Friday, October 16, 2015

Foodie Friday - Farmers Market Edition

I don't tend to post a ton of food or recipes on this here blog because I don't really like cooking all that much when I'm pregnant, which accounts for 18 of the last 38 months. Kinda crazy when you think about it, huh? One thing I do love though is seeing what other people eat. And I'm probably not alone, because Food Network seems to be doing alright for itself. 

Lately I've been trying to get back into a groove of cooking dinner instead of relying on cereal, sandwiches, and takeout. We've been stocking up on tons of veggies at the farmers market, and it's that perfect in between season time when you can still get peaches, but all kinds of squash are turning up too. Rather than go to the market with a set list we just pick out whatever looks good and afterward I'll come up with a meal plan that incorporates everything. So far we've been doing pretty good about not throwing too much away. Here's what a typical week's worth of dinners looks like for us. Most of these can be made from start to finish in 30 minutes, which is mandatory if you're trying to get dinner on the table with small kids underfoot.

1. Fall Salad.

Since the weekends are basically a free for all when it comes to food I like to do a big salad on Mondays to start the week off on a healthy foot. We've eaten several variations of this salad in the past month, just using whatever we have on hand at the moment, but the basic formula is the same: greens, fruit, roasted veggies, & grains. The one in the picture has mixed greens, roasted sweet potato and chickpeas, quinoa, craisins, grapes, avocado, and citrus dressing.

2. Chilaquile Casserole & Salad.

Chilaquiles are one of our favorite brunch foods, so I used that as inspiration and improvised with what we had in the house. The filling is shredded and sauteed sweet potato, kale, 6 scrambled eggs, cheese, and a can of rinsed black beans. I layered enchilada sauce, corn tortillas, and filling for three layers, then topped it with more sauce and cheese and baked it for 30 minutes at 350. The salad was just mixed greens, apple, craisins, walnuts, and ginger balsamic dressing.

3. Thai Basil Eggplant, Farro, Sweet Green Beans, and Salad.

This was a ton of food and I couldn't finish it all. Also, this is a pretty spicy dish. To make it, I just chopped and sauteed the eggplant, then added store bought sweet & spicy basil sauce, but if you'd like to make your own here is a good recipe. For the green beans, I steamed them, then sauteed with a little bit of brown sugar and olive oil. The salad is the same as the night before.

4. Spaghetti Squash with tomatoes & veggie "meatballs" + roasted potatoes.

To save time I poke holes in the spaghetti squash then microwave till it's tender, about 8 minutes, rotating it halfway through. After I deseeded the squash I sauteed it with some olive oil, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper, and tomatoes. The veggie "meatballs" are actually from Ikea, and are pretty tasty. The potatoes are just roasted with rosemary, salt, and pepper. 

5. Vegan Chinese "Chicken" Salad.

This is a super simple and filling dinner. It's just shredded cabbage and carrots with mandarin oranges, slivered almonds, cilantro, avocado, and sauteed vegan chicken. For the dressing I just added some of the mandarin orange juice to the ginger balsamic dressing I'd been using all week.

Here are a few more family favorites that I fall back on time and time again:
- Coconut Curry
- Eggs for Dinner
- Cauliflower Rice
- Veggie Burgers

What are some of your go-to quick and easy dinners? I'm always looking for inspiration!
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Thursday, October 15, 2015

A Typical Day in Our Life

I've done a few day in our life posts, including the most recent one right after Declan was born. At that point in our lives it was all chaos and takeout food and survival mode. Lately we've settled into a nice routine, we're completely unpacked (as of last week - don't judge!) and we're loving our new home, so I wanted to do an updated day in our life post. But then, as soon as I thought, Hey, I've kinda got things under control. Maybe I can handle this whole parenting two kids thing, this happened:


