Author: Jen

The Rundown: 22 Months

Well, our little lady is officially 22 months old…  Just 2 months from her 2nd birthday – yikes. So hard to get my head wrapped around the fact that I will soon have a 2 year old little girl. And she’s definitely becoming a little girl.  She’s communicating more than ever, expressing her preferences more than ever, and becoming more independent than ever.

Here’s what she was up to from 21 to 22 months…

IMG 5547

Gracen loves:

  • Being outdoors
  • Being around other kids
  • Visiting the playground
  • Going down fast slides
  • Baking and cooking with Mama
  • Watching butterflies flitter around
  • Running laps around the house (one night this month she did 15 laps in a row)
  • Jumping, dancing, and spinning
  • Splashing in puddles
  • Helping with laundry
  • Riding the bus and sky train
  • Action songs
  • Tickling people
  • Giving ‘run hugs’
  • Watching Cullen’s ABC’s Youtube channel
  • Exploring new places
  • Drawing and colouring
  • Trying new games and activities
  • Having her nails painted (much to her Papa’s dismay)

She dislikes:

  • When she wants to go somewhere and you stop her from doing so
  • Having her bellybutton being covered by her nighttime diaper
  • Mama or Papa singing along with Cullen’s ABC’s songs

She thinks it’s hilarious when:

  • You spritz her with a spray bottle
  • You make silly noises
  • You chase her

IMG 5549

Grae’s new foods include:

  • Bean sprouts
  • Hima melon
  • Unsweetened chocolate almond milk
  • Homemade kale chips

IMG 5553

The new words/phrases she regularly uses include:

  • “lid”
  • “Milk please, Mama”
  • “peel”
  • “towel”
  • “Mommy” (so weird to be called that instead of ‘Mama’)
  • “new”
  • “doot” – do it
  • “good girl!”
  • “yellow”
  • “real”
  • “pop!”
  • “dump”
  • “drop”
  • “step”
  • “sleep”
  • “more muwah” (more kisses)
  • “wheel”
  • “mail”
  • “email”
  • “mirror”
  • “come”
  • “good job!”
  • “our car grey!” (our car is grey)
  • “uncle car red” (uncle’s car is red)
  • “stop”
  • “swing”
  • “sit”
  • “ice”
  • “apple sauce”
  • “apricot”
  • “feta”
  • “back”
  • “almond butter”
  • “high”
  • “higher”
  • “pick”
  • “idea”
  • “way”
  • “sock”
  • “wait”
  • “zoo”
  • “read”
  • “tail”
  • “beach”
  • “onesie”
  • “chicken”
  • “Apple store”
  • “mall”
  • “brella” (umbrella)
  • “stick”
  • “panties”
  • “hide-seek” (hide-and-seek)
  • “tickle tickle”
  • “whale”
  • “toot toot”
  • “roll”
  • “animal”
  • “come”
  • “money”
  • “red”
  • “arm”
  • “see”
  • “shoe”
  • “tea top” (tea pot)
  • “jamjams” (pajamas)
  • “black”
  • “fun”
  • “do”
  • “sweep”
  • “button”
  • “eyebrow”
  • “tock tick” (clock sound)
  • “truck”
  • “clean”
  • “school”
  • “pile”
  • “sun”
  • “train”
  • “snap”
  • “barn”
  • “egg”
  • “bead”
  • “pear”
  • “uncle” (yay! finally!)
  • “big”
  • “sock”
  • “Elmo”
  • “oopsie daiso!” (oopsie daisy!)
  • “tag”
  • “sticker”
  • “braid”

The new signs she’s using regularly include:

  • wait
  • wag
  • wheel

IMG 5554

She:

  • Discovered shadows and loves making her shadow wave
  • Now points out A’s and O’s (as well as G’s)
  • Can now climb up the rock climbing wall on playgrounds
  • Now repeats almost anything you ask her to say
  • Is now pretty good at stopping and coming back when you ask her to do so (even when she’s desperately on a mission to go somewhere)
  • Automatically picks out a diaper, onesie, and pajamas on her own after bath time
  • Happily sits while her nails are cut (this hasn’t always been the case)
  • She doesn’t mind getting dirty, but likes to be cleaned as soon as she’s done with messy activites
  • Describes things by colour everywhere we go (“blue car!”, “red shoe!”, “yellow duck!”, “green tree!”)
  • Enjoyed potatoes for the first time EVER (baked on the BBQ)
  • Is still fairly easy to reason with (as long as you explain why she can’t have something / do something, she is normally pretty accepting of the situation)
  • Now does the actions to many songs (The Wheels on the Bus, Baby Bumble Bee, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, If You’re Happy and You Know It, The Hokey Pokey, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider are some of her favourites)
  • Can now point out and name almost all body parts
  • Continues to be extremely kind – she happily shares, greets little playmates with an enthusiastic “hiiii!”, and becomes incredibly concerned if someone is sad, hurt, or upset.

IMG 5556

Funny / Cute things she’s been up to lately:

  • If we’re headed on the door and we haven’t yet put a hat on her, she reminds us that a hat is needed to go outside
  • She now signs wait Kuwaiti style – love it
  • She begs for raw red onion while Mama cooks and takes handful after handful, announces “Purple onion!” and then shoves them into her little mouth – weirdo
  • She calls Smart cars and VW Beetles “baby cars”
  • “Happy” is the opposite of all things bad (so if food is not hot – it’s happy, if something is not dirty – it’s happy, if a body part does not hurt – it’s happy)
  • Every time you mention going outside, Grae immediately exclaims, “Haaaaat! Flap flips!”

Well, that was our month.  I can’t believe that our little lady will soon be two years old.  Must get my head wrapped around that in the next couple of months…

♥

Cousin Vanessa’s Wedding Day

Today, Brad’s cousin, Vanessa, got married right here on the family farm. As much as we spent our morning wishing and hoping that the rain would would not grace us with its presence, it did. All. day. long.  So when 2:30 rolled around, we made our way down the long gravel driveway with golf umbrellas, trying our best to get out of the way of incoming cars and minimize the amount of mud entering our shoes.  While I arrived at the wedding with puddle-filled shoes and mud in between my toes, Miss G arrived, clean, dry, and warm.  IMG 5460IMG 5465Just as we were asked to take our {hay bail} seats, something miraculous happened… The rain stopped. It couldn’t have been more perfect.  We enjoyed a beautiful short and sweet ceremony, while Grae gobbled down a container full of raspberries, a mandarin orange, and part of an apple (hungry girl!)IMG 5467IMG 5473IMG 5481IMG 5486After the ceremony was complete, we enjoyed a few minutes without rain.  Gracen explored the yard and checked out the playhouse, and we were able to snap photos of her with her Great Grandpa Leo and Manmaw.IMG 5494IMG 5496But sadly, the dryness was short-lived. The rain started coming down in full force once again, and the crowds rushed under the dinner tent to take cover.  Gracen did really well with being trapped in her seat and happily coloured, read, and enjoyed more snacks, but with a 3 hour break until dinner and very little space to move, we headed back to Manmaw’s house an hour in to work off some energy before dinner.IMG 5499We arrived back just as they were starting to call tables for dinner, and Grae kept busy with jam towers while we waited for our turn.IMG 5501IMG 5512It rained on and off during dinner and dessert (apple fritters – delish!), but whenever it let up, we’d take Gracen out for some exploring time.IMG 5516IMG 5522IMG 5523IMG 5525IMG 5527IMG 5529IMG 5532She was having a great time picking at the hay bails and smelling the flowers, until she saw another little guest wearing a polar bear hat, that is.  After that, it was straight to the photo booth to check out the props.  And they were awesome.  With each new hat, she’d ask me to take her photo so that she could see it on the camera display.  IMG 5539Unfortunately, we had to leave before the speeches and slideshow began (two of my favourite parts), but bedtime was calling.  Congrats, Vanessa and Cody!

♥

Hello, Vacay!

Overall, last night’s trip was a success.  While our little lady didn’t fall asleep until 9:57 p.m. (three and a half hours past her usual bedtime!!), she happily chatted, counted, read, and practiced saying “Hello Mamnaw!” until she finally zonked out when the sun went down.  We arrived at Brad’s parents’ place around midnight and successfully put Grae back to sleep, despite the excitement of a bedroom filled with new treasures just waiting to be explored.

