Peck Life

Food Lately

We’ve been enjoying some yummy grub over the past week! Thanks to a few new recipes I discovered, Valentine’s Day, a friendly neighbor, and an impromptu dinner with family, the noshing has been in full force! Let’s begin!

On Valentine’s Day, we made Cinnamon & Brown Sugar Apple Grilled Cheese based off a recipe I found at Jen Loves Kev. It was so yummy and hearty! A welcome change from plain ol’ grilled cheese for sure. We topped it off with fancy strawberry pop in honor of the holiday {Sky had milk}. Overall, a SWEET dinner, but gooooood.

The very next day we heard a knock at the front door and it was our neighbor {probably the nicest most “normal” neighbor in our cul-de-sac}, giving us freshly homemade tamales to sample and asking if we’d like to buy more as a way to raise money to send her son to New York. They were so good that we ordered a dozen and have been stuffing our bellies with them all week. There are 2 kinds; chicken and pepper/cheese. I can’t get enough!!

Another scrumptious recipe, also found at Jen Loves Kev: African Sweet Potato Stew with Red Beans. Sometimes these things look intimidating but it was actually very easy and quick to make! It was loaded with vegetables and was so warm and delicious. Add a little cornbread and you have the perfect dinner! You can see Sky’s “mini-version” above along with his assortment of fruit, which seems to be a staple for him. He also requested slivered almonds.

Lastly, we had a special dinner with our special cousins, Heidi and Ben who are visiting from out of town. Ben has magic hands and can create anything on a whim…he’s just a natural. They brought over some fish and also “whipped up” a simple salad of radicchio, tomato, beans, onion, and garlic topped with avocado. It may have been the best thing I ate all week, simple, dynamic, and amazinnnnnggggg. We paired the fish with couscous, more green salad and of course, wine. It was the best dinner among even better company. I love them. Seeing them multiple times within the last few months has been such a treat!

{Linking up with mini-meals at with two cats!}

Eat, drink, and be merry

It’s fair to say the entire weekend has been centered around food and gathering. It’s the perfect thing really….eating, talking, visiting, eating more, drinking, dessert. I’m a happy camper.

Saturday night, I met up with a few of my favorite bloggin’ girls for dinner at Z’Tejas in Bellevue, followed by frozen yogurt, which led to mall standing {it could probably be a pastime} and roaming through Forever 21. Part of me felt like I was in high school all over again. Oh, and PS….the mall was so crowded! Bellevue, hello?! Remember when you were tiny? I LOVED seeing these ladies and we had such an awesome time commiserating about life, blogging, raising young kiddos, working, target, colored pants…all of the important things.

Left to right: amanda, jill, chelsey, fiona, chelsea, melissa, mandy, amy, ashley, mandy, me, stephanie, and kiara.

This is Chelsea. She makes me laugh hard! She has a cute daughter named Lily {just like our doggie} and another little bun on the way. You should check out her blog because she’s adorable. <3 {Linking up with Mandy at Harper’s Happenings! On me: pants/kohls {again}, shirt/marshall’s, shoes/ruche}

Aren’t these hats the best? You can get your very own at Forever 21! We got shoosh’d for taking pictures, ooops!

The merriment continued on Sunday for a brunch spectacular at Salty’s on Alki. I’ve always wanted to try it so as a final 30th birthday party celebration with all our family and a couple close friends, it finally happened!

The amount of food is out of control. Anything your heart desires…it’s there. Crepes, omelets, pasta, tons of meat, oysters, crab, shrimp, pancakes, bacon, eggs benedict, 50 million desserts….enough to keep you full forever. Sometimes I get a little weary of buffets…because there are a lot of hands on the same pair of tongs..but really, this was completely fine and the food was soo soo soo good! They even bought us warm towels to wipe the germs with!

We reserved a private room downstairs and I’m SO GLAD WE DID. The main dining room was packed, like standing room only! It was so wonderful, we had tons of space, a gorgeous view of Seattle, our own private deck, and the kiddos could run all over without disturbing the peace. Such a perfect way to lounge while you stuff your face.

This is my best friend, Fallon. I love her a lot…that’s why we make hearts, yo!

Aside from all this consuming and quality friend/family time, the last 2 days of festivities was topped off with a very VERY special birthday gift:

I am like, indescribable, over the moon excited. Not only is blogging one of my favorite things in the entire world and I’m super giddy to learn, hear great speakers, and be in the presence of people I’ve followed and loved for YEARS, BUT….New York City, man. It’s been a dream for as long as I can remember. The one thing I need to do before I die, the pinnacle, the PEAK! I can’t even think about it without getting butterflies. I am SO SO SO excited.

