More Jude

I have changed our blog address to b4jsveigel.blogspot.com

Jude Alexander Veigel

New Favorite . . .

This post is dedicated to my new guilty pleasure:

Ben and Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk Ice Cream. Oh my.

Creamy dark chocolate ice cream the best way you can have chocolate ice cream: with LOTS of chunks in it. Nuts, fudge pieces, and oh yeah, chocolate covered nuts.

And by the way, don't look at the nutrition facts. Just don't.

Park day

It's been drizzly here for several days so we were all feeling a bit stir-crazy.

Plus I have been terrible at taking any summer pictures of my kids (blame my pregnancy brain?). Anyway, the solution was to head off to the park.

The first thing we saw was a big flock of seagulls just asking to be chased.
Jack thought it was pretty fun.

Strike a pose: Like father . . .

Like son. I swear they struck these poses independently of each other.

James loves this tire swing but I think it made him a little queasy today.

Teeter-totter is much more fun with Dad.

The thing I love about parks: seeing a look of pure joy on a kid's face. Priceless.

Preggers . . .

I have very few photos of myself pregnant. If you've ever been pregnant, you know why. Really does anyone feel like having their photo taken when they've put on 35+ pounds?! But I really wanted to remember what it was like and what I looked like. So I swallowed my pride today so Jake could take a few shots.

Of course Jackson thought the photo shoot was for him. To show off his ninja poses.
And his sword.

BIG belly.

Sweet boy.

So, for posterity, this is what I look like 36 1/2 weeks pregnant. Skinny girls, eat your heart out. Hah!

Projects . . .

Summer marches on, and as my due date approaches I seem to find more projects to work on. Oh dear . . .

First, though, my cute boys who happened to dress matching (not on purpose) one day.
We are a bit Star Wars obsessed right now, so here are the boys using "the force".

One project: picking and then finding ways to use 10 pounds of fresh blueberries. YUM! I froze as many as would fit in my freezer (not as many as I would like because it's full of strawberry and raspberry jam!). We also ate a LOT plain, with yogurt, in smoothies, in oatmeal, and made a few yummy little treats like this (for the recipe see my cooking blog!).

Then our HUGE project: repainting our bedroom. We have planned to do this for probably 2 months. I got the whole thing taped but didn't have the courage to start the project by myself. So I had to wait for Jake to have a free Saturday, which finally happened this last weekend. And what a Saturday it was. Jake didn't remind me to take a photo until we had the room primed with white primer. However, you can see what color it was under the primer: that's right, blue. A lovely powder blue color that we've lived with for 2 years!

The fabulous new color, not a lovely title, but a great color: Alpaca Brown. In one day, we did a coat of primer and 2 coats of paint. Jake was the roller man, I manned the brushes for the corners and around all the trim, doors, and windows. And let me just tell you--I don't recommend doing a project of this size when you are 35 weeks pregnant. I have rarely been so exhausted! But we LOVE the new room. I haven't posted pictures of the finished product because I'm still sanding and staining our dressers and looking for a new bedspread and curtains. Then hopefully I can post a picture of the whole beautiful makeover!!

Hope I get the rest of the projects done before this baby decides to come . . . !

First Pitch

A little summer . . .

What could be more summer than popsicles and baseball?

Jackson can't manage to eat a popsicle without making a huge mess. And then, for some reason, he comes to you with the stick in his mouth like this. Such a funny kid.
Jake is team doc for the Elmira Pioneers baseball team and they asked him to throw out the first pitch at their All Star Game last night. He did a great job.

He also got to shake hands with Tommy John, former major league pitcher.

It was fun to go watch him and to see the game.

Random Phone Pics . . .

I've been terrible about taking photos with our regular camera lately. Partially just having a busy summer, partially just pregnancy laziness! But I am tired of our old post and also found a bunch of photos I'd never taken off my phone that are kind of fun. So here's a look!

Dare I hope I'll have a runner in the family? Jack and I went out for a run (back when I could still run) and he got tired of riding in the stroller.
We found a great little soccer league for Jack this spring. He loved it and even had a great time playing the day it was wet, muddy, and a little on the cold side.

