Very Fun Week

Again, dumb Daylight Savings, making me all tired.  I turned off my alarm clock this morning without realizing and woke up at the time I was supposed to be leaving for work...even Leif wasn't awake.  But hey, got to work around normal time so it goes to show I can get ready in 5-10 minutes flat!

Overall I had a really nice week.  Things have been pretty awesome, no complaints!!!

Wednesday, March 4

Happy birthday to my best friend across the country, Barbie!  Happy birthday Pa!  Is it coincidence that some of my favorite people share a birthday???

 Wednesday also marked the day where Leif clearly said his first phrase...

He found daddy's water bottle and kept playing/drinking with it...

He would push the drinking apparatus down and freak out because he couldn't get it back up.  So I whipped out my phone to video him throwing a tantrum to send to hubs...instead, he kept saying, "Uh oh!"  It was the cutest!  I would post it here but it's two minutes long and probably wouldn't upload...

Thursday, March 9

Since Hubs started his new class, I had to run home to let the dog out and now that the sun is setting a little later, I was able to give Miles a walk.  Leif was in the best mood when I picked him up from daycare, and every once in a while on the walk Leif would just look up and smile at me.  He's seriously the sweetest little boy ever.

Friday, March 10

Day went by slowly, but then Hair time!

Don't I look gorgeous?  eh eh eh...

After!  I decided I wanted to stay light, but add some red and do kind of an ombre.  It's hard to see in this light!

Saturday, March 7

We went and got our favorite sushi since our last sushi run in Simi Valley wasn't that great...yay Sumo Sushi!

I had to take a photo of my roll before I ate them all-it's called "Heart Attack" - spicy tuna, jalapeño and avocado with panko on top.  SO delicious.  And then cucumber & avocado rolls in the background, and yellow tail sushi for hubs in the background.

Out of all the food we got for Leif, he devoured the veggie spring roll.  Good to know we can give him veggies that way...

Leif watched me eat with my chopsticks, then try to feed him with them, so he imitated me but didn't have it quite right...

I forgot to mention we did a Target run before sushi, and here's hubs goofing around Saturday night with Leif's new towel...

Everyone wanted to get in on the fun :)

Sunday, March 8

What do Disneyland Annual Passholders do?

Why, go to Disneyland, of course!

Hubs woke up with a nasty cold but he was determined to take the family to Disneyland.  Such a dedicated husband.

 Since we didn't get there until around 12pm after parking, we decided to grab lunch at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney before going into the park.

Waiting for our table-Rasta Leif mon!

Had a get a super quick photo of Leif in before he took off the frog crown

Entertaining squirmy toddler Leif

Food was really not that great, and I actually blame my fish and chips for making me feel a little queazy towards the end of the trip, but I'll get there soon...but we will not be returning!  Too expensive for bland food.

Upwards and onwards...

Right after lunch we bolted to California Adventure where they put on this Disney Jr. Show-sort of a live show meets puppets from the popular Disney Jr. cartoons-Sophia the 1st (?), Doc McStuffins, Mickey's Clubhouse and Jake the Pirate. What's funny is I brought Leif there so that he could move around and dance if he wanted to-but he just wanted to sit in my lap and watch the whole time-I tried putting him on his feet when all the other little kids got up, but he just plopped right back down.  It was the most attentive I've ever seen him!

Rocket ride!

Leif passed out early, so we ended up grabbing a Starbucks drink in Disneyland and walking around while he slept

Later we hit Toon Town, where the main characters live.  This is Minnie's House!

Playing with Minnie's dishwasher

In front of Mickey's house-you can see my hand...I was trying to make sure he didn't fall since he's up high!

Goofy's piano makes noises and Leif LOVED it.  We had to pull him away.  Piano player in the making.

Doesn't it look like he's reading the music?!

In front of Donald's boat

Back in Goofy's play area-Leif was able to move around and stretch his legs!

Since hubs wanted to take sunset pictures back in California Adventure, we wandered back and afterwards took Leif to the pier area so that he could walk around...

He was amazed by the water fountain!

Aaaaand we had to pull him away from this too, which was tough.

We went back to our locker with the diaper bag and as we sat down with the sun setting, exhaustion kicked in for both of us.  We decided to head over to Disneyland so that I could get a pretzel and hang out until the fireworks.  But then I started feeling nauseous and after we fed Leif a light dinner of fruit and toddler crunchies, we headed back to the car around 7:45.  Thankfully I started feeling better but hubs' congestion was terrible.  It was smart we left when we did.

When we got home, we ate this:

O. M. G.  Probably my new favorite at Disneyland-it's a Raspberry Macaron with raspberry filling and real raspberries.  It's the size of my palm and it was DELICIOUS.  

