Week(s) in Photos: Valentine's Day, A Haircut, and a few Selfies

Love finding selfies on my phone from Ben:

A few pictures from Valentine's Day:

Ben requested a "special Valentine's Day breakfast", so I cut strawberry hearts and threw them on a waffle.  It passed his test :)

In addition to Ben's "all things sports" obsession, he also seems to have memorized a random set of facts relating to which teams played each other, when, and what the final score was.  One day he was talking non-STOP to me about various games, and he said:

"MOM - do you remember when the Panthers played the Seahawks"?

Me: Um, nope.

"The score was 40-7 and the Seahawks won"!!

Me: Seriously?

So I asked Siri and SURE ENOUGH, he was right.  I'm impressed!  I told him he should be a sports broadcaster one day :)

 

Gymntastics play date with Freya:

Being cute in his monster towel:

Being less cute:

Accidentally almost blinding him with the flash:

Menchies night!

Selfies with one of the teachers at school:

Our Hamilton tickets for SF arrived and my mom and I are SO EXCITED for our upcoming trip!  (A little back story on these: the online ticket purchasing for these babies was INTENSE.  First, you had to be online RIGHT when the tickets went on sale.  Then, you were placed into a random queue to wait in line for your turn to buy them.  I signed in on three separate devices to increase my chances for getting a good spot in the line.  One one, I was 80,000ish in line (not a chance in hell), on another, I was 40,000 in line, (also unlikely), and in one I was 2,435ish in line (DEFINITELY GETTING TICKETS)!  After a 45 minute wait, I was allowed into the site and had exactly 15 minutes to find my tickets and purchase them.  I figured I would be able to select 2 standard seats for one of the dates of our choosing and buy them, however, after a few minutes it was proving to be a challenge to buy 2 standard seats!  The only ones that were coming up on my search were the PREMIUM seats - orchestra center and more than I intended to spend.  After about 10 minutes I started to freak out, thinking if I didn't just choose some seats and buy them, my time would be up and I would be kicked out.  I wound up with 2 sets of 2 PREMIUM seats ($$$$) and hitting purchase.

Within hours, the entire run in SF was sold out completely and I had 4 hot tickets in my hands.  And luckily (and not surprisingly), I managed to sell 2 of them on a third party ticketing site for a price that essentially pays for our entire trip: Hamilton tickets + hotel and then some.  

Ben, adorably, asked me one day (after we had let his hair grow a little long and crazy): "Could I please have a hairstyle"? :) So a  hairstyle he got.

Meal Planning: March 4th - 10th

Review from last week:

Tried a new recipe after it was recommended to me and it was so good.  Banh Mi Rice Bowls.  Pork was slow cooked, carrots were pickled and then fresh, crunchy vegetables go on top.  Delicious.

Spaghetti squash buried in meat ragu.

Lemon chicken with olives.

 Tomato soup, grilled cheese and kale.

 

Plan for next week:

Saturday: Pizza party at Dan & Jeannette's

Sunday: Fish tacos

Monday: Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli

Tuesday:  Clam Spaghetti

Wednesday:  Grilled Burgers and caramelized onions

Thursday: Grilled Chicken and Kale Caesar

Friday: Parent's Night Out - but we might be going to Kindergarten Orientation.  So we'll grab something on the go.

Meal Planning: February 25th - March 3rd

Review from last week:

Every single time I make these Ricotta meatballs in Chianti sauce, I'm always SO happy that I did.  Such a great recipe.

 

We enjoyed having our friends Kristin and Craig over to eat them with! Ben even told me the next day that he was "so happy Kristin and Craig came over for a play date" ;)

Blue Apron meal from the week before - chili.  Really good.

Feta, burger, caramelized onion and sauteed kale.

Kale chicken Caesar:

 

Toss together dinner of grilled chicken (made extra for the caesar salads), pasta and - what else, sauteed kale.  V into kale this week.

 

Plan for next week:

Saturday: We have a super fun day planned on Saturday - I'm going to see RENT in the afternoon followed by Lisa's birthday party in the evening - so grabbing dinner somewhere in Seattle that night.