This morning we woke up to birds chirping and the Okanagan sunshine in full effect. Hello, vacation! Here are some photos of our day…

IMG 5413Pool filled and warming in the sunshine.

IMG 5409

Chatting with Bella.

SwinginLoving the new tire swing PopPop made.

IMG 5434Very pleased with her new bracelet.

IMG 5436

Grae’s treat of choice.

IMG 5433Home with her farmer’s market treasures.

IMG 5441

An evening walk.

Piggy backingPiggy back rides.
 
♥

iPhoneography // Vacation Bound

IMG 4265We’re attempting my brother and sister-in-law’s famous travel-at-night-so-the-kids-sleep-in-the-car tactic tonight…  We’ve done Miss G’s bedtime routine as usual (dinner, bath, potty, jammies) and we’ve tucked her into her carseat with her usual bedtime blanket and bears just in time for her normal 6:30 bedtime.  Something tells me that our routine little lady won’t be zonking out any time soon, but we shall see…

Wish us luck!  Vacation, here we come!

♥

Fruit Cars

Apple cars are one of Gracen’s all-time favourite snacks.  Since we’re heading out on vacation tonight and today’s goal was to eat up as much of our produce as possible, I decided we’d take the apple car idea to a new level and use other kinds of fruit too.IMG 5388

Miss G riffled through the crisper and found kiwi, apples, and nectarines (perfect for car bodies) and blueberries and grapes (perfect for wheels). While fruit cars don’t really lend themselves to a ton of toddler participation, Gracen was my official passer and counter. First, we cut thin slices of kiwi, apple, and nectarine, then we chopped the grapes in half.  Since the blueberries were already quite flat, we just left them as is. Gracen’s favourite part was taking the spaghetti noodles and breaking them in small pieces – a job that’s easy and perfectly safe for toddlers.
IMG 5392Grae carefully passed me spaghetti pieces one at a time and I poked one through the front and back of each car body.IMG 5393

Next, we added our wheels.  Two on one side…
IMG 5395And two more on the other side.IMG 5397

Soon we had a whole fleet of little fruit cars.
IMG 5400

Snack time!IMG 5404

But before you can eat them, you have to zoom each one around the plate of course.
IMG 5406Then carefully disassemble the cars and neatly pile the spaghetti sticks on the table…IMG 5405

Then eat!  A perfect snack for a summer’s day.

♥

Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin

Today we gathered up some supplies, transferred the rice we dyed yesterday into a bin, and headed out into the backyard for some fun.

IMG 5321

Gracen helped me pick out the items  to add to our rainbow rice sensory bin.  We kept things pretty simple today…  Spoons, containers, cups, and a teapot (hmm… I wonder whose selection that was!)

IMG 5325

First job – take everything out and get those colours mixed together!

IMG 5327

The result? Rainbow rice!

IMG 5329

IMG 5352

Soooo beautiful!

IMG 5338

IMG 5335

IMG 5364

Next job – filling up every single container in sight.

IMG 5344

IMG 5377

IMG 5361

And then things got wild.  For a while, it was raining rice, and shortly after the whole bucket tipped over, Grae still inside.  The good thing was that Miss G found picking it all up and putting it back in the bin just as fun as dumping it in the first place.

IMG 5380

 ♥

 You can see Gracen’s other sensory bins here.

Making Vibrant Dyed Rice

I’ve had dyed rice in my bank of sensory box ideas for a long while now, and since we had a giant bag of Kokuho Rose in our kitchen (the hubby’s favourite… yummy, but white rice) and our dyed pasta turned out pretty well a few days back, I figured we’d give it a go this afternoon. I knew I wanted the colours to be really vibrant, so I decided we’d use gel dyes and something a little more potent than vinegar (hence the jars this time instead of plastic bags).  While searching bloggyland, I found that several people suggested using hand sanitizer in place of vinegar or rubbing alcohol.  It couldn’t have been more perfect actually. While we didn’t have rubbing alcohol on hand, I did have some yummy-smelling hand sanitizer that’s just been sitting around as I’ve been working on getting my germaphob tendencies under control.
IMG 5245

With gel dyes and fruit-scented hand sanitizer involved, I decided I’d get our project started before enlisting the help of Miss G.  I collected some jars, put a couple of squeezes of sanitizer in each, and then added gel dye, toothpick and all.

