Following in Daddy's footsteps

Did I mention that LM is crazy for iced coffee? Ok, its really just a splash of coffee with a lot of whole milk, but he is crazy for it! Maybe we have someone in line to take over the family biz?

Yummy!

To our favorite Latin American restaurant in Kenner:

Although we realize you are being truthful, let's just leave it at menudo. If folks really need to know what's in it, they will ask you.

The Champions of the Rodeo

July 4th weekend, my Dad treated me to an evening at the Louisiana State High School Rodeo Championships! The last time I had been to a rodeo was when my Dad took me when I was about 8 years old. Now, the rodeo ambiance isn't usually my scene, but it ended up being a lot of fun.
You could tell these kids had put a ton of work and care into their sport. Even when they didn't do well, they never gave up. It was inspiring and I hope Little Monkey has something he enjoys that much when he gets to be that age.My pictures turned out terrible. I discovered that my beloved digital camera is no good for action shots. This was disappointing because I had imagined coming away with some really good pics.
There were definitely enough Wrangler, Dodge and NRA advertisements to make any Southern girl proud!

Being a tourist in our own town

Last week on a rare day off work, Big Monkey and I got some alone time while Little Monkey stayed with the nanny. We decided to see NOLA as a tourist. We started off with lunch at one of our favorite Mid-City restaurants, Liuzza's. When I was little, my Dad lived in Baton Rouge. Every once in a while we would make the 70 mile trip into New Orleans just to go to dinner at Liuzza's. I remember thinking, as a girl, how special a place it was to drive that far just to go eat! Their fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade are my absolute favorite. (chicken salad stuffed creole tomato, red beans and rice, and a Barq's root beer in a frozen mug)

After lunch, we headed to the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park. For some crazy reason, we haven't ever been there. It is even free for Louisiana Residents and only $8 for others. The building itself is beautiful. But, of course, the best part was the air-conditioning! There is no better feeling than stepping out of 99 degree weather into a 68 degree building!

After the museum, we headed out to Lakeview to see the slab where my Grandparent's house had been before Katrina, but also to have New Orleans snowballs at the neighborhood snowball stand. I veered away from my ole favorite flavor, Nector, and, to my disappointment, went with Yellow Cake Batter. It was not nearly as good, but did the job of cooling us down and giving us our afternoon sugar rush.We had a great time and took some fun pics for your enjoyment.....

Ok Klinger!

Little Monkey has become obsessed with the shoes in MY closet. He wants nothing to do with Big Monkey's shoes. His favorite thing to do is sit down and make a humongous pile of my shoes on top of his legs. I guess I should be proud because he has made it his own "Memory" game by matching all the shoes up too. His favorite are this pair of red shoes I only wore during my last trimester of pregnancy. They are way too big now (on me and LM), but these are the first ones he picked out to prance around in. Do you think he remembers them :)

Dancing Babies make everyone smile

This Evian commercial was posted on my Mommies ChatBoard today and I had to share it. BM and I have watched it a milion times and crack up just as much as the first time we watched it. Who wouldn't smile at roller skating babies?!

The diet begins again...

This stuff is sooo good and only 20 calories and 0 grams of fat! How did I not know that fat free half and half exists? No, I'm not getting paid for this. It is really just that good. What's the catch?

This morning I used it to make my own version of Hungry Girl's Chocolate Banana Smoothie recipe. It was delish.

I am hard-core back on my diet starting two days ago. I'm kickin' it old school by actually counting calories. I've never done that before (I ususally go WW) but I found this great site, My Daily Plate, that makes it really easy. You go in and calculate how many calories you should eat per day based on weight, height, activity level, etc. They have like every food known to man already in their database and you just put in what you eat and it calculates your calories for the day. I'm having fun with it so far. Hopefully it won't get boring fast. I'll keep you up to date on what I lose.