We really loved our May visit from my parents. Part of the fun for Jake was cycling with my dad, getting to show off the beautiful scenery around our home.

We hiked a lot, and got to enjoy beautiful Watkins Glen.

Love this photo of my parents.

Can't see this one too well, but James played baseball again this spring and Jake became the preferred team pitcher (it's a coach pitch league until the kids turn 10). Jake liked it a lot and made a huge difference to the team's success!

Summer park time, one of our favorite parks has this great tire swing and is close to the lake so the boys can skip rocks.

Despite the somewhat unreality of it all, we are getting ready for baby, due in about 7 weeks now. The boys had a "Siblings are Special" class at the hospital Saturday. Jack was so cute with his baby doll, giving it kisses and wrapping it up in the blanket very gently. Jack's favorite part of the class, though, was the field trip up to the maternity floor and getting to see a "real" newborn baby through the nursery window.

Even James got into it, despite the fact that this is all "old hat" to him!

Jack also wanted me to take a photo of him "using the force". We've been a bit Star-Wars obsessed since Jake got a Wii for his birthday and the "Star Wars Legos" Wii game for Father's Day. He and the boys have really enjoyed playing it together and of course the boys have wanted to re-watch all the movies as well.

Some other things we've been doing this summer that I don't have photos of:

1) Swimming lessons and just swimming at the Ithaca Swim Club. Jack loved his first experience with lessons and has become braver in the water. James has gotten better at swimming and diving.

2) The boys have been loving playing "dress-up" which I have been very remiss in not taking photos of. Jackson especially is hilarious, combining different costume pieces and making up new characters, like a "pirate jedi".

3) I have taken on a few huge projects that I'm really hoping will be finished before the baby is here! I am sanding/stripping 2 dressers and restaining them, and hoping to repaint my and Jake's room. I'm also revising our family cookbook.

Hope you are enjoying your summer as well!!

A Town Like Alice

My favorite summer read so far:

I think the author's note puts it best: "I do not think that I have ever before turned to real life for an incident in one of my novels. If I have done so now it is because I have been unable to resist the appeal of this true story, and because I want to pay what tribute is within my power to the most gallant lady I have ever met."-Nevil Shute

This book is loosely based on the experiences of Jean Paget, a young woman who, while living and working in Malaya during WWII gets captured with a group of other women and children by occupying Japanese soldiers. Herded along jungle trails for 1200 miles, this group experienced extreme hardship, illness, death, but also extreme kindness and mercy from unexpected sources. This experience helps serve her as she decides what she will choose to do with the rest of her life.

This is my pick of the summer so far--a great read, and a fairly quick one. I highly recommend it!

Boys Day Out

I took the boys kayaking this afternoon as I had some extra time. We started in Cayuga Lake and paddled up one of the inlets until it became a shallow river. The path takes us under bridges and through neighborhoods.

We ended up finding a beach ball that was floating down the river. We also found a debit card and an iPod neither of which were close to functional. James did well manning his own rig.

Food . . .

Again I am trying to be better about posting on my food blog.

Recent posts: Mushroom Strudel and this Linguini With Tomato-Almond Pesto. Go check it out: http://recipesandreviews.blogspot.com. And I thought I would share one of our recent new food finds: these blue corn tortilla chips from Target. They have a heartier taste than regular tortilla chips and are very tasty!!

Gorges X 4

We went to every gorge around Ithaca while Becky's parents were in town. Here are some pictures!!

While at Watkins Glen we rented a campsite to have dinner. This is one of those timer pictures. Gotta Love 'em.

On one of the many stair cases at the Watkins Glen Gorge.

There was a little water but we stayed dry.

At times the trail goes under the falls. Pretty cool.

And there is a spiral staircase that is cut out of the cliff.

The day was perfect with blue skies and plenty of running water.

Brothers

Still Watkins Glen

Taughannock Falls.

Treman State Park

I love this picture of Becky's parents. Taken on the archway below.

This is at Buttermilk Falls another great hike.

We loved having Grandma and Grandpa spend sometime with us and we had a great time.

We will miss you. I didn't think the boys would stop crying when we dropped them off at the airport. You will be missed.