Sick, Serving, Sequence

It happened. Only a month after being sick with a cold I got it again. Well, I should say Chris and Corbin got sick and infected me. And apparently this year, whenever I get a cold I also lose my voice. Not good, my friends.  When your job is teaching, not having a voice is never great.

I spent Friday in bed and the rest of the weekend resting when I could and whispering. Not fun.

On Saturday, Chris and I had committed to paint parts of our church with some other “young adults” (that’s the term given to us by the church…but I’m not sure it’s accurate…hey, I’ll take it).

So, even though I wasn’t feeling great, we went, we painted, and it was fun. For lunch we tried a fairly new restaurant: Pie Five. It’s a make your own pizza place that has a gluten free option! I was very impressed and loved my pizza.

Sequence was also a big part of the weekend, but it’s really a big part of our life now  Every night after dinner if we are home we play Sequence.  Any day off, we play Sequence.  But, I love playing games and this game, Sequence for Kids, is great!

It helps teach strategy, patience, and the whole idea of how to be a good winner and loser.  Corbin has made a ton of progress on that last one….praise Jesus!

There is no lack of emotion in this game. It is serious stuff!

It begins with deep concentration…

there is always anticipation and excitement waiting for his turn…

and then there might be the agony of defeat….

or the thrill of victory!

Sickness, Serving, and Sequence sums up our weekend.

I’m hoping for a lot less of one of those three in the following weeks.  I’ll let you decide which one

Winter?

Monday, January 19, was some glorious weather.  After having many cold days huddled up by the fire and bundled up to our eyeballs we were elated to have a windless day at around 57 degrees!

We took advantage of the weather and spent time soaking up the sunshine!

Corbin wanted to walk to a major highway that is probably about 2 miles from our house.  On an earlier day, when the weather was brisk but still manageable, we tried heading there with him walking. About halfway to our destination he wanted to be carried.

So, since that wasn’t going to happen we turned around to try again some other time. And today was the “big” day. I loaded Corbin into the stroller and off we went.

Corbin is a hoot to listen to sometimes.  These are some of the things I heard:

“Go Momma, go momma, go momma!”

“Why did you stop running?”

“Isn’t a beautiful day for a walk?”

“This is the BEST day EVER!”

We did get to our location and I let Corbin out to explore and climb up the hillside of a major highway; hence, the best day ever and the looks of condemnation from others I’m sure 

We had a fun adventure and I got some exercise in…love it!

Our other exciting venture was to create a zoo with roads on our driveway with chalk. So, I drew animals and Corbin drew the many roads that surrounded the zoo.  Let’s just say the zoo has some nice looking animals and then there are some…exotic animals.

Spending time outside with a blue sky and a bright sun was awesome. I love being outdoors on a beautiful day. It was a blessing to be able to be home and enjoy it.

I hope you had a wonderful Monday and spent some time outdoors. If you ever need ideas Corbin is always happy to plan out adventures or projects for you to take on…indoors or out.

Oops

Sometimes in life the convenient and comfortable way of doing things is not always the best.

Sometimes technology that is intended to help can harm.

Sometimes necessity drives us to do unusual things.

Those words of wisdom all relate to the “lock down” incident that happened this past week.

It was Wednesday after school. Corbin and I came out to the car after I picked him up from preschool. It was SO cold that day, think temperatures in the teens and negative wind chills. So, I had him quickly hop in and slide over to his car seat while I shut the door so I could strap him from inside the comforts of the car.

After strapping him in I turned and opened the door. Except when I thought the door would open it didn’t, and instead my head hit the door window…what?!?!

Do you ever have a brief moment of sheer panic? I did. It was heart stopping, breath taking panic. I couldn’t get the doors to unlock manually. But I quickly came to my senses and knew I wasn’t truly trapped in this car. I had forgotten that the child locks had been turned on; therefore, you can’t get out of the doors from the backseat.

Well, that’s not helpful when it’s an adult in the backseat. I only had one option. To wiggle and crawl my way up to the driver seat.

I quickly scanned the parking lot and saw a limited amount of people, folded myself in half, tumbled, twisted, and worked my way over the console, my legs under the driver seat and the rest of my body into the seat.

It was not pretty, it was not graceful, but it got the job done. Corbin was giggling the whole time.

Will I forget about the child locks again? No, no I will not….until I do and I am stuck in the back again…

Back to Reality

The alarm, which has not been set for 2 weeks, blared this morning and literally scared me out of bed.  I had forgotten what it sounded like.

After our 2 week blissful Christmas break we needed to get back to reality.  Like the reality of working out…because if you don’t you gain weight and your clothes are a little tight, oops!  Like the reality of eating healthy…because popcorn, cookies, and ice cream morning noon and night are not good choices.  Like the reality of going back to work and school…because only changing from one pair of pjs to another or hopping from one couch to another does not qualify as productive.

So, we almost finished our first “back to real life Monday”.  However, since I don’t work on Monday’s we had an easier day then Chris who did have to face work full on. 

Corbin and I spent the entire morning with dear friends.  The kids played the moms talked and it was a great way to ease back into facing life!

Then when we got home Corbin and I bundled up and braved the cold weather to play in the snow.  We had a great time!  But the best part was when we got to come in and drink hot chocolate and play a game by the fire.  There’s nothing like a warm drink after you’ve been outside and are cold…it’s delightful!

I look cold in this picture and Corbin does not.  He never gets cold!

Because why not lay on a bed of snow…he never gets cold.

