I have been absent again lately, but only because we've been super busy living life this month. Our weekends have been divided up between soccer games & family or church activities, and we're working out on a consistent basis in the weekday evenings (down 8 pounds since March 1 - woot!). Add a full-time job, an active 7-year old, and the last day of school approaching, and you've got one tired Mama with not a lot of time to blog. But alas, here I am, not feeling especially well, but definitely in the mood to catch up.
I recently was able to take Z to his first broadway show, and he absolutely loved it. Now, it wasn't your typical musical - it was Stomp - so that may have had something to do with how much he loved it. (What little boy doesn't love people banging on things for two straight hours?) They even served popcorn, candy & sodas for the kids during the show, so he was literally in heaven.
(Sorry, cell phone pic in crappy lighting + "autofix" in Photobucket = pretty bad picture.)
Pictures weren't allowed, but I snuck one anyway. No flash, no worries.
He's already made me promise we'd go again when the tour comes back through Austin. No problem, little buddy.
I've also been doing some baking/creating over the past few weeks. With strawberries in season, it's hard not to take full advantage of them! I made a strawberry cake from scratch (a Whole Foods recipe, not my own) to take along on our visit out to the Young's ranch one weekend, and I documented my process in photos. Granted, they were cell phone photos, and not my real camera, but you'll still get the idea.
Didn't pick these, but bought organic - the next best thing.
After washing & decapitating them all.
Loaded up & ready to puree.
This smelled incredible!
The dry ingredients. (Don't worry, I sifted it all together before adding it.)
Scrumptious, pink-speckled batter.
A really dense batter, so it took about 45 minutes.
One little beauty.
The other little beauty.
Cream-cheese frosted, waiting in the fridge till the day we went.
The finished product. 'Twas yummy, if I may say so myself.
Next, I made my dear friend Becca some chocolate-covered strawberries for her birthday. She is gluten-free, and I didn't have time to delve into a gf recipe, so I went with the safe, every-girl-loves-them choice.
Started with melting these.
Ready to dip.
All dipped & waiting to set.
After I packed them into her gift box.
Lastly, Mother's Day came & went, and I was asked to bring the dessert to our family gathering at my sister's house. I went with a cool, no-bake choice - Chocolate Heaven Pie. Got the recipe off the back of a can of chocolate pie filling. Nice!
What the inside looked like.
Pair this up with a yummy meal of homemade spaghetti & meatballs, and salad, and it was one delicious day.
The best part of Mother's Day this year? How great it was to hang with Z and Aaron, of course.
Before going over my sister's.
On the way home from my sister's. Carb coma, anyone?
It's been a pretty great couple of weeks, since I wrote last. I'm not feeling a ton better about the whole Z-growing-up thing, but it's getting a little more comfortable. I'm not feeling so much like I'm in unchartered waters at this point, but not totally confident, either. I guess that's progress? Things like this keep me grounded and able to focus on how young he still is:
I have to say, it'll be a nice day when he can wear a shirt to school & come home NOT looking like that. Yes, that was one day's damage, friends. We will be investing in more dark green uniform shirts next year, instead of white ...
I won't end this entry with "stuff on my cat", but I will throw in a few pictures of our now-famous subject, investigating a new stuffed animal. Over last weekend, we found this fairly large Batman stuffed animal type thing that Z loved for a whoppin' $1.99. After bringing it home, it made Keoki noticeably uncomfortable. He stared at it from afar, walked circles around it, and acted generally cautious of what we think he assumed was a new little person in our home. Once Z went to bed for the night on Sunday, Aaron & I sat down to clean off our DVR, and noticed Keoki approaching the Batman to check it out, once & for all.
He must have sat there staring for a solid five minutes.
Looking at Aaron for help?
Aaron took it down for him to sniff. After this, mystery had been solved and he's never looked at it again. Ha.
Three things I'm grateful for today:
1. Deramaxx.
2. My oven.
3. Eight pounds, gone forever.
Until next time, I wish peace & pastries to each of you. xoxo
1 comment:
Phyllis, thanks for sharing about Z at the Broadway show, the cakes you baked, yummy food and your kitty's weirdness about batman. Awesome blog, thoroughly entertaining! *muah*
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