Sunday: Rosemary Chicken Salad with Avocado and Bacon

Monday: Spaghetti Squash with Meat Ragu

Tuesday: Slow Cooker Banh Mi Rice Bowls

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

Friday: Skilled Lemon Chicken with Olives and Herbs

Meal Planning: February 18th - 24th

Review from last week:

Blue Apron: With this crispy catfish dish, I managed to get Greg to try the mushrooms - and he liked them!  He was sure to be clear with me that this was a fluke and not to expect it in the future, but man, I've made some progress with him over the years!  (Insert flexing Emogi here).

 

Cheddar cheeseburgers (Blue Apron):

My favorite pasta dish these days: Papriki White Wine Bucatini

Plan for next week:

Saturday: Ricotta Meatballs with Chianti Sauce 

Sunday: Leftovers

Monday: Burgers with caramelized onions and salad

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Mandarin Orange Chicken (Trader Joes) and Salad

Thursday: Chicken & Kale Caesar Salad

Friday: Grilled Steak

Week(s) in Photos: Getting ready for Valentine's Day, Ladies + Babies, School and Sports

So much catching up to do, oops!

Greg was out of town a few weekends ago.  He surprised his sister Karen by coming out for her wedding reception in Wisconsin.  (We had decided instead of visiting for this weekend, when they would only be able to spend a short amount of time with us, that we could visit for a week later in the summer.  But last minute we decided that flying out to see his sister on her special day was absolutely worth it and we are so glad he went).

I held down the fort at home and took the opportunity to catch up with some girlfriends, and their babies!

Reid and his amazing hair + static!

Reid and Pepper - NOT enjoying the photo we were getting them set up for!

Meanwhile, in WI:

 

I'm sure the rest of these are out of order!

Greg took Ben to the open gymnastics session at the gym near by - and it was an all school meet up!  So fun.

Ben just completed his last basketball practice.  He really enjoyed it - and now wants to do soccer again.  It's just the beginning of this guy's love for sports.

Ben's never-ending journey of living with crazyyyyyy hair.

Fun at school!

Testing out the V-Day shades:

Magnatiles - easily one of our favorite (quiet) activities lately.

On the subject of Valentine's Day, I discovered this one that Ben had made for Freya :)

Playdoh.  I'm not sure what they are.  Unicorns?

Helping daddy clean the gutters.

Valentine's for school!

Friday nights at McMenamins!  We saw Lego Batman :)

Meal Planning: February 11 - 17th

Review from last week:

I failed to take any pictures last week, but I managed to cook everything I had planned to :)

Plan for next week:

Saturday:  Paprika White Wine Buctini

Sunday: Shredded Chicken, Avocado & Kale Quinoa Salad

Monday:  Creamy Tomato Basil Soup and Grilled Cheese/Salad

Tuesday:  Blue Apron Meal:  Cajun catfish & Spiced Rice with Collard Greens & Mushrooms


Wednesday:  Chicken Pot Pie

Thursday:  Blue Apron Meal: Spiced Chicken Chili with Chickpeas & Currants

Friday:  Cheddar Cheeseburgers with Sauteed Onion and Romaine Salad

Meal Planning: February 4th - 10th

Review from last week:

Chicken Enchiladas and my first margarita since Summer:

 

Spaghetti squash with meat ragu:

Roasted chicken, carrots & beets with rosemary, and sauteed kale:

 Burger, feta, onion and kale:

 

Plan for next week:

Saturday:  Skillet Chicken in Tomato-Chipolte Sauce

Sunday: SUPERBOWL!  No plans but to indulge and enjoy all the good food.  We had considered throwing our own party if the Steelers had gone to the championship, but since they didn't, we will carry on our tradition of going to Dan & Jeannette's for the game.  I think this year will be particularly fun for Ben since he is now SO into football and Greg and Dan love to take the boys outside to throw the ball around during half time.  We are bringing Pigs in a Blanket.

Monday: Burgers

Tuesday: Beef Bulgogi Lettuce Wraps.  This time I'm planning to double/triple the recipe for lots of leftovers.

Wednesday: Creamy Tomato-Basil Soup and Salad/Grilled Cheese

Thursday: Arugula salad with pasta, slow roasted cherry tomatoes, prosciutto and Parmesean

Friday:  Out to eat!