IMG 5249

With the sanitizer and dye bottles safely tucked away, I filled a big bowl with rice and invited my little lady to help with the rest of the process.IMG 5253

She was quite thrilled with the giant bowl of rice, so I gave her a few minutes to play with it before getting started on her first job. When good and ready, Grae added about 1 cup of rice to each jar, which turned out to be the perfect amount.IMG 5255

First step complete. I’m just glad you can’t see how much rice is on the floor…  Next time I would probably have a wide-mouth funnel on hand just to make the pouring part a little easier / less messy.
IMG 5261

With everything inside the jars, I sealed the jars tightly and the shaking began!IMG 5265

Grae and I switched off, giving each of us little breaks and the chance to watch the rice slowly become coloured and more vibrant with time.IMG 5274

Not going to lie… It took quite a lot of shaking.  We probably could have stopped earlier, but I wanted the colours to be consistent, so we shook a little more.
IMG 5281

This was the end result.

Excited

Do you think Grae was happy with the results?

IMG 5290

Next, we headed out into the solarium, industrial-sized baking sheet in hand.  I poured the rice out, removed the toothpicks, and got rid of a couple of little rice/dye clumps while Gracen oohed, ahhed, pointed, and smelled her newest sensory bin filler.IMG 5300

Just look at those colours!  And the perk to using fancy shmancy sanitizer? Deliciously nectarine mint-scented rice (slightly reminiscent of high school nights plagued by cheap, 2 litre coolers, but shhh… Don’t tell Grae.) Now all we have to do is wait patiently enough to let our scented rainbow rice dry!

♥

If youre worried that your little one may put the rice in his/her mouth, try using vinegar instead of hand sanitizer. It should have similar results and will be much safer.

Granville Island: Favourite Places & Today’s Disaster

I got this question from a local mom last time I posted about Granville Island, and I thought I’d share…

It looks like you guys go to Granville Island a lot. This summer my son will be at the age where he can enjoy these sort of outings, but the trouble is, I usually only go to the Public Market when I go to Granville Island. Where are all of these cool little spots you take your daughter to? Any tips?

I’m actually really happy to answer this question, because although I’ve always loved Granville Island, the truth is, up until we moved back to Vancouver from the Middle East, I was a Public Market and boardwalk kind of girl too.  Here’s what our normal visit looks like now:

1. First off, free parking!  I know that many of my friends pay for parking off the island and walk on, or park in pay lots on the island. Not necessary!  If you park in the lot right beside Bridges restaurant (near the public market, but not in front of it – off to the side) you can have a free stall for 3 hours!  And as long as you arrive before 9:30 or 10:00 a.m. (even on weekends) you shouldn’t have a problem finding a spot.  

2. Public Market.  We normally stop and get a little treat for Mama and a little treat for Grae when we visit.  Grae’s treat often comes from Terra Breads.  They have amazing fresh-baked bread of all sorts and can quickly tell you the ingredients in any of their homemade goodies as they keep a recipe binder on hand under the counter.  Grae’s favourites are the cheese flutes (an extra special treat because they are made with white flour) and the walnut bread.  If not bread, we normally stop at The Grainry.  They have all kinds of natural and organic goodies for purchase in small quantities, and Grae almost always ends up choosing their no-sugar-added/unsulphered dried mango or apple.  For me, it’s coffee!   My newest stop of choice is Nons.  They’re quick, they accept debit, and they’re located right beside the bank machine if you need to take out some cash. 

