Discovery Park

Sunday surprised us by being a totally and completely beautiful, sunny and even a little bit warm day!  We took advantage by driving down to Discovery Park for a walk to check out the view.  Greg and I had been down here before, possibly when I was pregnant, and we have talked about taking Ben for a long time.  We accidentally took the wrong path, and ended up walking MUCH longer than we had planned.  Greg carried Ben most of the way back (uphill, with a broken toe - trooper), but it was worth it.  Such a great and beautiful place to get a workout in!

We finished the day with pizza and beers at The Watershed Pub where my friend Artie works!  We will definitely be back for more pizza!

Meal Planning: Week of February 9th

Review from last week:

I returned to an old favorite recipe, crispy black bean tacos with feta and cabbage slaw.  Delicious.  Sometimes I watch Greg when I'm getting dinner together and see him silently judging the dinners that do not contain meat....but then I watch him inhale 3 meatless tacos and glance back at the kitchen to see if there is any more.  Satisfying. 

I found another winner on doitdelicious.com - salad greens with fresh mozzarella and crispy (baked) prosciutto.  I always love finding a recipe that contains ingredients that we ALWAYS have on hand.

Arugula - check
Prosciutto - check
Balsamic vinegar/glaze - check

We had this with our weekly batch of tomato soup.

I finally got around to pulling the chicken and potato Florentine soup out of the freezer and was pleased that it froze/thawed very nicely!

I went out to lunch with an old coworker and had the most amazing Brussels sprouts salad, so I'm posting it here + the ingredients so I can try to recreate it at home.

Grilled chicken, Brussels sprouts, candied pecan, Gorgonzola cheese, dried cranberries, pomegranate seeds, red onions tossed in a lemony mustard vinaigrette. 

Skinny chicken saltimbocca.  Greg loves this one.

Salad and the most amazing sausage we found at Costco.  ATTENTION MARCIA: You have to go to Costco and look for Kiolbassa Cheddar and Beef sausage.  

Plan for next week:

Sunday: Soup and salad with crispy prosciutto and fresh mozzarella

Monday: I'll be making Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Almonds, Cinnamon and Sage (knowing that nobody else will come near this dish).  I'll also make Pulled Pork Tacos with Pineapple and Jalapeno.

Tuesday: Leftover tacos! 

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Pan-Roasted Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Maple-Glazed Carrots

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Bouillabaisse-Style Fish Stew with Fennel, Potatoes and Castelvetrano Olives

Friday: Blue Apron Meal: Flank Steaks & Miso-Roasted Vegetable Salad with Ponzu Dipping Sauce

Saturday: Out for dinner!  Another Ethan Stowell restaurant :)  I made reservations weeks ago knowing that it would likely be booked solid on Valentine's Day.  I'm excited!  I bought stuff for my mom and Ben to make mini pizzas while we are away :)

Photo Catch Up and Ben Says

These "catch up" posts have been coming more regularly lately (which makes it a lot easier for me). :)

I have been bad at keeping track of some of the things Ben has been saying and doing lately that have cracked us up, but one in particular I made note of was the other night after we both yawned at the same time.  He said "Mama, we YAWNED together"!  Minutes later, we must have both sneezed closely together, which prompted him to say "We yawned together, And we bless-you'd together"!

Unrelated, but Callie snapped this picture after Ben and Maylee got their nails painted, haha!  I guess she started with just one nail, but Ben kept requesting another one, and another one.

On Ben's last day at Callie's (sob) she bought him, Mira and Maylee a special "friendship bear" for them to always keep to remind them of one another.  SO cute.  I'm not sure if he completely understands yet (and I also have not been very clear that we won't be going back each week), HOWEVER, every time he sees the bear I tell him what it is and we talk about the girls.

A few photos I snapped from Becca's bachelorette party in Leavenworth!

Steph and I met up one morning and took the boys to the Play Happy Cafe and followed up with McDonald's for lunch.

One morning on the way to dropping Ben off at school, we stopped for a bagel.

Our little artist.

We went out to dinner with the Cougans, but beforehand, Ben snapped a few pictures:

I wanted to carry Raleigh home in the Ergo, and before we left the restaurant, the hostess exclaimed  (to me, because I was holding him), "He is sooooooooooooooooooooooo cute"! To which I jumped in before Rachel could respond and yelled, "THANKS"! LOL! #mine

A little Waldo searching.

Out for a little walk and found a bomb stick.

Ben often mixes things up like "I", "me" and "he", and will refer to himself as "he" more often than not.  During Superbowl, the boys were outside playing and Ben kept running to open the door to yell at me "We guys are playing catch with the footballs"

Ben, wanting to do everything Laryd did, snagged a spot in Dan's lap, too.

