Month: June 2015

***update: both kids have ear infections and we all have fevers now!***

Growing up, whenever my family was down with something we usually referred to it as being “sicky” . With my kids, the verbiage has morphed into being “sicky poo” although, I’m sure that’s about to change since one of Caidoc’s new favorite words is “poop” , as in “you need to potty-poop mom? Baby, you potty-poop?” Charming. But, in only-a-way-a-parent-would-understand, it is kinda cute 😜. 

   
  

It’s  Garden week  with school! Little man loves to work in the garden despite the sickies .
  Zelie has been sick for weeks now. Doctors are not being very helpful, but I’m pretty sure it’s a drawn out virus . She’s being such a champ. 

   
 Unfortunately, Caidoc woke up this morning with a fever. It was bound to happen I know, and I am glad it’s happening before vacation, but it is still hard not to feel sorry for myself. Two crabby, touchy, clingy, babes ride the nerve to a thread. 
 I’m a bit woeful about the hot weather this week too since that always makes fever extra miserable. So, I’ve been brainstorming ideas to keep the littles happy without being too confined and housebound. Most advise I get is to just plop them in front of a movie. While this works well with Caidoc, Zelie still doesn’t have tolerance for it. Soo… Hmm. The pondering continues. 

I’ve been trying to work out a lot lately, and I was feeling pretty good about it but man alive, we hiked Rattlesnake Ledge and it put me through the ringer! At the time I didn’t notice, but today I am sore. Mostly my back is achy, but I’m gonna bet that’s front toting her highness in the ergo. We are in the market for a better hiking pack for her and maybe Caidoc too. Whew! It was a workout and my glutes are feeling it. Here I was thinking I had been working pretty hard but the elevation proved me otherwise! I need to find some good hills to train on around our house so I don’t have to take the extra time to drive to them- that’s just a hassle. 
Anyways, this post was a few days in the making due to our rough week!

What a weekend! So busy and so fun. Our Father’s Day pretty much spanned the whole weekend. We spent Saturday morning at the farmers market, and the kids played in the splash pad. 

 
      
I love getting flowers at the market and our veggies for the week since they are so darn cheap ! That bouquet? FIVE BUCKS. Not too shabby. 

   

 

Caidoc was so sweet and picked flowers for me and Zelie. I put mine behind my ear so Caidoc was trying to do the same for ” baby” and he couldn’t quite figure it out. He went from placing it on the top of her head, her shoulder, to finally saying, “help please mom”. Zelie just sat there waiting to be decorated, haha! 
Zelie is becoming quite fearless and is very close to giving up crawling all together. She is in the stage where she doesnt quite make it without holding a hand, but easily get annoyed at having to crawl. She wants to run around like Caidoc and not be confined by the pack or stroller. So, she’s a tad of a pill in that way these days 😉 
 We gave Chris his gift on Saturday; a hour with a Lamborghini on an auto cross track- he got to drive a few laps. Caidoc made some super cute artwork for his office too.

   
We also went on a hike at the crack of dawn on Sunday since the kids were up anyways. We hiked Rattlesnake Lake Ledge I’m glad we did it early because on our way down the mountain there were tons of people parking and heading up. Perks of early rising!

   
               

 We were also able to squeeze in some time in the sun in the backyard. 
I made Chris baked salmon and such in for dinner with a huge salad from our garden and the farmers market. We splurged and had brownies and ice cream for dessert. Yum! 

All in all- great success! Happy Father’s Day hubs! 

 This weather is making for some cute pictures! 

Caidoc and Zelie had a blast at the Auburn kids day on Friday. Caidoc has gotten so bold about wanting to be involved with everything! He almost even rode a pony a by himself but got a little nervous when he got closer. He said on the way home he wants to ride a “ponee” next time, “like a knight!” 😆 love him! 

  

6 am runs are happening around here 🙂 still trying for that 1/2 in September. 

 

I’m so loving having a backyard for the kids to just roam free… Sometimes sans clothes 😉    
 

School is going very well with Caidoc. After going to the homeschool convention that I bravely went to alone with the two kids (!) I got all new inspiration and enthusiasm.  I hit the dollar store later that week to make my own knock offs of some of the more pricey items I wanted there.  
My little ham. She’s really taken to book reading lately and has favorites that she requests continuously.   
An extremely momentous thing happened just last night. 

I cut Caidoc’s hair. 

He has never had a hair cut in all his three little years of life. I couldn’t bring myself to do with with his handsome golden curls. He looks like a cherub! But, it was getting a little out of control. He was hot, and it rarely looked decent and he hates having it combed. 

 
When I said, ” Caidoc do you want a hair cut like I give daddy?” He said, “oh no mom! ” I asked him, “why?”

He then ran to his book shelf and pulled out his kids Bible and furiously paged through till he got to the story of Sampson. 

