Clowny Lumberjackish Quin

Papa Todd put Q in possibly the cutest outfit he could of on Sunday, what I like to refer to as his, "Clowny Lumberjackish outfit":
Ahhhh

Q put his cute duds to good use by:
moving fallen tree branches in the yard

and showing off those cute suspenders at Tutta Bella

where we went for a really fun pizza dinner out with friends Matt, Rebecca and Olea, plus Tara, Nathanial and new 7 day old Baby Caleb! It was a packed place with fun live music, tasty food, and great company!

The Cook is In...

So normally I mostly post about Quin, but I am feeling like luxuriating in a moment of self respect...So, here goes, I have been working on creating weekly "meal plans" since September. Though this really waned during my 1st trimester gross feeling stage, I've been overall pretty proud of the results for our family.
Here is my book of saved "meal plans" and a sample list from this week.

So, this was one of those weeks where I planned some tasty meals and actually cooked most of what I planned, and more! So, I just have to take this moment and share.
First of all, Todd is probably most jazzed about the bread I've been baking, and I don't even have the cookbook (Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day) yet. Though I did order it with my gift card from the PEPS group I led! I can't wait to try out some more of the recipes.
Not to be left out, Quin the dough boy

Beyond the bread, which went nicely with some of the dinners I made this week, I was proud of the fact that two of the meals I tried for the fist time were done pretty inexpensively using fresh herbs, a little cream and canned goods. The first being a red sauce for our penne, the second a white bean soup.
Typically I don't come up with ideas on my own, and this week was no exception. From my "dinner ideas" binder I had pulled out this article from Cookie magazine on 30 meals in 30 days. I seem incapable of following recipes though, so the 3 I used this week were full of my own adaptations:

• "Tuscan White Bean Soup with Shrimp" (but with lots of garden herbs and without shrimp)
• "Mustardy Pork Chops with Gnocchi" (sans Gnocchi, which our family is not fond of, and with major changes to the sauce recipe)
• "Chicken with Peanut-Curry Sauce" (again, made the recipe my own).

So, there you have it, I will likely now regress to cooking tacos, and frozen raviolis next week, but at least I shared my moment of glory!

Mood Swings

Quin is SO 2 these days! He has been particularly emotional these past few days, and can go from a cranky sour puss: to a happy go lucky ham:in a matter of moments. It's pretty amazing and just a smidgen tiring...

Island Hopping

We had the good fortune of getting to spend some fun times with friends and family this past weekend on the "islands". Firstly, on Friday evening we went up to Camano Island to have a great dinner and visit with Todd's co-worker buddy Derek, his wife and two sons (3, and 8 weeks old). We all had a great time and Quin is still talking about "that boy" aka Dakota.

Then, on Sunday we headed over to Vashon, oohed and ahhed over my parents newly refinished GORGEOUS red oak floors, Todd helped move some upstairs furniture out for the new carpet, we gathered up some native plants to transplant to our yard,and Quin thoroughly enjoyed tromping around at the house AND in the water!

Apparently, though it couldn't have even been 60 degrees outside, Quin thought he ought to stomp in the frigid Puget Sound. Well, we didn't have the heart to stop him, that is until he tripped and got a little more wet than he expected. Needless to say, we took him away from the temptation of heading back in before he could get hypothermia. This boy sure is a feisty one at times, and at other times so sweet:

quinstruction

quin·struc·tion

1.	the act or art of constructing done by a toddler named "Quin".

2	the way in which a thing is constructed by Quin: a building of solid quinstruction.

3.	the occupation or industry of building done by Quin. He works in quinstruction

And man, can this Quinstuctor be a bossy boss, grabbing his Mama by the finger and saying, "Dig, Mama, dig!"
Someday in the future, perhaps by the time he's 3, we will have some photos of actual Quinstuctions, until then he'll just keep hammering nails into wood scraps on his workbench, and digging in the dirt pile out back, every day, for hours on end.

The Number and Question of the Moment

The Number: "4"
The Question:"Where'd it come from?"
The explanation:
Quin has been very into the number "4" all week, I'm not sure how he decided this was the number to go by, but it really has stuck as of late. So, if you ask Quin how many yogurt covered pretzels (favorite snack of the moment) he wants, he'll say "four".
Quin's version of "4" on his fingers:
He'll tell you about his "four owies" though he actually only has 3, 2 of which are completely healed. Oh, and now I have to tell you about them:
1. A little scrap on his tummy from climbing on the picket fence
(the hardly visible owie on the left)
2. A scrape on his knee from falling on the sidewalk
(except here he is actually showing us the wrong leg...;))

3. An old owie on his nose, which was once was his first bloody nose caused unintentionally by our loving dog Theo bumping into him while trying to fetch a ball.

Yeah, Q is pretty rough and tumble and doesn't really cry that much from these injuries, but loves band aids of course, and talking about his wounds, every day.
Anyway, "4" is the number of the moment, which makes his even number loving Mama very proud. ;)

Onto the Question of the moment: "Where'd it come from?"
This question mostly pertains to food items, especially fruits and vegetables for some reason, perhaps because my explanation of where bread comes from is just too lengthly for a 2 year old to digest. I'm so pleased about this question of the moment though, even if I do answer about 2 dozen times a day. I'm pleased because we've had the chance now to explain and then show him where his food is coming from, in our tiny garden! Well, we're not exactly there in showing him where the pumpkins etc. come from, but come this fall we will! So, next time you see or chat with Quin, you can give him a little quiz, "So Quin, where do blackberries come from?" He'll probably respond with, "Blackberries come from bushes in da woods!" And hey, come sometime in late August this year they will!

Welcome to Our Garden

The Little Zackey garden has certainly benefited from recent weather conditions here in Seattle. That is, the bits of rain and gray during the week and lovely weekend sun.
So here, let's take a stroll through our tiny patch of yumminess...
We have here some lettuce starts which we are already eating, along with bit of dill and basil, and with some baby carrots, beans, peas, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, onions, and chard. We'll see how much of it will actually grow! This is my evidence of it's beginning though. Plus outside this tiny patch, we have: sunflowers, wildflowers and nasturshums, and in another spot: zucchini, potatoes, and pumpkins. Again, I haven't ever attempted growing much in the way of veggies, so I'm already thrilled that we had this tasty garden salad tonight (well at least the lettuce and dill were from our garden ;)) :
And nearby the garden, Quin has started a pine cone collection: And today after a bit of garden work planting more seeds and watering, Q took a break to do his version of a "Slip N' Slide":
Ah, warm spring days, fun in the sun, great times with friends, and this weekend lots of house projects and lacrosse watching for Todd.