So You Think You Can Pose

This little bug is cute, which is a good thing, but the trouble is that he seems to know it.  He poses and makes goofy smiles for pictures.  I've even caught him posing in front of mirrors. I wouldn't know what to do if he turns into a narcissist.  Heaven help me.

He was not sad in the above picture; 

he was just contemplating about... I don't know... Marshmallows?

A Rude Lunch Date

Or maybe I am the guilty party for being a boring lunch date.

Here is a link if you would like to watch the video on a larger scale.

Valentine's Picnic

For Valentine's day this year, I asked one of my new girlfriends if she would be interested in throwing a surprise lunch picnic for our husbands.  This is what we did...

We each made a map puzzle for our husbands and told them to open the envelope at 12:30pm the next day.

We set everything up right before the guys got to the park.  It was a beautiful day, perfect for a picnic.  My friend made these fancy basil pesto sandwiches for us and she even wrapped them up all cute with twine.  The little ones had fun running around on the field and blowing bubbles.  Ethan had the best lunch of his life: bread, crackers and dip with corn in it (he luuuurvs corn), grapes (Oh my goodness, graaapes!), and juice (gasp!).  He was practically in heaven.  And to top it all off, he ate a strudel all by himself for dessert.  Rest assured we brushed his teeth super thoroughly tonight :)

We should definitely go on picnics more often.  Happy Valentine's Day!

It's Snack Time!

A typical day with the mini consists of breakfast, lunch, nap, snack, dinner, bath, and bed.  And then of course there are the playdates, errands, and chores that we try to cram into our schedule.  Other than going on walks with the tiny tot, one of my favorite parts of our normal day is snack time.  It didn't use to be an enjoyable moment for me when Ethan was a little younger because I had the hardest time coming up with different healthy snacks to feed him, but with some help from cookbooks and pinterest snack time has turned into something that we both look forward to.  E's favorite snacks this month are crackers (Trader Joe's makes some really yummy muti-grain and wholegrain crackers), ginger cookies, pomegranate, cuties, kiwi, dates, dried mangos, dried cherries, cucumbers, carrots, hummus, cashews, and most kinds of cheeses that I offer him.  He is also loving almond milk.  Things that he doesn't like so much are madrigal and red bean soup (紅豆沙).  And since you haven't seen nearly enough pictures of my child in his highchair, here are fifty more :)

Happy snacking!

Spaghetti Face

Best Yet Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti is comfort food for me which is a little weird because I didn't grow up eating it, but somehow a heaping serving of hot spaghetti is almost therapeutic.  I've tried a few spaghetti sauce recipes but none of them were quite right until I found this one from Table for Two.  It's plain and simple, but to the point.  I didn't want a hot pot of sauce simmering on the stove for half the day so I let it simmer in my crockpot and it turned out delicious.

{ Best Yet Spaghetti Sauce }

Recipe from Table for Two

1 lb. 80/20 ground beef

1 6 oz. can tomato paste

6 oz. water

1 24 oz. jar tomato puree

5-6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp. granulated sugar

Pinch of dried oregano

Pinch of onion powder

Pinch of garlic powder

Handful of fresh basil, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large stockpot, saute garlic until soft and fragrant in 2 tbsp. of olive oil, about 2 minutes.

Throw your meat in with the garlic and brown until meat has been thoroughly cooked through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.  Pour in the tomato paste, tomato puree, and seasoning, including the fresh basil.

Stir to mix well. With the 6 oz. can from the tomato paste, fill that with water and pour it in the stockpot as well.

Let mixture simmer, uncovered, for 2 or more hours (the longer the better, but minimum 2 hours), stirring occasionally.

Serve hot over fresh pasta.

Family Pictures

My friend Jenna took some family photos for us this weekend.  She claims that she's not a professional and that she "dabbles" in photography but I think she captured some wonderful shots of our family.  We definitely had fun getting our pictures taken.  Thank you Jenna for being such a fun friend; you're a keeper!