Whenever I need work done on my car, I head over to the nail salon across the street to get a pedicure while I wait. Well a few weeks ago, I had to take my car in but since it is summer Campbell doesn’t have her weekly Mom’s Day Out so I had to bring her with me. So, I decided we could get pedicures together! I wasn’t sure how she would do but it was fantastic!! She was a little concerned about having a stranger paint her nails and at first said she wanted me to do it. But she warmed up and was very proud of the end result. While our nails dried I let her watch Frozen on the tablet. And we even went out for a fun lunch at Subway! All in all, not a bad way to spend your time waiting on car repairs! Looking forward to many more pedicure dates with this girl in the future!
A few weeks ago, another mom in our neighborhood MOMS club organized a field trip to a local dairy farm. It just so happened to be the dairy farm where we get our milk and eggs delivered from! Grandma Judi was in town so she got to come too! We got to visit the baby cows, walk around the farm, see the cows being milked, and have an ice cream cone. It was a lot of fun!! The only downside was the smell!! Haha! I guess I should have realized farms stink! Glad to know we get our milk and eggs where the animals are treated like animals!
What We Ate Wednesday: Every Wednesday I write a blog post with all of the vegetarian dinners we ate this week.
I am determined to get this week’s meals out on time. It is Monday as I start this post. Let’s see how I do!
Wednesday: Take Out
I have been tutoring like crazy lately which means I am out of the house pretty much every afternoon. On Wednesday I realized as I was walking out the door that I wouldn’t be home until close to 7 and I hadn’t made dinner yet. Oops! I had the babysitter make the kids PBJs and then when Ben and I were both home we ordered take out from Lost Dog! Not what I was planning on, but it worked out.
Thursday: Crispy Chickpea and Caper Spaghetti/Peach Salad
I had dinner club this night. The host did an iron chef challenge–include peaches! I decided on this salad and loved it! Will definitely make it again. For the rest of my family, I made my favorite vegan dinner of all time.
Friday: Mexican Street Corn Quinoa Salad and Quesadillas
This is definitely my new favorite recipe! Yu-um!!!!!
Saturday: Date Night
We ubered into the city with our friends the Funks! We had dinner at Zaytinya and then drinks at Poste. So fun to hang out with them with out our kids (they’re also our neighbors and we know them through our kids).
Sunday: Grilled Halloumi, Zucchini, Cherry Tomatoes, and Brown Rice
When Sam saw what we were having he said, “we’re having this again??” so maybe we need to branch out a little.
Monday: Lemon Pasta, Shrimp, and Roasted Cabbage
I made this pasta but kept the shrimp separate (Ben doesn’t eat it). I also made this cabbage which was really good!!
Tuesday: Fried Rice
This is a go-to easy meal. I just marinate extra firm tofu, cut into cubes, in soy sauce and then fry it up in a non-stick pan over medium high heat until it’s crisp on all sides. Then I fry a little cooked brown rice in a skillet with oil, add frozen veggies, and season with more soy sauce. I scramble and egg right in the pan (just scoot everything out of the way and then mix in once cooked).
Ben’s lovely parents hosted us for a fantastic weekend at the beach! They usually take us to the beach for the week of the Fourth of July, but we’ve been to a few different beaches. In the past we have been to Cape May, Rehoboth, and the Outer Banks. This year we decided to return to Cape May. It is such a cute beach town! We stayed in a beautiful house, enjoyed spending time with Grandma, Grandpa, and Auntie Becca, and had fantastic weather! Well, we had fantastic weather until the 4th when a hurricane rolled in. But even that wasn’t so bad. It just rained all morning but was dry by the evening!
What We Ate Wednesday: Every Wednesday I write a blog post with all of the vegetarian dinners we ate this week.
Welp. I skipped last week’s WWAW again so you get another twofer this week. Oh and it isn’t Wednesday (as you may have noticed). It’s Friday. Oh well! Our last two week’s worth of dinners:
Wednesday: Tortellini, Pesto, and Green Beans
Super easy! Store bought fresh tortellini (Trader Joe’s has the cheapest–$2 for a pack), garlic scape pesto and blanched green beans.
Thursday: Halloumi, Zucchini, Cherry Tomatoes, and Brown Rice
I love this meal and plan to have it once per week for the rest of the summer!! It is delicious, healthy, and really easy. Halloumi (found at trader joe’s) is an awesome cheese that you can grill and it doesn’t melt! The only prep for the Halloumi was drizzling it with olive oil. For the zucchini and tomatoes, I coated with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Ben grilled it all up. So, so good! Oh, and we drizzled aged balsamic over the top which made it even better.