After a night of musical beds where I was woken up so many times that I literally had no idea where I was or who was crying, we woke up to day two of a hoarse, raspy-voiced toddler who was just so pitiful sounding and in pain, so off to the doctor we went. It took me + a nurse to hold Ez down long enough for the doctor to look down his throat. That's all, just shine that light thingy down his throat. Imagine how awful his next round of shots is gonna be. Then we got the news that not only is Ez getting more molars (seriously the most awful, horrible, hateful things ever!), but he's also got bronchitis. My poor baby. We head straight to the pharmacy (aka - Target) to pick up his meds. As soon as I pull into the parking lot both boys fall asleep, and all I've got is the single stroller. So I'm walking through Target, killing half an hour while they fill the prescription, using one hand to push Ez in the stroller while also carrying Declan in his car seat. No less than four people stop to smile and point out that I have my hands full. Really? Do I? I hadn't even noticed. And can I just point out that seeing all that cute fall stuff at Target but not being able to touch or browse was really sad. Like really. I did pick up a get well gift for Ez though, because mom priorities. Once we got home I wrestled Ez to the ground in order to force feed him his medicine. He actually likes the way it tastes, but that doesn't stop him from putting up a fight each and every time. Then I go to pick up Declan, who is also screaming, only to find poo up to his hair. And all over my hands. Emergency bath time. While I'm trying to spray down a wriggly, slippery, screaming baby Ez bursts into the bathroom with such force that the door bounces off the wall and hits him right in the face. Cue screaming baby #2. So for about the 50th or so time both kids are simultaneously screaming bloody murder. And did I mention this was all before lunch?

Lesson learned. Never ever ever tempt fate by thinking you've got things figured out. She will laugh right in your face and throw you curve ball after curve ball until you admit that you know nothing. Nothing at all.

So I totally acknowledge that I'm just taking parenthood day by day, and sometimes it's literally all chaos and tears, but the other days when all pandemonium hasn't broken loose look something like this:


Our weekdays follow the same basic formula. I get up whenever the earliest riser wakes me up (not counting Joe, who usually leaves before we're awake). On the off chance Declan wakes up before 7am, he hangs out with daddy while I get some more zzzs. Typically Ez and Declan wake up between 7 and 8, then Declan likes to cluster nap till 9 or 10. We appreciate lazy mornings and start off with breakfast, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and of course iced coffee for me. 


Ez is generally pretty good at entertaining himself in the mornings. He likes being reunited with all his cars after a whole night away from them. So if Declan is napping this is my blog and chore time.


Late morning/early afternoon is when we gotta get out of the house before everyone starts going crazy. Some things we like to do are story time at the library, a trip to the park, walks around the neighborhood, errands, meeting my sister for lunch, or just playing in the garden. Declan is always strapped to me in his Bjorn carrier, facing outward because he's very social and likes to people watch.


Sometimes Ez falls asleep in his stroller and naps up to two hours, otherwise we eat lunch. Then Declan naps and Ez and I get some one on one time (unless they're both napping - hallelujah!) We read books, color, do puzzles, play monster bowling, or I sit on the floor while he plays cars. Sometimes he just needs an audience. 


Around 5 I'll start prepping dinner while Ez and Declan either join me in the kitchen or entertain themselves (Declan loves playing in his exersaucer - a total lifesaver!) Joe gets home around 6 and we eat dinner shortly after. 


Post dinner we usually head straight to the park where Joe and Ez play together while I walk laps with Declan strapped to me. We usually spend about half an hour there then head home to clean up, bathe everyone, and relax. 


Ez and Declan both go to sleep at 9. Declan was waking up only once or twice a night, but in the past week it jumped up to 4 times. Probably another instance of fate laughing at me.


On Fridays we pick Joe up from work and go out to dinner as a family then walk around, check out some shops, play at the park, and just unwind for the weekend.


Weekends are for exploring and we always like to get out of the house and do stuff together as a family. Now that we're in a brand new area there's so much stuff we wanna check out and our Bay Area bucket list seems to grow daily.


This season of life with multiple littles is just so much everything. So much fun. So tiring. So many laughs. So many tears. So many cuddles. And most importantly it goes by so fast. I know when I look back at this in a month or two our lives and routine will be completely different and I'll probably be laughing at the whole poo bath/door straight to the face memory. (I may have had to turn away and stifle laughter at the door slamming incident right when it happened. Does anyone else's kids injure themselves daily, or is mine just extra accident prone?) I probably won't ever find the bronchitis or molars funny, but by then hopefully it will be a distant memory.
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Wednesday, October 14, 2015

The Joni Journey Turns 3!

Three years and one week ago I wrote my very first blog post announcing my pregnancy with Ez. I had never really thought about starting a blog before, but once I was pregnant I had a strong urge to document it all. For Joe and myself. For future Ez (and now Declan). For family members who weren't close enough to share all the day to day details of our lives. So this blog began as a virtual scrapbook, and that remains the heart of it to this day. But it has also evolved into a place where I can connect with other moms who understand the magical, completely life changing, and sleepless first days of bringing home a new baby. The hysterical, messy, lovable, and frustrating toddler stage. The heart so full it could burst moments, the mom guilt, the chaos, and the overwhelming love. 