Weekending

Ahhh, a low key weekend. Between the dreary rain and colds we are all trying to fight off, it was one of those weekends where the pillow seemed like the best spot. We did, however, manage to not be completely lazy! There was dinner with family, banana bread making, a bit of thrifting, and many challenging hours spent dealing with Sky’s tantrums and poor sleeping.

Do you think he’s teething? I can’t tell. Not only is he sick right now {oh my gosh the snot!}, but we have started to transition him to a big bed via a mattress that’s on the floor of his bedroom. The ratio of bad to good nights is about 50/50 so I’m still trying to figure out if it’s his cold or this new sleeping situation. When he’s not being cranky and totally hysterical, he is a very very sweet boy. In between the spurts of 2-year old ishness, were many snuggles and silly play times, book reading, and of course, throwing a handful of bouncy balls ALL OVER the house.

On Saturday morning, Sky slept until 9:15 am. A world record I think? All this morning free time allowed me to make banana bread with the rotting bananas that had been sitting on our counter all week! Whoo hoo! I used this recipe from our America’s Test Kitchen cookbook.

Saturday afternoon we stepped out to go visit grandma, grandpa, and GREAT grandma! We ended up at Chinese food for dinner where Sky was actually pretty well behaved, thanks to the toys and endless supply of cheese-its and craisins while we waited for the food to arrive.

{Emily: scarf/marshalls, sweater/don’t remember, it’s old!, jeans/american rag, boots/ office via top shop. Sky: fleece/REI, jeans/osh kosh, shoes/etnies}

{linking up with Mandy at Harper’s Happenings}

Sunday was mostly a lazy day at home with the exception of an early evening goodwill drop off. I had 3 huge bags taking up space in the garage! We did a cruise through the store and while there were a few cute things {like the pyrex below}, we walked away mostly empty handed. The big score was a toy caterpillar excavator truck that was nearly brand new and working. It matches the backhoe we already have! Sky spotted it right away and carried it around the entire store, stopping to play with it whenever there was a little break. I get a little freaked about all the germs and grime but our local goodwill is fairly new so it’s not too bad. Definitely need to some wipes and soap when you’re done though.

And so, the weekend comes to close. As I type this, I’m eating giant peppermint patty hearts. They are pink inside….for Valentine’s day…oh such a good way to end a Sunday!

Weekending: Hot and Cold

Sometimes, life plans your weekends for you. In our case, it gave us a sick baby with a 103 temperature, 8 inches of snow, and a virus-infected computer. I'm wondering if it was the universe telling me to slow down? I get antsy when I'm not feeling productive but I’m going to decide, right here and now, that snuggling my boy all weekend was enough. It was productiveness in its truest form, being there when someone needs you. We watched Bob the Builder at 3 am, read too many books to count, ate donuts and soup with lots of oyster crackers, snuggled to even more TV, watched the snow dump down, and visited with Grandma and Grandpa {on Saturday as the fever was presenting itself for the first time}, all while ignoring most of the household chores, minus dishes which just need to get done.

The snow started early on Saturday and was off and on all weekend. After Sky woke up from his nap on Sunday, he was begging for "boots" and "sled" so we bundled him up and walked the neighborhood. Josh pulled him in the sled and all he could say was "again!", "again!". He LOVED it. It was snowing too hard to take the new camera with me, boo! I’m dying to try out some snow pictures with it!

One walk in the snow and that was our big outing for the day. Sky was beat and we spent the rest of the day loungin’. Lily {our dog} seems to be his new best bud. He'll come over to her and go "Hey Lily! How ya doinnnn?" It's so dang cute. Sometimes she acts annoyed but I can tell she loves him – she sleeps in his snow sled for crying out loud!

Christmas 2011

The holidays are finally winding down so I thought I’d share a little of what we’ve been up to! Christmas this year was good….and bad…and long….and tiring…and happy….and blahhh and I’m ready for a fresh start. Sometimes I feel guilty over the fact that as soon as Christmas day is over, I’m just DONE and ready to move on. Bring on 2012!

{I tried red lipstick and my sis-in-law managed to capture a family photo!}

Highlights of our holiday? Lots of quality family time, more food than I normally eat in any given day, Josh having 3 days off in a row, lots of sweet presents, and morning and evening books and snuggles with my boy since I didn’t have to go to work.

