Thursday, July 6, 2017

Week in Photos: Pre-K Graduation, Father's Day, Grandma Marcia's Visit and the 4th of July

A long post of photo catch up!

Greg and I enjoying our very last Parent's Night Out Friday at Ben's school.  We went and got dinner and wine at our of our favorite spots: Village Wines in Woodinville:


We went to the Washington Brewer's Fest the day before Father's Day and enjoyed drinking beer all morning and early afternoon with Dan and Jeannette :)





Lunch at the food trucks.  I waiting in the longest line for Nosh, which claimed to have "award winning fish and chips" and it was 100% worth it.



Meanwhile at home with Grandma, Ben was coming down with something :(


He said his throat hurt and he definitely was not himself for a few days.  After a couple, it dawned on me to look at his throat and sure enough - it was so red!


Random picture of me with Ben (asleep at 5:30 in the back seat, waiting for Greg and Marcia while they were at the grocery store).


Ben had his adorable Pre-K graduation ceremony on June 22nd.  This was also his very last day at A Journey School where he has been going since he was 3 years old!  Definitely bittersweet to be leaving.  He has grown and changed so much and has really gained so much confidence and independence there!




With his teacher, Miss Jamie:


Ben's T-ball picture!


We went out to celebrate my friend Layne and Clint's engagement down in South Lake Union.  We started the evening by grabbing a (few) drinks at Sam's Tavern with Rachel and Peter:



Then headed around the corner to Ballard Pizza Kitchen (SO GOOD) for the party (plus several more drinks and ouch I'm in pain just thinking about the hangover I had the next day).  #worthit


The hangover day was also the hottest day of the year, so I sweat out my pain doing yard work and playing water balloons with Greg, Marcia and Ben :)


Just a few other random pictures:



Enjoying dinner and drinks on the patio at McMenamins:





A stop at Home Depot for mulch, rocks and an impulse purchase: flowers:



Our YMCA hosts rock climbing for free periodically throughout the week all summer long.  Ben wanted to give it another try.  He loved it and got further up on the wall than he did the last time.  We agreed we would aim to go at least once a week and that by the end of summer, he just might make it to the top!  Kind of a fun way to teach him how practice can really help you improve!



Later that afternoon while washing the cars, we heard the Popsicle man's music coming through the neighborhood.  In previous years, we had told Ben that it was the "music truck" and received no further questions about it.  This year, we volunteered the real information and let him know that truck has popsicles and ice-cream and he was THRILLED. The bonus was that we met a neighbor kid and his mom (as in, just around the corner) who will be starting Kindergarten at Ben's school in the Fall!  Our neighborhood has very few kids (that we are aware of), so the prospect of having a kid that close that he can play with is really exciting.


Enjoying some wine in our freshly weeded front yard and watching the boys play baseball.


Ben agreed to do join us for some wine tasting :)



On the 4th of July, we went down to Tacoma (as we did 2 years ago) to join Callie, Mira, Maylee and Phil at his parents' house on America Lake.  It was a great day!!!





Friday, June 30, 2017

Home Improvement

This spring/summer we decided to launch into a home improvement effort.  We got our roof cleaned (I failed to get a before and after picture, but let me assure you it looks like a brand new roof)! 


We (and by we, I mean mostly Marcia), attacked our yard by trimming bushes, doing weeding, etc.  This particular vine always grows up and wraps itself around our bushes.  This time, it went up and wrapped itself around the dream catcher we had hanging outside Ben's window.  Nature is so weird.


Next up was painting the house!  We had wanted to change the color of the house since we moved in 5 years ago, but only in the last couple years did we think the house "needed" it.  We had debated back and forth between doing it ourselves and hiring someone to do it, but ultimately the pitch of our room (SO STEEP) was the deciding factor.  We hired professionals.


In progress.  Painted my door blue!




They accidently painted the garage door grey, which I actually didn't hate, but I wanted the white to POP so they redid it.


TA DA!


Meal Planning: July 1st - 8th

Back in the kitchen!  Greg is heading out of town mid-week, which means it's time to cook all of the dishes that he would not be particularly excited to eat himself:

Saturday: Grilled flank steak and roasted asparagus

Sunday: Grilled Burgers and Kale Salad

Monday: Grilled Scallops

Tuesday: The 4th!  We are heading down to Tacoma to spend the day with Callie, Mira, Maylee and Phil at Phil's parents' lake house.  We were there 2 years ago on the 4th and had such a blast.

