Day 3

Keeping Up

If there is one thing I learned as a working mom, it was how to make easy, quick and healthy meals for dinner. I had little time for preparation if any at all and very hungry mouths to feed the minute we walked in the door from work. The easiest and quickest meals are usually the most healthy in our house. Our usual grocery routine is this: once a month trip to Sam's Club to stock up on meat, poultry, fish and eggs. During the week I usually make one trip to our local grocer for vegetables, fruit and odds and ends. Our dinner is typically a fresh protein with one or two vegetables, baked, pan-seared or grilled. It's easy, I simply stock up on our favorite vegetables for side dishes at least once a week. (I also enjoy Trader Joe's frozen sides like Butternut Squash Risotto and Sweet Potato Gnocchi- yum!)

Today we had honey wheat bagels with almond butter and bananas for breakfast. After going for a nature walk in our neighborhood this morning (ok, it was really only 4 houses down the street and back, but my son explored everything in-between) I spent an hour trying to get Asaph to take a nap. Usually after lunch he is extremely tired, but not today. My infant slept all morning and of course woke up just as my toddler went down. I am still in school finishing my Bachelor's degree (I've taken classes here and there for uhh...well...a really long time now, its quite ridiculous) and I had homework to get done today. I'm 4 classes away from graduating, taking one class a semester. I was absolutely crazy working full-time, having babies and going to school!! But somehow I managed to keep up with it all. I ended up having to hold Rowan most of the time I did homework because he is extremely fussy and needy. He is also really adorable so he's hard to put down. :)  I knew Tyler would be home from work early so I planned out our dinner in advance. Pan-seared pork chops with bacon-wrapped asparagus and paprika garlic red potatoes. (I was inspired by an episode of Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa to chop up some fresh garlic and bake it with the potatoes. Love Ina!)

Here are a few pictures from the day. After nap time Asaph decided to draw all over his face and arms with blue marker (thank goodness I bought washable!), he took his dry erase crayons and drew all over the oven and dishwasher and proceeded to take every Tupperware lid out of the cabinet. I'm enjoying spending time with my boys and figuring out this domestic-diva thing while trying to keep up with him...the house at the end of the day looks like a tornado. Ha!