Busy Bees

I accomplished a lot of stuff this weekend but still don't have a complete project to show you. So I figured I would give you some clues to what is to come.

Cleaning out our closets was in full swing yesterday. This picture is not including all the clothes that I have in the car, ready to be donated. You can tell from the post about my closet that a clean out was definitely necessary. I will do another post when it is all put back together.

Here is my messy spice cabinet, sadly this is even after I condensed all my spices into this spice rack. It is now about 90 percent done I am just waiting a product I had to re-order because the first one was too big. I will probably be done with it by the end of the week and I can finally finish part 2 of that post.

So that is some of what I have been up to this past weekend. What projects have you been working on?

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

- They both love to help with everything. They love to do laundry and they can put the clothes in the washer, switch them to the dryer and once I fold them they know where most of it goes. Same thing goes with dishes, they know which cabinet we keep everything in.

- Daddy took them to the store and they came back with footballs. The Daddy has also been teaching them how to play and they learned how to catch the ball and throw it.

- Gabe has learned how to use the potty in the past month. He of course will only do it when it is his idea and will bring me a diaper when he doesn't want to wear underwear. Grant loves to bring Gabe the potty so that he can sit on it but he doesn't want to sit on it himself.

- We live in a neighborhood that is not fully developed so there is a lot of new houses going up and the boys get to watch the action first hand. Yesterday they were entertained for an hour just watching the cement trucks.

The Bad

- They have learned how to unlock the deadbolt and the regular lock on our front door, back door, and garage door. We are in the process of fixing that little problem because well I can't be in three places at once and they like to team up against me and go to opposite doors.

-Now let's play a little game called "Which Is It?". Here is how you play I show you a picture and you pick the caption that you think fits.

A. I am so bored that I decided to decorate my fridge.

B. I am so desperate to keep the boys out of the fridge that I tied a ribbon on it so that I don't end up with broken pickle jars and ketchup all over my kitchen.

The Ugly

- The boys throw fits often and they can get very ugly. They have progressed from their "I'm going to fall on the floor and bang my head on the floor and if you try to walk away and ignore my fit, I will follow you and repeat it" to what I like to call the "I'm going to run away from home fit".  I wouldn't normally let him run around like this but I had to get this on video so I can show him when he is older. For the record, this was taken about a month ago before he learned how to unlock doors.

- I could mention a lot of not so pretty things that go on at naptime but I will leave it at this. You're Welcome! ;)

As always the good far outweighs the bad and good or bad I love them all the same.

P.S. If you answered choice A to the question about the fridge, you clearly need to get to know me better ;) I don't think the words "I'm bored" have came out of my mouth once in 28 months....there is always something to do.

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Keepsake Card Books

I have already showed you how I journal about my boys day to day life and how I keep all their memorabilia. Today we will talk about how I organize all those baby shower and birthday cards. Normally cards would probably get thrown away because I don't like to keep clutter but since my boys can't read nor can they really appreciate what is written in cards yet, I really want them to be able to read later how much they were loved, how much everyone couldn't wait to meet them, and what their personalities were like as babies and toddlers.

Around Christmas time I saw a lot of people around blog land were binding their christmas cards in book rings. I don't save Christmas cards but I knew it would be the perfect thing for all the birthday and baby shower cards I had saved.

I knew I wanted it to have dividers so I could put all the cards in one book. I cut out the dividers using my Silhouette, added a picture to the front, hole punched the cards, put them on the book rings, and tied some ribbon on the rings.

Next I did a book for all the congratulatory cards and baby shower cards.

Some funny things I found while looking at the cards, I had given Kevin this card for Father's Day right after we found out I was pregnant. Any guesses what is wrong with this card? 

 And there was a lot of cards like this one...that needed some scratching out to be made plural.

I will be doing a post later this week to give an update on my two littles and what they have been up to.

The fabulous parties I am linking up to:</div>

<a href="http://www.lilluna.com/">Lil Luna</a>

<a href="http://organizeyourstuffnow.com/">Organize and Decorate Everything</a>

<a href="http://www.crystalandcomp.com/">Crystal and Co.</a>

<a href="http://www.houseofhepworths.com/">House of Hepworths</a>

<a href="http://delightfulorder.blogspot.com/">Delightful Order</a>

<a href="http://www.brandyscrafts.blogspot.com/">Gluesticks</a>

<a href="http://tatertotsandjello.com/">Tatertots and Jello</a>

<a href="http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/">Be Different Act Normal</a>

<a href="http://www.iheartnaptime.net/">I Heart Naptime</a>

<a href="http://www.tipjunkie.com/">Tip Junkie</a>

<a href="http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/">A Bowl Full of Lemons</a>

<a href="http://letbirdzfly.blogspot.com/">Let Birds Fly</a>

<a href="http://www.somewhatsimple.com/">Somewhat Simple</a>

<a href="http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/">Fingerprints on the Fridge</a>

<a href="http://tidymom.net/">Tidy Mom</a>

<a href="http://www.320sycamoreblog.com/">320 Sycamore</a>

<a href="http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/">Six Sister's Stuff</a>

<a href="http://lollyjaneboutique.blogspot.com/">Lolly Jane</a>

<a href="http://the%20ny%20melrose%20family/">The NY Melrose Family</a>

<a href="http://blah2beautiful.blogspot.com/">Creatively Living</a>

<a href="http://www.craftytexasgirls.com/">Cowgirl Up</a>

<div>

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Pasta Full of Posies

This post is sponsored by Country Crock. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.