3. Public Seating Area.  After gathering our goodies, we almost always head outside to enjoy the seating area in front of the Public Market.  Gracen watches the birds (while I put on my brave face and try not to pass my ridiculous fear of feathery friends down to my daughter), we watch the boats come and go, and enjoy the musical performances that are often happening.  The only thing I don’t enjoy about this part of our day is the incredibly greedy/aggressive small dog-sized seagulls who are always trolling above head.  Although it has gotten much better now that the crowds are out, we’ve been swarmed twice and let me tell you, it is FREAKY.  The first time actually resulted in blood after Gracen’s finger was bit by a seagull desperate for her bread, and I’ll tell you all about today after this list. Best advice – keep all food completely tucked away.

4. Boat play structure. After our fill of aquabuses, birds, and bands, we normally stroll over to the Kid’s Market.  While the Kid’s Market itself is not my favourite place, Gracen does love all of the  at-toddler-eye-level toys for sale in the shops, so sometimes we take a quick browse. Most days, however, we head straight out back to the little boat play structure.  Gracen rotates between the role of captain and passenger inevitably makes a new little friend or two.

5. Water park & playground. After finishing up with the play boat, we walk along the little path to the water park and playground area.  The water park is still fairly new to us because we weren’t here last summer and it’s not been quite warm enough lately, but she did experiment with it a little today, and I can tell that it’s going to be a summer favourite.  On the other hand, the playground is an old favourite.  Between the saucer swing, the climbing structure/merry-go-round, the slides, the sand pit, and the kid-operated river, we can easily spend a couple hours there. The plus is that the False Creek Community Centre is right next to it, and we almost always duck in for a quick potty break.

6. Ron Basford Park. After coaxing Grae away from the playground, we head along the little seawall to Ron Basford Park.  I personally think it’s Granville Island’s best kept secret.  It’s a basically a giant grass-covered hill that is has a little path that leads to a Canadian flag at the tippy top.  It’s the perfect place to let your little one run off some energy, and even better yet – it’s the perfect place for a snack stop or picnic.

7. Seawall. After leaving the park, we usually follow the seawall in front of the Granville Island Hotel and past the Sea Village.  I’m not sure who loves the Sea Village more – me or Grae…  How cool would it be to have your house on the water?!  By the time we reach last one, without fail, Gracen’s request is loud and clear, “More home! More home!”

8. Performers.  On the way back to our car, I always try to scope out one or two performances that are live in action.  Grae normally gets out of her stroller so she can let loose and dance or sway to the music.  After a few songs, we head back to our vehicle, load up our things, and make our way home for some lunch and a nap. 

Now onto today…

What’s worse than being attacked by greedy dog-sized seagulls?  Being shit on by said seagulls first, then being attacked.  True story.  Ugh…

Grae and I were minding our business while watching the aqua buses come and go this morning when I felt a series of warm, goopy plops hit my arm and hand. Sick. As I’m one-handedly attempting to open the diaper bag and retrieve a handful of wipes, 3 giant seagulls start swarming us.  Globs of shit still all over me, I abruptly grab Gracen’s bread flute out of her hand, chuck in into the bag, and start fending off seagulls left and right.  Grae’s now crying, the bird crap is dripping off of my hand, and the best part? I realize that this is all taking place in front of a row of busy window seats.  I look up to see 3 people waving.  Oh, let me die now…

Even worse? Me literally washing my sweater with hand soap in the bathroom sink, then ringing it out and putting it back on soaking wet because it was chilly, I had a strapless dress on, and didn’t bring anything else. FML. One thing was for sure, I wasn’t going to let a large load of bird crap ruin our morning. We had driven all the way there and Gracen was excited to explore, so on our way we went, albeit dripping wet. Here are a few photos from the better parts of today’s Granville Island adventure…

IMG 5222IMG 5224IMG 5228IMG 5232IMG 5233IMG 5236IMG 5238

♥

Baby Bath Station

I was beyond thrilled when I stumbled upon Happy Hooligans a couple of weeks ago.  Jackie, the woman behind the blog runs an in-home daycare and is all about old-fashioned play, open-ended exploration, and letting kiddos get down and dirty.  My kind of gal!  Upon scrolling through her posts, I immediately knew that this activity would be a huge hit with Miss G.  The only problem was that I wanted to surprise Grae with it on a sunny day.

