Soundtrack to cook to: Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines....yes, I'm still SO into this album.
My sister Kristen was over a few weeks ago and suggested that Alexander and I have a "Mommy and Son Date" while she watched William. I thought this was a great idea, so I took Alexander to go see Despicable Me 2 (he LOVES the minions!), have lunch at Chipotle, and dessert at Cold Stone Creamery. It was a perfect date!
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| Here's Alexander, cozied up to some popcorn and getting excited for the movie. He had a blast and only got wiggly towards the last 10 minutes of the movie. He was cracking up when he saw the minions being silly. |
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| Personally, I think this was his favorite part of the date - dessert! We got a Mint mint chocolate chocolate chip sundae (my personal favorite). He got a huge kick out of watching the people mix all of the ingredients together on the cold stone slab. Thanks for making this Mommy and Son date possible, Kristen!! |
That following weekend, we decided to go to Stone Zoo since Joseph had never been. Unfortunately, there was some sort of event going on that morning. By the time we arrived at the zoo, the parking lot was completely full! We still wanted to go on an adventure, so we went to Boston Common and fell upon a music and food festival! What luck!
After riding on the carousel (which is a must whenever we go to the Common for Alexander), we walked around, played some games, and sat in the lawn to watch a music show for kids.
I've been looking for things to do outdoors while the weather is nice. However, I was in a funk and could only think of the same things that we've done in the past. I wanted something new. Then, I heard from another local parent about Gath Pool in Newton. It's got a great little kiddie pool that is only 1 1/2 feet deep and is perfect for the kids to splash around.
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| Alexander, sitting in the front part of William's stroller, watching the music act rehearse. |
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| Alexander and Mommy selfie! |
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| Alexander, Me, and Joseph (William was in his stroller, and we couldn't smoosh in together to get everyone). |
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| Joseph, William, and Alexander clapping along with the music. |
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| Joseph and Alexander on the carousel in the Common. |
Before I left to go to Hannibal, my friend Kate and her three adorable children met me and the boys at Gath Pool to play and cool off.
Our little William has been hard at work with crawling!! Once William was about 8 1/2 months old, he began to plank, army crawl, and went into full-fledged crawling! All I could think of was, "Oh great...now I have to child-proof everything again!" As soon as I put William down in the living room, he always goes for the same things - Oscar's water and food bowls! He's a very mischievous child. :)
And now....a quick and incredibly easy recipe!!
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| Sanders, Lucy, and Alexander had a great time jumping in the water and playing together. |
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| William, up on all fours for the first time! |
Little man, attempting to crawl
Alexander, playing with William and making him laugh.
On July 16, Joseph and I went out on a rare date night to see one of our favorite bands Ben Folds Five play. It was so nice to get out on a beautiful night at the seaport to rock out to some of our favorite songs. We've been fans since we were in high school. Thanks for watching the kids, Kristen! You rock!
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| Me and Joseph - very happy to be out past 8 p.m. |
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| We had great seats! 5th row, baby! |
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| Ben Folds...rocking out and being awesome. We had a great time. |
I'm a huge fan of the slow cooker, so when I found a recipe for chicken gyros (I'm a HUGE fan of gyros), I thought I'd try the recipe out. The preparation took ~15 minutes, and the chicken cooked for about four hours on high.
After four hours, take two forks and shred the chicken completely. (You will end up with a TON of shredded chicken.) The result was an incredibly moist and flavorful shredded chicken that I served with tzatziki sauce, cut up cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions on a pita. Don't get me wrong, this was a great recipe. However, as a fan of gyros....they did not taste like gyros.
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| Spray the inside of the slow cooker pot with nonstick spray. Place 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the slow cooker (mine were frozen and I didn't even have to thaw them). Mix together the following ingredients in a bowl and pour over the chicken: 3 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 1 onion, diced 1/4 cup water 1 tablespon olive oil 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon oregano 1/4 teaspoon allspice 1 teaspoon lemon pepper Put the top on the slow cooker and let it do its magic for 4 hours. |
I was somewhat let down by the lack of gyro-like flavor that the chicken had. So, I decided to reinvent the meal. (Ha ha...I made a pun...get it?) :)
The next evening, I took whole wheat pizza dough and spread it on a pan. Then, I topped the pizza dough with sauteed red peppers, caramelized onions, and mixed the shredded chicken with barbecue sauce. I made a barbecue chicken pizza and it was absolutely heavenly!! The pizza was a hit. (Apologies for not taking a picture, but we gobbled it up so fast that there was no time to take one!)
You could also make a chicken salad out of the leftover shredded chicken, too. The possibilities are endless. I would totally make this recipe for the shredded chicken again. I just wouldn't serve it as chicken gyros.
And last but not least...
Beach fun!! I absolutely love going to the beach during the summer. Thankfully, Massachusetts is FULL of beautiful beaches. Too bad I keep going back to the same one, over and over! I absolutely love Nantasket Beach and decided to take Linda, Elias, and the boys there for the morning. We had a lovely time collecting shells, splashing in the water, and playing in the sand.
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| Alexander, me, and William, cuddling in the sun. |
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| Linda, Alexander, Elias, and William, snuggled up together at the beach. It was a beautiful day! |
Love and kisses,
Nikki
They're great for leftovers. You could even make fajitas out of the recipe, too. We'll make sure to set aside some leftovers for you next time. Thanks Weez! :)
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