Here’s a group photo from our little going away dinner:

We miss you and we’re really proud of you! We are praying that today is the first day of a great job with new challenges and friends and more than anything that you know the Lord is right there with you all day long!

We picked up the chicken and it was placed into our car in a tidy little box. I didn’t have to lift anything! YAY! I was feeling pretty good about things. It wouldn’t take forever to get it packed up and ready. In fact, it looked smaller than I’d expected:

Not so bad

Since I’m a bit of a paranoid preggy-pants, I decided that carrying 40lbs of chicken was not in my best interest. I’m glad to have a swell brother in-law who is willing to come over during the day to help out! Thanks Patrick!

Once inside, we opened the box and found this:

Inside the box!

After the three of us worked for a bit, we ended up with 28 chicken breasts. Not bad! I made my current fave for dinner that night: chicken parmigiana (with alphabet pasta! Beatrice chose, naturally).  After dinner, I got to work preparing the chicken into portions that we’d use regularly. I cut the chicken into chunks/cubes, strips and cutlets. All in all, I ended up with chicken for 11 meals, plus the dinner we ate “fresh” that day.

Foodsaver to the rescue!

And thanks to my Grandpa’s wonderful wedding gift to us, that chicken doesn’t take up much room at all in our freezer:

Packed away

The chicken does have great flavor and it was an incredible value (only $1.49/lb!), but 40lbs of chicken is a bit much for this little family. I like a good bargain as much as the next person, but I think the next “great deal” we get on a massive amount of food will have to be something we eat more frequently, like chickpeas!

Beatrice knew something fun was going to happen today. She asked to wear her “big bow” from Miss Jessica!”  Here are a few photos from before “school” this morning:

When we first arrived, Beatrice clung to me, but once she realized I was staying to play with her, she was a whole new girl. She found a special apparatus that allowed her to send little balls down a twisty slide and she was very interested in how it worked! We spent a long time sending down the balls and trying other toys to see if they’d go down the shoot. She also enjoyed making some art  ”for Daddy!” and if you happen to work with Jonathan, you too can appreciate the beauty of her feathered fish! They have a water table and a rice table. And yes, ours was the child eating raw (dyed) rice by the handful.

Lunchtime!

As parents, we take turns bringing lunch for the whole class and the mom who brought lunch today made really cute sandwiches cut out in the shape of trains and cars with rainbow colored fish crackers. Beatrice really enjoyed the sandwich! The crackers confused her, I think, because she kept trying to hide them in her chair. She really enjoys sitting at the little tables with the other children and seeing that everyone is eating the same foods.

Cheese!

I did not get a photo of the outside, but the bakery is in the lower portion of a fairly modern building. We walked in and Beatrice was very happy to see the “treats!” in the bakery case.

On our previous visits, Beatrice has really enjoyed the guava pocket, so I ordered one for her and a strawberry croissant for me. Guess who ate the croissant? Yep! She LOVED it though and ate it layer by flaky layer. Brenda wisely noted that this is how grown-ups would like to eat croissants, but babies are able to get away with it!

Here we are with our treats!

I realize this modern high-rise building was likely not designed with toddlers in mind, but luckily for us, the area was PERFECT for a toddler!

Beatrice had a great time splashing in the water. She also maybe went home in only her diaper. She was soaked! She was also very happy and that’s what matters, right?

Explored at the park:

Picnicked together in the shade:

Making jam:

Had a delightful time at a tea party where we got to wear fun hats:

Enjoyed some fun at the beach:

Cooked up some rocks while camping:

There you have it. Fun with friends, camping, being outside, enjoying family fun. Basically anything but spending time on the computer. That’s okay.

Sticking close to Momma

Once she caught on, this is what I saw:

Splashy! Splashy!

So nice!

Brave girl!

The splash park was a fun way to cool down with some friends and just the right amount of time to guarantee a nearly four hour nap that afternoon!

This past Friday, we had my great friend J over for a little adventure and some dinner. It was sunny! It was warm! We went to our local nursery where we perused the offerings for both indoor and outdoor plants and generally enjoyed the last of the warm spring sun. It should also be noted that I was a horrible hostess and didn’t hear J as she arrived! I was so happy that it was sunny, I was outside trimming some of our shrubs and pulling weeds. This meant that rather than wearing my maxi-dress as planned, I went to the nursery with my yard work clothes on. No big deal, but not a great way to be a good friend! Thankfully, J is full of grace and she didn’t even say anything unkind about my old jeans and t-shirt.

After our time out and about, we started our culinary adventure. I’m not going to lie to you, I had low expectations for this recipe. I like broccoli. I like potatoes. I like pepperoni. But I’ve never had them all together and it just seemed a little crazy to me! It was crazy. Crazy delicious!

Friday night delight!

For those of you who have a copy, this recipe can be found on page 20 of the May issue of Everyday Food magazine. A quick online search revealed that you can also find it here. I’d avoid going here though, because nobody really wants to know how much fat and calories are in pizza, right? Or maybe you enjoy having nutritional information and this would be totally helpful because it is already there and you don’t have to spend the rest of your Friday night calculating the calories. You can watch a movie instead!

Overall, I was impressed with this recipe, but for my time and money, we’ll be dining on junk pizza rather than forking over the money for special ingredients or spending my time searching four local stores and a farmers market to find broccoli rabe (which we never found). Broccolini is a great substitute if you can’t locate broccoli rabe.  I’d even go so crazy as to say you could use regular broccoli. This would be a great option for a dinner party or if you were having a new man friend over and you weren’t sure how he felt about meats or veggies. There’s something for everyone! (As long as everyone is fine with picking off the toppings they hate!)

Happy cooking friends! May your pizzas all be delicious and may your tea always be warm!

Everyone got to swing on the swings:

Beatrice loves the swings!

M&E

After the swings, we had a very important milestone occassion: Beatrice played with sticks and rocks for the first time! YAY!

Sticks and rocks!

Storing pebbles in her skirt. Classy!

After all the fun at the park, it was about time for each child to melt down in a different way. Beatrice positively refused to be placed into her stroller, which meant that she tried to strangle herself while writhing around as I attempted to strap her into the seat. I maybe yelled, “You’re still a blessing!” really loudly. Not awkward at all for everyone in the neighborhood and our companions. Nope. Arg. We got back to Megan’s, had a banana and then headed home. She was so sleepy, she fell asleep in the car before we even made it out of the neighborhood. When she awoke from her nap, she had some blueberries, which are one of her favorite treats. She was so excited about them, she ate them frozen. I think she’s maybe also getting her molars, so they were helping to relieve some of that teething pain.

Blueberry Bearded baby!

Violet! You're turning Violet!

Beatrice was really impressed with the large tank at the entry. She didn’t know what we were doing and then finally looked up and was thrilled!

She was not a fan of the touch tank, but she enjoyed watching me touch things!

She was especially fond of seeing the fish come close enough for her to “touch” them. At first she was afraid she’d fall in, but once I showed her that the glass was protecting her from doing that, she had a blast watching the fish swim past her!

Thanks for such a fun day, Rafer girls! We’re looking forward to more adventures with you!

Home Cake Seattle

After picking up some supplies, we stopped at Panera for some lunch. Beatrice was able to have her first taste of pickle!

Mmm! Pickle!

She liked it! This is a good thing because Jonathan and I are big fans of dill pickles.