1. Being intentional and making memories. One benefit to working a lot more, is that I am trying to be more intentional with my time with the kids. That doesn't necessarily mean I sit and play with them all the time, but because I have other things to do, I'll set up an activity for them, or take 5 minutes to read a book, take an hour in the evening to "go on an adventure" as Dom calls it, etc.
Hilarious father-son water fight on the balcony while we all sat with our feet in a bucket of ice water.
Making memories - first freezies!
It was a scorcher on Monday, so right after dinner I took the kids to the water park in Clayton. It was not nearly as busy as I was expecting! Dom didn't go in the water (not surprising), and Emilia came through with me carrying her, but had fun! They spent most of the time on the toddler playground.
Dom "making honey"
She says she's mopping. We get morning and late afternoon shade in front of our house (from 1130-330 or so it's mostly sun), so we try to get out there to play in the shade when it's a tolerable temperature.
Sit-ervising (in front of the neighbour's garage because that's where the sun was)
This kid plays garbage truck all day long. With all sorts of different things that aren't garbage trucks. The wagon with buckets of paper/toys, his toy screws and plyers, the buggie and a bucket of anything, his dump truck, etc. etc.
Always have to "go one time around the complex!"
Very slowly making her way up the "hill" in our complex, but very determined to do it on her own. "Emilia, do you want some help?" "No, me got it."
2. Mom being on vacation. Mom has helped out a lot lately, and came to watch the kids for a few hours yesterday morning so I could go into the Spartan Foundation to get some work done. She'll do that every so often so I can practice juggling two jobs before the fall when everyone's lives pick back up!
3. Fresh ingredients. A few weeks back I picked up a basil plant from Costco, and as it turns out it is MASSIVE! Lucky for me basil is resilient, so it's still kicking (I kill all the plants). This week I made a batch of pesto and it was so delicious - I liked it better than store bought! I just happened to have all the ingredients in the house and it took literally 5 minutes.
Recipe for pesto and pesto pasta below :)
4. Hot weather cooking solutions. So hot lately (super not complaining, I like hot better than cold!), which makes cooking tough. I refuse to turn on the oven, but remembered we have a toaster oven! It's out on our deck and I used it to make some philly cheese steak sandwiches, and roasted some vegetables for our pesto pasta dinner using the aforementioned homemade pesto! Sooo good. It's a made up recipe, but I'll include the ingredients for the pasta below.
I suggested we eat lunch outside one day. Best idea ever! So nice on our back patio <3
We eat a lot of veggies lately! Also, these sandwiches... I had herbs and cheese sub buns, so I put garlic butter on and toasted them, then spread some pesto, and added roast beef and cheddar cheese. I toasted them again in the toaster oven and OMG. So delicious!
5. Air conditioners. We have two air conditioners, and we've had them in the kids' rooms because they get the evening sun, and otherwise get over 30 degrees at bedtime. Well David spontaneously made the choice Tuesday night to move Emilia into Dom's room on the "bottom bunk" so we could steal her A/C. I had low expectations, but by some miracle they were both asleep by 8, and Emilia was awake quietly at 7:15 so Dave got her. I had to WAKE DOM UP! at 8:15 since my mom was coming over and I had to get to work. Never ever has that happened before, but it happened again today! He slept in til 8. He's always up at 6 yelling for us to come get him. Magic! Also, Emilia had zero issue being in a new bed. She's so easy sometimes.
No pictures of AC because that would be boring, so here's a few of Dom playing in the sprinkler!
6. Figuring out a routine. We're working on adjusting our lives to a new routine and schedule with all these huge changes we've made lately. I get up at 6, and Dave is up between 5 and 630 depending on the day. I have my coffee, breakfast, and watch the news. Then at 7, Dave gets the kids and does breakfast, while I take the dog for a walk (since it's so hot out). Dave then heads down to his office and works pretty much the whole day either on his computer or out at shoots. I have started working out, so I'll try to do a 20 minute workout in the morning before it gets too hot. I've been finding my mind wanders a lot during yoga lately, so I need something a little more intense for a bit! I work when I can while the kids are up, but I'm "on kid duty" most of the morning. Then around 3 Dave is done work, and we spend some family time together before dinner, eat dinner, and have free time until bedtime. After they go down to bed, we catch up on our days, and have grown-up time! (We started watching the Sherlock BBC series again - so good!)
As much as life is crazy and busy and stressful sometimes, I am very grateful for this life we have!
Tuesday's Pesto Pasta Recipe:
- Red & Yellow Pepper (halved, seeded & roasted)
- Red Onion (halved and roasted)
- 1/2 Large Yellow Onion (halved and roasted)
- Small Yellow Squash (sliced and roasted)
- Mushrooms (sliced and sauteed)
- Italian Sausage (cooked in frying pan)
- Sun-dried Tomatoes (chopped)
- Feta Cheese (crumbled)
- Pesto
- Noodles (I used bowtie, but any would work. I like rotini b/c pesto sticks well to it)
I roasted all the vegetables earlier in the day, so just cooked up the sausage and added all other vegetables to it while the noodles cooked. After noodles are cooked and drained, add pesto and mix. Add the veggie/sausage mix, and then add the feta cheese and stir it up! So simple, relatively low fat, and delicious!
Basil Pesto Recipe:
- 2 cups basil (I did 1.5 cups basil and 0.5 cups spinach to make more vibrant green colour)
- 1/3 cup pine nuts (I used walnuts)
- 3 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. pepper
In food processor, chop up basil and pine nuts. Add garlic and parmesan and blend again. Drizzle in olive oil. Stir in salt and pepper.
So easy!
No comments:
Post a Comment