A Summer State of Mind

I know the calendar says summer begins later in June, but for us it unofficially kicked off over Cinco de Mayo weekend. The beautiful warm weather and a semi-camping experience served  as the catalyst to get us in a summer state of mind. Our usual source of family fun, the Jensens, once again showed us all the fun to be had around the Corpus area and invited us to a nearby ranch for a little camping getaway. Earlier I referred to our experience as a "semi" one because unlike them and another family who tagged along, we opted not to rough it outdoors with an overnight stay. Call us wimps for not staying to become one with nature, but the hubby and I value our sleep too much to attempt to sleep in a tent with a two year old. Me being pregnant and all, I want to a.) sleep as much as I possibly can now before the baby arrives and b.) no offense to Mother Nature, but I'm already roughing it by carrying this child in the South Texas heat so I didn't really feel too bad about letting Braedan skip out on that part of the experience. And though we left out that minor part of the weekend, we still indulged in all the activities that come along with camping.

We did a little swimming both in a pool and a pond;



we fished;

 

and even took the time to just sit, relax and enjoy nature.

 As I mentioned earlier, it was Cinco de Mayo Weekend so things would not have been complete without a pinata. We do live in South Texas and not having a pinata there is like telling me you will not have a margarita on that particular day, or at least a beer.  

Hope your start to summer has been just as enjoyable as ours.

Big Brother Knows Best

Braedan was right along, he's going to get his little sister. We're all thrilled with the news, especially big brother.

The Best Big Brother...EVER!

Many moons have passed since my last update, but I promise I have a perfectly good excuse for my absence. Most of you know I'm pregnant, 18 weeks along, and from the moment I confirmed I was with child, I have never felt so exhausted. During my first trimester all I wanted to do was sleep, and if I wasn't sleeping, then I needed and wanted to eat to keep the nausea I was feeling at bay. But as you can read, I survived and entered the honeymoon stage where I'm feeling a little more energized and the nausea has pretty much subsided. All I can think as I bask in this "honeymoon phase" is, "I didn't feel this way before, does this mean it's a girl." It's natural to think I would have some sort of intuition as to what I'm having since I am the mom and all, but I don't have the slightest idea. At first I thought girl, then I jumped to boy, but my uncertainty to this burning question we'll finally be put to rest because today we get our answer.

Big brother seems to think it's a baby sister. Every time I ask about the baby, it's a baby sister, and just the other day he reminded me he needed to be careful with my tummy because baby sister is in there. Daddy, on the other hand, thinks it's a boy. No logical reason exists for this prediction other than the Chinese calendar told him so. You know the hubby, he has fun with everything and when I told him a friend used a Chinese calendar to guess the gender of her baby, he began looking up every calendar he could find to try and take a guess. To say he's excited about our impending arrival is an understatement. He even created a countdown on his phone to remind us when he or she gets here. I can ask him at any moment how many more days, hours and seconds I have until the baby arrives, and he can quickly swoop in with the answer with a few clicks of a button.

But as lost as I feel on the gender of our baby, one thing I most definitely know to be true is Braedan's confidence in the role of big brother. He is ready and will be the best big brother, he even told me so himself the other day. After he hugged my belly to give the baby a hug I told him, "Braedan, you're going to be the best big brother." And do you know what my sweet little boy followed up with in response to that statement? He replied with a resounding, "EVER!"

This is how he hugs the baby.

And how he is preparing this morning for the big day.

We will share our big news over the weekend.

Are You Tough Enough?

Apparently the hubby is.

Yesterday he competed in one of the most physically grueling races--a Tough Mudder. If you're unfamiliar with it, it is a 12 mile course consisting of obstacles designed to test one's strength and endurance. Participants are asked to scale walls, swim, crawl and even take electrical shock to make it to the end, and just looking at Tough Mudder's Web site these obstacles are not for the occasional exerciser.

But being the confident, cool cucumber that he is the only evidence I have of his participation, besides pictures, are the war wounds he sustained from drudging through this course. Aside from some scratches, bruises and a tender ankle, he says he is not sore at all which is good for his almost 34-year old body.