Fresh out the bath in his cozy bear robe.

I had some errands to run at the mall one day, so we stopped for a ice cream cone for lunch (since I was craving one) :)

And in case you are ever wondering how long it takes a 3 year old to eat an ice cream cone, the answer is 37 minutes.  Not kidding. 

Meal Planning: Week of February 2nd

Review from last week:

We found a new recipe favorite last week - the pulled pork tacos with jalapeno and pineapple.  YUM.  I'm pretty sure this will find itself into our meal rotation quite often.

We had the chicken wedge salad again since I still had blue cheese, chives and tarragon from when we had it last week.

Instead of having butter chicken, I made chicken paillard instead.

Friday night we went out for the most delicious Mexican food with the Cougans:

Plan for next week:

Monday: Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw

Tuesday: Tomato basil soup and salad.

Wednesday: Leftovers or something from the freezer

Thursday: Skinny Chicken Saltimbocca with salad

Friday: BLT Chopped Salad with Corn, Feta and Avocado with grilled chicken

Saturday: Flank steak (Greg has perfected his steak recipe).  We will make either tacos or just have with a salad.

3 years, 4 months

I have been slacking on Ben updates since he turned 3!  I want to capture everything that is going on with him lately before I blink and he turns 4.  

In terms of growth, Ben is approximately 36 pounds and 40 inches tall - but I have absolutely no idea where that falls in the percentiles.  And really, who cares at this point ;)  All I am interested in is that he is getting tall enough to take him back to Disneyland where he can join us on more of the rides (although knowing Ben, he will be too scared of most of them - my noise-sensitive little boy).  He is almost completely in 4T now and wearing size 9 or so in shoes.  I need to take him in to get his feet measured soon because I need to get him another pair of outdoor boots for school - they go exploring through the muddy woods every day and he needs a good pair of "outside" boots.

A year ago, I was so so anxious about his language development and I couldn't possibly envision the conversations he and I are having now.  He now uses words like "delicious" and "actually" and tells me when he is happy and sad.  Last night when Greg was outside putting the cover back on the BBQ, Ben opened up the patio door and yelled out "Hey Dada!  I can't come outside with you, because I don't have shoes on.  And you need to have shoes on when you go outside.  So, I'm just going to stay inside and play trucks, OKAY"??  (Greg was like, "I didn't invite you to come outside, but OKAY")!!  Ben is CONSTANTLY singing songs.  When we try to sing along with him, he will often say "No, it's MY TURN" and silence us.  Ha!  He loves to sing this song from Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, which is one of the songs Greg used to sing to him a lot when he was a baby.  He also tells and me and Greg several times a day "I love you!" which is one of those moments you are waiting for when you become a parent, and is even more heart warming than you can imagine.

Ben still is truck obsessed and lovvvvves to ask us to play trucks with him.  Of of his favorite truck activities is to have them "talk" to one another, which essentially is him shaking one truck at the other and saying "Well hello green monster truck, how are you doing? Do you want to go on a drive with me?" with the other responding "Yes, I do want to go on a drive with you".  Then, they drive.  Then, one falls down and yells "I'm stuck! Can you help me" and the other pushes it back up on its wheels and they they give each other a kiss.  And repeat.  It's adorable and hilarious.

We still enjoy park time, and while I'm usually a big fan of a lingering winter season, these days I'm all about a sunny dry day so that we can hit the park.  Ben absolutely loves it, but only when there are other kids around to chase.  If there is a blonde girl, approximately 2-4 years older, that is the best as he is a big fan of playing with Mira and Maylee lookalikes ;)  When we went to the park the other day, he was on the swing next to a little girl and suddenly looked over at her and screamed "HEY!  I'M SWINGING WITH YOU"!!!!!  #chillbro

He has developed a fake laugh, which is so funny until it's annoying.  If Greg and I are laughing about something, he will always join in even if he has no clue what it's about.  He will always join Greg in a kitty smother and sing the little song that Greg has been singing for years "Oh, my kitty kitty! Oh, my kitty kitty".  (It's not as corny as it sounds.  Maybe I shouldn't have written that, haha)!  Ben is great at saying thank you without prompting and says please most of the time without a reminder.  He is great at throwing garbage away and is starting to get better at picking up his toys.  Ben is getting better at drawing actual objects, like circles for wheels when he tells me he is drawing a car, but still mostly prefers big scribble patterns. 

In terms of parenting, we have been trying to practice a LOT of positive reinforcement when he does something like clean up toys, brush his teeth, wash his hands, and other helpful things - and redirecting him to other activities instead of scolding (for lack of a better word) when he is behaving in a way we don't enjoy.  We are deep in the phase where if you tell them NOT to do something, it's almost impossible for him to avoid doing it - which I totally get is a 3-year-old trait that can be turned around almost instantly if you handle it correctly.  It's not always easy to remain calm and patient, but it's definitely the way to a positive outcome.