Lowlights? One cranky toddler who has not been sleeping well and who could have cared less about presents or Christmas, lots and LOTS of driving, many messes, crappy photos, and not much time to just sit and relax. Sky’s whining, clinging, crying, tantrums, and general un-pleasantness kind of put a damper on my days and even though we didn’t go all out for him, it felt a little rough getting no signs of gratitude in return for our hard work and preparation. {Not like I expect a toddler to understand gratitude but I’m just sayin’…}. We almost had to force him to open gifts on Christmas day, he was just not interested, WHAT?!?! He did love his remote control airplane and tool/drill set he got on Christmas eve though and seemed to be in an ok mood for most of that evening, thank goodness. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it one day, and I’m sure next year will be better. But still, it has just been exhausting to handle him these last 6 days. He’s not sick so I can only guess that it might be teeth {still?} or some other developmental milestone. Which reminds me….Sky counted to TEN today as he was going down the stairs. Yes, TEN…12345678910…all by himself. It seems a bit early for a 2 year, 10 day old kiddo but I'll take it! Should I start him on SAT prep exams now?! So smart!!!

Sky’s 2nd Birthday Celebration

You’re probably sick of hearing about it, but my little boy turned 2 on Sunday. We had a small family gathering at our house and Sky had been waiting for his “party” all week. Each day, we would talk about who would be there and what it would involve {mainly cake and candles since that’s what he seems to be obsessed with lately}. Sweet boy thankfully took a nap before the festivities started and woke up ready to go! We had lots of yummy food, the best cake ever, some simple decorations, and lots of wonderful family to help celebrate.

Thank you to Malia and Clint for capturing one of the best photos of Sky EVER with their snazzy new camera. I’m so in love with it.

The cake had a minor accident during the car ride home but it was still one of the best cakes I’ve ever had. It was four layers of chocolate bliss with cream in between and crazy buttercream frosting…like REAL frosting that you could eat over and over and over. Magical.

Malia and Clint – aren’t they cute?

Pinterest supplied nearly all the food choices. The pizza muffins turned out perfect!

Me and my bro – he’s taller than my fridge!

Josh, if you are reading this…I didn’t get your permission to use this photo, and I’m sorry. I think you look studly but I worry you’ll think you look silly. You are asleep right now and rather than wake you {since you work at 3 am}, I’m going to risk it. Somehow, we managed to go the entire day without taking a family photo to commemorate this great day in history. I love you.

Finally, the moment he had been waiting for…Happy Birthday song and blowing out candles.

Weekending

It’s hard to believe we had date night #2 all within a two week span, but, it happened. Friday night, we joined our group of close friends for dinner at Earls and more drinks at Lucky Strike {where I realized I really am getting old - what loud music!}. We always have the best time! Almost all of my pictures were too dark/out of focus but we spent most the evening eating, drinking, and laughing. It's such a great group and I can't WAIT for our trip to Suncadia in January!

It's amazing to me how much downtown Bellevue has changed. I remember when the high rise buildings didn't exist. Bellevue Square was the only thing. When I was little, we used to drive all the way to JC Penny and "The Bon" to buy clothes. This was before Redmond had ANYTHING and was just giant fields and pastures for the hot air balloons. Crazy!!

For dinner, I had chicken tacos - which were yummy but SPICY!!! Coming from somoene who loves spice, I could barely taste anything since the hotness was so overpowering!

On Saturday, we hung out at home, had breakfast with Malia since she stayed over to help with Sky the night before, and then Sky and I had some together time while Josh went to work. We watched Charlie brown Christmas and listened to Christmas tunes while playing. Sky loves his play-doh now so we rolled balls over and over and then he would mash them with his trucks. He also played with a giant bag of buttons (they were big and he was supervised!) for over 20 minutes! He loves to put them in his back-hoe and then dump them out. Boy stuff I tell you! I also managed to finish up the favors for his party, some fabric Christmas bags, and get a load of laundry done, amazing!

I thought Sky might enjoy helping me wrap presents; my attempt at trying to be productive while home alone with him. But, after he ripped the roll of wrapping paper apart and wouldn’t stop running with the scissors, I gave up and put everything away. To make up for it, he says “ho ho ho” anytime you mention Santa now. It’s pretty adorable.

On Sunday afternoon, we went over to my grandma’s house to visit. Just before heading out the door, Josh put his scarf on Sky and we snapped a few pictures. GOSH my kid is cute.

