Blueberry Banana Bread

I got this recipe off of another blog and had to try it! We had it this morning and it was quite yummy! I thought I would share..especially for my bread loving sister in law :).

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large ripe bananas (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large blow, whisk together sugar, vegetable oil, egg, vanilla and mashed bananas until smooth. Add in flour mixture and stir until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Fold in blueberries with a spoon or spatula, then pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake for 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs. Cool bread for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire rack. Makes 1 loaf.

Next time I would probably add some walnuts or pecans and also double recipe so I could freeze one. Very good though!

Beach

My fabulous husband decided last minute while we were in Mobile to come up with a way to get us to the beach for a few days. He knows how much I love the beach and wanted the boys to be there this summer..and was willing to take us even though he doesn't have the love for the beach like I do! He found a good deal on a condo on the beach for 2 nights. So we packed up that "night" and drove to the beach. I didn't realize the "view" we would have! Yep our balcony overlooked the Pink Pony Pub, pretty funny! Luckily it wasn't kicking while we were there. There was one bedroom, but there were some built in bunkbeds and a pull out sofa. Mom was going to come the next day but we gave her the stomach bug so she was stuck at home sick..so sorry Mom!! Cooper was ready to hit the beach when we got there, so at like 9 at night we took the boys out for just a few minutes. The next day we packed up for a Waterville trip! Mom was going to take care of Cohen while we took Cooper but she was sick so he got to make this trip too! We loaded up after a quick lunch and headed to Waterville! Crazy Crowded is the best way to describe this place, I was ready to turn around and go back to the condo. But, Cooper was so excited about the slides we didn't want to let him down. Clay and I each had one thing we wanted to do. He wanted to do the Flo Rider and I wanted to do the Lazy River. And well..we didn't accomplish either one. But, the boys played really hard at the toddler land and the wave pool! We ate at Shrimp Basket..and I was very impressed with how well the boys did with that. And the next day hit the beach for a while and played in the pool. All in a all a very fun trip. There is so much we want to do and show the boys.. I am proud we can at least do some of it! I will put a lot more pictures of the beach trip on the website..can't fit them all here :).

Mobile trip

We had a week of vacation 2 weeks ago! We wanted to make the most of it! We had been planning on taking a long trip to the beach but with the oil spill we didn't know what to expect. We also wanted to make a trip to Mobile to visit Mom, Grandma and our Aunts and Uncles. We knew this would be the last trip there before baby 3 is born! Of course Cohen and I got stomach bug while we were there so that was part of the trip. Luckily everyone else didn't get it. Grandma had a hurt leg so we had to stay away for the most part, 2 babies is a bit much when she can't get around. But, we did bring lunch over and get to visit a while. We had more to this trip but I will extend that into another post.
Gammy watched Cohen one afternoon and we took Cooper for his very first movie!! Toy Story 3. We weren't sure what to expect but it went really well! Cooper even wore his 3 d glasses. We had popcorn and he enjoyed his movie with just a little chit chat during the movie! 2 proud parents! Clay watched the boys one day and Mom and I hit the outlet malls and Oyster house. That was heaven for me, I so enjoyed us being able to just get away for an afternoon and have my FAVORITE food at the beach and shop with Mom! Thank you Honey :).
Mom did some grilling and cooking and some of my Aunts and Uncles brought over food as well and we had a wonderful barbecue and enjoyed spending time with family. Cooper loves hanging out with his Aunts and Uncles and Cohen is learning to love the attention too :). Fun Fun trip! Wish we had more pictures..really need to work on that.

Catching up

So..we have been doing a lot and I have been thinking of where to start on catching up on posts. I don't know how far I will get but time to give it a Go! We took the kids to the zoo I don't know 3 weeks ago (yep very far behind) and we mainly took them to play in the water. There are lots of fountains and a foam zone for them to play in. It was a Saturday so I knew it would be busy (and it was). But the boys had a wonderful time. Even Cohen had an area where he could just take off and crawl, he loved it! Cooper really enjoyed the foam zone but the big kids were a bit rough in there!

Cooper

Can my baby be 3 already? It's so hard to believe. I have so much Love for Cooper it's so hard to explain. Such a special boy in so many ways. I love that he is loving towards animals, his family and friends. He loves sports, every sport you can think of, books, movies, trains, trucks. He is BOY BOY BOY! Well, until I am doing my make up, he thinks it's kind of fun to put on a little powder and chap stick :). Cohen has had his makeup done by Cooper as well, luckily it was pretend! I wish I had a picture of Cooper wearing my pony tail holders on his arms for bracelets and 2 or 3 head bands in his hair and of course a pair of hills. Sorry Daddy..I had to add that in!

Cooper has decided he Loves his brother, still some jealousy, but loves to help me with Cohen.They play hard together, luckily Cohen is a big boy and can handle the wrestling. He
is very excited to have a sister on the way and I think will be a wonderful and protective brother.

Cooper and Daddy have so many fun times out in the back yard riding the four wheeler, the tractor and jumping on the trampoline. Very soon we plan to go to the lake where he can see his Daddy do some wakeboarding with some of our good friends. I think we might have a little guy pitching a fit because he will want to be on the board too! Got a new ride for his b-day, it's a scooter and he totally thinks he is the Man! :)

I love my little guy and I am so proud of who he is and who he is becoming.

My baby turned 3!!!

Cooper was so ready to get his mitts on those fish!
Cohen..enjoying cake!
Mikeeta, Michael, and Kiley
Erich and Cooper having some fun in the pool!
Kelly, Bill and Erich


As of yesterday I have a 3 year old! I can't believe Cooper is already 3. We have celebrated pretty much all month with the boys, but this past weekend we had a small b-day party for Cooper. His first Big Boy party. We did an Under the Sea theme. We thought it would be fun to set up water games and things outside for the kids. As usual my outdoor events (such as the wedding) bring Rain! So we didn't set up the slip and slide or play the water balloon games but we did have a pool on the patio for the boys to play in. Luckily the rain slowed down enough for them to get out and have a good time. We had our neighbor Erich and his family and Kiley and his family. We all enjoyed hanging out and watching the boys play!
Kiley (6 months) had a fun time in the swing. And Erich and Cooper played hard. We had Nemo cupcakes and ice cream at the end! Fun times..we love celebrating such special times with our special friends! We missed having some of our other friends at the celebration but we were thinking about you :).

Cohen

My baby is growing up! We had our One year check up the other day and Cohen is staying
steady in the 90th and 95th percentiles. He is now 26 lbs and I think it was 34 inches (gotta check on that one). And 95 percentile in his head size :).
It just amazes me to see the changes that Cohen has made from the little thing when he was born.
His hair was brown with beautiful, but small blue eyes. Now he is a big boy with blondish hair and big blue eyes. Cohen is the most sweet natured, laid back baby. He is very independent and loves to play with all of his toys. He can go into Cooper's room and play by himself for an hour if he weren't distracted by Big Brother :).
Still not walking but a very fast crawler. He has a different crawl for all surfaces. On the knees on carpet and does a crab walk when he hits the tile. Loves to turn the water off and on in the bath tub, and loves to swim! As soon as he hits the water his little legs start to kicking. First word was Da Da and he says that one All the time! Second word Uh-oh and finally we are saying Momma! But he knows I want him to say it so he kindof laughs and goes back to saying Da Da! Gotta love him.
Cohen just makes me smile!