Pink doughnuts via Maison Cupcake by April Carter.
Nareen Holloway’s colorful home via Inside Out Magazine
pink bicycle via it.me
I love Pinterest, it’s totally addicting. I find I go through random phases/patterns as I pin, so my most current pattern is pink. What have you been pinning lately?
We honestly have never ending backyard projects going on. We make mistakes, learn from them, and have to try something else out. Ben’s been working on building another garden bed and we’re going to be doing a switch-a-roo and switch the placement of our fruit trees and our veggie garden. Then, there’s this big plot of dirt we have on the side of the house that I can’t exactly decide what I want just yet. Seriously, the outside project list never ends.
As much as I complain that we really don’t get much of a cozy winter her in SoCal (I’m a cold weather gal!), it is a perk to still be able to garden and be able to play outside in the winter. This particular day, actually New Year’s eve, we all just hung out outside. I was watching Ben work (and helped him here and there), the girls were playing (and fighting), and it was just kind of slow paced and nice. We didn’t get around to planting a winter garden this year, but our citrus trees do have some pretty fruit on it; Ben’s had one of the tangerines and he said it was so juicy and sweet!
Making decisions for the backyard honestly stress me out. I have my garden pinterest board that I always look through, and one minute I know what I want to do in an area, then I change my mind the next minute. I wish I had the brain of a landscape architect to help us with some decisions. Ben is already talking about completely redoing the front yard to put an edible garden there too, but I’m telling give me a couple more years for that, my brain can only take so much! HA!
Spicy Udon & Kimchi Soup. Spicy? Yes, please! I made two batches, one non-spicy for the girls, and one super spicy for us.
Week of 1/13 – 1/17
Monday: Fish Tacos
Tuesday: Seafood Stir Fry
Wednesday: White Bean Chili
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Pizza/sushi night
I’ve made a couple other meals this week, but never got around to taking a picture of it, so all you get to see is our soup. My best friend took us to her favorite Korean market and we love it! The produce and prices are good and we can’t wait to stock up on more groceries there later today.
Meal planning definitely helps save time and money. When I look back at all our meals, I can’t believe all the different recipes I’ve cooked. It has for sure been a lot of fun learning and growing in the kitchen. Ben used to be the one to cook every day, but he pretty much only cooks on special occasions now. Who’s in charge of cooking in your home?
This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…
Glow does the cutest little happy dance.
Love this pouf from Tiny Toast.
This butterscotch monkey bread looks amazing.
The girls manage to make their room crazy all the time! Even though it drives me nuts, I’m thankful for the memories they make playing in there.
Brave has really improved so much in her reading. Her favorite book lately? Old school Spiderman comics!
Thankful for friends who I get to share my struggles with.
I want to make this with the girls for February.
My sister is really one of a kind. Her wisdom and faith is so encouraging.
What’s something you learned or are thankful for this week?
I thought I’d do weekly reflections of sorts on Fridays here. If you’d love to join in and share on your own space and leave a link here, I’d love to check it out. We all can definitely learn and encourage one another!
I talked about how my word for the year was focus (read here) and I think it started off with a rocky, but good start. Some things I feel went well is that I started leaving the iPad upstairs in my room during breakfast and lunch times. This has been so much better for focusing on the girls and the task at hand. I think before, while they ate, it would be so easy to check up on things online, but you know you get online and then one click leads to another, then to another, and you totally get sidetracked. That wasn’t smart mothering. Leaving the distraction upstairs really allowed me to be present with them. Another thing that went well was that I just spent some time being silly with them, from wearing fuzzy knee high socks and doing a silly dance to doing crazy dances together. I know it sounds like simple things that many you are probably already doing, but I wanted to really focus on making these moments for them. It’s a work in progress and some weeks I will be better at mothering than others, but I never want to stop working on it. Also, I actually spent time praying and meditating on God’s word; that’s probably the best thing I did for myself and the girls in a long time!
Some things that didn’t go well… I wasn’t too patient with some parts of math. I forget these concepts are completely new to the girls and expect them to get it at first try. Also, I had a couple off days because I was just feeling kind of cloudy. This cloudy feeling was especially strong at night. One night, Ben asked if I was feeling okay. Then, I just suddenly burst into tears, and we ended up having a lot to talk about that night. Rule number one ladies (and gents, if any gents read this)… don’t keep a purchase hidden from your spouse for a couple months, it will eat you up inside. Sounds silly, but for me, it’s true. He was so patient to just cuddle me and pray for me (and not get too mad). He was like, “Don’t forget your word is focus.” It was so sweet. After that night and just talking it out with him, I felt a load lifted and felt so much better. The truth will set you free… no joke.
How have you been doing with your word/resolution for the year thus far? I think weekly reflections on it will help me focus and keep me on track.
Coconut Serrano Ceviche
about 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
1 lb. sashimi grade tilapia
8-10 tomatillos, chopped
1 pint of grape tomatoes, quartered
2 serranos (throw in 6 is you like it spicy like us!)
1 lime
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 cup light coconut milk
Salt
Directions:
Chop the tilapia, tomatillos, tomatoes, and cilantro. Mix them all together into one bowl and set aside. In a blender, blend together the coconut milk and serranos, until completely blended. Add a pinch of salt to taste. Pour the coconut serran mixture into the bowl with the other ingredients. Cut the lime and squeeze all the juice into the ceviche. Mix well and add salt to taste. Serve with a batch of baked tortilla chips.
This is one of the dishes we frequently have on our Friday night date nights in. Ben comes home, we watch a family movie, then send the girls off to bed, and Ben and I continue to have our quiet Friday evening together eating something yummy and a movie just for us. It’s our way of getting in a date night, but not really going out. We are major sushi lovers, but it’s quite costly to pick up from a restaurant weekly, so we satisfy our love for raw fish by whipping our own recipes at home. Thankfully, we have good Asian markets nearby where we can easily pick up affordable sashimi grade fish. This is usually one of our Friday night options, or this other Tilapia Ceviche on Wontons, or this Tuna Poke dish, or just plain hand rolls (another post for that soon). I’m so used to making those dishes that I can pretty much do them in my sleep now. The habanero recipe is one of Ben’s most favorite things to eat!
