg with his firetruck!





A little alone, together time.


Play date at the park with Steph, Mason and Kylie! (Selfies while we waited).






My (new ish) boss, Loren, and I had been talking a couple weeks ago about the big hedge he had on his property that he had trimmed that past weekend.  When I asked him what equipment he used, he starting asking if we had a hedge too, and asked if we wanted to borrow his stuff.  Then out of the blue, he called to offer to come over with the equipment and assist Greg with getting the job done.  HOW NICE.   (He really is the best).


Shauna, Bronson and Alivia came over for dinner and a play date.  These two took every single toy out and covered the bathroom floor with water from their bath, but had a BLAST.  Ben is still talking about it.



We spent Thursday relaxing at home.  Ben is coming down with a cold, which I think he might be giving to me, but maybe that is to be expected after such a fun week :)


Just a random picture capturing part of our bedtime routine :)  (Brushing teeth).  Also, big boy underwear is adorable.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Meal Planning: Week of August 17th

Review from last week:

I have to say, this past week has been a phenomenal week of eating :) 


On Saturday, Greg grilled up some tandoori chicken to go with the butter tomato sauce, thus giving us our Butter Chicken.
 

Sunday, Greg did something new with these burgers (or perhaps, went back to his old recipe), but either way we agreed that THESE were the best.




Possibly my favorite meal EVER now.  Flank steak (courtesy of Greg), slow roasted cherry tomatoes, avocado slices, sauteed onions, and a sprinkle of ranchero cheese.  


 

An old favorite recipe, chicken stuffed with prosciutto, red peppers, cheese and spinach.  That morning, Skinnytaste posted this carrot w/ truffle oil and feta recipe that was calling out to me - so I made that, too - along with a salad.
 

Last night was chili.  I also felt that last minute we needed corn bread, and I had everything (but the jalapenos) to make this cheddar cornbread with maple syrup drizzle recipe.  Yum.
 

Tonight is leftovers :)

Plan for next week:

Saturday: Going to check out Celebrate Woodinville - a festival near home and eat at the food trucks for dinner.

Sunday: Japanese Pancakes


Monday: Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Seared Cod & Fregola Sarda with Braised Summer Vegetables

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Seared Pork Chops with Corn, Spinach & Stone Fruit-Cherry Tomato Salsa

Friday: Blue Apron Meal: Tandoori-Spiced Chicken with Green Lentils, Eggplant & Cucumber-Mint Yogurt

Friday, August 7, 2015

Meal Planning: Week of August 10th

Review from last week:

On Sunday night I made the.most.delicious.salad - spring green salad with quinoa and lemon feta dressing. I made a big batch and was able to have it for lunch a couple days.  So good.



Lamb burgers with crispy zucchini rounds:


Korean BBQ Pork Tacos.  So good.  So easy.


Plan for next week: 

Saturday:  Butter Chicken and Naan


Sunday: Flank steak and my new favorite salad.

Monday: Cheese burgers

Tuesday: Roasted Red Pepper and Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken Breast

Wednesday: Lagered Turkey (or Beef) Chili

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Leftovers for Greg - HH date for me!

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Mr. and Mrs. Hall!

We had such a fun weekend in Seabrook, WA celebrating Jess and Becca's marriage!  

On Friday Morning, Ben and I packed up the car and hit the road - so happy to be traveling to the (much) cooler weather on the coast.


We made a stop in Kent to pick up Greg at work, and Ben FINALLY got to check out Greg's work truck.  It was definitely one of the best parts of the day for him :)


We made really good time and arrived at our hotel at lunch time.  Check out the most amazing view from the restaurant!


We checked into our room and hit the beach to do some digging:



And a little "flying":


Next up, we hit Seabrook (we were staying about 2 miles down the road in Moclips). Seabrook is the cutest little community full of beach cottages.  Each cottage comes with bikes to ride around town and everything is walkable.  We really wish we would have kept our cottage rental and stayed in town for the weekend, but the hotel was about 1/5 of the price so that won in the end.  (Very unlike me to have made this decision) ;)

We watched Ben scoot around town (he is OB.SESSED. with his new scooter).  As we were looking for a place to have dinner, we ran into Travis, Sterling and Artie (friends going back to Brier Elementary days) and had a beer with them in the outside bar.  So fun to all be together - I think the last time was Artie's wedding 3 years ago)!



I completely failed in getting pictures of all of us together, so I snagged a few from others :)

Here we are waiting for the ceremony to begin.  (So happy to report that Ben sat quietly throughout the whole thing)!


Myles, their son, was having a moody/tired day, so Becca got to carry him down the aisle after they said their vows ;)


Sterling, his wife Stevie and their son Tanner.


Artie and baby Jude.


The groomsmen + Jess riding around town on their bikes.


Me and the bride!


Ben and Declan (Matt and Heather's son) playing shuffleboard.