You will probably see a lot more Disney posts now that we have passes.  :)  I'm so happy!

Pinterest Success: Panda Expres Chow Mein Copycat

Daylight Savings is not nice.  I'm definitely on my second cup of coffee...

Today's Pinterest Success is on the fence because it was tasty, but it definitely didn't taste anything like Panda Express's Chow Mein.  That's probably a good thing considering PE's Chow Mein is way more fattier than the copycat.

Here's the pin:

The website is entitled "Damn Delicious" :)

Here are my photos, sorry I didn't take a lot-I was just trying to make dinner as fast as I could because  we were huuuungry.

Prep table

Chow Mein noodles

Onions and celery

Final product

Here is how I would tweak this recipe:

1. I would have added tofu or chicken...but my tofu was way expired and I had no time to defrost chicken tenders.
2. The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of freshly grated ginger, but we're not into that ginger taste (it almost overwhelmed the dish).  I definitely will go less next time.
3. Added a dash more soy sauce (calls for 1/4 cup).
4. I didn't have the yaki soba noodles it asked for, but my noodles I bought specifically said chow mein and they were tasty.

Leif's FIRST Disneyland Trip!

YAY!

We bit the bullet and decided to take Leif on his FIRST Disneyland trip!  The main reason we went was because hubs' best friend from Seattle came down with his girlfriend and kid just for Disney.  We tossed the idea around all week long, and we were really hesitant because it was supposed to rain all day Sunday.  Saturday rolled around and started off like any other weekend (and was super sunny even though the forecast said rain!).  I made breakfast, then took Leif to Gymboree since we weren't sure what we were going to do Sunday.  Then I contacted our dog sitter to see if they could watch Miles Saturday night through Monday, and then we finally came to the conclusion that we should drive down to Anaheim Saturday night, stay the night and go to Disneyland on Sunday.  :) :) :)

What's funny about all of this was I was 90% sure we weren't going to go-I didn't want to take Leif to Disneyland for the first time in the rain and being so young he's not going to remember it.  But we knew the crowds weren't going to be crazy, and I think that's what pushed us to go.  Oh, and after talking to a few parents at Gymboree who took their babies/toddlers to Disneyland-they had nothing but positive reviews.  That helped!

And guess what...Leif was a champ!  He had a couple fussy moments where he wanted to be carried, or he was hungry, but that was it.  No crying in fear of the rides we went on, no serious meltdowns.  What a wonderful little boy!

Here are the photos we snapped-we only used phones since hubs didn't want to break out his camera in the rain:

Saturday, February 28

We arrived around 6pm to our hotel we booked through hotwire.com...this hotel was seriously only a 10 minute walk away from Disneyland!  It wasn't the cleanest/nicest hotel, but we got a great deal.  

Leif absolutely LOVED the hotel room more than anything else on the trip...he had a fun time playing with the alarm clock-that's pretty much where he spent most of his time!

We decided to walk over to Downtown Disney for dinner and then to meet up with friends.  We settled on Taqueria at Tortilla Jo's-a quick build your own Mexican joint.  No reservations required.  It was packed, but we managed to get a table after waiting a couple minutes. Leif loved his quesadilla and grapes...and grape lid...

We found our friends and had a quick drink with them.  Leif colored for a little bit!

It started raining on our walk back to the hotel, so we stopped in a convenient store and bought ponchos and an umbrella for the day ahead.  Good choice instead of spending lots of $$$ in Disneyland!

Sunday, March 1

While I got ready, hubs watched Leif.  Behind him is his makeshift bed for the night!

Almost ready to go!

We made it!  After a silly morning of crazy shenanigans at our hotel breakfast (it was packed with strange people), driving around to find the Disney parking lot only to look at our hotel pass and realize we could have left the car there (thus driving back and walking), we made it.  And we had bought our ANNUAL passes the night before so didn't have to wait in line for that!  (Thank you hubs-apparently it was my very early birthday gift).

Leif's first ride at Disneyland-the carousel in Fantasy Land!  

We came back around and snapped photos of us in front of the castle...

Leif with the Cheshire Cat

I believe this was us waiting in line for Pirates of the Caribbean?  I can't remember, but Leif was getting antsy.  He really wanted to touch everything!

Quick shot of us while the sun popped out...

Nap time!  First one of the day, and one more towards the end of the trip.

We ventured over to California Adventure midday

Standing in line for a ride in A Bug's Land

Family photo!

This ride was really fun!

Absolutely love this little face

First character photo with Flick!  No cries from Leif, but no big smiles either.  Not too shabby!

Car's Land!

Leif not amused

The soldiers from Toy Story putting on a show

Another Carousel ride, Little Mermaid style!

Happy little Leif!