It was fun watching him prepare for this on two counts. First off, it takes a lot to get him excited about something and who wants to get excited about running 12 miles with the possibility of getting electrocuted. Well he and the five friends he participated with decided to accessorize themselves with the creepiest, or funniest in their opinion, thing you can imagine. Mustaches. Yes, Mustache Ride as they called themselves decided man's hairy best friend would help them scale, crawl, and swim whatever came their way. And who can the wives thank for seeing their men grow out these lovely things? My hubby of course. But I can't complain though, because like I said this was part of the fun of watching him prepare.

The second thing I enjoyed was just watching him have fun with it in general. I know a big part of what he has enjoyed about his career is the camaraderie he builds with work friends so it was fun to see and hear the stories of him getting a taste of that at this event. He will downplay how much he looked forward to this but for someone who didn't seem too excited, he certainly went out of his way to make sure his team was prepared. He hosted and cooked a pasta dinner for his teammates and their families. I didn't have to lift too much of a finger. I only prepared bruschetta, because selfishly I've always wanted to make it and since a big group was coming, I had the perfect excuse.

So there you have it. The mustache appearance from my blog post of a couple weeks ago stemmed from one of his crazy ideas.

Here is Mustache Ride the night before the event...

and after, they all survived...

and the creepy man behind the vision.

Girlfriends...Can't Live With Them, Unfortunately, and Most Certainly Can't Live Without Them

Earlier this month I had the rarest of opportunities--a chance to spend a fun-filled weekend with a few girlfriends. Sadly not all of them were there, but it was still just as enjoyable and before the weekend was over we were already discussing next year and how we would get the rest of the gang together. The last time I was able to indulge in a girls weekend the fun came to me with everyone trekking to Chicago, but this time I got to get away.

And where you ask was my man-free weekend located. Call me crazy, but I ventured out to another one of the coldest cities in the country--Denver. I know I sound like a weenie, and it actually wasn't bad at all. That particular destination was chosen since my friend Megan lives there. The few of us who went thought it would be fun to check out the slopes of Breckenridge, and even though Megan just completed her first full year of living in Denver this past December, she knows the slopes of Breckenridge like the back of her hand. For the last year, she's been frequenting the various ski towns outside of Denver having taken up snowboarding, and to these skiing-novice eyes she looked like a pro to me. And not only do I have one friend who knows her way around a snow-capped mountain, but I found out my friend Jen is closet ski bunny. Prior to arriving there she mentioned it had been about four years since she last skied, but as soon as she zipped down for her first run her ski legs quickly came back to her and she too looked like a seasoned skier. My other friend Neely who has never skied before took a lesson that first day we arrived and being as athletic as she is, she had no problem picking up the proper form and venturing out for a few runs. I, on the other hand, am a big scaredy-cat when it comes to skiing and I'm perfectly happy sticking to the user-friendly green runs. It had been over 10 years since I last skied and I should have also taken a lesson to get rid of a little bit of my nerves, but luckily I came back home with everything intact.

The mountains looked amazing and we enjoyed more of the view along with a little bit of shopping on our last day there. Megan is on the far right, Jen is in the red jacket and Neely is to the left of her. I have known these girls since my freshman of year in college.

And although I enjoyed every bit of the weekend, I dearly missed my little guy. I got a little teary when I said goodbye to him, and I had prepped him so much for my departure that he did not even bat an eye when it was time for me to go. In fact the morning I left he was getting ready to watch one of his favorite shows and as I was trying to get the show started for him he was already telling me, "OK mommy go bye, bye." I guess he didn't want anymore delays to the start of his day. Luckily the week before my trip, daddy gave him a hair cut so he was looking extra cute, and I had this picture to hold me over until I could squeeze him and his cheeks again.