Friday: Truckeroo
Tuckeroo is an awesome food truck festival held in DC every month in the spring/summer. I got my dinner from the Randy Radish and it was AMAZING! I had vegan mac and cheez and fries. It was delicious!! Sam had a corndog and I had some of that too. Also great!
Saturday: Date Night
We met our friends Heather and Rich at Le Diplomat. It was soooo good. I had the best mussels of my life. Can’t wait to go back!
Sunday: Dinner with the Owens
Our good friends Jess and Matt invited us over for a family dinner at their house. Sam and their daughter are classmates and Campbell and their younger daughter are also classmates. So fun! They also invited another preschool family and we all had so much fun! It was so nice to let the kids go play in the basement while all the grown ups could visit. Jess made delicious shrimp tacos. Yu-um!!!
Monday: Dilled Lentils
I have had this recipe saved in Evernote for a while and just got around to making. Simple but delicious.
Tuesday: Indian Take-out
Ben’s parents were here so we had to get Indian Take-Out! It’s like a Pavlovian response for me now!
Wednesday: Chipotle Corn Chowdah
I made this soup (skip the bacon–you won’t miss it!) along with a key lime pie for our neighbors, so of course we had some too! But sadly I only made one pie.
Thursday: Leftovers
Well. What a day this was. I was going to make cucumber soup (see friday) but at about 4:30 I slipped running up the stairs, knocked my head into the wall, and ruined all plans I had for the evening. It was quite a scare–my head still hurts. And Ben had to leave work early. Anyway, everyone ate leftovers (I couldn’t eat anything on account of the concussion!)
Friday: Cucumber Soup and Shrimp
Here is the meal we were meant to have on Thursday! Cucumber Soup…it was good but a little monotonous. Probably won’t make it again.
Saturday: Pizza at the Pool
We had the Owens over for pizza at our pool! I made a kale salad and brought some watermelon to go with the pizza. We had such a good time with our friends, as always!
Sunday: Halloumi
I will just call this our Halloumi meal. Like I said, it’s our once a week summer dinner!
Monday: Mac and Cheese and Burgundy Beans
I made my macaroni and cheese and roasted some burgundy green beans from our CSA (which, by the way, turn normal green bean color when you cook them).
Tuesday: Breakfast Tacos and Mexican Corn
Yuuuuuuum!!!! I made this Mexican corn (amazing!) and breakfast tacos with potatoes, eggs, and cheese. Really, really good.
We potty trained C over Memorial Day weekend and she did great! She had a couple of pee accidents on Friday morning (first day) but then started holding it by that afternoon. She was scared at first to go on the potty but once her bladder was full enough she gave in! After that she went pee and poop with no problem!
Even though she wasn’t scared to poo on the potty, it took her a little while to figure out the warning signs so she pooped in her pants a few times during the first week or two but she seems to have it figured out now!
I can’t believe how easy this was. I think it helps to have done it before and know that they all figure it out eventually (and to also know that accidents will happen!). But I also think girls are much easier to potty train than boys (I have a pretty small sample size but this theory has definitely been confirmed by several friends). Just like Sam, we used a pull up at night but, also just like Sam, she started holding it at night after just a few days so we are all undies all the time now. (Actually, she wears swim dipes at the pool still because those are the rules).
We again used this three day method which I highly recommend! We also decided this time to skip any potty seats and just go right onto the potty which was awesome!! Definitely recommend doing that too (Thanks for the encouragement, Merritt!).
Here are a couple pics:
C chugging juice on the first morning (that trash bag in the background is full of her old diapers.
C sitting outside in her undies enjoying a popsicle.
Sam turned 4.5 on April 6th and I realized about a month later that I should probably update the blog with what Sam is up to at this age. And then a month after that, I actually got around to doing it! And a few months after that I finally finished it!
Weight and Height: Sam weights about 38-40 lbs and is tall for his age, though I don’t know how tall. He is tall and skinny, just like mommy and daddy at his age!
Sleeping: Sam has basically stopped napping at this point. He still has quiet time in our room from 1:30-3:30 but I can’t remember the last time he actually fell asleep during that time. But even if he doesn’t sleep, I still like him to have that “quiet time.” That’s about the only time during the day that he will happily play by himself and from what I hear, he really uses his imagination! I do wish he would fall asleep a little more often because I can tell he is tired in the afternoons. Whenever we take a longish drive in the afternoon he falls asleep in the car. He and Campbell go to sleep at about 8 and I think ideally Sam would like to sleep in until 8 or later but Campbell often wakes him up a little earlier.