When a good portion of my day to day life revolves around nursing, dirty diapers, managing the toy wasteland that is our living room, reading the same rhyming story a bajillion times in a row, and making sure a rambunctious toddler with zero survival instincts doesn't severely injure himself, your posts and comments provide the much needed reminder that I'm not the only one in this stage of life, and it means so much to be able to laugh at the good and commiserate at the bad with you all. I've gotten so many great perspectives, laughs, and inspiration from all you moms in this blog community. So a big thank you to anyone who stops by this little corner of blogland for a chat, and a bigger thank you for sharing all your experiences, adventures, and mishaps as well. 

Here's a little look back at the past three years in numbers:
- 18 months spent pregnant
- 2 adorable, healthy little boys brought into the world
- 1 engagement
- 473 posts
- 7,483,932 pictures (an approximate guesstimate)


Top posts from 2012:

And my personal favorites from 2012:
Disneyland (my very 1st Disney post!)


Top posts from 2013:

Personal Faves, 2013:


Top Posts, 2014:

Personal Faves, 2014


Top Posts, 2015:
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Monday, October 12, 2015

Countdown to Halloween - Oct 5 - 11

Happy Monday! Is it just me or is this month flying by a little too quickly?? The weekends are filling up fast round here, but in the best possible way. 

Thanks for joining Courtney, Amanda, Elizabeth, Kelly and myself as we countdown all the fun ways we're celebrating fall and Halloween this month. If you're new to this Halloween linkup party, start here. Otherwise, grab a button and jump right in with all your fall favorites! 
  The Joni Journey

Starting our countdown at 5 (read 1-4), here's what we've been up to this past week:

5. Fall festival. Although if you ask Ez, it was more of a car festival. Read more over here.

6. Halloween painting craft. I got this little Halloween cat from Michaels and decided to go to the park to paint it. Unfortunately it was kind of a bust. Mostly because the outdoors offer so many distractions. Oooh a stick! Let's paint that. Look a leaf! Declan's toes! I wanna play with those! So we had a nice afternoon, but the cat didn't get painted. Oh well.

7. Fall baking. Every last single one of our apples from our trip to the orchard is gone. Ez ate 80% of them. He was requesting them for snacks all day long. "ah-pull?? ah-pull??" I did manage to sneak a few for baking. We made these muffins at Courtney's suggestion. They were so yummy I forgot to take pictures before we ate them all.

8. Monster bowling. Ez has had this Melissa & Doug bowling set forever, but suddenly this week he's decided it's his favorite toy. Apparently he's been bitten by the Halloween bug as well. All day long he's tugging on my shirt asking me to "set down the monstees" (set up the monsters). He usually likes to snuggle the "monstees" before he knocks them over. Then we cheer and do the whole thing over again.

9. Halloween books. I finally brought out all our old favorites from last year and we took a trip to the bookstore so Ez could pick out a new one. But he quickly realized there were toy airplanes at the bookstore, which meant zero interest in books. I picked out Room on the Broom because of all the great reviews I've heard and guess what? Ez hates it. He acts super offended if I even try to read it, and slams it shut while repeatedly yelling "NOT NOW!" You win some, you lose some... Also, what a little diva. Guess we'll save that one for next year. In the meantime we've got 5 Little Pumpkins, Duck & Goose, and 5 Black Cats to tide us over.

10. Corn maze. Now that we're back near the area I grew up I was super excited to go back to the corn maze I went to every October from middle school through high school. It's seriously the best. Super big and intricate and it's one of my favorite Halloween memories. Since the last time I went it's grown a lot and it's basically a daily fall festival for all of October now, complete with zip lines, pumpkin shooting, and kiddie rides. Due to the heat we stuck to the corn maze, wandered through the pumpkin patch, then headed out for lunch anywhere with A/C. Ez enjoyed shouting out which direction we should go, which meant we spent a good amount of time walking in circles. Eventually we had to veto him in favor of actually getting out of there sometime this decade. 

11. Halloween nails, hard cider, & Walking Dead. As much as I love all the kiddie family stuff going on this month, I'm so excited for the return of Walking Dead! Any other fans out there? We thought Fear the Walking Dead was alright, but not a whole lot of zombie action going on in the first season. To celebrate I got some hard apple cider and attempted Halloweenifying my nails. To be honest, I got a gel manicure a month and a half ago, and the nail polish refuses to come off, so this is me trying to mask my half grown out manicure. #momlife

Here's how we're doing on our fall bucket list:

Your turn! I've seen lots of fun family outings on Instagram this week (#cdtoHalloween15 ) and I'm excited to read all about the fall stuff you've been up to!