Another big update would include potty training, which is still moving VERY slowly, but definitely in a positive direction.  He is fantastic when we are out in public or at school, but has a hard time stopping what he is doing to initiate it at home.  It's really only when it's inconvenient for us (grocery shopping with a full cart, or in the process of reading bed time stories in an attempt to stay awake longer) that he is super motivated to go :)  But either way, lately we are getting through most mornings with a dry pull up, switching to a diaper at nap time, and then the evenings can really go either way.  As with the speech progress, I have to remind myself that all kids are different and that with time and practice, we WILL get there!

The other big change is that school officially starts next week!  He will be at school all day (8-4 ish) on Mondays and Fridays, and then some Thursday mornings.  Since he has had a few mornings of practice, I'm most interested to see how he handles nap time.  I bought him a cute sleeping bag for him to leave at school that he already loves to snuggle in, so I'm hoping that after a busy morning of playing he will feel ready to lie down for awhile.  He still takes 3 hour naps at home so I know he will needs a midday break.  I'm also a little worried about him eating at school, since I know the food will be a change from what he is used to.  I keep having to remind myself that these changes are GOOD for him (playmates, a structured day, learning to work with others, sharing, new/healthy foods) but I also know how difficult it will be if/when he says "I don't want to go to school"!  I know that when he has not been with me, Callie and my mom have provided him with such a safe, nurturing,  and often times one-on-one environment that this might feel like a tough change at times - but I'm confident that he will thrive here and learn so much!

Current favorites:

Books: Touch the Art: Find King Henry's Jewels, Planes Go (and all of the "Go" books), The Day the Crayons Quit, The Cat at Night, and Flo & Wendell Explore. (These generally change every month or so, when he selects a different set of 4-5 books that we read almost daily).

TV/Movies: Current favorites are Monsters ("big kid monsters") and Monsters University ("little kid monsters").  He got some Monsters figurines for Christmas and likes to act out little scenes with them - much like he does with his trucks.  We are also watching a lot of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, which is cute and teaches some good lessons, I think.  (We also sing lots of Daniel Tiger songs all day, every day).

Places to go: The park, the "indoor playground" (at the Pavilion where Callie often takes him), and the Children's Museum. 

Overall, I have to say that life feels pretty amazing these days.  Greg and I have been getting out for dinner/movie dates at least once a month, which has been so nice (thanks, mom)!  If we need to skip a nap for whatever reason, it isn't resulting in the complete mid-evening meltdown that it used to.  I am fresh off a weekend away in Leavenworth for a bachelorette party, and Greg is heading to Portland for a guy's weekend next month - so we are able to find some time for ourselves a lot more than we had been. Ben being the age that he is feels like the perfect mixture between having a big boy that I don't have to constantly follow around to make sure he isn't going to fall or crash into something, and having a baby that still lovvvvvvves to snuggle his Mama - a trait that I hope continues into his adulthood ;)

Meal Planning - Week of January 26th

Review from last week:

One unplanned dish that I saw on Instagram and had to make was Baked Eggs with Tomatoes, Spinach and Parmesan.  I made this 3 times last week and plan to make it for myself all the time when I want something hot for breakfast for lunch.  It's one of those recipes (like our tomato soup) where you almost always have every ingredient on hand.

I also made another batch of walnut, chocolate chip banana bread that is probably my favorite banana bread recipe ever. 

Boboli pizza.  Made this one with fresh Mozzarella, basil, proschiutto and heirloom tomatoes and topped it with a drizzle of basalmic.

Thursday was stuffed bell peppers (Trader Joe's instead of homemade because I was lazy) with zoodles and roasted bell peppers on the side.

Not pictured: butter chicken, which was delicious but has me craving the kind you get at an actual Indian food restaurant!

Plan for next week:

Monday: Leftover soup - I have chicken potato florentine, sausage potato corn chowder and vegetable soup in the freezer.

Tuesday: Pulled Pork Tacos with Pineapple and Jalapeno

Wednesday: Leftover tacos

Thursday: Chicken Wedge Salad

Friday: Out to dinner with the Cougans at a Mexican restaurant in Edmonds.  Hopefully the weather is nice enough for us to walk from their place so we can enjoy a few margaritas :) 

Saturday: TBD - I'll probably grocery shop on Saturday and make something quick and easy.  Possibly this butter chicken again, or maybe we WILL go out and get some!

Sunday: Superbowl Sunday, which means we will likely be dining on Doritos and beer with the Christensens.