Great Start to Memorial Day Weekend

My parents came up from Georgia to spend Memorial Day weekend with us and got in right before the boys went to bed on Thursday night. Today, Greg was off and it was the first official day of Memorial day weekend. It's been so rainy the past couple weeks but today was sunny and a high of 85. I'm so glad the weather was clear and sunny, even if it was a little humid. Greg and my dad worked on moving the closet organizer from Evan's old room (now our computer room) into his new room. They went to Lowe's and got a new organizer to install tomorrow in the computer room. My mom and I took the boys on a quick trip to Walmart to get a few things for the weekend and then came home and played with the boys until their nap. After the boys nap, we set up the water table outside for them to play while my dad and Greg got started on grilling ribs for dinner.

The boys had a blast playing in their water table. I know they're going to sleep great tonight! My mom "Mamaw" and the boys.

I got the hose to fill up the water table and the boys loved playing in the water, so I sprayed it while they ran underneath it laughing.

We decided to walk around to where Greg and "Papaw" were grilling and of course the boys needed to "taste test" the food.

Yum!

Both boys kept saying "more" and holding out their hands. They loved them some ribs!

After dinner the boys played with Papaw and had the best time.

The boys are eating up all the extra attention. They sure do love their Mamaw and Papaw. It's so cute to hear them say their names too. I'm sad that my parents are only here for 2 days and then have to head back to Georgia, but I'm so glad they were able to come up. Tomorrow is supposed to be another sunny day, so I'm sure we'll be doing a lot of the same thing, playing outside, working on projects, eating lots of yummy food, etc.

Tasty Thursday

I made several new recipes this week and wanted to share them with y'all.

I saw this Pesto Salad on I Heart Naptime and thought it looked delicious. I left out the chicken and instead, we marinated a few chicken breasts overnight in Italian dressing then grilled them. We served the salad with the chicken. I think either way works.

Pesto Salad
Ingredients

• 1 pkg bow tie pasta whole wheat or plus
• 1 TB olive oil
• 1 cup basil pesto jarred or homemade
• 1/4 cup Italian dressing (I misread and used 1/2 cup and it was fine)
• 1 cup chicken grilled, can, rotisserie (I left this out)
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup feta cheese

Instructions

1. Cook the bowtie pasta according to package directions in a large pot of salted water. Drain the pasta and run it under water. Drizzle with olive oil and stir around.
2. Put the pasta in a large serving bowl and stir in the pesto and italian dressing. Add the spinach, chicken, tomatoes and feta cheese. Toss to combine. Salt and Pepper to taste.
3. Cover the pasta and refrigerate. If the pasta seems dry before serving, you can stir in another tablespoon of olive oil

When I organized our pantry awhile back, I realized we had 4 cans of chickpeas, so I looked for a recipe that I could use those in. I found one on Pinterest that looked simple, inexpensive and healthy. I threw this together in 5-10 minutes while the boys played. I thought this was so tasty. I love basil and think pretty much anything with fresh basil tastes good. I plan to make this several times this summer, it's the perfect summer dish. Light & healthy.

Chick Pea & Tomato Salad with Fresh Basil

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

About 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved

25 large basil leaves, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp honey

pinch of salt

Instructions

Toss all ingredients together and chill for at least 20 minutes, allowing all the flavors to merge. Seriously, could it be any easier?

For dessert this week, we had Pumpkin Pie Dip. You can use this for apples, graham crackers and a ton of other foods. I've been using it with low fat cinnamon graham crackers. It's from SkinnyTaste, which is a great recipe website for Weight Watcher recipes. It gives all the nutrional information, along with the points for both the old and new Weight Watcher system. Plus, all the recipes I've tried from this website have been really good.

Pumpkin Pie Dip

Ingredients:

• 15 oz can pumpkin
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 6 oz fat free Greek yogur
• 8 oz Cool Whip (I used fat-free)

Instructions
Mix pumpkin with brown sugar, vanilla and spices, blend well. Mix in yogurt. Fold in cool whip and chill in refrigerator until ready to eat.
We also had Asian Noodle Salad earlier this week. I've blogged about it before. If you haven't tried this, you are seriously missing out. It's one of my favorite recipes of all time. It's so good!

Playdates and Rainy Days

This week, it's been rainy and nasty outside, so we've just been taking it easy. Monday, we had our weekly multiples playdate. The boys always have so much fun and it's so nice to talk to the other moms. 

The boys loved this play drum

 Every play group we go to, the boys always spend some time in the play kitchen. Always.

 It was so cute to hear the kids creating music.

After the boys nap, we went to the gym. Tuesday, we ran to Target in the morning and after the boys nap me and the boys went to the gym.

It's been a really low key week so far, just playing with the boys, reading lots of books, playing with trains, and stuffed animals. It's been kinda nice. Greg has been watching "Rome" on dvd at night and I'm not interested at all in watching it, so I've had a little extra time to play around on the internet. I've found a few new blogs, searched Pinterest for some recipe ideas, been reading my book, etc.

I decided to try this lemon-mint water that I saw one a blog last night. I've been wanting to cut out soda (It's on my 30 Before 30) And I was waiting until I ran out of diet Dr. Pepper and I'm almost out, so I need some new things to drink and this is so refreshing! It called for 2 lemons, but the boys came over while I was cutting the lemon and wanted some. I gave them each a bite thinking they'd hate it and they LOVED it, they kept begging for more. They ended up splitting an entire lemon. Doesn't this water look delicious? Please ignore the plastic pitcher, I really want a cute glass pitcher, but I haven't found one that I like.

