These are things that I love…and since I get to enjoy these things daily, each day of the week is equal. It looks like I now love Mondays.

Breakfast

Raspberries, a raspberry scone, and banana slices with almond butter

Mmm, gooey and good.

Lunch

Adrienne was a little fussy this afternoon whole day, so I spent the majority of it doing laps around the house. When I started getting hungry, I made this plate, left it on the counter, and grabbed a bite each time I passed it by.

toast, a couple slices of parmesan cheese, carrots, celery

Dinner

These tacos were magnificent.

I loosely followed this recipe for Poblano and Mushroom Tacos. I took out most of the cheese, the salsa (because we didn’t’ have any) and used a lot more mushrooms than called for.

Roasting peppers is kind of like making spicy smores. With vegetables.

This roasted corn made my day. I almost ate it all before it made its way into the tortillas.

So darn delicious. Try them. You (and your self-imposed-vegetarian-for-a month-husband) won’t miss the meat in the slightest.

Here’s to loving every day of the week!

The good news is that I slept soundly (with a few bathroom trips) until about 4am – which is a huge improvement! After a better night’s sleep, I had a killer workout and then…

Breakfast

I’m kind of having a love affair with grape nuts, lately. The addition of strawberries, banana, and coconut milk was stellar as well.

Lunch

Same as yesterday. Bagel toasted with mustard, spinach, and cucumber. Plus 3 cuties.

Dinner

photo courtesy of How Sweet Eats

I came home and saw that we had some chicken thawed and ready to go. Originally, I was just going to grill it and call it a day – but I’m so glad I didn’t. I stumbled across Jessica’s Crispy Chicken Skewers – and miraculously had all of the ingredients on hand. They were deeelicious – like everything she makes.

In the 3^rd grade world…

While grading a reading test this afternoon, I came across this funny misspelling.

What would happen to Earth if the sun were closer?

If the sun was any closer to Earth we would all bowl.

(He meant “boil” – but I have to say, I’d rather go bowling)

When I was younger and this happened, my mom’s solution always came in the form of a smoothie. So this morning, I listened to my mama’s advice, and packed the blender with:

• 4-5 strawberries
• 1 kiwi
• 1 frozen banana
• 3 handfuls of oats
• 1.5 cups coconut milk

Mmmm, lick. Tasted like a strawberry milkshake.

Speaking of my mama – I’m headed out of town to visit my parents for a few days – leaving Meeker in charge of the house and the pets. I’m sure my oven (yes, it’s my oven) will see a lot of frozen pizzas while I’m away. See you all in a few days…and don’t worry, I’ll be back for Brownie Sunday.

In the baby world…

Bursting at the seams.

I had my 34 week doctor’s appointment today, and all is well! Baby Cakes is a little over 4 pounds, head down, and ready to go.

Also, I washed all of her clothes and blankets today.

And just about died of cuteness-overload while hanging these little outfits, and imagining Baby Cakes looking adorable inside all of them.

One apple, one carrot, one lemon, and a handful of cranberries – it was tart and delicious. Alongside that I had some gluten free bread (toasted) with almond butter and some banana slices.

Then it was an hour in the car until I picked up my best friend and we went to the gym for a nice sweat session. Aftewards, we went to brunch at The Olive Branch.

Exercising veggies on the menu…cracks me up everytime.

I got a yummy salad and more chat time with the bestie (who actually lives in LA, but is home for Christmas).

Lettuce, sunflower seeds, mushrooms, mandarin oranges, olives, sprouts

Mi amiga Jocelyn and yours truly

After some more hanging out, I headed to my parents house where I made lasagna for my family, but ended up eating leftover soup (white chili) that was in my parent’s fridge instead.

After a windy hour in the car to get home, I’m officially exhausted. Early bedtime for bonzo!

Breakfast Repeat.

Kashi/banana/vanilla soy milk

Here’s where things went south with my food. I packed the soup that I didn’t like from last night. Why? It was convenient.

But I still didn’t like it. I actually picked around everything just for the green beans – I was craving a salad and that was the closest thing. It’s frustrating to not like what you’re eating and not have any other options.

Blech. I threw most of it out – and as a result, I was famished all day. So then I overdosed on chex mix that a student had brought me.

While this was tasty, it was super salty and left me with even more of a craving for salad (and lots of water – which I drank).

I also had these snacks throughout the day, but was disappointed in everything but the apple.

(Yuck. I don’t even want to look at food anymore today.)

However, I finally got that salad when I got home, and it was deeelicious.

I used THIS RECIPE, but forgot the onion and left out the turkey. I just wanted veggies.

In other news…I have an exciting ultrasound tomorrow! I am 20 weeks (halfway through!) and we can find out the sex of little Baby Cakes tomorrow. Here’s the dilemma: I really don’t want to find out, and Meeker really wants to find out. What to do?? Meeker says that he can keep it a secret from me for the next 5 months (yeah right), but he’s agreed to have the ultrasound tech put the gender in a sealed envelope – and we can keep discussing it until we either both decided to open it, or both decide to keep it sealed. We’ll see how that works out. I’ll keep you guys updated.

