Mushrooms For The 2 Year Old

I made a pork stir fry last night. It called for shiitake mushrooms. Crosby loved the mushrooms. He had leftovers for lunch, but had eaten all but about 4 tiny pieces of mushrooms last night. I served him what I could, but when he asked for more, I couldn't say no. I cut up more mushrooms and sautéed them with some of the stir fry. 

Beet Pancakes

My 2 year old is loving these. I used a pancake mix and subbed the butter and some of the milk for beets.

2 C pancake mix

3/4 C puréed beets

1 C milk

1 egg

Measure out the mix into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle. Add the remaining ingredients into the well. Mix until just incorporated. 

ACME Farms + Kitchen

I get nothing for endorsing this business, except knowing that if more people buy from them, they are more likely stay in business, which is super helpful to me as a busy mom. So, here I go! I was introduced to ACME Farms + Kitchen by my friend, Hannah. A few months ago. This is the gist of it:

"Today, our Locavore Boxes contain a carefully curated array of fresh, local, seasonal food paired with recipes and a meal plan to turn our region's bounty into dinner for your family. Order online each week and have a beautiful box of local food delivered to your doorstep. You'll cut out trips to the store, save money on your grocery bill, answer the question of "what's for dinner?" and most importantly, support dozens of farmers, fishers, ranchers, and artisan producers throughout our region."

We have tried Blue Apron, which we like and use sometimes. Unlike Blue Apron, AFC is located in Bellingham, WA, which is just a couple hours away from my front door! Their boxes come with way less packaging, because it doesn't need to travel as far or stay cool for as long. They also pick up the re-useable items on their next delivery; boxes, glass jars, ice packs, etc. Nifty!

Music Together

Our little friend, Orianna, had her 2nd birthday party this morning. It was probably one of the less hectic toddler parties we've attended. I'm not sure why. There were plenty of little feet running around, and lots of noise, yet, I felt pretty relaxed. 

Orianna had a special guest at her party. Music instructor, Mr. John, from Music Together. He brought his ukelele, some small instruments, and a music! All the boys got into it. Crosby was very delighted and giggled at the funny jokes the teacher made. He danced, played with the different instruments, and even sat quietly watching.

Drumming along

Tyler trying his hand at triangles.

Quietly listening to "Twinkle, twinkle...".

The party was near our house, so we walked. The older boys rode their bikes. David left early with Vincent and Tyler. They stopped to play at the park. Tyler made it up to the top of this structure for the first time.

There's Ty in the red shirt. He was so proud of himself.

Our First Hunt Family Yard Sale (aka Vincent & Tyler's Toy Sale)

OMG, I just realized, I forgot to take a picture of their set up! Ugh.

Vincent and Tyler have been asking us for, oh, more than a year to have a yard sale. A real one. Not one where they gather their stuff and we buy it off them for dirt cheap and then donate it. We finally made it happen for them. In all our relationship, this would be David and my 3rd yard sale. This is the first where we involved the children. Our main motivation was our upcoming remodel of their bedroom.

For about 2 weeks, we've been gathering things. I hesitated to do much advertising on it because I wasn't sure if it would rain this weekend or not. I finally decided on Friday to get the word out. The boys passed out little flyers to their friends, advertising a toy sale. We posted on a few places online.

In the end, we had 4 of Vincent's friends stop by, a few neighbors, and a couple of random people. The boys each raised a little money for their stuff, and we pulled in about $36 for the other stuff. The remaining items, except for a few "big ticket" items, we will take to donation. It's funny to me how hard it can be for me to make the decision to let go of some things. As the kids were organizing their stuff, I could see their hesitation on some of the stuff that had already been decided to go. But, they did a really nice job selling their things. I had to have them back off a little on the pushiness. All-in-all, I think they enjoyed it, and it was a good experience for us all. 

 

It's Tuesday

For the past 8 months, Tuesdays have been college day for Cros and I. This is my Round 3 of "baby college." I used to ride the bus there with Vincent pretty often. We lived half as close, so I even walked sometimes. Rarely did I drive. With Tyler, I hardly drove. I had to rush back to pick up Vincent from preschool, so time was of the essence. 

 

Today, we rode the bus to school. I have been meaning to do it for months now, but keep forgetting. As I said on Sunday, I was going to try to ride the bus more often with the kids.

 

Getting there was a breeze. Getting back, not so much. Somehow, the 2 blocks to the bus stop seemed much longer. The bus took longer than my app said it would. When it finally came, the bus driver immediately rear-ended the car in front of us. Rather than stand around for 20 minutes waiting for the next bus, we hopped on the wrong bus that was right behind ours, knowing we'd have to transfer halfway home. This was all pretty simple, actually. Only, C kept saying, "Amma shuai." "Shuai?" "Pees, shuai?" Translations: "I want water." "Water?" "Please, water?" This went on the whole ride, as we waited for the transfer, and on the next bus.

Waiting for our transfer. He kept eating dried cereal and asking for water. Hmmmm.

Yes, home is just 2 blocks away from the bus stop, but the coffee shop was just a few steps. Immediate water satisfaction, and maybe a doughnut.

Prior to our morning outing, we got to watch workers on in front of our house. Okay, actually, we weren't watching the workers. We were watching the machines the workers were using.

Ms. Annette at the lunchroom gave him U.S. President cookies.

oohhh. ahhh.

 In other parts of our life, there are Duplos.

Welcome to the jungle. Do you spot an elephant?

And, show and tell. 

Ty showed off some Pokemon cards. He carried them to school in a Nespresso pods box. The kids also sang for their teacher's birthday.

 And, there's dinner. Taco Tuesday for Cinco de Mayo.

We Rode The Bus Today

Given where we live in proximity to downtown and a bus stop, we don't ride the bus nearly enough. Well, David does, almost daily, but not the kids and I. 

Today, we did it as a family. Rode the #43 to Capitol Hill. 

Here's what we did, after we got off the bus:

-Walked through Broadway Farmers' Market

-Crossed the street to Walgreens for "allowance day" shopping. V & T picked out Skylanders trappers. Trust me, you don't want to know.

-Walked a block to Elliot Bay Books, where the boys tried looking for more stuff to buy with their money. Nothing. Crosby had to be quickly carried out of the store, so avoid a scene.

He may look like he's calmly reading, but it didn't last long.

-After getting a little turned around, we found Kurt Farm Shop. Please, run, don't walk, and get your booty down to this little gem of an ice cream shop (he has cheese, too!). There's even a nice back courtyard for the kiddos to shake their legs.

 

-Stopped in at Retrofit, where I think I've found my desk chair. I just need to convince D to let me get it.

-Big Mario's pizza for big slices.

The boys are looking at, I think, a homeless couple across the street making a ruckus.

His was just half a slice. Look at D's on the left.

-Walk back through the Farmers' Market.

-Stopped in the comic book store.

-Get back on the bus and head home. 

Almost home.