Last Week in Pictures

I haven't been good about updating my blog lately. Evan was waking up between 4-5 almost every morning plus naptime hasn't been going as good as it was, so I haven't had much free time lately. Hopefully, we'll get our good sleepers back soon!

Saturday 4/13

The weather has been all over the place, one day it'll be warm, spring weather, then hot enough to play outside in water, then freezing cold, it's just all over the place. Last Saturday was nice, so we took the boys to the park.

Greg and the boys at Pen Park.

Greg is as bad as the boys, I saw "cheese" and this is what I get.

On the way to the park, I got stopped by some yard sales to see if I could get a couple of inexpensive things to have in the yard for the boys to play with this summer. When we got home from the park, they had a snack on the porch, while I washed off our new things.

That table with chairs was $3.00 and the play kitchen was $5.00!!! Can you believe that? I was on such a high from getting those great deals, I just wanted to drive to every yard sale in the state!

These will be perfect for playing outside. I'm just so excited.

We also got the boys two cheap riding toys. Their bikes are at my parents house, but I wanted them to have something until we make our next trip down to Georgia. They have a Little People Bus and Fire truck that they got from Brandi for their first birthday, but they still use those so much, that I didn't want to bring them outside. So, Greg looked on his bulletin board at work and got one of these for free and I got the other one for $2.00 at the yard sale. they're perfect for the boys to have something to ride in the yard and we don't have to worry about leaving them out there or them getting wet/dirty. At the end of the summer we can toss or donate them.

This is what they like to do on their slides. They like to climb up and then jump off.

Sunday

You can see how tired these boys are, getting up early and not taking naps started catching up with them.

We spent a little time outside in the yard on Sunday.

Evan insisted on wearing a glove he found.

My tulips are starting to bloom. I love my tulips, I just wish they were around longer.

Monday

We went to our Moms of Multiples play group on Monday, we were the only ones who made it, but we had so much fun.

As you can see, the boys enjoyed the snack. :)

Monday night, I made Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice from Skinnytaste, I'll post the recipe later this week. It was DELICIOUS!!!

Wednesday

I have no idea what we did on Tuesday, Evan was waking up early and I was getting more and more exhausted. The boys had school and I cleaned the kitchen. I scrubbed the cabinets, cleaned the chairs, the floors, the stainless steel, etc. But, that's all I remember from that day.

Wednesday during the day, I take the boys to the gym while Greg is at work. I work out and take a shower at the gym. So, Wednesday afternoons, we have free to go the park, run errands, etc. We let the boys go outside and I don't know if they got wet from rain in the water table or what, but then they convinced Greg to spray them and they had a blast!

I love this picture, the boys love getting sprayed with the hose.

Both boys were ready for more.

After awhile, greg just hooked up the sprinkler so the boys could play in the water themselves.

They love to hold it and spray each other instead of running through it.

One of my favorite pictures! Getting a little drink.

My yellow tulips come up first and then the purples and blacks.

After playing in the water, we dried the boys off, changed them into new clothes and went to Taco Bell for dinner. You can't really tell, but they're both sitting in this chair, they insisted on sharing a chair.

Thursday

Another early morning with Evan.

This was Carter before going to school. It was pitiful. I think he was waking up early because Evan was waking up early. He can only sleep so long after Evan wakes up because of all the noise.

But, you wouldn't have known they were tired at school. they were so excited. This is them peeking into their classroom window when we got there. They love when their friends pull up in their cars, they say their names and jump up and down.

 

Thursday evening after we got home from the gym and had dinner, we were all playing in the front room and the boys were being so cute! They both had worn their hats to the gym and kept them on the whole time. Carter insists on wearing his backwards. When we started playing in the front room, they put on their tool belts and had me tell them what each tool was and what it did. They were so cute playing with them.

Here they are fixing daddy. :)

Look at that serious look of concentration. When I told them a saw was for cutting, they decided to "cut" my hair with it. So, he's concentrating on that.

I love these little tool belts. They're soft and I got them from IKEA awhile ago, I gave them to the boys on their 2nd birthday and they didn't like the belt, so I'm glad they're using them now.

Taking a little break from handyman work to play some basketball (his favorite sport!)

Such a cutie.

 

Greg had Friday off, so I'll do a separate post on our weekend and then I'll be caught up.

