family meals: week 40

Salmon Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa. The salsa was very good, but it tasted better a day later. I think all the flavors had time to blend and it was much more yummy. We love fish tacos, so it’s hard to go wrong with that for dinner. Brave is the only one who isn’t wild about salmon, but I think True had like 5 tacos! Of course, the girls did theirs without the spice. The radishes we used were straight from our garden and they are the best radishes I have ever tasted!

Kale Noodle Bowl with Avocado Miso Dressing. This one was just, “eh.” It sounded good in theory, but something was missing to me. Ben liked it, but he wasn’t wild. True loved the soba noodles and Brave loved all of it (she had a couple of servings). It was loaded with lots of kale, so that was one good thing about it. I probably tripled what the recipe called for because we had a lot to use from our garden.

Week 5/20 – 5/24
Monday: Orzo with Feta, Basil and Shrimp
Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Hummus wraps
Friday: Sushi night

I would love to make this, but Ben says it’s a bit costly for a family dinner, so I’m thinking of making a similar version using cod. Anyone ever try to change crab cakes into fish cakes? Is it just as good? I’ve totally been loving the Williams-Sonoma food blog. All their pictures are just gorgeous and almost every dish suddenly makes me hungry! I’m obsessed with looking through their blog for ideas and I’ve been pinning so many of their recipes. What have you been cooking lately?

learning to be eco-warriors

When I was a kid, I remember ordering the book 50 Ways to Save the Planet from the monthly book orders at school. I remember being so convicted by it as I read it from beginning to end. I remember one tip that stood out to me at the time was to cut up all the plastic thingies that canned drinks came in so that sea animals wouldn’t get trapped in it. After I read that, I remember constantly making sure my parents cut those things up.

Okay, so only 1 out of 50 things stuck with me, but it was a step. Ben and I try to be as eco-consciuos as we can, though we’re hardly models for being eco-warriors, but we try our best to take care of certain things to help the environment. For sure though, we can definitely do better. I wanted to get the girls to at least start thinking about it, I started checking to see if the book I read as a kid was still around. I distinctly remember the cover being blue and having a picture of the Earth on it. I didn’t find that exact thing, but did find this one on Amazon and thought that might be a good start and should be similar.

True, Brave, and I have been reading through it and I’m almost sure it is an updated version of the book I read as a child. In fact, the tip on cutting up the can plastic thingie was there too! As we’ve been going through it, I’ve been feeling all sorts of guilty for things we don’t think about doing to help save the environment. I can’t say we’re ready to go radical and apply everything just yet, but we will start small with what’s feasible and best for our family. I want my girls to learn that small changes can make a difference. We planted about 25 trees in our yard already, so that’s a start right?!

our dinner

Our dinner was mostly courtesy of our veggie garden and the weather has been so great lately, unlike the 100 degree weather we had over the weekend, that we wanted to make sure and take advantage of eating dinner outdoors. We rarely do it, but we’re trying to do it more. True and Brave are slowly taking up more responsibility during meal times. They set up the dinner table (with folded napkins too!), and it’s so cute to see them taking initiative to do so.

This week has felt calmer and I feel like I’ve had a little more clarity when it comes to dealing with the kids. I think it’s because I’ve been praying more about it and trying to trust God with it. I’m thankful for all that I get to do with these girls. Lately, I’ve been focusing on how hard mothering is that I have been failing to see how great it is. It’s a privilege that I get to spend time with my children. It’s a privilege to be able to feed their bellies and their minds with good things. It’s a privilege to laugh and just be a silly goose with these girls. The hard moments will come and go, but even with the hard parts, this whole mama deal is kinda great. I know I’m a crazy mama, but I’m their crazy mama and they’re my crazy kids.

A dinner post turned into a mothering post, and I guess I’m just strange like that. Thanks for always coming in to check my ramblings!

a birthday trip to the aquarium

With True’s 7th birthday request of an ocean/mermaid/swimming theme, we decided a visit to the Long Beach Aquarium was necessary. After her breakfast in bed, we all got dressed to head out for the adventure. Of course, True wore her special birthday dress and “mermaid” shoes on her birthday excursion. She had no clue where we were going until we got there. The kids were so excited to explore and admire all of the various sea creatures. Seriously, there were so many wonderful things to see and True was loving every bit of it.

They got to touch a baby shark, a starfish, see lots of different jellyfish, and we even found Nemo! It’s a decent size aquarium and it was most definitely engaging for the kids. Their favorite might have been touching the starfish that they requested to go back one last time to touch them before we took off.  My favorite were all the different jellyfish. They are just absolutely captivating to watch.

We headed back home before traffic got really bad, and we were going to take True to have a special birthday dinner, but all she wanted was salmon burgers that we already had at home. Thus, we just went straight home and salmon burgers is what she got! I did have a special cake waiting for her, so she got her birthday song and a chance to make her birthday wish. One of her other birthday requests was a ocean/mermaid/swimming themed party with her friends, but since her birthday was on a Friday, she had to wait until Sunday to fulfill that part of her birthday wish. There will be another post for that later, but I have to wait until my brother-in-law sends over the pictures.

Just looking at these pictures make my heart swell. I can’t believe my biggest girl is 7! That went by so fast!

my mother’s day was simple and good

I requested pumpkin pancakes for breakfast with cinnamon whipped cream, and Ben and the girls delivered exactly that. It was so good! I love pumpkin pancakes! They are my favorite kind. The girls all came in singing the Happy Mother’s Day song (sung to the tune of Happy Birthday) and came bearing gifts along with my breakfast. The gifts were 3 homemade cards and one package, which contained a hat (which was already mine), a spool of thread, two markers, and nail polish. All of them were my things that somehow magically disappeared a couple days before Sunday, only to reappear again in my present Sunday morning. Nevertheless, I was so excited to open up my present from True and made a big ooh and ahh about wanting all those things! I remember doing the same things with gifts for my parents and siblings when I was younger. I would totally wrap up things that were already theirs and gift it back to them. True must have gotten that from me.

If you’re looking at the pictures of me in the morning and thinking I totally got camera ready, yes, I did. Not for the camera though, but because Sunday mornings are tight with having to get dressed (and the four girls ready) to get out of the house and get to church on time, that I had already gotten up and started getting ready for church while I was waiting for my breakfast in bed. When they were ready, I hopped back in bed. After I ate, all I had to do was change out of my pajamas and we pretty much took off for church soon after that.

The rest of the day was perfectly simple and low key. We gathered with church family, then we met my family for lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant, where we pretty much stuffed our bellies. We made it home around 5, served the girls dinner, then had them in bed by 7 for their quiet (reading) time, and then Ben and I were relaxing in our room with sushi, frozen yogurt, and a movie by 8. I told Ben not to plan anything and I didn’t want anything. We’ve been working on house projects, so spending our money towards things for the house was a good enough present for me. I was just so happy to have a simple, stress-free day with my sweet family, so this Mama’s Day was exactly what this mama needed. As crazy as I get sometimes, I’m so thankful that these girls are mine and that I get to love, teach, and grow with them, even if there are a lot of bumps (sometimes it feels like major turbulence) on the road while doing so.

p.s. this was my favorite picture of the day. #stilllovethempolaroids

on me: top, modcloth (last year). shorts and belt, thrifted. shoes, madewell. on true: dress, c/o homespun vintage (brave wore the same one last week). on brave: dress, vintage. on soul: top, misha lulu. dress, c/o homespun vintage. on glow: dress, vintage. all their sandals are salt-water sandals.