Well, today that day finally arrived!  I laid a blanket out in our backyard, filled a bin with some warm, soapy water, added a couple of drops of blue food colouring, and we had a bath.  Next, I collected a couple of wash cloths, hand towels, a tooth brush, a hair brush, a bath poof (that’s my technical term), a water-filled mister, and a couple nearly empty soap bottles topped up with water.  Gracen’s contribution was her naked and nearly 50 year old baby doll that used to be mine and was Grandma Sue’s before that. Voila – a baby bath station!

IMG 5112

IMG 5111

On a side note, have I ever mentioned the fact that there are 7 people living in the basement suite of our house? Because there is. Well 7 permanent residents, plus a few of extended family members that are around A LOT.  In a suite that is probably fit for 2 or 3 college students who don’t care to cook. And while they’re quite nice, having that many people living below us can be quite challenging at times…  The constant come and go, picking up after 5 children other than our own (in a yard that is supposed to be entirely ours), and the noise… Oh, the noise!

Why am I mentioning all this in a post about a baby bath station, you wonder?  Well, because the middle child of the 5, a sweet little girl who is 6 years old, has taken quite a liking to Gracen and the activities I set up for her.  For the past month or two, it seems like the moment we head out into the yard, she comes running up the stairs to join us. And while I really don’t mind including her and watching her for an hour here or there, it sometimes makes new activities fall a little flat.  Because she’s several years older, she dives into new activities without a thought.  But Grae, on the other hand, needs a little time to cautiously explore and figure things out before really getting into some things.  The result is that Gracen sits backs and watches, doesn’t get involved, and then moves on to something else entirely.

Needless to say, today’s sensory bin got off to a bit of slow start.  Gracen was really excited to get started, and had some fun, but once it became difficult to get her hands on any of the goodies, she sat back, watched, and soon decided she’d rather do something else while her little friend enjoyed her new baby bath.

IMG 5122

Baby washing

IMG 5126

I felt bad, but after a little while, I politely dismissed us from the backyard and shifted our things over to the solarium.  The perk with having to move? The solarium was so nice and warm that the little lady was able to don her tankini. With a little more space to move and explore, Gracen really got into it.

Round 2

There was washing, scrubbing, hair brushing, and grooming… And before long, our little fishy went for a bath of her own. It was inevitable, really.

IMG 5143

In

Soon it became a bath a tooth brushing station for two.

IMG 5170

Probably the favourite part of the whole station though, was this little one dollar purple spray bottle.

IMG 5156

Somehow, over an hour in, our little bath station shifted gears a little…

IMG 5180

With baby’s hair groomed just so, Gracen wanted her hair done too.  She asked for a ponytail, quickly changed her mind to two ponies, and by the time she was done with the pack of elastics, she wanted eight.  This was the result. She thought it was pretty hilarious and asked me to take photo after photo, just so she could see herself on the camera’s display.

IMG 5198

Overall, this new sensory experience was a huge hit.  When all was said and done, Gracen was clean, smiley, and sufficiently pruned.

IMG 5207

Pruney
 ♥
You can see Gracen’s beach, ocean, gardening, moon dough, construction, and bird-themed
bins by clicking on the links.

Mama, Hot Tea?

Just after coming our of the Kits Beach washroom…

Gracen: (while pointing down the walking path towards Starbucks) Mama, hot tea?

Mama: No thanks, Grae. Mama doesn’t want hot tea right now.  

Gracen: (gently nods her head a few times as if to sympathize with my response, then blurts out) Grae Grae, yes hot milk!

She then gave one deliberate nod in agreement with herself, swiftly turned her little body towards the coffee shop, and jetted down the path towards her hot milk. 

♥

Father’s Day

IMG 5016Sadly, Bradley has to work today…  But since we’re headed home to the Okanagan at the end of the week, we’ve set aside a day to celebrate our own little Father’s Day while we’re there.  Grae and I did manage to sneak out of the house this morning  (in pajamas and gumboots no less) at 6:30 a.m. to retrieve Papa’s favourite hot drink and breakfast treat from our local cafe/bakery.  We stayed a while, allowing Brad to sleep in, and when he awoke, he was very confused to find us at the table with our goodies all laid out.  Yay for little surprises.