Who has kids that are picky eaters? I know I do! It is a constant struggle to make sure they are getting enough veggies in their diet. One thing that they love though is pasta, so when I saw the Pasta Full of Posies recipe from the A Very Veggie World by Clare Crespo, I knew it would be a winner for them and the veggies make it a winner for Mommy. The bright colors will make it appetizing for kids and the "flowers" make it the perfect dish for spring. I love that her cookbook doesn't try to hide the veggies (like a bunch of other cookbooks) but just displays them in a fun way so that kids will learn to love veggies and want to try new ones. Let's face it, we won't be able to sneak vegetables in their diet when they are thirty, so we need to instill a love for them while they are still young.

Ingredients:

2 yellow and/or orange bell peppers
1 pkg (16 oz.) whole wheat penne
3 Tbs. Country Crock Spread
1 Tbs. olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
5 cherry tomatoes, halved
7 basil  or baby spinach leaves

1. Chop off top and bottom of peppers. Slice down the side, remove seeds and lay pepper flat. Cut into petal shapes.

2. Boil pasta according to package directions; drain.

3. Melt Country Crock spread and heat olive oil on the stove over medium heat in a pan big enough to hold pasta. Cook garlic and peppers together for about 5 minutes. With tongs, remove pepper petals and set aside.

4. Add pasta and cheese to garlic and toss together. Put pasta in a shallow serving dish. Arrange tomato halves on top and surround them with pepper petals to make "flowers." Add a basil or baby spinach leaf to each flower.

Serves 8

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Grant even ate his veggies first!!!

You can tell my Gabe's smile and messy face that it was yummy!

Gabe and Grant would like to say that they think all veggies taste better with Country Crock.  Their favorite is green beans with a couple tablespoons of Country Crock and some black pepper.



Are you looking for quick and simple tips and recipes to make serving veggies more fun? Download the free Clare Crespo Cookbook here for fun and whimsical recipes your family is sure to love!

The Days Of Your Life: Journals

Obviously I keep record of most of my children's life right here on this blog. But there is some little moments that I tend to forget about before I get a chance to write a blog post about them, so I started jotting them down in a journal I made them. I write about the silly things they do, the mischief they get into, the things they say, and the places we went.

I started out with a journal like this one. Look familiar? You probably used these back in your school days.

I just traced the cover on some scrapbook paper, mod podged it on and  added some embellishments.

I started documenting in a journal in January of this year. I keep their journals in the living room so that I can easily jot stuff down as it happens.

I also made one for my pregnancy with the boys. Wondering how I remember what went on two years ago?

Well I jotted things like their weights and stuff that went on at my doctor appointments in a Word document and  Facebook's new timeline design makes it easy to go back two years and see what I wrote.

If you haven't already check out my post from last week on how I organized my children's memorabilia.

"A memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose."

The fabulous parties I am linking up to:

Lil Luna
Organize and Decorate Everything
Crystal and Co.
House of Hepworths
Delightful Order
Gluesticks
Tatertots and Jello
Be Different Act Normal
I Heart Naptime
Tip Junkie
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Let Birds Fly
Somewhat Simple
Fingerprints on the Fridge
Tidy Mom
320 Sycamore
Six Sister's Stuff
Lolly Jane
The NY Melrose Family
Creatively Living
Cowgirl Up

Easter 2012

Hope everyone had a great Easter! We sure did! The boys got to dye eggs for the first time and really enjoyed hunting eggs this year.

We even got them both to look at the camera and smile at the same time :)

 I made their cute little bunny shirts.

Playing in the sand pile at Papa G and Nana's with their daddy and great grandpa. 

Kings of the Hill 

First time to dye eggs 

Just one of the many faces of Grant 

They also had their first swim of the season, the water was still a little cool though.

More egg hunting 

I think the Easter bunny liked them, he visited several peoples houses to bring them goodies.

Note that they are taking full advantage of mommy being busy taking pictures and got into some candy.



Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Organizing Your Child's Memorabilia

I think even the most organized person becomes somewhat of a hoarder when it comes to their kid's stuff. I know I have no problem getting rid of stuff unless it pertains to my kids. Let's just say now I can see why my mom still had my Sesame Street Party Decor from the 80s.  I am starting to get better with letting go of stuff now that they are not babies anymore. Knowing that all their memories are well documented in writing and pictures helps too.

So today I thought I would show you how we keep it all contained and organized.

I used gallon sized ziplocs to separate it into different categories.  This is all the stuff from their hospital stay: coming home outfits, hospital bracelets, name cards, hats, and ribbons that had their stats from their door wreath.

My curious little boy got this out while I was taking pictures for this post. Can't believe he use to fit in that tiny outfit. At the same time though I can't believe two babies big enough to fit in those sleepers ever fit in my belly.

Special Outfits: Personalized Shirts, their onesies about being a twin, and their anklets that they wore when the hospital bracelets got to small but we still had trouble telling them apart ;)

First Holidays: I put their bunny hat, the hat I made for their Mario and Luigi Costumes, and their Christmas ornaments.

First Birthday: Highchair banner, monthly photo banner, birthday onesie, and handprint mold.

Baby Shower: Since I have twins I separated the stuff so that one gets the stuff from my family and friends shower and one gets stuff from my work shower. I kept a plate, napkin, corsage, and  invitations.

I just stacked all the bags in the bin. See that name sign? The nurses in the NICU actually made those for them so they could stop calling them Baby Boy A and Baby Boy B.

The rest of this week, I will be showing more ideas on how to keep and store your children's memories.

The fabulous parties I am linking up to:

Lil Luna
Organize and Decorate Everything
Crystal and Co.
House of Hepworths
Delightful Order
Gluesticks
Tatertots and Jello
Be Different Act Normal
I Heart Naptime
Tip Junkie
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Let Birds Fly
Somewhat Simple
Fingerprints on the Fridge
Tidy Mom
320 Sycamore
Six Sister's Stuff
Lolly Jane
The NY Melrose Family
Creatively Living
Cowgirl Up