Early morning tree admiring at my parents’ house.
For the past two years we have gone to my parents’ country club for the Santa breakfast. Both times P has cried his little eyes out while clawing my body with a death grip like no animal I’ve ever seen. But this year he went in with a new understanding…Santa is in charge of presents! And that – to quote Martha – is a good thing. Worth braving the beard for, you might say.
In truth, he has been telling me what he’s going to do/say/ask Santa for weeeeeeeeks. He asks me to make up stories about Santa and his workshop all day long. At one point, he told me he was planning to bring his stocking to the restaurant so Santa could fill it up there and then he’d bring it back here to Davis. Clever thought, little dude.
So brave holding it together!
Then V joined the scene and (obviously) lost it. Which caused an immediate mood shift.
Ha. Such sweeties. Happy Holidays!
Look at the little tights on my tiny elf! I thought Kyle was the sucker with girl accessories but as it turns out, I kinda got giddy dressing her for this morning. As payback, she peed allllll over me forcing us to leave asap and then I had to change into my pajamas (the only spare clothes I had in the car) while crammed in the drivers seat before we drove back to Davis. The (not so funny) thing about the incident was that my pajamas already had pee on them (not my own, for the record) but it was still less than what happened at the Santa breakfast. I mean it’s not every day that you debate which outfit to wear based on which has less (but still some) urine on it. Serves me right for getting dressed up in fancy clothes. It was like a water balloon burst! All of a sudden BOOM soaking soaking wet. I’m guessing that’s due to the tights? She doesn’t usually wear disposable diapers so I’m not used to them blowing out with urine!! Good thing it was at the very end of the event. I changed her quickly right there in the club and she was happy as could be. But rather than change myself into bright pink capri sweat pants (obnoxious) in the country club, I opted for the more hidden and difficult deck change (in the car). Oh, and guess what happened once we got back to Davis!?!? I got peed on. Again. For privacy’s sake I’ll leave it at that, but geez. Being a mom has it’s low points. But the experience as a whole? SO. Worth. It.
Not having gone to the grocery store yet, I scavenged for lunch big time. That’s broccoli slaw, poppyseed dressing, avocado, and slivered almonds. Random but delicious – I’m not complaining.
I was too lazy to go to the grocery store in the afternoon, but I did run to get last minute presents for the kiddos while they snoozed. My thrifty (cheap) nature wrestles with my overwhelming desire to spoil the $h!t out of my kids in a way that causes a lot of anxiety during the holidays. Deep down, I know they don’t care about presents at all and would happily “pretend” with non-toys for hours on end (today P used an empty wrapping paper roll as a cello, a fishing poll, and a marching man baton) but I still have these urges to buy them every single thing ever. I’m happy to say, I’ve managed to keep things tight. Also we have been purging like whoa. P is super into donating and helped pick out books and toys he was willing to part with. Makes me really proud to instill the giving spirit in him.
Green beans for all (yay freezer supply). Then my princess when to beddy bye and the three of us sat down to dine together.
More freezer and pantry help to create this meal. P had the same thing, I just didn’t take a photo of his. I used a bunch of ginger which made him remind me “mama, [P] doesn’t like pepper.” But his love for salmon still trumped the spicy ginger flavor and he ate it all without any real resistance.
The next morning was rain rain go away, which left us in a funk all morning. I pulled this plantain bread out of the freezer for breakfast after everyone else had eaten and P still begged me for bites, which I succumbed to because he’s so cute and I love that he wants to try everything I eat.
Anyway, it ended up not being enough food after his nibbles so I added more sun butter and then some leftover apple pie. Pie for breakfast? Why not! It’s basically oatmeal anyway.
Football and food prep. After hitting up the grocery store during nap time, I got to working the kitchen so the week would be easy peasy. I made TONS of baby food (both purees and steamed produce for self feeding), I roasted chickpeas, I made a spaghetti squash casserole for me and P, I made a mac n cheese casserole for K, I massaged some kale, I made chocolate bark, I made dried fruit/seed bars for P, and then I made the best dinner ever.
As you undoubtably know, kale salads of all kinds fill my pinterest page. I eat them for lunch every day without fail. And yet, I don’t really turn to recipe inspiration with kale salads for dinner because I have my favorite combos…
But this one!?! This one is legit.
So how we arrived at this dinner was actually a bit of a struggle. I was craving kale, or at least a really big bossy salad. Kyle, however, was freezing and wanted a warm meal. We browsed the computer together, scrolling through recipes I’d bookmarked and pinned and everything he wanted was meaty (and I wasn’t in the mood) and everything I wanted was cruciferous (and he wasn’t in the mood). Then we landed on Gena’s salad recipe. Winner! And we figured out a way to compromise.
I made chicken for the boys and added it atop theirs but not mine. Perfection. I’m not joking when I say P LOVES kale and brussels sprouts and salads. He ate this with gusto.
Brussels getting their dressing massage on. Mmmmmm…
Then add in the kale…
The lighting was done-zo by the time I added the rest of the ingredients later (golden raisins, apples, and hemp/pumpkin seed parmesan).
I used our lemons (picked from the yard during a slight pause in the rain) for the dressing, by the way. Oh and that “parmesan” recipe is a big time winner that can and will be repurposed for various other meals from here on out.
I am so thrilled that P can have nooch now (after trying it last week in a tofu and sunflower seed based “cheese” sauce, I am now finding myself sprinkling it on all our food just like old times).
So basically, Gena’s the best and you all need to make this recipe asap. Weekend out!
Oh JK. This is how the weekend really ended. All amazing, but my favorite was the chocolove in the middle.
You poor thing–peed on multiple times in one day! My nephew peed on me when we were out once and I had to walk around soaked in urine for a few hours til we got home and I could change. Then once I was clean and dry my niece snotted all over me, but at least we were home and I could change clothes quickly that time. So much to look forward to in a few months… 🙂
It is so awesome and impressive that P loves kale and brussels sprout salads! You have clearly done an excellent job exposing him to all sorts of healthy veggies and foods.