And here's my chickpea and tomato salad with fresh basil that I had for lunch today. (I'll post the recipe tomorrow) I just couldn't resist taking a quick picture with my phone. It's so good!! For some reason, we had 4 cans of chick peas in our pantry, so I looked for a recipe on Pinterest and found this, it's so easy to make and it's healthy. Yes, that's a paper bowl, I also ate it with a plastic spoon, don't judge me. ;)

I'll post the yummy recipes I tried this week tomorrow. My parents are coming up from Georgia tomorrow to spend Memorial day weekend with us. I can't wait to see them and I've been telling the boys all week that "Mamaw & Papaw" are coming up. It's calling for nice weather, too. Can't beat a 4 day weekend with family and nice weather. I know it's going to go by way too fast.

Weekend Recap

We had a pretty busy weekend. On Friday morning, we ran to Target with the boys, got Carter's hair cut, watched my friend's daughter while her and her husband went to lunch, and after the boys nap, we took them to the park.

Greg loves letting the boys walk wherever we go if we're together. The boys love the freedom and it gives them a chance to get out some energy. Here's the boys walking from
Target to Snip-It's.

Isn't she a doll!? Don't you just want to pinch those cheeks?! She's about 5 months younger than the boys. She's so laid back and easy going. It was a piece of cake watching her.

The kids eating lunch.

We haven't been to Spring Hill park in a long time, so we decided to go there after the boys nap. We were planning on going to the gym, but we just had to take advantage of the nice weather. I'm glad we did because it's calling for rain this week.

The boys love to hang out of the swing like this. They'll just drape over and stay like that. I don't know how it's comfortable.

Another kid showed up and was playing, so the boys were checking her out.

The boys wanted to go on the big kid part and since there was nobody else there, we let them. Evan went down the tallest slide without any hesitation. He has no fear. This slide is so tall!

Saturday morning, I went to Ikea with my friend while Greg kept the kids (and her husband kept her kids) We're very lucky to have husbands that don't mind watching the kids while we go shopping for the day. Ikea is about 2 hours away, so we left about 8:00 and got there when they opened and got home about 3:00.

I was looking for something for our basement for our tv. Right now it's sitting on Greg's old computer desk. I want something with lots of storage for dvds, games, etc. I really like this set up.

I love Ikea. I wish I had taken more pictures, especially for inspiration later. I love this frame and how they put several pictures in it.

I got this shadow box in black. I have so many ideas for it (thanks to Pinterest) I'm going to have a hard time deciding what to do with it.

I got the boys a new play rug. The backing is coming off the used one I got on Craigslist and makes such a mess on the carpet. When I found this one at Ikea, I decided to get it to replace the old one.

I've been wanting a tray for next to the kitchen sink for my dish soap, bottle brush (I use it on the sippy cups) and drain stopper (I don't usually have a sponge out). I wanted more of a rectangle one, but all the ones I saw were too long. This one ended up working out fine and doesn't take up much room.

My friend, Brandi got me this print for Christmas off Etsy and I still hadn't framed it. I saw this red frame at Ikea, so now I finally have my Georgia print in a frame. I love that it's red. I have so much black furniture in our house, and lots of frames and decorative items come in black, but I like having other colors to stand out on the black furniture.

While I was taking pictures of things that I got at Ikea, the boys got up on the ottoman and got comfortable for an episode of Fresh Beat Band.

Aren't they so cute!

We decided to grill out for dinner and while Greg grilled, I played with the boys in the backyard.

They like playing with the water table even when there's no water in it. They would slide their pirates down the slide and play with the buckets, etc.

 I was clipping coupons the other day and right next to a Frank's Red Hot coupon was a recipe for a buffalo sauce to put on burgers. It's called Red, White and Blue Topper. It's so easy, just mix

¼ cup frank’s red hot, ¼ cup mayo, 4oz cream cheese, softened, and ¾ cup blue cheese. It can also be used as a dip or topping for chicken. Today, we ate some of the leftovers with celery sticks.

Today was errand/cleaning day. Greg got up with the boys and when I woke up, he immediately went out to mow the lawn. After he got done and showered, he fed the boys lunch while I cleaned all the bathroom. I showered and then while all 3 boys napped, I ran all our errands. I went to Target, Sam's Club, Kroger, and Harris Teeter. When I got home, we both unloaded the car and put the groceries up. Then, he took the boys to the gym while I prepped food for the week and got dinner ready for the boys. When he got home, I fed the boys dinner, vacuumed and dusted downstairs while he showered. After the boys got done eating, he played with them while I dusted and vacuumed upstairs. After the boys went to bed, I did the dishes while he did laundry and heated up leftovers. After we ate, he watched "Rome" on dvd and I swept the hardwood floors, mopped, took everything off the kitchen counters and wiped them down, wiped down all the stainless steel, and then printed some things for my household binder and organized that to get ready for the week. I am worn out. I feel like I hardly saw Greg at all today because we basically kept switching off with the boys in order to get things done. I feel so good to have a clean house, our menu planned out for the week and all our groceries bought, our laundry done, etc.

Here's the only picture I got today (that wasn't blurry) the boys watching Greg mow the lawn.

I hope everybody had a great weekend.