Memorial Day BBQ

I LOVE long weekends. Especially when they involve 3.5 days off, getting many items crossed off my to do list, and also including time to relax with friends. If any of you remember 7 years ago the Eids and Jovle's wanted to start a tradition. It was decided that every Memorial Day going forward we would spend at least part of it together. The host could decide what to do and if they wanted to include anyone else. This year it was the Eid's turn. They decided it'd be fun to spend the afternoon/evening at Cleary Lake Park and also invited 3 other couples/kids/fetuses. What a perfect evening it was too! The weather couldn't have been better and we found a picnic bench in the shade that had enough room for ladder ball. Another successful year!

Sidenote: I don't think I ever blogged it, but we did decide to replace my camera that broke when I was in Dallas. Today was one of the first times using it and I have to say I was very impressed. At the end of the day when we tried to get a good pic of the 3 kids sitting together, it was very fast and captured it all. Watch the progression.

New camera: Fuji Finepix Z


The BBQ
Jeff, Jenny, Mallory, Kristen, & Brent


Cran, Cari, Kristen & Ellie


Kiddos

Future Ballerina?

Last night I attended my alma mater, Woodbury Dance Studio's recital. It's something that I do every year because it's fun to see how my old dance line improves and how big that studio is getting. As I sat through the performances last night I felt Baby Girl going crazy in there...and she continued to move throughout the whole 2 hour show! I think we've got a future dancer on our hands. She's already liking the music. :)

(clearly a stolen photo; from google images)

Great Day

My 2 favorites shows are released today!

Sex and the City Movie 2 premiers



So You Think You Can Dance starts tonight. Woo hoo!!



Unfortunately I will not be seeing either of them today but hopefully soon!

28 Weeks

Updated belly pic. All I can say is it's def getting big!



Facts about the baby now:
She's 14.8 inches long (about??)
She weights 2.25 lbs
Her eyes have lashes and she can blink her eye lids.
She moves around a lot and has started giving hard kicks.
Her heartbeat was strong at 141.

Also good news is I passed my gestational diabetes test! Very glad to hear that since I couldn't imagine cutting the sweets. Of course this didn't happen without a little drama. After I drank the drink they give you I started to not feel well. I thought it was from the fizz and having to drink it so fast, but then I started to get really dizzy. Ended up almost passing out. The nurse had me lie down and put ice packs on my neck and forehead. I laid that way for the reminder of the appointment. I swear I have never heard of anyone else having this problem but everyone there reassured me it happens to lots of women. Still felt a little silly but nothing I could really do. Just glad I passed and baby is healthy!

Homemade Pop Tarts

I made these over the weekend...(too lazy to take my own pics so that one is stolen) All I can say is wow! They are super flaky and delish! I tried 3 different filling options: Nutella, brown sugar and cinnamon, and raspberry jam. Since the recipe ended up making 12 poptarts, I froze half of them unbaked hoping it'll work to thaw them and bake them up. It was a bit putzy to do but well worth it. I'm sure it'd be easier with just 1 filling. Next time I'm trying them gluten and diary free so Justin can enjoy them too. We'll see how that compares!

Cooking Club IV

This past weekend Justin and I hosted the 4th edition of Cooking Club. We chose to do a Thai theme. Between Justin and Cran we have quite a few food allergies to deal with and Thai turned out to be great for gluten and diary free! No substitutions needed. It might become a new staple in Justin and my meals.

We started the night with a Thai drink of Iced Watermelon. It's literally just ice and watermelon blended together and was so so delicious. Might've been my favorite part of the night. It'd be very refreshing on a hot summer day.


The appetizer course tasted a lot better than this picture shows. It consisted of rice cakes with 2 sauces: a spicy dipping sauce and a prawn and coconut dip. The spicy sauce I didn't care for. All I could taste was the shrimp paste and I didn't think it was spicy at all. The coconut dip was great though. The 2nd appetizer was egg rolls. Not the traditional kind but actual cooked eggs rolled up. Served with a lime soy sauce. Quite tasty.


The second course was a hot and sour noodle salad. Really good. I'd definitely make again and easy to make.


The main course was thick beef curry in sweet peanut sauce served over coconut rice and sided with stir-fried pineapple with ginger. Again all of it was great!


The dessert course was steamed custard in nectarines. It was ok. Very easy to make but not sure I'd do it again. I accidentally over-cleaned before we served the dessert and threw away the garnishes. oops!


More pics of the night plus some others from the weekend.

Painting Part II

My other half of the painting project was Baby Girls room. So far I've got the wall color done. Remember the bedding? I still want to do some kind of accent circles to match but I'm not sure what exactly what or where.

Room view starting from the doorway and each picture is the next wall to the left.








Still a lot more to do with decorating and assembling the furniture (it's in our possession in boxes) but we're getting there.