“Oh no mom! No cut me hair!” He said pointing to the pictures. 

Yeah. My heart broke a little too. 

Luckily, husband and were able to show him that dad is still strong after his hair cut, and that Caidoc would still be just as strong. 

So, after Zelie was asleep and Caidoc was reading, I cut his hair. He actually don’t even notice. I thought it would be a whole ordeal, but he didn’t even blink.  

  

  
I was sad. 

Like,  really sad.  But I didn’t show it because I didn’t want him to freak out at all. I thought his curls would be gone forever! But, as it turns out, his hair looks even more curly. 

My little man is all grown up! 
  
Have a wonderful Father’s Day everyone! 

So, I usually only put recipes on here if I’m particularly proud of them, or if they are just too delicious to not share. 

This one hits both criteria, big time. I give you, the… 

  
 Veggie Pesto Quesadilla! 

Ingredients:

Makes three large quesadillas 

6 Tortillas (whole wheat, white, grain, corn, etc.) 

1 green bell pepper, diced 

2 Roma tomatos, sliced into rounds

1/2 cup fresh green onion, minced 

1 cup of kale, shredded 

Parmesan cheese, amount to taste 

Mozzarella/cheddar cheese, amount to taste 

3 tablespoons of pesto 

1 cup shredded cooked chicken (optional) 

Directions: 

1. Heat griddle to 375 degrees 

2. Chop all your veggies and meat (if needed) and divide into even piles. 

  
3. Place a tortilla ( or however many will fit without overlapping, mine was two) on your griddle 

  
4. Slather a tablespoon of pesto onto each tortilla, then sprinkle desired amount of cheese 

  
5. Add the veggies and meat, sprinkled evenly

  
6. Place another tortilla on top 

7. Flip when the bottom is crispy, like the picture. Wait till the other side is crispy then remove. This only takes a few minutes. 

  
8. Slice with a pizza cutter and enjoy! 

  

Notes: 

–Most of my cooking is done by “feel” so, these measurements reflect that. If you feel like more or less of something, go for it! I’d highly recommend following the directions the first time though, because it can go wrong 🙂 

— I made kid friendly ones as well, just pesto, chicken, and cheese. The kids loved them! 

  
— I really, really reccomend the tortillas I used. They are from Costco and packed with all sorts of amazing goodness. They do have gluten in them so I don’t give them to Caidoc often. 

  
— Once a month I buy my nice, organic, antibiotic free chicken and cook a bunch plain and freeze it. That’s what I used here. This was a super quick dinner to make because of that. 

This morning I had a meet up with my KMG group to pick strawberries. I was not hopeful, thinking Caidoc would be bored and Zelie would not be contained. We went for it anyways, I figured we might as well try. 

We arrived earlier than everyone by a half an hour since my kids are up so early anyways. The sun was already blazing! It’s going to be such a gorgeous week!  

Caidoc totally surprised me and picked and hung out without protest for an hour and a half. Zelie was on my back and didn’t make a peep! I was floored. Caidoc picked a little but didn’t figured out he could eat them till his friends showed up 🙂 

   
 

Zelie was such a trooper. The kids were slathered with sunscreen ( yes, I believe in sunscreen. I know a lot of people don’t and there is new speculation that it is not helpful in the long run but um, I’m just not gonna let my fair skinned babies get torched, sorry- not sorry) 

   
  
We picked almost 3 pounds. Like I said, Zelie was a trooper but she’s been recovering from some sort of virus. I don’t know what’s going on. When I took her out of the pack one eye was all red and swollen! I’m so frustrated that she’s not getting better poor thing 🙁 

 
All the berries were super tiny but SO sweet. 

   

  

Who doesn’t love tacos and berries for lunch?! Yum! 

  

Have a good Monday!  

                        

I actually loathe the blues. No, for real, the noise makes my skin crawl. But, that’s pretty much the feeling I’ve been having all week. Skin crawling, eating piercing, cacophony of noise from the tiny humans in our house. 

They look happy here, as long as I’m holding them. Both of them.    
 Zelie has been epically miserable. I finally got her into the doctor today and she is coming down from some super nasty virus. Mouth sores, ear infection, etc. she’s  even lost weight. When the only thing she would take was a popsicle from Caidoc, I knew something was super wrong. She’s has such a huge appetite normally and is so happy. In the beginning I chalked it up to teething. Boy, I was wrong! 

Besides the illness from Zelie and general attitude from Caidoc, it’s been stressful on pretty much every other front of life. I won’t go on, it’s depressing to go into detail really. But, I’m ready for things to start to look up… Anyday now. 

 
Caidoc has been very into reading his “By-bowl ” (Bible).  It’s very cute. I’m gonna be honest, it’s pretty much the story on David and Goliath on repeat 😉 it’s all swords and knights around here these days. 