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Friday, October 9, 2015

Fall Fashion



Fall has always been my favorite season to shop. Nevermind the fact that I haven't really experienced a fall for the past 15 years, and barely a winter either, I still want more sweaters. And plaid. And boots! I think it's because of back to school shopping. I'd make a whole day of it with my mom and friends and stock up on whatever crazy fashions I thought were cool at the time. Now with a toddler who likes to hide in the clothing racks and a baby strapped to my chest shopping doesn't equal the fun, relaxing experience in my memories, but that doesn't erase my inherent need for more sweaters. Thank God for online shopping. And also Columbus Day, which apparently is just an excuse for lots of sales and shopping. And an extra day of family time. Yay, Columbus Day! 

How are you spending this 3 day weekend?
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Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Weekend Exploring: Fall Festival

This weekend we were throwing around ideas about what to do and we came across a nearby fall festival + classic car show. Ez loved the cars best. No surprise there. We even came across a real life Finn McMissile type car. But the real star of the show was this intricate mini race course where the kids could race remote control cars. Ez was fine just being a spectator, but there was definitely a meltdown when it was time to leave. I'm pretty sure he would've happily watched those cars circling that track for hours if we'd let him. Hands down the highlight for me were the tamales. Not sure how fall-themed tamales are, but they were cheesy, and that's all that really matters. 

Afterward we wandered around Main Street and spent a good amount of time in a toy store where Ez played with...what else? More cars, of course. When it was time to go Ez and I had a mini stare down because he wanted to bring home a toy car exactly like one he already owns. We compromised and got a new bath toy instead. Don't worry, it was a car bath toy. 

The rest of our weekend was pretty laid back. We did the farmers market on Sunday, followed by shoe shopping for Ez. If you've ever gotten shoes on a screaming toddler sprinting between clothing racks and table displays in a crowded store then all the applause and wine for you. We vowed never to go shoe shopping on a Sunday again. Live and learn. 

Aside from the mall craziness it was a fun weekend spent exploring yet another new to us area. 



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Monday, October 5, 2015

Countdown to Halloween - Oct 1 - 4

Mondays just got a whole lot more fun because it's the first Countdown to Halloween linkup party! You can read all about the linkup here. Join Courtney from Sweet Turtle Soup, Amanda from Tickled Pink, Elizabeth from Chasin' Mason, Kelly from Happily Ever Mock, and myself in sharing all things fall and Halloween. Make sure to grab a button then post away! Join us on Instagram too: #cdtohalloween15
  The Joni Journey

Let's get started! Here's what we've done in the way of fall fun lately:

1. We made our fall bucket list:

And this wasn't on my fall list, but it should've been:
A pumpkin donut picnic! Definitely wouldn't mind if this happened again in the near future.

2. We went apple picking. I'd only ever been once before, while visiting family in Maine, and I've wanted to go again ever since. Ez is apple-obsessed, so this was the perfect activity for him. Read more about it here.


3. We planted a fall garden. This is not something I know anything about, and my expectations are really low, but fun was had by everyone. Read more about that here.


 4. Our first pumpkin patch trip of the season. Way back in September, while it was still technically Summer, we visited Half Moon Bay and realized they're all about the pumpkins over there, so of course we had to stop by a pumpkin patch. Especially since it was a cool, overcast fallish day. I did manage to restrain myself from buying any pumpkins, so expect to see more pumpkin patch pictures in the near future. While we were there, Ez rode a horse, we took the bumpiest hay ride ever (Declan looked petrified the entire time), and they had a cool bulldozer/digger thingy that Ez got to operate.


Before I show you a million pictures of Ez on a horse I have to tell you how proud I was that he rode all by himself. I thought for sure he'd be scared or cry, but nope. As soon as the horse started moving he got this proud little smile on his face and each time he passed by he'd give us a big boy grin. He's growing up right before my eyes.

Also, here's a little flashback to the first (and only other) time he rode a horse, back when he was 15 months old:
Serious little cowboy.

Your turn! Can't wait to see all the festive, cozy, yummy, and spooky things you've been up to lately. Just link up below and check out some fall inspiration from lots of other October-obsessed ladies.

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