Eating: Sam is a pretty good eater, though he still claims to not like cheese (even though he likes macaroni and cheese, pizza, etc.). We are still really encouraging him to try things and not say things like “yuck” when he doesn’t like something. He does pretty well with that when he’s not cranky!
Reading: Sam is really becoming interested in letters and words. He has started sounding out words and can even read some simple books! His teachers have told me that he does such a good job at circle time and pays super close attention! So cute. Here he is reading a little book I printed out for him (this is what happens when your mother is a reading specialist).
Math: Sam is also super interested in numbers lately. He can count quickly up to 110 and just today (during “quiet” time) he shouted down to me that he had just counted to 200–but I haven’t heard that for myself! They also practice counting by 10s at school and counting in Spanish. I love that he is so interested in math!
Behavior: This has been a tough area for us. Sam can be super well behaved and lovely but other times can be quit a handful. It seems like his most common problem is getting very worked up and hyper and then not being able to control himself. He gets especially worked up when playing with friends, which often causes him to be too rough. He also gets SUPER cranky when he is embarrassed.
We have started using 1-2-3 Magic! which has helped a lot. Basically whenever he does something he’s not supposed to we say, that’s 1. If he continues, we say that’s 2. He usually turns his behavior around at that point but if not, we say “that’s 3, time out.” The time outs work really well, if for no other reason than to give us all a reset. We have also been keeping a star chart to encourage good behavior. Whenever we catch him doing something super helpful or sweet, we give him a star. When he gets 30, he gets to pick out a toy. He really likes earning stars and it is a good way for us to remember to notice his good behaviors!
He can also be super sweet and cuddly and loving these days. I don’t want to forget that! My favorite moments are usually in the car when he is asking me questions, telling me about school, or making some random observations about something out his window.
Sibling Dynamics:
For the most part, Sam is a great big brother. He plays with Campbell, teaches her things, helps her do things, and is generally very sweet. He does get a little rough with her which we have been working on. He often hits or pushes her when he is frustrated and almost seems to just be in a habit of it now. He gets to play 30 minutes of video games every weekend so we have started subtracting a minute for every hit. The first week we did this he was down to about 12 minutes by the time the weekend rolled around. But lately he tends to have most of his 30 minutes left. Progress!
I know there is a lot more to say but I feel like if I don’t stop soon, I will never get this posted. I just love, love, love seeing the little boy Sam is growing into. We are constantly amazed by the clever and funny things he says and does. I can’t wait to see what the years bring. We love you Sam!!
What We Ate Wednesday: Every Wednesday I write a blog post with all of the vegetarian dinners we ate this week.
I skipped last week’s WWAW post since we were at the beach, so I am combining the last two weeks. Enjoy!
Wednesday: Weird Dinner
I was trying to use up ingredients from our CSA delivery so we ended up with these snow peas, this slaw, and scrambled eggs.
Thursday: Indian Take Out
We have a tradition of getting Indian take out whenever Ben’s parents come to town. I don’t know why. Ha!
Friday: Leftovers
Cleaning out the fridge before the beach
Saturday: Date Night
Ben’s sister had to stay in DC on Saturday night for work, so Ben and I volunteered to stay behind and drive her to the beach on Sunday. Judi and Char took Sam and Campbell to the beach on Saturday morning. Ben and I had so much fun having a little staycation. We went to dinner at toki underground, a restaurant we have been wanting to try but never have because they always have a long wait. We figured a night kid free was the perfect time to try it! it was really good!! And so unique.
Sunday: Pasta Primavera
Ben grilled squash, tomatoes, and carrots (seasoned with olive oil. salt, and pepper) and then we mixed it with pasta and fresh basil. We served it with feta and parmesan. Delicious and healthy!!
Monday: Stone Harbor Pizza
We had a great pizza dinner in Stone Harbor followed by ice cream at Springer’s. Perfect beachy evening.
Ben, Rebecca and I went out for a fun night on the town. We ended up getting Mexican at Gecko’s. Pretty good but not great.
Thursday: Rusty Nail
I love this place! They have a long wait but they also have a huge sandpit that the kids can play in while the adults sip drinks while listening to live music. Why don’t more places do that? It is heaven! And the food is great too–all that yummy fried beach food!
Friday: 4th of July feast
We made field roast sausages, fried halloumi, and potato salad. By the way, I feel that I should mention that I have had veggie hotdogs before and think all of them are totally disgusting. But I love field roasts!! You should definitely try them if you haven’t already! They aren’t fake-y, just a lot of herbs and vegetables. They have a great smokey flavor and are good in a bun with lots of mustard!