At grandma’s Sky helped arrange all the little statues under her Christmas tree. He was a good helper! One of his other favorite activities at her house is to push around her walker…all over the house. His steering ability is actually pretty impressive! My dad made homemade hamburger soup and corn bread. Sky’s response? num num! That was followed up by almost an entire drumstick ice cream cone. It doesn’t happen that often so I let him indulge. When he was all done he decided to wipe his chocolate ice cream face all over my mom’s shirt, hahaha, so affectionate.

Before we left for the evening, my grandma and I were FINALLY able to play our long-awaited game of Scrabble. You see, we've been trying to get a game in for a few months now but between get togethers filled with other activities, trying to wrangle sky, and it just getting too late in the evening, it's been put on the backburner. I LOVE scrabble so i'm happy to have someone else to play with. It actually went faster than I remember so hopefully we can squeeze in a few more games over this holiday.

My Vacation Needs A Vacation

Ahh, well here we are. It’s Monday again and life as usual resumes. This thanksgiving break was particularly challenging and exhausting in every sense of the word; not really in all aspects, just in the “I have an almost 2 year old” department, which seemed to make everything else more difficult. To Sky’s credit, he must be teething, or growing, or learning, or I don’t know….but to say he’s been a handful is un understatement. Last Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were the worst and it’s progressively gotten better each and every day. As of today, he’s been pretty peachy so I feel a little bad just writing this. But, do you ever feel like your kid is just not themselves?! It’s like someone else invaded his body for 3 days! My guilt was getting the best of me! I was thinking things like “I can’t wait to go back to work!” and “Only 7 hours until bed time…”. How do full time stay at home mama’s do it?

However, It hasn’t been all bad – a play date with Fallon and Gage and lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa helped tremendously. Plus, lots of yummy Thanksgiving food, shopping, and time spent snuggling in bed reading books. Oh yeah, and my coffee.

I ventured out with my mom and Sky on black Friday – it was so funny to watch people acting all crazy. Every store in the mall was just ripped to shreds – impossible to really shop or find anything. I think I’ll just do most of my shopping online, look out cyber Monday! We didn’t buy much but Sky had fun playing on the toys and having a meltdown when we tried to eat lunch. If anything, the trip was worth it just to behold the ugliest pink slippers in the entire world. Maybe for a Muppet Halloween costume?

Airplanes Are Cool

Sky loves airplanes. He can hear them from miles and miles away and it’s always stop everything you’re doing and search for the plane the minute he hears that familiar roar. Airplane was mixed in with his first batch of major words {along with binkie and cookie}. So, naturally, we decided to take him to the Museum of Flight {near Boeing Field in Seattle}, to experience some planes up close and personal.

The good news is that he had a fun time. Was it because there were airplanes there? Hard to say.

Me on the other hand? I hadn’t been since I was little and I thought it was amazing! It was so much bigger than I remembered and the amount of history and preservation is really impressive. There is even an entire wing devoted to both world wars, the original Boeing red barn, and a huge outdoor airpark where you can walk though planes {including the very first AIR FORCE ONE!}. On top of that, they have a collection of actual spacecraft and are opening a space museum across the street in 2012. There is A LOT to see! In fact, it’s one of the biggest flight and space museums in all of the U.S.!

Sky was able to have some quality time with grandma and grandpa too! They sure are cute together! During the hour-long drive to the museum, Sky refused to take a nap {even though it was his naptime}. I knew he wouldn’t last long and he feel asleep a little over half way through, after fighting it for a good long time. He missed the outdoor air park but he sure was snuggly in his stroller! Overall, a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I highly recommend it if you haven’t been in a while!

Weekending

Our weekend was busy; a trip over the mountains for some fall fun {more on that next time} and a family get together to celebrate many overdue birthdays and my very talented sister in law, Annie, who is playing one of the leading roles in a local community theater play. Other highlights (?) include cereal for dinner {too tired to cook}, a snapshot of what can happen if you give your kid mini oreos in the car while you’re driving, and the book I’ve finally had a tiny moment to crack open: The Rhythm of Family, written by one of my favorite bloggers, SouleMama.

Also a quick note that over the next few weeks, I’ve decided to post only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday vs. every single day {which I’ve been doing since August}. Between full time work, commuting, baby, husband, life, and the “Blogging your Way” e-course, I’m feeling very overwhelmed, and overly exhausted. There has been a cold trying to creep it’s way into my body for the last week and I know the only way to kick it is to get more sleep and NOT go to bed at 11:30 each night. So, that’s what’s up!

Happy Monday to you all!