Penne Rosa with Shrimp

Over the weekend, I tried a shrimp pasta recipe that I found on Pinterest. The recipe came from the Back to Her Roots blog. It said in the description that it used Greek yogurt to make it creamy and only 15 minutes to cook, so I decided to try it. I feel like all we eat is chicken, so it was nice to try something different. I love shrimp, but I just don't buy it very often. This was SO delicious and it was healthy. Greg hates mushrooms, so I bought whole mushrooms instead of sliced ones, so he could easily pick them out of his bowl and give them to me! :) We will definitely be having this again. We both loved it and Greg isn't even a big fan of shrimp-but he thought it was delicious. This meal is quick, easy, healthy, and delicious--what more could you ask for?

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

12 ounces whole wheat penne

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes

8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced

2 medium tomatoes (about 1/2 lb.) chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

4 cups fresh spinach

10 ounces medium raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 cup marinara sauce

1/3 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt

Instructions

1. Cook penne according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large skillet with a lid, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add in garlic and red pepper flakes, cook for 2 minutes or until garlic begins to soften.
3. Add in mushrooms, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, or until mushrooms begin to release their water.
4. Turn heat up to medium-high and add in shrimp. Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until shrimp are pink and opaque. Remove from heat, add in spinach and cover skillet. Let spinach wilt for 2 minutes.
5. Remove lid and place skillet back over low heat. Add the penne, Greek yogurt and pasta sauce. Stir until sauce is mixed well and all pasta and veggies are coated. Heat until just warmed through. Divide into pasta bowls and serve

 

Hello, Summer!

I don't know if we're having a heat wave or if spring was just really short this year, but as long as it's not winter, I'm happy. This was the forecast for Wednesday!

I was pretty excited for Wednesday because the weather was supposed to be so warm, I knew we could go outside and play. Evan decided to wake up at 5:00! He's been getting up earlier and earlier and it's been so exhausting. But, he was happy watching tv on my ipad in my bed while I got ready.

Evan was exhausted from waking up so early and we had just got "Mater's Tall Tales" from Netflix, so I let the boys watch it while I relaxed on the couch did something productive. They are obsessed with this movie. It's only 30 minutes, which is nice.

 

I had some errands to run on Wednesday morning. The boys were on spring break all last week, so the house work has piled up, so while they're at preschool, I've been trying to get the house in order. We've been going to the gym in the afternoons most days, so there's really not much time to run errands by myself and we had things we absolutely needed, so I took them with me. Their limit is usually one store and only if I'm fast and feed them snacks the whole way, I ended up having to go to 3 different stores, but there was only one meltdown in one store-so I consider the trip a success.

 

How cute are the boys in their hats? Carter wears his backwards and I think it looks so adorable. See the fruit snacks in their hands? I was prepared. :)

 

Our Kroger got ride of the carts with the cars on the front and replaced them with these mini carts that kids can push. These are the cutest things if you only have one kid with you, but they can be a nightmare with two twin toddlers. You have to pass them when you get in the store, so the boys would have pitched a fit to use them, so I just went ahead and let them have before we went in. I posted this pic on Facebook and somebody made a comment about how impressed she was that they would push the carts and she couldn't take her twins shopping like that. I love when other bloggers and mothers are real, so  I thought I should probably share how our little trip in Kroger went. Evan thinks that cart equals freedom and took off as soon as we got inside, pushing that thing 100 miles an hour, so I had to chase him and tell him to listen or I'd take it away. While, I'm trying to keep Evan from escaping, Carter starts wandering off. This happens, like 10 times. Finally, I feel like I've given Evan enough chances and decide to carry him through the store and not let him push his own cart. He's crying and begging for his cart back and I'm carrying him and trying to get Carter to follow me. Carter is being slow as molasses, but he's listening really well and not running off, so I feel it's only fair to remain calm with him and let him continue pushing his cart. I needed like, 5 items, but I feel like we were in that store forever! When we got to the checkout, Carter actually unloaded all the groceries from his cart onto the belt--it was too cute. I would have got a picture, if I wasn't juggling Evan, trying to get out my Kroger card, pay, beg Carter to keep pushing the cart because he was standing right in somebody's way. Oh, it was stressful. But, we made it out and drove the mile to Sam's Club with both of them screaming their heads off. Carter was mad because I told him we had one more store to go to. But, I had a small bag of skittles that I bought at Target just in case, and as soon as they saw it, they calmed down. Thank goodness Sam's Club has double carts!! We were in and out without any problems. Sorry to get so long winded, I just don't want y'all to think that I intentionally leave that stuff out or just post happy pictures like everything is super easy.

 

But, I love this picture and looking at it just makes me think how cute they are and how grown up they look. I try and block out the tantrum. haha.

