Family Dinners

We are used to Adam being out of town quite a bit, usually at least one night a week.  However, he has been in town a whole lot the last few months, rarely traveling and we couldn't be happier about it.  Coop, Laney and I are pretty darn happy about Alcon freezing traveling budgets :).  

With him in town, we are eating dinner as a family more often and it is by far my favorite part of the whole day.  Yep, my favorite part even though I don't have a picture because one of the kids is usually unhappy about some part of it (usually the older one :)) or needs a drink, a fork, more food, a different drink...  I love having another adult to talk to since the kids are my usual breakfast and lunch companions, I love that on many nights Cooper says, "How was your day at work, Dad?" or "Thanks for making this dinner Mom, it's really good."  We talk about Adam's day, our day, and what we are going to have for dessert.  I love that it encourages me to cook 'real' meals every night instead of just throwing something together (like PB&J) for me and the kids.  

Last week I decided I was tired of all our usual recipes and hit the web.  My 2 inspirations...The Pioneer Woman and Pinterest.  From Pioneer Woman, I made this spaghetti sauce and these enchiladas.  I had leftovers of both sauces, so they are in the freezer for another time, love that!  From Pinterest (they are all on my board), I made garlic and lemon chicken, mexican chile, and quinoa stuffed peppers.  My favorite was the peppers (adam's least favorite) and I can't remember Adam's favorite.  As for the kids, I can't remember it all, they loved some and definitely didn't love some.  However, we all agreed that our favorite was the chocolate chip cookies I made for dessert e-v-e-r-y night last week!  The boys ate theirs with ice cream, I was healthy and at mine alone :).  The recipe is here.  

Here are a couple pics from the weekend.  It was pretty quiet around here, rained all weekend long. 

 Dad took Cooper to see Finding Nemo 3D so me and this little lady got to hang out.  We did something much less fun...grocery shopping in the pouring rain.

Headed home from church-2 weeks in a row we made it to 9 am mass, woo-hoo!  I realize that doesn't sound too early but with 2 kids and 2 parents that don't adore mornings, it's basically a miracle.