Wednesday: Tuna Casserole

Thursday:  Kristin is coming over for dinner and wine, and I'm eager to try an inspirilized recipe I'd had my eye on: Shrimp and Cucumber Noodle Salad with Greek Yogurt Caesar Dressing


Friday: Turkey Taco Spaghetti Squash Boats


Saturday: Steamed Artichokes

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Week in Photos: Mariner Game, Dance Recital, and Summer Baseball

I remember looking at our calendar for June when we got back from our vacation and thinking: WOW we have so many fun things coming up!  And also: OH GOD we have scheduled too many things.  (I can be so lazy).

A couple weekends back we went to Mason's birthday party at a trampoline park in Marysville.  Knowing that it would be ending in the mid afternoon and that we would have a long(ish) drive back home, I totally called that this would happen:


The next morning, we had SO much fun meeting up with Lisa and Evan and playing at Gas Works Park!  Ben truly feels like he is on a play date with these two (because he is) and it was great to catch up.  I took a bunch of videos of the boys all playing frisbee and baseball, but only a couple pictures:






And then again, this happened on the ride home :)


I also spent some time that weekend doing my annual "Marcia is coming so I need to turn the junk closet back into a spare bedroom" routine :)  This year I moved the bed, got rid of a too-big shelving unit taking up way too much space and organized the closet.  We are so ready now!


Ben officially graduates from Pre-K next Thursday and it will also be his last day at the preschool he has been at since February 2015!  He has grown and learned so much from his experiences there and it's a very bittersweet goodbye.  Here are a few pictures of his activities there lately:




Ben had his first baseball practice on Monday night!  He has been so into baseball and we were excited to sign him up to be able to play with other kids and learn some skills.


What we weren't expecting was the email we got an hour before practice starting saying that there still hadn't been a parent volunteer to be the coach of his team...!  

So Greg and I decided to jump in and do it.  The first practice was a bit of a shit show (4-6 year olds playing baseball for the first time...) but luckily there are a lot of great parents on the team who are happy to get on the field and help herd the cats.  It should be an interesting couple months :)


Ben got to stay up late and watch the Tony's with me :)


After the last Mariner Game we went to, we immediately put another one on the calendar.  We lost this one, but we still had a blast!

Dippin' Dots:


Meeting the Moose!





Ben had his first dance recital and it was the cutest thing EVER.  We were amazed at how talented all of the kids were, particularly the older kids, and I really hope he wants to continue with classes (when we can find time between all of his sports he wants to do)!

Dress Rehearsal:



The big night:






My mom has gotten into painting Bothell Rocks, and made a special one for Ben to hide at the school!  So cute!


Game night:




Meal Planning: June 17th - 21st

Review from last week:

The highlights:

Chicken Kale Caesar Salad:


Chicken Parm.  I made this on a week night, and it was a little more elaborate of a meal than I generally try to do after work.  And it was so good - worth the wait :)



Plan for next week:

We have a busy weekend coming up!  We also have Marcia coming to visit next week!  I figured I'd plan some meals we can make when we are home and feel like cooking over the next few days.  Then I look forward to taking a break from meal planning and enjoying some of our favorite Marcia Ingle meals in the upcoming weeks :)

On Saturday we are going to the Washington Brewer's Festival.  On Sunday, Greg is going golfing with a friend while my mom and I see Caberet at the Paramount!  On Monday night we have baseball practice, and on Tuesday morning Marcia arrives!

Here are a few meals I'll pick up ingredients for:

Turkey Taco Spaghetti Squash Boats

Lagered Turkey Chili


Grilled Chicken (or Steak) over Lentils

Friday, June 9, 2017

Meal Planning: June 10th - 16th

Review from last week:

Blue Apron was 3 for 3 this week.

Chicken, veggies and crispy rice: 

 

Steak, asparagus and potatoes:


And I failed to capture the beautiful shrimp tacos :)

Greg grilled up some fillets and asparagus last weekend, too.


Plan for next week:

Saturday: Ben's Hip Hop Dance Recital is tonight - right at dinner time :)  So dinner plans are TBD.

Sunday: We are taking Ben to the Mariner game - so dinner will be crockpot soup and grilled cheese when we get home (assuming we aren't stuffed from stadium snacks).

Monday: Beef Bulgogi

Tuesday: Chicken & Kale Caesar-Style Salad

Wednesday: Grilled Burgers and Salad

Thursday: Chicken Parmigiana

Friday: Parent's Night Out - the last one Ben will attend at his school!

Friday, June 2, 2017

Meal Planning: June 3rd - 9th

Review from last week:

I failed to take any pictures except the one below, but we basically stuck to the plan.  Our best meal of the week was these lettuce wrapped salmon rolls and grilled corn.


Plan for next week:

Saturday: Breakfast burritos

Sunday: Grilled burgers and corn with caramelized onions and salad

Monday: Tomato Soup and Salad







Friday: Ben has a dance recital rehearsal, so we will grab dinner out afterwards