New Blog Reads

I added a couple of new blogs to "My List" located on the left hand side of your screen. Skinny Runner and Skinny Taste were shared by two different girlfriends and I'm glad they shared these because even though I maintain my own blog I'm not good about finding other new and interesting ones. The first, Skinny Runner, not only provides informative and motivational tips for the runner in you (if that's what you're in to, of course) but she shares stories and ideas about other forms of exercising she embarks on. One thing I recently learned and started doing is to use only one ear bud while listening to music during my run. It's seems so simple, but I never really gave much thought to that prior to reading it on her blog. There's been a couple of news stories recently about missing runners so it's good to keep that in mind especially if you run before sun up. I also just began following her blog so I'm not sure if she has ever shared her faves when it comes to running with music, but by the looks of it she seems like a real gung ho runner. I mean the kind that enjoys and prefers to receive her runner's high by taking in the sights and sounds of her surroundings. Kudos to those of you who can do that, but I think that's for the birds. When I run I want to listen to something that gets me moving, because as many of you know I do enjoy cutting a rug or two. A few friends have asked me about my running play list, and I will share some of my preferred music in a later post. Until that time I encourage you to check out Skinny Runner if you enjoy exercising and seek ideas and inspiration for training.

Skinny Taste is a blog maintained by a completely different author and her main goal is to provide good and healthy food options. She provides recipes for everything from appetizers, breakfast, dinner, sides, even vegetarian options. I mentioned a girlfriend of mine shared this site with me and my other friends, and I am so grateful for the knowledge she shares when it comes to food for two reasons: you all know how dear food is to me so I love the new things she finds, plus the family benefits from it too as it keeps me from getting into a cooking rut.

Several months ago she shared a recipe that could rouse anyone out of their monotonous cooking routine. It not only sounded tasty but its presentation looked so polished, so nice in fact it looked like something ordered from a high-end restaurant, that I just had to try it myself. And the funny thing is, it was actually really easy to make. I made skinny meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato toppings, and they not only tasted good but were the cutest darn things. You can find Skinny Taste's version here, http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/08/skinny-meatloaf-cupcakes-with-mashed.html. And this is how my version turned out.

Parents Gone Wild, Part 2

So last weekend, the hubby and I participated in another episode of Parents Gone Wild, but this time around it took place much closer to home and it was all in the name of celebrating some birthdays. Several of our friends here have January birthdays so my friend Al came up with the idea of painting Corpus red by having a night out on the town with dinner, drinks and dancing. You know, the best combination to have. Anyhow, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at a downtown restaurant and then headed over to a concert to see the 80's cover band (another way you can't go wrong), the Spazmatics. This was our second time seeing them and they did not let us down. All of us had fun, maybe a little too much, but like I said it was all in the name of birthday celebrations.

What is wrong with the following picture? 1.) We're all moms, and by the look on our faces it doesn't seem like we should be having this much fun. 2.) Some of us are holding drinks in our hands which is verifiable proof that we are having too much fun. 3.) At the time the picture was taken it was either past or close to some of our bedtimes so you know things were going downhill there. And 4.) The only things missing to make the picture even better were our hubbies, but I know all of them preferred to stay out of the shot.

Here is the hubby with two of the birthday girls. Al is on the left and the one we can thank for our night of fun. You might also notice the strange growth going on with the hubby's facial hair. In all of our time together, I have never seen him with a full mustache and goatee. He is doing it all in the name of fitness which I can't explain about now but more will come in a later post. Until then, you can get a laugh at his new look.

A Different Kind of Storm

I know it's been quite a while since my last update but I'm taking solace and crossing my fingers in the hope that many of you can relate to me when I say the holiday season whirlwind got to me. I'm referring to that period of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when the days and weeks move at lightning speed and you suddenly find there is not enough time to get the holiday add-ons done on top of the normal everyday things, i.e., decorating the home with all the Christmas decor, shopping for gifts and the obligatory wrapping of said gifts, creating and mailing Christmas cards, attending holiday parties and whatever else you might try to squeeze in to your already tight schedule.