 
Hope your week has been grand and that you’re enjoying the sunshine! 

Cheers!  

What do you do when you really want pizza on Friday night but the budget really can’t allow for it that week? 

You get creative that’s what! 

You may or may not know this about me (but you probably do by now), I am a very, very determined person. So, when this mama wants pizza, this mama gets pizza one way or the other. 

I made several loaves of French bread Monday morning so that I would have sides for dinners this week. By Friday one was left and I really didn’t want it to get all gross and stale. So, combine my desire for pizza and I desire to not waste food, and voilà! I give you… 

French Bread Pizza

1 medium sized loaf of French bread (mine was garlic rosemary but plain is just fine) 

1-2 cups of red or white pasta sauce 

3-4 cups of mozzarella cheese

Your choice of toppings 

Directions

1. Place the loaf on a cookie sheet and slice length wise 

   

2. If your loaf is store bought I suggest lightly toasting it in the oven first at this point. 

3. Generously coat with sauce 

 
I made a mess of mine… 

4. Gather your toppings and go to town! 

  

Since it was Friday we had a vegetarian pizza. I went with olives, tomatoes, spinach, green onion, and parmesan cheese. I had fresh produce from a local farm and wanted to use some- yum! 

   

 If you can’t tell I love toppings… 

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and cook for ~30 minutes. 

6. Slice and serve! I found my sliced easily with a butcher knife. 

   
   
Torally satisfied my pizza craving, and it’s like a deep dish version! Even better 🙂 yum! 

I have been dying to take Caidoc to the Museum of Flight and I finally made it happen! I arranged our curriculum so that my week about airplanes would fall on the same week as the first Thursday of June. Why? 

Because each first Thursday of the month is FREE admission to the Museum of Flight! I got Caidoc excited all week learning about planes and talking about the “special adventure ” we were going to take on Thursday. The free hours are from 5-9 so we packed up right as Chris got home from work. 

   
  
I’m gonna pay myself on the back here a bit- it was a huge hit. I made sure to pack dinner for the kids to eat on the way home so we could stay longer. It helps it’s only thirty minutes away. I was so giddy, I have amazing memories of this place growing up. Through Civil Air Patrol I came here many times and am quite familiar with it. Chris has actually been here twice as well- once three years ago with me for his company party ( I was pregnant with Caidoc!) and once only last week for another work related venture! 

 

I made sure he remembered to wear his hat with a plane on it. He felt pretty    Official 😉 
  
Caidoc couldn’t get enough of it. It was amazing to watch so much learning go on in that little head.  

   
              

At first I thought it was totally packed for free Thursday, but it turns out it was a Seattle school district  convention which was really neat! All these kids in authentic costumes had displays up of space, aircraft history, and more. 

   
        
I love how hands on this place is. Caidoc was in heaven! I’m not gonna lie, Chris and I might have gotten into all the kid intended planes as well 😁

    
   

Zelie was such a little trooper and filtered with anyone who would look at her, haha! 

   
     

   

It was a super fun trip. We got Caidoc this little pressed penny, from one of those machine where ya turn the wheel to squish the penny, ya know? Anyways, it came out, and after Caidoc tried to eat it thinking it was candy, I said, ” Caidoc! Look at that! How special! It has a plane on it so you can always remember your trip here!” And you know how a flattened penny looks right?  

Caidoc said, ” OOO! A football! Yay!” 

Chris was very proud. 

Caidoc is very pleased with his “football” . 

  
The trip made a big impression. “No home, mom! No home!” Caidoc did not want to leave. 

The next day he asked to go back! That trip taught him more than I could have in a week. 

I can’t wait for all our other field trips coming up this summer! 

… Oh wait, mom’s don’t get weekends! 

   

We had a busy week which collided with not so great sleep for both kids, a full blown THREENAGER Caidoc and a super teething Zelie. 

 
The sleepiness and crabbiness was punctuated with some good times though, particularly our trip to the Museum of Flight!  This week in homeschooling the theme was Planes, the letter P, and 1-10 number review. Look for my post tomorrow to find out all about our fun field trip! 

 
Today was the beginning of a super hot streak that’s suppose to last all through next week. Time to break out the sunscreen for my fair babies! 

   

  

  Today was a hard day in particular. Caidoc has just been pushing every limit lately. I’m not sure what’s going on. I’m pretty stressed so I’m sure he’s feeling that. I’ve been running to combat the stress but I don’t think I got in enough miles this week. Chris has been working long hours lately too so our combined stress and lack of sleep is rubbing off on them- it’s a vicious cycle, kids are crabby, parents get crabby, and vice versa. 

   
 We have a long weekend ahead too, so I’m hoping that will go better than this past week. I’m committed to it being better! 

Happy Friday!