Pathetic!

I am getting the feeling that a lot of Blogger blogs are often neglected for long periods of time. I am very lame for being part of these blogs, so here is my looooong and often thought about revival!

I actually had two close friends move away this summer (and another friend who was murdered), so I am thinking a lot about closeness and the way people stay connected. This blog may be a Facebook rejects only chance at staying in touch with relatives and friends across the country.

I felt like we were super active this summer, but in retrospect I wish we had done so much more. Anyway, here is our summer report!

MAY
Ran to Snake Lake Nature Center and Discovery Pond. We got there around 9:30 AM and stayed till 1. C fell asleep on the walk / jog home. I just parked the stroller in the front yard and read on the porch till he woke up. Bliss!

We also caught the dinosaur exhibit at the zoo w/ galpal Eva.

Future prom date?

In June C and Daddy made a daybed library that we painted and now use as Connor's big boy bed.

We hunted out ducks at the lake across the street.

We played at the beach with our best friend River.

We wine tasted in Yakima and played on the porch at our newest (and last for some time, we hope) digs.

July was a great month. We'd had such mild weather all summer it was nice to see the sun and get into the 70s. We made special 4th of July pancakes before heading out for a hike and then a picnic on the beach.

We hit up the aquarium, saw the Seattle Storm whoop Atlanta, attended Day Out With Thomas and played at an awesome playground called St. Edwards State Park.

Asleep after the Storm game

We finished out the summer with lots of wading pool dates, picnics on the beach, and finally hit 85! Hoping to get back on track with my posts this month.

Preschool has started and I am sure to come up with more resolutions that need attention! Whew!

Off Topic Saturday

I doubt I will actually keep a day of the week for off-topic posts, but this family activity is so awesome I had to share!

http://www.education.com/activity/article/set-giant-building-blocks/

We just had a big move (see last post), so those boxes will be easy to come by for us! I may use ads / newspaper in place of construction paper, since several of our boxes will be VERY giant. ;)

Will update with pictures once we've constructed something!

P.S. This comes from a list of awesome activities, crafts, and games to play with your child during "Screen-Free Week," which is officially April 18-24. There are a lot of great ideas, so if I get a lot of interest, I'll post that link as well.

Education.com has a lot of great resources for all kinds of parenting ages / topics.

Still Here!

I'd posted before how I have been majorly distracted by Tumblr, but I've also endured a move, a major change of life event (FIL living with us) and a sinus infection.

Excuses aside, I ended the month on a very low note for my fitness and health resolution. I'm still down the 6 lbs I lost in the first two weeks, but both Aaron and I have fallen off the wagon in terms of exercise. It is sad to make excuses (see first paragraph) but we've been so pooped from moving and exhausted from tons of WA rain that getting out to run has been not as appealing as it was in the first part of March.

Needless to say, I haven't exactly nailed down an April resolution. I am leaning toward quitting yelling, since C is mimicking the way I talk now. I am really scared to tackle that. I grew up in a house of yellers. I've yelled my entire life, and I am not sure how leaving it behind will happen.

I do have some good resources, though, from co-op preschool. We covered something similar and I have a book on hold called Mommy's Gonna Blow about managing anger.

Another option would be to hold over March's fitness goal so I can really focus on it now that we are more or less settled.

Apologizes for this scatter-brained post!

Working It Out

We've been on a major work out kick. I have been running AT LEAST every other day for about a week, and Aaron has only taken off two days in the last two weeks. He runs 1.5 -2.3 miles, mostly at a sprint, and I run 2 - 3 miles at about 9'45".  Let's be friends if you happen to run with Nike+... ;)

I really meant to take Connor on a run this week, but it didn't happen. Instead, we braved the aquarium (and a bit of a sight-seeing jaunt down the pier) AND the zoo without a stroller! He made out like a champ, being carried for less than five minutes on either trip.

I think we're setting a good new routine for our lives. It was pretty hard (and still is) to motivate myself to get moving some days, but Aaron doing this with me has made a huge difference.

Walk, run, jump rope, whatever. Get out there!

P.S. Lost 4 lbs since I started... YES!

Ah-Ha!

Perhaps it is a case of being more aware of things I am involved in at the moment, but every time I make a new goal I seem to find something big in the news about it!

I found this on Slate Magazine:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/cleanplate/

The author also sets up mini goals per week, and ultimately has a lot of good strategies for eating healthy (since weightloss was not the primary goal, even though it was attained). Among them are ones I struggle with myself, like eating slowly and avoiding temptation.

I really liked the idea of meditating while eating to keep focused on your meal. Her point about small indulgences also rang true, since I have been struggling with an end-of-the-day binge on sugar lately.

Happy Eating!

Cooking To Lose

Other than tonight's double dinner, I have been making recipes that the entire family would enjoy that were also on the lighter side. Some of these were a delicious Margherita Pizza from Cooking Light and chicken fried rice, a family recipe. First thing is first.

Dinner tonight was a struggle, since we bought a ton of groceries all at once and have strived not to run out on our usual daily grocery trips. We decided on breakfast burritos, which are not a healthy food by any means-- huge, white flour tortillas, greasy meats, cheese... I made the boys' burritos out of maple sausage, scrambled eggs, frozen diced potatoes, and sharp cheddar cheese. Aaron topped his with salsa. Here is a pic of the stuffing:

For my burrito, I used a 95% fat free honey wheat (Aaron refused to eat this), a gardenburger regular veggie pattie chopped up, 1 tbsp of onion, 5 grape tomatoes sliced in half, 2 egg whites, and a tablespoon of 1% organic milk. I forgot to toss the tomatoes and onions in with the eggs, so I just cooked them for a min or two in the hot pan after I scrambled the egg whites. It probably looks prettier this way.

 I also opted to top mine with salsa.

It was SO VERY GOOD! Aaron ate two helpings of his burrito, so I am guessing he liked his, too.

The pizza was kind of troublesome. I worried that it would be really hard to make pizza dough from scratch, but again I was wrong. We ate the chicken fried rice one night, and once I finished prepping that I made the dough, which has to rise in the fridge for 24 hours.

To lighten up my usual chicken fried rice, I just used 1.5 cups sticky short grain rice, 1.5 cups brown long grain rice, and less sesame oil when prepping the final large pan.

The pizza dough comes out the next day and after it comes to room temp, you work it into a circle and top with homemade pizza sauce.

The sauce took 30 minutes to make, tops. The recipe is also at the above link.

Top with fresh mozzarella slices (we also hid tomato slices under each cheese slice).

This is best made right on top of your pizza stone / pan, because it is a MESS to move once topped. When it comes out of the oven, sprinkle with fresh basil. YUM!

Ahh!

I've been majorly slacking on this blog, mostly due to a newfound love of tumblr.

Excuses aside, I have run Saturday (1.1 mi), Monday (3.2 mi) and Tuesday (2.3 mi). Aaron has been a big motivator here, as he's been going every single evening after work. I see him do it and I get jealous and feel bad if I don't, so I go, too.

Took Connor out in the jogger for Monday's run, and if I tried to walk he would say, "All done!" or "Faster, Mommy!" or complain about falling behind our friends who were running with us. He's a pretty good coach, but the added 33 lbs and heavy Joggertrend stroller really wore me down. I averaged a full 20"/mi faster yesterday when I ran without him.

We've also been eating dinners from cookinglight.com! Not only are they around 300-450 per good-sized serving, but they keep carbs, fat, and sodium in mind as well.

I will post some recipes later tonight.