Saturday: Quesadillas
Everyone was tired and full from our drive home and lunch at Wawa’s so we just made some simple quesadillas with black beans. (We use the awesomely delicious uncooked Tortilla Land tortillas and here is where you can buy them!)
Sunday: Pizza at the Pool
Our friends invited us over for Pizza and beer at their pool. How could we say no to that? The kids had so much fun playing in the pool and we all loved our pizza. I brought over this yummy kale salad but then forgot the forks so we skipped that (but Ben and I ate it all up when we got home). Thanks for the invite, McGuire’s!
Monday: Leftovers
We had leftover field roast sausages and potato salad.
Tuesday: Fajitas
We were planning to grill veggies (portobellos, oniones, red bell pepper, squash, tomatoes in olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder) but a huge storm hit so we ended up roasting them in the oven. Still good! We served them with flour tortillas, guacamole, shredded jack cheese (could definitely skip to make it vegan), and black beans.
What We Ate Wednesday: Every Wednesday I write a blog post with all of the vegetarian dinners we ate this week.
A lot more meals-out than homemade dinners this week!!
Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner
Scrambled eggs wish swiss chard (all blended together) and cream cheese biscuits (these are the best biscuits and are super easy to make)!
Thursday: Marlow’s Tavern
My friend Maura and I headed down to ATL for the weekend to attend the Everything Applique Conference (more on that later). We stayed with my seester and family, which was just the icing on the cake!! Sweet Gene picked us up from the airport and when we were almost back to the house, I realized I was starving. Since they had no food at the house, we ran to Marlow’s to pick up dinner for Maura and I. It is one of my favorite restaurants and it is right down the street from Nikki and Gene’s house. I had a black bean burger and fried okra. Yum!
Friday: Flying Biscuit
I have to go to the Flying Biscuit every time I am in Atlanta. This place is soooo good. I got the pimento grilled cheese sandwich with grilled macaroni and cheese. And I ordered a biscuit with apple butter to go so I could have a special breakfast treat the next morning!
Saturday: Chuy’s
So yeah, I went to Chuy’s twice in one week. Awesome!
Sunday: Grilled Halloumi, Asparagus, and Brown Rice
Back home! I tossed halloumi cheese and asparagus (from our CSA) with olive oil, salt, and pepper and Ben grilled them. Delicious!! I also made some brown rice and added a good amount of butter to it–turns out that makes it much tastier!
Monday: Lebanese Taverna
Our friend Angie was in town for work so we all met her at Lebanese Taverna. I love that place! I got delicious shrimp kabobs with veggies and rice.
Tuesday:
We got rhubarb in our CSA so I was googling recipes and found this chutney recipe. It was so yummy! I served it with bread and sharp cheddar. We also had this chive dip with tomatoes (I thought we had carrot sticks too, but we did not.). I love a snack-y dinner! The kids had leftover salmon from Lebanese Taverna but they LOVED the rhubarb chutney!
What We Ate Wednesday: Every Wednesday I write a blog post with all of the vegetarian dinners we ate this week.
Wednesday: Quinoa Bowl
Just cook some quinoa, season it with cumin, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Then serve it with beans (I used pinto), tomatoes, cheese, greek yogurt (or sour cream), and avocado.
Thursday: Soup
I brought dinner for a friend who just had a sweet little baby boy on Wednesday and then we had the same thing the next night: cheesy garlic bread and ratatouille soup (she also had a Cesar salad and an ice cream pie).
Friday: Surprise Party
My friend Nicole threw a last minute surprise birthday party for her husband Aaron. It was sooo fun! The kids exhausted themselves playing outside while the grown ups talked and drank! It was Mexican themed so we all left full!
Saturday: Haloumi Kabobs
Ben grilled up these kabobs and I made some brown rice and a salad. Super delicious!!
Sunday: Pasta with Tomatoes, Fennel, and Basil
I asked Ben what he wanted for his Father’s Day dinner and he requested this pasta (it’s just like this one but with diced fennel). So easy and good! I also made him a surprise ice cream pie for dessert!!
Monday: Indian Pizza
They were giving samples of this at Trader Joe’s the other day. Pretty clever idea! Frozen naan, masala simmering sauce, frozen peas, mozzarella. And we also had a salad. We have been getting so much lettuce in our CSA!!!
Tuesday: Out/ Tempeh and Bok Chou
I went out for a girls night with two super fun friends. We went to Mussel Bar, which was great! We had mussels, frites, scallops, calamari, and Brussels sprouts. And a lot to drink!
For Ben and the kids I made a gingery tempeh which I won’t link to since no one seemed to like it much and a stir fried bok choy.