There are learning opportunities everywhere…writing in the snow.

Family Soccer Showdown

Corbin got a new soccer goal for Christmas.  So on Saturday, before the snow and arctic weather hit, we put it together and played some family soccer.

It was all fun and games until Chris and I played each other and Corbin was the goalie.  Chris kicked the ball into his face (accidentally, of course).  Then Chris stepped on my foot (again, on accident of course).  And when we traded and I became the goalie I felt as if Chris made scary, hard, aggressive kicks to the goal (on PURPOSE of course).

Yup, family soccer…it’s fun

Friday Favorites

Here are a few of my favorite finds:

My parents introduced me to Noosa yogurt and a container has not been absent from my fridge since.

Noosa yogurt is divine!  It tastes like cheesecake.  The yogurt is thick, rich, and creamy.  My two favorites are honey and raspberry.

 

 

My mother-in-law had these dark chocolate sea salt caramels at her house for Christmas.  They are from Trader Joe’s, so unfortunately it is a bit of a trip, but if you are there you MUST pick these up.

They have the best ratio of caramel to chocolate to salt.  Sometimes the salt does not have a prominent taste in these types of candies, but these do.  You taste the salt mixing in with the sweet caramel and the slightly bitter dark chocolate.  Oh yum! 

I’ve had my EOS lip balm for a year now and have loved it.  Yes, it’s just lip balm nothing magical there.  The magic happens in the packaging.  Ladies, the roundness of the container makes it so easy to locate in your purse.  It also comes in fun colors and who doesn’t love that?

I get asked often about what I eat since I now have to be gluten free.  There’s a lot I can’t eat, but there’s a ton of natural food that I can eat.  Also, the gluten free craze has made it very easy to find gluten free packaged food, although I try to avoid that because it’s just not great for you. 

The one thing I do LOVE and will buy more often than any other packaged gluten free snack are the glutino brand pretzels.  Chris even likes them better then regular pretzels.

They are buttery, salty, crunchy bites of deliciousness.  SO GOOD!

I tried these pretzels because I wanted to make a new recipe I had found for pretzel crusted chicken bites.  Basically, chicken bites are covered in pretzel crumbs and baked.  They are amazing and the whole family loves them.  So, I’ve also included that recipe because it’s a new fav!  (I just substitute to have gf pretzels and gf flour).  Oh and be sure to use honey as a dipping sauce it just completes the taste.

Pretzel Crusted Chicken Bites

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts or tenders
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 1 and 1/2 cups finely crushed Rold Gold Pretzel Thins (or more, as needed)
• nonstick spray like PAM, olive oil spray, or coconut oil spray (found mine at Trader Joes)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or coat heavily with nonstick spray.

If using chicken breasts, pound down and cut into little 1-1.5 inch pieces. If using boneless, skinless chicken tenders (chicken tenders are the lean strips of meat found attached to the underside of chicken breasts - they can also be purchased separately.) - simply cut into 1-1.5 inch pieces.

Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. Beat eggs in another shallow dish. Pour pretzels into a third shallow dish. Coat each chicken piece in flour, shaking off any excess. Then, dip in egg and let any excess drip off. Then generously roll in the pretzels, shaking off any excess. Add more crushed pretzels to the dish if you are running low. Place the chicken bites on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly spray each with nonstick spray to "seal" the breading, which will prevent the breading from staying raw and allows it to bake onto the chicken fingers.

Bake for 8 minutes. Turn each piece over and continue baking until the outside is crisp and the centers are cooked through, about 6-8 minutes more. Baking times may vary, just make sure yours are cooked through. If you like them more brown, bake longer. Serve chicken bites with toothpicks (if using as an appetizer), honey mustard, or this kicked-up cheese sauce. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. I chopped them up and put on top of a salad. It was so good!

Baked chicken fingers freeze well, up to 2 months. Bake frozen for about 15 minutes (flipping once) at 300F degrees.

(recipe from http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/)

Those are a few of my favorite things right now.  If you haven’t tried some of them go out and try some…really, go, try, enjoy

Happy New Year

We had our 2nd annual “Early Bird” New Year’s Eve gathering.  Since many of our friends, like us, have small children, staying up until midnight and then getting up at the crack of dawn is unappealing at this phase of life.

So, we start early, like 5:30, do supper and games and the kids play.  Then around 9:00 or so, everyone heads off for bedtimes. 

It has worked out well for us and we probably will continue to do it for a few more years. We had a great time and so did the kids!

As for New Year’s Day we have our tradition, ready it’s big….we eat a TON of snack foods ALL day long, stay in our PJs ALL day long and watch football most of the day.

This is how we started the day and we ended the day pretty much the same way…it’s great!

We did take time to play a few family games.  Corbin loves Sequence for kids so that was played numerous times.  We colored, did a puzzle, played basketball, built a railroad track, and we watched How to Train Your Dragon when the football game (I don’t remember who was playing.  I was reading while the boys were watching) looked like it was going to be a definite win for one of the teams. 

Only after the movie, when the score was checked did we find out that it ended up being a 4th quarter nail biter and the team we were cheering for lost.  Oops! (My memory is kicking in and I believe it was Baylor vs. Michigan…if I’m wrong Chris will edit it later).

Chris and I ended the first day of the new year by watching Maze Runner.  It was an interesting movie that inspired me to read the series.  I usually read books before I see the movies and usually end up loving the books better than the movies.  So I’m anxious to compare the book with the movie and see what happens!