Oh, we’ve been busy…

Too busy to blog.

Too busy to email or internet.

Too busy to nap.

Too busy to take photos of half of the things we’ve been up to: play dates, nights out with the girls, dinner parties, beach trips, farmer’s markets, visits with friends, birthday celebrations, and the simple daily pleasures of gardening, cooking, reading, and walking on the trail each night after dinner.

Here’s a sampling of special moments from the past few weeks that I did manage to document:














Life is so good right now.

Happy Half-Birthday, Miss Leyba!

To my sweet, smart, fun, beautiful daughter,

You are two and a half years old today!

After weeks of talking about your birthday, we get to pretend it’s your birthday today! You’ve already asked for ice cream and presents. Sorry, kid! I’ll sing to you and give you lots of kisses instead.

Happy Half-Birthday to you!
Happy Half-Birthday to you!
Happy Half-Birthday, Miss Leyba!
Happy Half-Birthday to you!

And many more!

Happy Half-Birthday, sweetie!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Recent eats

All super tasty, healthy and simple, most of them whipped up from random ingredients found in the fridge, but none of them perfect enough to post a recipe (yet).

Quinoa pasta with (leftover) grilled zucchini, chickpeas and garlic (ingredients assembled, ready to go in the sauté pan):

Salad with assorted veggies and grilled figs, purple potatoes, and grilled king salmon (definitely a meal fixed with leftovers, but the salmon was INCREDIBLE and we love grilled figs!):

Gluten-free pizza with pineapple and red onion for Mama / plain cheese for Miss Leyba (tastes SO much better on the grill; we probably won’t make this in the oven again):



Double potato frittata with arugula (too much potato, not enough arugula, garlic and cheese):


And, finally, here are the BEST recipes of the past week, both of which I’m looking forward to refining.

Salad of grilled figs, goat cheese, roasted almonds, and balsamic vinegar (a great example of using simple, high quality ingredients to create a phenomenal dish):

Chilled noodle salad with mango (recipe here, from Vegetarian Times. I have plans for making a more simple, fast and protein packed version. While delicious, it took me a full 45 minutes to put this one together… and, yes, I did have a toddler distracting me. You may be able to cook it in less.):

Yum, yum!

Beach day

The best part of living 25 minutes from the beach? Frequent trips to the shore without any guilt about how long you stay. Drive to the beach for an hour or two before naptime? Why not?!




We had a lovely time.