Did you/would you want to find out the sex of your baby??

In the 3^rd grade world…

A little boy walked up to me today, and in a very loud voice asked: Is dammit a bad word?

I (of course) told him that it was a bad word and he wasn’t allowed to say it at school – but there is something so funny to me about kids cursing. Don’t worry; I didn’t let him know that…I didn’t even crack a smile. In fact, I think he felt bad about it because 15 minutes later, he left this on my desk.

I got roses today, dammit.

I started my morning like I usually do…Crossfit ( hero workout from yesterday) and a large bowl of Kashi/banana/soy milk

Lunch

lettuce, cucumber, edamame, dressing

Pita Pal and crackers in my reusable back from etsy.com

This dip is really good, but it left me with some atrocious onion breath. Worth it, I say.

Dinner

Soup and salad

I used THIS RECIPE, but changed it up a little by blending it after the vegetables were mushy with my immersion blender – it gave it a nice texture, but to be honest, the taste didn’t really do it for me. It was a little bland. (Meeker said he really liked it, but he also added about 3 handfuls of shredded cheese the bowl.)

The salad, however, was delicious. As was my dessert…

a cup of frozen pineapple

In other news, I made a lightbox this weekend – which is why my dinner photos aren’t  dark and grainy like usual. (Thanks for the idea, Holly!)

I love.

In the 3^rd grade world…

Remember my ex-chinese student from last year??

She brought me (Baby Cakes) this present today!

I miss her and her shenanigans.

Breakfast was an exact replica of yesterday’s.

I thought I’d put my face in the picture just to switch it up a bit. (My face and my bony talon hand holding the bowl)

I forgot my camera at school today…major bummer. We did a fun project that I wanted to show you all – it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. And I had refried beans and two tortillas for lunch. And a lot of fruit.

Dinner

Pretty – and delicious – salad. Lettuce, broccoli slaw, cucumbers, carrots, blackberries, this dressing

Dessert

Toasted peanut butter and agave sandwich

In the baby world…

Just shy of 5 months pregnant and…

I’ve got a belly! (Excuse the sweats – they’re my favorite. I’ve had them since 7^th grade)

Raspberry Allure

Hot pink tastes good.

Into the blender:

• 1 banana
• ½ cup frozen raspberries
• ¾ cup apple juice
• drizzle of agave

What is your favorite fruit combo for smoothies?

Chia seed pudding (minus the walnuts in that recipe) with banana slices

At 11:20 I stood outside in the sunshine for recess duty, which lifted my mood considerably. Then my lunch pushed me right over into blissful.

Maple almond butter

Plus a baked sweet potato

Aaand I just realized I forgot to take a picture of the final product – I only had 10 minutes to eat lunch, so I guess I spaced it. Trust me, it was pretty fantastic. And get ready to smile really big…

I saw this apple sweater on Etsy the other day and just HAD to buy it. My pink lady is wearing a sweater. It doesn’t really get better than this.

When I got home, I tried a new melon for snack.

It was okay…a lot like a cantaloupe, but not as flavorful. I probably won’t buy it again.

The almonds/pecans were as good as ever, though.

Dinner was semi-homemade. And yes, I just rinsed out the melon bowl.

Pad Thai

I bought this sauce the other day, and then today combined it with ½ a sweet potato, tofu, broccoli, asparagus, and rice noodles. Oh and a dollop of peanut butter on top. Yum city.

Now I’m about to make tacos for Meeker! It’s taco Tuesday, but I wasn’t feeling it. When you want pad thai, you’ve just gotta have it!

Have you ever bought anything on Etsy before? I just found it a few days ago, and I’ve already spent $35 on miscellaneous items like “apple sweaters”…it could be dangerous.

In the 3^rd grade world…

Another good tattle-turtle entry, albeit, a little blurry.

Zach is making his face get really red.

Banana split. On the left, Dark Chocolate Dreams PB. On the right: creamy peanut butter with chunks of raw carrot cake.

Sandwiched and eaten on my walk to school.

For lunch, I had more favorites. I’m 100% hooked on roasted potatoes AND my garlicky pesto rice.

A cup of each. Plus an old time favorite that I’ve been hooked on since I was a kiddo.

I drizzled the pb and ate the mess with a fork.

(On my walk home from school, I saw the high school cross country team running through the park. It made me want to run alongside them! I’m totally hooked on running, and I miss high school cross country.)

For dinner, an old time favorite that I’ll never tire of: hooked on roasted veggies.

Carrots, yellow squash, zucchini, red onion, broccoli, eggplant, tomatoes, chickpeas, hummus, nutritional yeast, balsamic vinegar

All mixed up and ready to eat! Deeelish.

In the 3^rd grade world…

I love organization and everything that goes along with it. Sticky notes included.

I have my kiddos hooked on phonics sticky notes. We take our ‘reading notes’ on them and then stick them to the board as we review. After we stuck them up there, 2 little boys asked: Can we organize them by color??

Uh, yes please. My heart melted, and I gave them both high fives.

Also, thanks for all your encouraging Trunchbull comments. I got a phenomenal night’s sleep last night and felt much more like Ms. Honey today. Smiles all around.