 

When we got home, I opened the water table I got at Target and put the boys in their bathing suits and let them play. There are a million pictures of our outdoor play, but I was just so happy it was warm and they just look so cute to me.

They love the water table!

After awhile of playing on the water table, they wanted me to spray them with the water hose. How could I say "no"?

So much fun!

 

They loved splashing around. They like to splash in the bath, but we have to stop them when they get too wild (or else the entire bathroom would be soaked) so they just loved being able to splash as much and as hard as they wanted.

This is Carter's "it's cold face" He makes that face when the water is cold and it's so funny to me.

Look how happy they are. I love Evan's smile.

After Greg got home, I went to meet somebody off Craigslist to get two slides and a picnic table. It was an incredible deal and several other people had also emailed her, but I was first. Yay! I want the boys to have plenty to do outside this summer. The slides were a hit!!

But...the picnic table. When I was loading everything up, I was just concerned that everything would fit in the van. I felt the picnic table move, but I just figured it was loose, and we could just tighten it when we got home. But, after I got home, Greg saw that it was missing a plastic piece. Womp, womp. I'm convinced that we can do something to fix it, I need to mess around with it this weekend.

Even if we can't fix it (which I'm sure we can) the two slides were still a good deal. It was definitely good that we got two. They love going up at the same time and then saying "Ready, set, go!' and going down at the same time.

Greg got the sprinkler out for the boys. The dashboard on the van said 98 degrees when I went to pick up the slides. I don't know if it was quite that hot, but it was definitely in the 90's.

The boys loved the sprinkler.

I just love getting their reactions to this, they're so happy. I wish I had brought my good camera outside, but all these were taken on my phone.

Carter started picking up the sprinkler and spraying Evan with it and Evan would say "more, more"

I thought for sure all that outdoor play would wear the boys out and Evan would sleep nice and late Thursday morning. But...he woke up at 4:45! So...early....

He's still tired, because he gets in my bed and watches the ipad, but once he's up, he's up. He's been like that since he was an infant, once he wakes up in the morning, he can't go back to sleep.

I tried to get a picture of the boys after school on Thursday and this is what he did.

I got these flowers at Trader Joe's on Sunday. I have never bough fresh flowers and I love having them. The boys are old enough that I can have stuff like this out and not worry (too much) about them getting into it. (knock on wood) and these just make me so happy every time I walk by them.

 

**since I wrote this, Evan has decided to suck down half a tube of toddler toothpaste. I had to call Poison Control just to make sure it was ok (it is) So...I probably shouldn't get too attached to my flowers. :( Nothing is safe around toddlers.

Spring has Sprung

Sunday, it was definitely feeling like spring! The boys played outside in the yard before their nap and Evan wore his fleece but Carter just had on short sleeves and was fine. It was nice.

 

 

During the boys' nap, I went to Homegoods. It was their grand opening. It was insane! It was like Black Friday. I had never been to one but always wanted to go. It's like TJ Maxx (or Marshall's/Ross) for home décor. I love it! I can't wait to go back when it's not so busy and browse a little more.

After their naps, we took them to the park to enjoy the spring weather. Everybody else had the same idea, which worked out good because the boys had other kids to play with.

This girl decided to play "restaurant" with Evan. She had him go to that side of the park so she could walk him to his table. It was so cute. Evan did everything she said and loved it!

 

Then she took Evan and another little girl's order. It was too cute. Evan ordered a water to drink and a lollipop. haha.

I love this picture of the boys resting at the park.

There were several people flying kites and Carter loved seeing them up in the sky.

Monday, we had our moms of multiples play date. I was so excited because it was warm and sunny out, so we got to play outside. The mom who hosted has such a great backyard with so much to do.

Everybody is in short sleeves and enjoying the warm weather and this one insisted on wearing his winter hat. He found it that morning and put it on and refused to take it off. Greg actually took it off Carter while he was napping and hid it and when he woke up, he had forgotten about it.

The kids had so much fun!

I love this sandbox. It's so big and has tons of great toys.

Carter loved just walking this bike around.

The host made these healthy muffins that the kids gobbled up like they were starving. She cut them into pieces and the kids were making sure they had a piece in each hand. They were begging for more! It was insane. We were all telling the kids that they needed to put the one they weren't eating down, so Carter takes a bite out of both muffins he had in his hands. Haha, I guess so he was technically "eating" both of them.

Well, that was our spring. ;) haha. It was kinda short lived because the next day it was in the high 80's and then Wednesday it was in the 90's! Everybody is saying we went from winter to summer. I don't care if it's spring or summer, as long as it's not winter, I'm happy.