But rest assured this new update is proof that I did survive Holiday Whirlwind 2011. And I know I may sound like I just barely survived and I'm relieved to be out of the swirling madness that goes into preparing for the holidays, but don't let that fool you. I actually love the rush and hustle and bustle of last minute preparations. There's something about rubbing elbows with other procrastinators that really gets me into the Christmas spirit. Of course the icing on the cake to all of this is the time we get to spend with family and friends, and now that we're in Texas we get a double dose of it at both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And just when I think things can't get any better in watching Braedan grow and embrace his environment, he does something new which makes me want to freeze those few moments just to enjoy them a little more. It was so fun watching him during this past holiday season and it only makes me look forward to the years to come.

Braedan taking an up-close look at the help he put in to decorating our tree.

He also participated in another program at school.

The hubby's Uncle, Uncle Bob, visited us during this time and Braedan loved spending time with him. (By the way, Uncle Bob he asks about you pretty much everyday.)

We spent time with our San Antonio family and Braedan is here with Grandpa, Great Grandma and his Great Aunts.

We also made time to visit with the best girlfriends I know. Here we are with our little ones, with a few missing. Two of these gals even flew in for a quick overnight trip just to spend time with us. Thank you Meg and Stef for taking the time to do that.

And while visiting with the girls, my friend Jen caught our two little men having their own private jam session.

Gobble, Gobble

With the Thanksgiving Holiday approaching, Braedan's school put together a program for all the classes to take part in and given that his school career has just begun, this was one of the most entertaining moments but I know there will be plenty more to come. I was afraid he would get stage freight but he did so well, and he even tried to showcase some of his dance moves while up there. I didn't get too many good pictures while he was up on stage since I was seated a little far from it, but I did manage to catch up with stage star when it was all over.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Parents Gone Wild

Last month the hubby and I enjoyed a rare opportunity to go away for a weekend, just the two of us, without our favorite third wheel tagging along. The chance to celebrate a friend's wedding in New Orleans lured us away from our parental duties for those few days. My friend Jessica and her husband Mark will forever be remembered as the ones who got us to go away on our first real vacation without Braedan. Having the opportunity to spend time with friends, whether they are near or far, is something I greatly cherish nowadays given that time and distance may prevent it from happening as often as I'd like. And I can't imagine another city to have done it in than New Orleans.

And I couldn't help but laugh at ourselves during that weekend, because someone could capitalize on situations like these...follow parents with cameras while they go away without their kids and create a "Parents Gone Wild" franchise. I say this because while the hubby and I were there we did things we haven't done in ages, like stay up until 3am, drink before 2pm and, a biggie for me, wear shoes that weren't flip flops, ballet flats, or tennis shoes for an extended period of time. As you can imgaine, we had the best time and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend some alone time with the hubby and catch up with old friends.

Our first night in New Orleans

The hubby listening to a jazz band on the steps of the courthouse on the following day.

Taking in more of the sites that same day

And, last but not least, the few things I miss about living in Chicago.

Halloween Fun

I know that Halloween has come and gone, but I wanted to share and show all the fun we had that day and the few days leading up to it. In my previous post I talked about how this time of year is suddenly a busy time for us and the weekend's events certainly didn't let us down. The fun started with a visit to our first family Halloween party, and the best part for me, besides seeing Braedan thoroughly enjoy himself, was getting the hubby to do something he's never done before, which is dress in costume.

The next evening we attended a pumpkin carving party, another first for us, and the hubby did a great job with our pumpkin...with a little bit of help from Braedan, of course. But Braedan made sure to grab a bite to eat before he went hard to work at carving. He is dining with his buddy Carter below.

Helping daddy clean the pumpkin.

The finished product

And for the piece de resistance, Halloween night itself lived up to all our expectations. We spent the evening with our friends, the Jensen family, starting with dinner and then heading out for trick-or-treating. While I watched Braedan that night I laughed thinking about what a difference a year can make. Last year, he didn't want to wear the cowboy hat that went with his costume, he wasn't talking a whole lot and half the time he rode in a little push car and had more fun pretending to drive rather than go up to a house to get the coveted candy.

This time around he really got the hang of trick-or-treating and even practiced his good manners while doing so by responding with a "Thank you, lady" after receiving some candy during one of our stops. Who knew a pirate could be so polite.