I Heart Naptime/Jo Tote Giveaway

I'm trying to win a Jo Tote from I Heart Naptime and one way to enter is to blog about the giveaway. A Jo Tote is on my Christmas list this year. It's a handbag that will fit all your normal stuff in it as well as your SLR camera. This is perfect since I take mine everywhere and I'm always so worried about it getting damaged. So, I'm hoping I win this giveaway.

So, check out those sites, I Heart Naptime is an amazing craft/recipe blog that I've been following for awhile now. But, it's okay if you don't enter the giveaway. ;)

Carter's First Haircut

On Friday, we took Carter to get his first hair cut. It was gettting a little long in the back and on the sides. We had professional pictures done on Saturday, so we decided to go ahead and get his hair cut so it'd be nice and neat for the pictures.

We went to Snippets and got the "First Hair Cut" package. For $5.00 more, you get a framed picture, a certificate, and a lock of their hair. Carter did not like the clippers and cried while the stylist was using them. It was pretty pitiful. As soon as she'd stop the clippers he'd stop crying. Luckily, it only took a minute or two to cut his hair.

There was a little bit of a wait before the hair cut, so the boys played with the toys in the waiting area. They have it stocked with tons of Melissa and Doug toys and both the boys had a blast. There was a little Melissa and Doug shopping cart that Evan really liked.

The boys in the waiting room, and you can kinda see the "before" of Carter's hair.

He was fine before she started, skeptical, but not crying.

and then the tears came.

So pitiful. The haircut was really fast, so it wasn't too bad.

All better.

Our framed picture.

Salsa Chicken

I've seen this recipe on several blogs, but never wanted to try it because it just looked too simple to possibly taste that good. This week I needed something quick, easy, and cheap, so I decided to give it a try. I figured that Greg could take the leftovers for lunch. We actually both ended up loving it. It's so good!! I didn't even have time to add any of the optional toppings like cheese, cilantro, black beans, etc. We just had it plain over white bastami rice and it was still delicious. We will definitely be having this again.

Salsa Chicken

1lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup salsa
1 package taco seasoning
1 cup low fat sour cream

Directions: Put chicken, soup, and salsa in crock pot. Sprinkle taco seasoning over everything. Cook on low for 6 hours. You can shred it if you'd like, but we didn't bother. After shredding, return chicken back to slow cooker. Stir in sour cream and heat just until everything is combined. Serve over white rice. We used the 90 second rice packets that you microwave. We were all about fast and easy.

Spoons

I'm a little embarrassed to be posting this, but I've been very lazy when it comes to letting the boys practice with spoons. It's been so much easier to just feed them or let them eat with their fingers, it's faster, neater, etc. But, I know they need to start. So, I've been giving the boys their spoons and letting them feed themselves. I've been working with them in the mornings helping them use a spoon to eat their oatmeal and now I'm trying to feed them things for lunch that require a spoon. I usually give them a grilled cheese, quesadilla, hot dog, sandwhich fixin's, etc, but I made some mashed potatoes for them just so they could practice using their spoon. I don't think Carter really liked the mashed potatoes. He doesn't seem to really love mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese (clearly, he doesn't take after his mama). But, both the boys did pretty good.

Evan started out eating the mashed potatoes with his hands.

Carter was putting the food on the spoon, then taking the food off the spoon with his fingers and eating it.

Red Wagon

Last weekend we bought the boys a wagon. We like to go on walks around the neighborhood and figured the boys might like it more in a wagon than in their stroller and we were right. They loved the wagon, they were able to see everything and each other. We'd seen a lot of people in the neighborhood and out around the parks and pumpkin patches with wagons and we've seen kids a lot older than Evan and Carter riding in them, so hopefully we'll get a lot of use out of it.

Here's some pictures from our first walk with the wagon.

Some pictures from our second walk in the wagon

They were both so excited, here's Evan smiling at Carter

And Carter smiling at Evan.

Park and Picnic

The other day we decided to take the boys to the park. We had to run a couple of errands first and realized it was getting close to the boys lunch time. We decided to grab a kids meal from DQ for the boys to share and we just brought it to the park to have a picnic and then let the boys play. The SpringHill park next to our house has picnic benches and I thought the boys looked so grown up sitting and eating at them. I had to take a couple of pictures of them.

We actually drove by Chick-Fil-A first, but the line was around the parking lot, so we decided to go somewhere that wasn't so busy. DQ didn't have a line and they had a great kids menu, we like places that let us pick things other than fries and chocolate milk to go with the meals. We got the boys plain milk and some applesauce to go with their grilled cheese.

So cute!!

Evan doesn't mess around. He loves to shove all his food in his mouth.

It's so weird the little things that remind us that they're growing up so fast. A couple of months ago, they wouldn't have sat at a table and ate. Everytime we do something new with them, no matter how small it seems, it reminds us how fast they're growing up and that they're not little infants anymore. It's a little sad, but there's so much fun stuff to look forward too.

Greenefield Pumpkin Patch

That's right, we went to yet, another pumpkin patch this weekend. This is our 3rd one this month. I told you we love pumpkin patches! We weren't sure if we were going to go to this one because it cost money to get in and the other ones we've been to were free. It wasn't expensive (6.00 for adults, kids 2 and under were free) but we didn't decided until Saturday morning that we were going to go. We woke up and the weather was perfect for the pumpkin patch. I'm so glad that we decided to go. There was hardly anybody there, but since we live in a small town we still managed to run into people we know there, another mom from MOPS, a guy Greg works with, and another mom in my MOM group who has twin boys who are 17 months old. What a small world. When we got there, we immediately saw the huge play area they had set up for toddlers. It was a huge area with a fence around it filled with riding toys, small fisher price slides and houses, etc. The boys loved it and could have probably spent the entire day there. It was even better than going to a park because it was perfect for the boys age and size. We didn't have to worry about them getting hurt and they were able to just run around and play with anything and everything they wanted. We're thinking of going back before the end of the month because the boys had so much fun.

The pumpkin patch was less than 5 minutes from our house. This is the sign you see when you turn on the road to go to Greenefield Pumpkin Patch

 On the hayride. We had to take the boys from the play area to go on the hayride and Carter was not a happy camper. As soon as the tractor started though, he was fine. They both love the tractors and hayrides.

 Evan on the hayride

There was such a pretty view.

 There was an area for bigger kids to play on the hay and go down bigger slides. Here's Evan sitting on the big hay stacks.

 The toddler area.

I think this was Carter's favorite toy.

Carter and one of the other twin boys there.

They loved all the John Deere riding toys

There was so much to do.

Trying to get a picture of the two of them before we left. They're looking at the toddler play area. :)

Well, I got a smile. neither of them are looking at the camera, but at least Evan is smiling. I'll take what I can get.