Squash quinoa

This morning I heard Brady coming down the stairs. Since he saw I was awake, he came to snuggle me instead of smuggling food from our kitchen. 

I went to grab some socks and he was all "yeah, I need some socks too!" and next thing I knew, this was happening. It only lasted for a bit though until he realized he wanted different socks. My colorful striped ankle socks from yesterday.  

Elizabeth woke up to eat around 6:30 this morning. She woke up several times during the morning, but thankfully kept putting herself back to sleep. After we dropped Abigail off at school, I had vaccuming and sweeping and mopping and stuff that I needed to do before my visiting teaching meeting. That went from 10 to noon and thankfully Elizabeth didn't  really wake up til 11:45. I sent Brady up to keep her company while we finished our meeting and then ran up to grab her so we could get Abigail at 12:10. Brady had pushed re tiny rocking chair over so he could reach high enough to turn on the light and then he got her a bunch of toys. He also said that he sang her songs. He is seriously the most adoring big brother ever. Words can't even scratch the surface of his love for her. Also, she totally busted out of her swaddle and leaked out of her diaper. I'll take it though since she was in her crib for 15ish hours with only the one feeding. 

We got Abigail and came home for lunch. Quesadillas. Brady barely ate any of his but it was hitting the spot for Abigail and me so we had no problem polishing everything off. And then we headed to the library. We had to grab books and movies and CDs that needed to be returned though. And in the meantime, Elizabeth got tired of waiting and fell asleep. Ha. 

We got there around 1:30 so the rush was over and we had the place to ourselves. This was the first time we'd seen the car mat and the kids loved playing with it. Brady also loved looking at the sport illustrated kids magazines that had basketball on them. He wore his basketball shirt today. 

They kept wanting to play matching games on the computer. Luckily Abigail knew how to do that for them. 

Such a happy baby. She smiles and laughs so easily. Just making eye contact sends her into a fit of smiles. 

This guy is obsessed with baseball and golf. He trades off from day to day, but for the last few days he's been all about baseball. Always asking me to play baseball with him outside. And wore his new baseball jersey that we got from the Rockies store on Saturday. When he first put it on, he took off his shorts and then put on "sunday music" on the CD player so he could dance in his baseball dress. Poor guy. So confused these days. He obviously has boy interests, but is so influenced by only being around girls. I tried to help clear the confusion and now he knows it's a shirt called a jersey. 

We got home from the library around 3:30. I know we always spend too long but I'm always dragging the kids out because they never want to leave. Coming home I was all "okay, I'll turn on a movie, throw in a load of laundry, and get started on dinner... Even though it's only 3:30."  Well, good thing I started that all at 3:30, because everything takes forever these days. Brady and I sat down to eat dinner a little before 6. I had him asleep by 7pm. Around that time, Abigail peeked in and was asking for a snack. "I made dinner and its on the stove. Brady and I already ate, but you can carefully get some for yourself to eat."  She was all for it and after Brady fell asleep, I checked downstairs and she was gobbling it up. "Mom, I filled up the whole bowl to the top! I'm still eating."  So then I put Elizabeth to bed and came down to hang out with Abigail while she finished. 

And I thought to myself how grateful I was that both kids loved dinner so much. Neither raved that it was super amazing, but they both happily finished their bowls of it. Since I don't love cooking, it's always extra great when my kids don't whine and complain about dinner. I struggle when I go through the process of making food that no one wants to eat. 

Anyways, I didn't think it was the most amazing thing ever, but there was something really satisfying about it and I ended up eating three bowls myself. Which probably defeats the purpose of a healthy dinner. Whoops. 

Pretty good for just a random Google search of "squash quinoa."  I would have looked around more for a better recipe (because I always look at a million and then choose all the best parts and make up my own recipe) except that this one satisfied my desire for quinoa (anyone else looove the texture?!) and helped me use up the zucchini and squash in my fridge.  And I had all the ingredients and it was quick and EASY. The recipe is http://www.sewletscook.com/summer-squash-quinoa/ and the only changes I made were adding some diced onion and cooking the quinoa with a can of chicken broth instead of water. Anyway, this was a win. As I said, it doesn't taste amazing and indulgent, but there's something about it that's just satisfying and refreshing and making you want more. 

I need to start bribing this kid to stay in bed. Still doing the thing where sometimes he sneaks in bed with me, sometimes he cries as he tries to find me, sometimes just cries at the top of the stairs, and occasionally (my personal favorite) just goes to Abigail's room and falls asleep on her sofa. This was at 10:30 tonight when I was cleaning the kitchen and heard him wake up. I try to capture how adorable it is when he's stumbling and squinting and stuttering with his bed head and twisted up pjs... But it can never be captured. The pictures just look nothing like the real thing. But at least it will prompt my memory. It is one of the cutest things I witness. Baby giggles are sweet, but this melts my heart and gives me butterflies. 

Also, this one can never seem to stay on her bed. We did well today. We were friends today. She was my buddy. And she was kind and cute and sweet and everything great that a five year old should be. I don't feel that way every day, so I'm extra grateful when I do. We read lots of books before bed. Also, for my own record, I brought back the starbursts. I knew I should do this but was too stubborn and prideful until I called my parents for advice. Dad gave me lots of great advice. I took notes on my phone afterwards so I would remember it all. 

Dad also advised me to start taking alieve for my back. It seems like the disc pain I've been experiencing for the past two months is finally subsiding and I'm getting back into my just regular and typical normal day to day back pain and it's funny how excited I am about that. Blessed blessed relief. But I'm going to take the alieve and try to ice my back when I can to hopefully keep things in check. 

I feel so unproductive these days. I do a lot and I'm constantly busy, but there's always still so much to do. And with kids always needing things, normal stuff like laundry and dinner and dishes just seems to take forever. I keep hoping that someday I'll get my act together. In the meantime, I'm just appreciating the ride.