Firsts & Lasts

It was a week of many firsts and lasts.

First farm pickup of the season, first hot weather, first popsicles of the year, Nate's first time playing in the pool, opening of the local farmer's market, first time I've had a kid officially "graduate" from something.

Last day of preschool, last preschool snack bentos of the school year, last month of pregnancy (I hope), last of our frozen stash of pumpkin & pesto from last year.

Sunday:













Popsicles in the pool. It was in the 90's for a few days.

Monday:Ryan called this his "spring scene" snack: blue-tinted rice; dried apricot & carrot for the sun; cucumber grass; green bean stems; red & yellow bell pepper flowers; marinated mushroom halves.












AJ's snack: pumpkin-carrot-apple mini muffin; rice ball; green beans; banana piece.
Ryan's lunch for grandma's house: pbj sandwich; banana piece; orange slices; carrots; chocolate sandwich cookie; Animal Parade vanilla calcium vitamin.

Dinner was some simple sushi: cucumber & sesame; asparagus; oshinko (pickled daikon); avocado. And some inari, cold tofu, & watermelon. Perfect for a hot evening.










Tuesday:
Ryan's snack of leftovers: watermelon; maki & inari sushi; small squeeze bottle of soy sauce.

First CSA farm share
of the season:
- 1 bag mixed baby greens
- 1 head red leaf lettuce
- 1 head romaine lettuce
- 2 baby bok choy
- big bag of pea shoots
- 1 bunch kale
- 1 bunch red radishes
- 3 stalks rhubarb
- 1 bunch chives
- 1 marigold plant

We immediately used the
kale for dinner with a whole
wheat spaghetti with the
Barbara's Kale Cream Sauce
Over Pasta recipe from
Debra Wasserman's cookbook
Simply Vegan. A salad of
romaine & mixed baby greens, chives, & local greenhouse-grown tomatoes completed the meal.

Wednesday:

AJ's snack: bunny onigiri; mini corn muffin; cold tofu; baby carrot; chocolate moon.
Ryan's Indiana Jones snack: cucumber slices; chocolate moon; "crystal skull" onigiri; mini corn muffin; cold tofu, nori & black sesame seed "map"; baby carrots. (No, he hasn't seen the new Indiana Jones movie, but grandma got him a small Indiana Jones Lego set.)

Dinner: curried tempeh
salad in rice wraps with
mixed baby greens &
pea shoots.






Thursday:

boys' lunch: tofu salad
sandwich on whole
wheat roll; orange slices;
baby carrots.




Ryan watering some flowers.









With only 1/2 a dozen
vendors, the first local
farmer's market of the
season in our town is
small, but it was still
nice to visit. I picked
up some local red potatoes
dug that morning, along
with an animal-free soap
from a local artisan.


I arrived home to a wonderful surprise: a package in the mail with gifts for the new baby and I. Two and half years ago, when I was pregnant with Nate, I became friendly with a group of mothers from an online due date club on Mothering. Since then many of us have stayed close, met in real life, and some of us are expecting another baby.
Recently I discovered that my favourite sling and mei tei had been ruined in the back of my car over the winter due to a leak in the trunk and had become covered in mold. One of the items in the package was a brand new Babyhawk mei tei, along with other gifts from Little Willow which is a natural baby products store owned by one of the mamas in our group. I was so touched!

Dinner: spaghetti & broccoli
with marinated mushrooms
and the last of our frozen
pesto from last season.





Friday:
I made some mini loaves of pumpkin bread with the last of our frozen pumpkin to give to Ryan & AJ's preschool teachers on their last day. Ryan also picked some wild roses from our yard.
Here is Ryan getting a graduation certificate from his preschool, along with a collection of his artwork from the year, a photo album, a small tree to plant, and the book Be A Friend To Trees.
Then his class enjoyed some popsicles together.

AJ also received a portfolio
of his artwork and a small
gift from his teacher. His
class had an ice cream
sundae party (which we
brought along vegan ice
cream, sprinkles, whipped
cream & chocolate sauce for
of course).

Nate enjoyed checking out
the train table and toys in
the classroom where he will
be in the fall.