In case anyone is wondering, here are the Pros & Cons of taking a toddler to Disneyland:

PROS
-He's not walking all the way yet, so it wasn't hard to carry him/push him in the stroller
-We could take it easy and didn't have to stand in super long lines of the popular, older kid rides
-Loved watching his face light up and seeing how curious he was about everything
-Went on rides I've never been on before
-He's still free admission!

CONS
-Can't ride everything (not that terrible)
-Have to hit the baby center a few times to change/feed
-He can get a little antsy, and holding him can get tiring/hard
-Strollers are a little bit of a hassle even though it carried the diaper bag (hubs almost forgot it a couple times!)

I was a little envious of all the moms with the front-forward baby carriers (I had our ergo carrier on half the time), but since Leif is so close to walking without assistance/falling, I feel like I'd be wasting money if I purchased one now.  I feel like the next time we go, he'll be able to walk on his own!  All in all, I had such a wonderful time.  I guess it's the big kid in me, but I can't get enough of Disneyland.  :)  I'm so happy we have passes-this means everyone who comes to visit we can take them to Disneyland now!  Well, with the exception of the 50 blackout dates, but that's not terrible at all!  Hooray Disney!

Oh, and yes, my hair is still honey-colored with a tinge of green in the bangs.  My hairstylist Friday night said one more week of intense washing and then we'll be able to color it...so cross your fingers this Friday it will change!

What's up Tuesday

It's already Tuesday?!  Slow down time!

Our great friend Josh came to visit this weekend!  We went for a nice hike on Friday while hubs had to work, and then the weekend consisted of a trip to the LA Zoo, playing lots of board games, hanging out at home and gymboree.  :)

 Saturday, February 21

Leif was fighting nap time, so after I tried rocking him, he climbed down and started pulling all of his books off the shelf...

He really enjoyed his batman book!

Finally I was able to rock him to sleep, but when I put him down he woke up.  Then I rocked him again in his large blanket, and the end result was a Leif burrito.

After he woke up, we headed out for lunch with Josh and Adam across from the zoo at the Gene Autry Museum, then spent the rest of the afternoon at the zoo!

I decided to carry him in the hiking backpack which turned out really well-Leif was able to see everything and he really had a good time (and I got a great workout in!).  We got a membership so we can come back anytime!

Later that evening while I watched Leif, the boys played their games.  Leif really wanted to play with his daddy so it was super cute watching Leif roll dice and take interest in what they were doing.

 Sunday, February 22

Josh really wanted to go to this Magic tournament downtown, so they woke up early and left.  I got to play with Leif and Miles all morning-it was overcast, so we took a walk after breakfast and then I broke out these sticky mustaches, and, well...

He didn't like the feeling of the mustaches, but I tried snapping a photo before he tore it off.  He's not as bad as he looks, trust me!

It's so cute to see Leif climb on and off the couch now, and he sat there watching I think Mickey Mouse for a little bit.  I was able to snap a photo before he wiggled off again.

He didn't go down for a nap until 11:45am, which was approximately 15 minutes before we had to leave for Gymboree, so he had a really short nap and then played hard at Gymboree-thus a very fussy, tired baby the rest of the afternoon.  The boys ended up playing more board games and then we played a couple when Leif went to sleep.  All in all, not a bad weekend!

By the way, I snapped a photo of my hair on Thursday and sent it to my stylist, who then said we should wait another week or two before we try coloring my hair (it still had a tint of green).  Today my hair has a very weak tinge of green in the bangs, but everywhere else it's blonde/honey colored!  I have an appointment on Friday so she can check it.  Honestly, I kind of like my honey colored hair-it's not that bad!  But I'll show you what happens on Friday.  :)

Pinterest Failure: Thai Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing

Holy smokes, an actual failure!

I wanted to try out a healthy, simple recipe that I pinned not too long ago, and it was this:

It came from Nature Box, a business that sends healthy snacks

I didn't get a chance to take step by step photos, but know it was super easy and took me around 10-15 minutes to put together.

So here is the salad with shredded carrot, shredded cabbage (pre-packaged from Trader Joe's-very convenient), green onions, cooked chicken from Trader Joe's, chopped nuts and cilantro.  The dressing on the left is just peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice and sugar

I stored them in the fridge until hubs got home from school, and before I served I added a chopped avocado

Salad all mixed up

Looks pretty good, right? ... 

The first few bites were okay, but then the more I ate the more I didn't like it.  I could tell hubs didn't like it either.  I got about half way through it and announced that I was not a fan, and so did he.  The salad components itself were great, but it was the dressing that was off.  I thought it was too peanut buttery, and hubs thought it needed something else too.  So success on the salad ingredients, failure on the dressing.