One of my dearest, best, and oldest friends had her third baby on Thursday! Little Violet is healthy and lovely, and I'm so thankful that she is here because I can finally talk about her! You might remember that this is the friend who gave her ultrasound tech an envelope with my address on it, and had her seal a copy of the sonogram with the gender identified to me as my Christmas present. My friend and her husband are the kind of weirdos who don't want to know the gender, so I was the only non-medical person who got to know! I'm way too Type-A to know find out the gender.
I am HORRIBLE at keeping secrets, and I'm so happy that I can let go of that huge one!!! Now, if only I can get off my ass and finish that little girl's quilt. Slacker aunt!
In other news, Jack is kinda sorta reading these days (mom, press the triangle at the bottom left of the square below):
My mother-in-law was an elementary educator for over 30 years, and said she is even pretty amazed with Jack's reading. As a child growing up, reading was one of my favorite hobbies. Troy never reads for fun, and I can't wrap my head around that. When I knew I was pregnant with Jack, I used to pray "just please let him love to read for the sake of loving it", and he does! That boy is never far from a book, and he just devours the words he knows, and uses the pictures to fill in the rest.
This month I have been off every Friday, and it has been lovely. Jack has preschool Tuesday through Friday, and his preschool is 35 minute away (by my aunt's), so I still end up driving like I was driving to work. The part that makes that ok is that I get 2.5 hours to myself every Friday in April. I've so far spent the time grocery shopping and running errands, which frees up the rest of the weekend for just chilling. I think next week I'm going to speed grocery shop, and then get a pedicure, cause my toes be lookin' busted.
Meal plan time! Reminder, I only plan dinners, because breakfast is always smoothies
or eggs with something, and lunches are always leftovers. We rarely
eat dessert during the week, and our dinner drink of choice is water kefir soda.
Monday:: T-Roy, aka the grill master will be firing up the BBQ to make these Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs. I am not a fan of sweet and savory, so we'll be adding plenty of spicy thai chili paste to the marinade! It will be paired with a quinoa salad that I made over the weekend that rocks my world (ps, until now, I've HATED quinoa. Can't wait to share the recipe with you!), and steamed artichokes with garlic aioli. Welcome back artichokes, we missed you. Side note, our neighbors have an artichoke plant that is just lovely. They are renters and moved out on Thursday. I was totally planning on stealing the chokes this spring, but they went and found renters already. Is that not the rudest thing ever?
Wednesday:: Salmon cakes and more roasted asparagus!
Thursday:: Dinner at my in-laws
Friday:: Popcorn dinner. Yes, seriously we eat popcorn for
dinner. It's popcorn, leftovers, cheese slices, fruit, and cut up
veggies. Everyone gets as much as they want, and no one leaves hungry.
I adore Fridays because it is the easiest night of the week for making
everyone happy!
Saturday:: We have a playdate in the city.
Sunday:: Family dinner at my parent's
This week I went way over budget on my groceries, and spent a total of $110. I was out of a lot of things, and couldn't resist the siren's call of Trader Joes (near preschool). I have to pick up a half gallon of raw milk this morning after church.