Happy Father’s Day, to the best Papa Miss G could ask for.

We love you!

♥

Toddler Food: What Miss G Eats {15}

Toddler FoodOur 15th Toddler Food post…  Crazy!  Here’s this week’s question:

What are Gracen’s favourite foods?  I mean, things she’ll ALWAYS eat.

Good question!  While she eats almost everything, as she gets older, she’s definitely becoming more vocal about wanting certain things at certain times.  So although she may love bananas, she may not want a banana at the time you offer her one.

Here are the things she will almost never turn down: tofu cubes, steamed edamame beans, yogurt, watermelon, nuts, seeds, cottage cheese, crackers (especially these and these), energy bites, steamed carrots, avocado, frozen blueberries, granola, and freeze-dried berries.  Oh, and I mustn’t forget, what she calls ‘treats’… Organic, no-sugar-added fruit leather.  But who in their right mind would turn that down? 

Here’s some of what my munchkin ate this week…

IMG 4430Breakfast // Bear toast (squirrely bread, all-natural almond butter, banana coins, and organic raisins).

IMG 4277

Breakfast // Breakfast burrito (flax wrap, scrambled free-range eggs, grated cheddar, and salsa).  Orange slices and banana coins.

IMG 4316

Breakfast // Apple sandwiches.

IMG 4370Breakfast // Veggie quiche (artichoke hearts, asparagus, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, and mozzarella).  Roasted potatoes.  Fruit and cinnamon yogurt fruit dip.

IMG 4334

Breakfast // Organic plain whole milk yogurt with homemade granola and freeze-dried raspberries.

IMG 4365Brunch // Multigrain french toast with all-natural almond butter.  Berries.  Turkey bacon.  Over-hard free-range egg.

IMG 4374

Snack // Wild rice sticks and fresh pineapple.

IMG 4468Snack // Plain organic whole milk yogurt with berries.

IMG 4335Snack // White nectarine slices.  Energy bites (made this time with peanut butter instead of almond butter, raisins instead of large chopped nuts, and less than the 1/4 cup of honey/pure maple syrup we used last time).

IMG 4467

Snack // Fresh raspberries.

IMG 4366Snack // Wild rice sticks and old-fashioned white cheese curds.

IMG 4364

Lunch // Egg salad on multigrain flax bread. Steamed edamame beans. Berries.

IMG 4367Lunch // Burgoo‘s gooey cheese griller and sunset corn and chicken soup.  Steamed carrot coins and edamame beans.

IMG 4371

 Lunch // Leftover salsa-baked chicken. Carrot coins and edamame.  Roasted red pepper humus and flax flatbread.

IMG 4540Lunch // Fruit salad.  Flax flatbread with roasted red pepper humus.  Veggie-packed muffin. Carrot coins and edamame (gheez – enough with these already!)

IMG 4357

Dinner // Southwest turkey chili (with sautéed red, orange, and yellow peppers this time) and grated cheddar.

IMG 4369Dinner // Mediterranean green salad with avocado.  Corn on the cob.  Creamy dill potatoes. Salsa-baked chicken.

IMG 4429

Dinner // Peanut chicken.  Steamed asparagus and carrots.  Sesame buckwheat soba noodles.

IMG 4469Dinner // Mexican rice bowl (brown rice, sautéed onions and peppers, roasted corn, avocado, and salsa-baked chicken – goodness gracious – was I in a salsa chicken rut this week or what?!)

iPhoneography // Garden Goodies & An Outdoor Dinner

Outdoor eveninggarden goodies round 1 // garden goodies round 2

picnic dinner for 3 // swooping in to munch on Papa’s corn on the cob

Determined to make the most of our rain-free day, this evening we all headed out into the backyard to put our new barbecue to good use.  While our asparagus, corn, potatoes, and chicken were grilling, Gracen enjoyed appetizers straight from the garden.  Actually, to say that she enjoyed them would be an understatement…  She ate everything in these photos, plus an additional 2 carrots.  How she had room left for dinner, I’m not sure.  But she did.  And of course, Papa’s corn on the cob was even more delicious than her own.

♥

Photos edited using Instagram. Find me under ‘jkossowan’.