Music Monday #1

It's been over 2 weeks since my last post and that really irritates me.

As much as I like sharing pics from our events, I really don't want that to be all this blog is about.

Also...this is MY blog...and as much as I love my children and husband, there are still a few scraps of my identity left to be found at this time.

So about a week or two ago an idea popped into my head that I felt might help me be at least a little more consistent about posting and at the same time share a bit of myself with whoever decides to read this.

Music

This has always been a great love of mine.

And it doesn't really matter what type of music it is...it just has to be right with either my ears, heart or mind.

So each week I will highlight a song that I love

or may have just piqued (yes that is the correct spelling...i looked it up:) my interest.

Regina Spektor.

She is a more recent love of mine.

She has this brilliant voice with which she enjoys being experimental and even, at times, silly.
You can tell that she knows her voice and loves it.
And I love it.

I have quoted this song before on my blog.
It has some wonderfully heartfelt and profound lyrics along with some goofy ones.

Oh, and Jude calls it the "uh oh radio song".
(you'll see why at about 2:40 in the video)

"On the Radio" by Regina Spektor

Well, I hope you enjoyed the song as much as I do.
And if not, my apologies, but try again next week, as my musical tastes do vary quite a bit and you never know what you're gonna get!

Have a wonderful week!

One-Ingredient Ice Cream???

I just met the most amazing food today.

If you know me, then you know that I am a huge sucker for ice cream.
I blame my dad for this.
Can I help it if I was a daddy's girl?
Can I help it if the strongest bonding memories I have of him as a child were made over bowls of Blue Bell?

Well if you also know me, you know that I am not skinny.
There, I said it.
I'm a fat girl who loves ice cream.
And the only "healthy" ice cream I have ever found that I liked was an amazing sugar-free strawberry version put out by Kroger.

But guess what?
They discontinued it.

Nice.

So despite my best efforts, Blue Bell has found its way back into my house time and again over the years....and the weight has found its way back too.
(can't blame it ALL on ice cream...but it's the biggest offender in my opinion)
So when I read an article about a one-ingredient ice cream...that was healthy...I was all ears.

So here goes folks...

If you love cold desserts

If you can't eat dairy

If you love EASY foods

Have I got a treat for YOU!

This amazing bowl of sweet, cool, creaminess

is

made

from

one

ingredient:

BANANAS

I'm not kidding.

I made it today and it was absolutely delicious!
The directions to make it were found here.
The cool thing about this is that you can add little things like chocolate chips or a tablespoon of peanut butter and it doesn't hurt the calorie count too badly.
Plus...the PB adds protein!
Just remember that you need to use those overripe bananas that you are about to toss in the trash.
I've got 3 trash-worthy bananas headed to the freezer right now.

Give it a try.

I dare you.

You'll thank me...I swear.

Terribly Terrific Two!

It's Jude's day!

He won't officially be 2 until later tonight, but as I recall, this whole day 2 years ago was about him.

I was scheduled to be induced on June 10, 2008

This is me the night before...

...and the last night that he was in my belly.
The next night, after a lot of pain, drugs and ultimately, surgery, I was finally holding my son.

He was beautiful

He was BIG

He was ours

I just wanted to stare at him all day long

To soak up the miracle of this gift

Though I knew from experience that the next few months were NOT going to be easy...

But he was still my precious child and I fell in love all over again

And now...

He is 2 years old.

How does 2 years go by so fast?

Now he is a...

...happy...

...active...

...curious...

...little boy.

And I feel so blessed to be a mother.

Happy 2nd Birthday Jude!

Jude's Birthday Party

Tomorrow Jude turns 2 years old.

We celebrated his birthday with friends and family this past weekend.

We had a wonderful time and Jude received some really cool gifts.

We are so grateful to have such awesome people in our lives.

Here are some pics from the party...

We were only able to hang out outside for a short time as the weather was just unbearably hot and humid. Here is Jude entertaining two of my oldest friends, Michael and Scott.

Scott is also Jude's Godfather.

My mom braving the heat to push our friend Michelle's daughter, Morgan, on the swing

And my dad chatting away with Michelle


Jude enjoyed opening his presents.

He tried to hop out of Terry's lap after every gift so that he could play with it.

Then it was time for "Happy Birthday" singing and candle-blowing...

(awesome shirt courtesy of Astrid, who sadly couldn't come to the party)

Time to eat the cake and ice cream!

Afterwards we played some more.

Here, Jude is playing cars with his great-grandma (Gigi)

And showing his new bed (thanks Nana & Paw-Paw!) to Morgan

And a quick pose with Grandad (the hat coincidentally matched his shirt)

When the older kids got bored with the toys, they pulled out their DS systems.

And although he is pouting here because we wouldn't let him play in his sandbox, he is still my precious little guy.

Just one more day...

Catching up...

Whew! I've spent the past week or two getting ready for Jude's birthday party last weekend and am way behind on pics I wanted to post...so I'll just start catching up this week as I can.

Two weekends ago we took a trip to the beach. Gotta love Galveston. Gotta have even more love for Galveston after all it went through almost 2 years ago during Hurricane Ike. It was definitely a bittersweet reunion for me as I haven't been there in a few years anyway. Seeing places I've known my whole life and then NOT seeing places that I've seen my whole life was completely surreal. The hurricane completely erased some memorable spots from the landscape but it was nice to see that a lot has been and is still being rebuilt.
Anyway, this was Jude's first time at the beach and the first time that Terry had been there with us since Cecilia was a pre-schooler.

Here's a comparison of pictures I took the first and last times Terry came to the beach with us:

The other big change between then and now is the addition of this little guy....

...who absolutely loved the beach and had no fear of the water by the time we left.

Although I was more scared than usual of the water after my encounter with one of these guys swimming just a foot or so behind me...

Yeah, that's a stingray...and there were several of them.

I spent a long time trying to catch one on video and had finally given up and started packing up for us to leave when this one showed up:

Yes, I'm chasing it down...but it made for a cool video!

We actually saw lots of wildlife while were there (besides the kids). There were crabs of all shapes and sizes, tiny mollusk things, gulls, brown pelicans that were dive-bombing the fish and, of course, the stingrays.

We had such a great time there. I do hope to do it again sometime this summer. We had to drag the kids away from the beach, so I'm sure they'll be up for it if we do!

Here are some more pics from our day...

Tomorrow I will post about Jude's birthday party.

He will be 2 this week!

Time definitely flies when you're having fun!!