Holding Down the Fort

Think spring will ever come?  I'm not too sure, but I do know one thing.  If you can't beat em, join em!  After another frigid week, us Glaser's decided it was finally time to just make the best of mean ole man winter's antics.  I finally finally started running again (those spring races won't train for themselves!), Greg got on the trainer, and Rob supervised.  Then it was playtime!  After being cooped up in the house for what seems like weeks, we now have our tried and true "lifesavers" of being cooped up with a toddler in the dead of winter.  Check it out!

Snowed in Sanity  Savers

1.  Bubbles - Is without a doubt, the new "it" word in our household.  Rob loves 'em.  Store bought, homemade (super easy recipes here), doesn't matter.  He loves chasing them, popping them, blowing them, and looking at them.  Such simple pleasures.  And the look on his face (even after 45 minutes of BUBBLE BUBBLES!) is just awesome.

2.  Pajama Jammy Jam- Ok, well, to be honest, we rarely wear normal clothes at home - who doesn't love changing into PJ's when they get home?  But on Sundays, we declare it "PJ day" and Rob runs around all day in his adorable footies.  It's really relaxing to not have to get dressed, and we stay snuggly warm in our fleeces all day.  perfect with bubble time.

3. Brownies- And other baked goods!  So what if my toddler can't turn on the stove?  No biggie.  He is awesome at helping me taste the batter and the finished product!  We don't normally keep sweets in the house, so this is a treat.  We did cheat and use a boxed brownie mix, but we added yogurt in lieu of oil, so ya know, it's practically health food (snorts).

4.  Forts!  This is another kiddo favorite.  He is still working on the logistics of it, but couch cushions and blankets make awesome forts to hide in, chase cats in, and zoo cars around in.  Costs nothing, hours of fun, and giggles to boot!  How can it get any better?

5.  Pip Cleaners n Poms - Another quick n easy fix.  Toddlers are fascinated by shapes and "putting things together".  So I took a 32 ounce yogurt container, punched in 3 different sized holes, and used fabric store dollar bin poms and pipe cleaners.  Rob loves sorting them into colors, putting them in the different holes, then shaking them all out!  Super cheap, fosters learning, and keeps him busy so mom can make dinner!

6.  Cartoon snugs - Cause sometimes watching Taz and Wile E. Coyote is just the way to go.  With a kiddo and a kitt-o all snuggled up on you.  Life is rough.

7. Books - Rob has 3 favorite words.  Book. Read.  Again!  How can you say no to that?  On an average weekend day, we read about 30 books, and I do not exaggerate.  We read from 7:30 in the morning till just before bed.  He loves it.  Recent favorites are Goodnight Gorilla, Put me in the Zoo, and Where the Wild Things Are.  Pretty sure I have the next Shakespeare on my hands, folks.  I LOVE IT.

8.  Indoor Snow - Cause 5 degrees is just to cold to go sledding for a 25 pounder.  So we bring the snow in on a plastic sterlite tote and Rob goes to town with his cars, shovels and pails.  Sometimes we color it.  But never yellow.  Eww.

9.  Pizza Party - This is usually our Friday night go to meal.  I whip up the dough after work, let it set an hour or so, and we have a pizza trimming party.  Greg does olives, I usually do pineapple or broccoli, and Rob does all of the things.  Perfect kiddo food.  Rather healthy when homemade.  Easy clean up.  Win win win.

10.  Frozen - And as an admission of defeat, we finally watched this movie.  In 4 installments, but it does count.  A little too close to home right now, but not a bad Disney showing :-)

What are your winter lifesavers with kids?

White is the New Black

Happy Monday, folks!  How was your weekend?  (Or still weekend if you're lucky enough to get today off?)  We had a wonderful, snowy family weekend.  The drifts are currently overhead, I can't see my deck...but, hey, it's February.  So we.....

played in the snow, and slid down the drifts!

Supported Child labor.  (Hey, he has to earn his keep!)

Then had a red breakfast to top it off!!

 And since we weren't going anywhere, we decided that instead of going to Thailand, we would bring Thailand to us.  My fave restaurant around the east side is Pattaya, which specializes in fresh Thai dishes that are loaded with veggies and completely delicious.  My go to is the Ginger chicken, so I decided to try to recreate it at home - with a serious lack of ingredients.  Oddly enough, simple is best - it got 2 thumbs up from Greg, so I'll take that as a winner, winner Chicken Dinner!

Ginger Chicken for 2.5 (kiddo approved, too!)

10 ounces chicken breast, diced
1/4 cup fresh ginger, matchsticked
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp.vegetable oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup each: celery, onion, red pepper (I used cauliflower, which was a poor substitution but better than nothing!)
1 cup brown rice, uncooked

Dice chicken, ginger and veggies.  In a covered container, mix soy sauce, garlic, sugar, honey, broth, and salt and pepper.  Marinate chicken and veggies for at least one hour.  Cook rice according to package. Reserving marinade, saute chicken, ginger and veggies in oil for 5 minutes, add in marinade and simmer for 10 minutes.  Serve over rice.

Super simple and super awesome.  Probably would have done better with oyster sauce and those peppers, but for a snowstorm, it'll suffice!! :-)

And so it goes

Ahh, funny what a week can do.  Un interrupted mileage, energy, ambition, a new house....

damn, what a week.

18 month check up- serious business!

In prominent news, The Glaser clan has caught the plague.  Sore throat, body aches, tummy trouble, yuck yucky mess.  I spent the better part of the week being a blob, poor Rob had the sniffles, and it was just a hot no fun mess,  Rob seems to be doing much better, Greg and I are still sort of hit and miss.  Ahh, well.  Win some, lose some.  I suppose the deathly cold diet does have its perks, as we've lost about 10 pounds in two weeks together.  LOL.  Here's hoping for some feel good vibes soon!  Hand in hand with the death plague, I'm sorry to report that my mile a day challenge has bit the dust.  I was going so strong till last Sunday when I could barely move.  I started to contemplate and Greg goes "Don't even think about it.  You don't even have the calories to work out.

Such a wise man I married.

In other news, Rob had his 18 month check up and passed with flying colors.  As we suspected :-)  He has a few new favorite words - "Done", "More", "Bubbles"  (we have to spell this out now, because if we say it, he will run for the bubbles!  Which is fine for the first 45 minutes :-P) and my personal favorite, "pease".  Smart kiddo- mommy would basically hand him a 10 pound bag of M&Ms and a liter of coke is he turns those big eyes on me, points, and says "Pease, mommy!".  Ahhh, I love that kid!!

It's a dog eat dog world.

In house matters, sadly, we lost the Fairport house.  The sellers opted not to re- sign our extension, which bites, but we are ok with it.  We will continue to market our house for a bit and see what happens, while looking on the East side.  If we don't see anything, we might wait a bit.  We loved that house but have really adapted the :if it's meant to be, it will be" attitude.  It's all good.

And that's about it.  I wish I could say I had some wonderful new recipes for you, but right now it's Popsicles and chicken soup.  I wish I had some cool new workouts for you, but right now it's watching old episodes of American Horror Story (so creepy and horrible, yet amazing)  and Friday Night Lights.

But, on the plus side, it's Hallmark holiday this Saturday, so that's good!  Greg and I are super low key about the holiday, but Rob told me he has something cool planned for Daddy, so I think a day with my boys is just what the doctor ordered :-)

Stay warm and healthy!