Sometimes....

I am a little slow. I have been trying to get the boys to say "help please" or just "help" when they need something instead of just screaming at me.


This morning J walked up with his little truck and said very seriously "how how how"...and I had no clue what he wanted. I offered him a strawberry. No. "How how how". Then I realized that he was saying help...he needed help flipping the truck bed open.


I think if it wasn't first thing in the morning I would have figured it out sooner.

Speaking of J, here he is on Friday...filling my big shoes:

saturday

Our Saturday so far....

W gave me a 0430 wake up call. I laid in bed thinking "please go back to sleep please go back to sleep please please go back to sleep" and decided to turn up the heat just in case he was cold and that is what woke him up. Well something worked and he went back to sleep until 6:20 which is sleeping in for us! Praise God!

The boys ate a good breakfast this morning...waffles, applesauce, an orange and milk...then we went out for a walk/jog. I had to lock the dogs in the screen porch bc Bear still is not allowed to run. I know they were SO mad at me for leaving them. But I am still a little mad at them. Did I tell you? They made me bury a squirrel a few weeks ago and yesterday I found a dead bird in our yard which I had to bury as well. Not something I enjoy doing first thing in the morning. Or ever!

We were almost home from the jog when I saw signs for a garage sale not far from our house. I stopped in to see if they had any toys I could get for the boys. They didn't have any but a nice lady at the garage sale told me they had come from another garage sale that had a ton of toys. She told me the street name and I sprinted home, threw the boys in the car, and took off. It was already 9am and I know that is actually late for garage sales because good things tend to go fast.

Lucky for me, I found the house and was so happy to see that they had lots of trucks. The couple has a 5 and a 7-year old boy so they had outgrown a lot of toys but they were perfect for J and W. I started just snatching things up thinking of how excited the boys will be to see all these cool toys. They had a bunch of the "Little People" line at the garage sale which I think is so cute but we don't have any so I grabbed what I could. Of course there was another lady there that started grabbing Little People stuff as soon as she saw me starting to grab it. But it didn't matter. We got lots of great stuff at a bargain price of $7.50 total!

We picked up some old school stuff too...does this bring back any memories for any of you?

And I can honestly say that the boys played for a solid hour an a half this morning almost w/o any tantrums or fighting. They did fight over that fire truck though.

They are now napping and I am going to get some stuff picked up. What a great start to the weekend (except for burying the bird of course).

Strawberry Fields

We went strawberry picking with some friends yesterday.

Happy Strawberry-Picking CoMpAnIoNs:

Getting started:

The boys enjoyed just being able to roam freely and they really enjoyed watching the tractors and trucks all around us. If you look closely below, you can see that W also fell in a big mud puddle:

W hard at work...seriously looks like a little farmer in this pic:

W was not shy eating the strawberries...he ate his share. J tried one but mostly just wanted to carry them in his hands:

W eating a strawberry:

And another:

And still another:

And they were both big helpers and carried the bucket (it was as big as they are) up and down the rows. Here is W carrying the bucket:

Attempting a group shot:

After we were done, we went inside to cool off with some strawberry frozen yogurt.

Aunt JJ, Grammy, and Grandpa

We had so much fun visiting with Aunt JJ, Grammy and Grandpa during the past week/weekend. We only wish they could have stayed longer. The boys are definitely going through some separation anxiety (especially J) and were keeping me on a tight leash. Lately, when anyone comes over they think I am leaving them. W has made strides at church...he didn't cry the last two weeks when we dropped him off at the nursery. So we are making progress.

This a fun little series of pics (can click on to see bigger):

J looking smug:

J with Aunt JJ:

We went to the beach a couple of times...the first time with Aunt JJ...the weather was beautiful and we watched the boys play in the sand and chase birds.

The second time was with Grammy and Grandpa. It was VERY windy and cold...but the boys braved stepping into the waves for the first time:

We all got to see big pelicans and sea gulls diving into the ocean to catch fish. And since we were all chilled from the beach (I know, all of you that live where it is still winter are laughing at us for being cold at the beach), we went and got mochas and dark hot chocolate at a cute little coffee shop afterwards. Yes, it was called "artisan dark hot chocolate" and they no kidding were shaving dark chocolate and using a rich cocoa for the drink-yum.

W is becoming quite bold lately. We went to this park last week and he dropped (I am not kidding) dropped down the steepest slide there. So steep in fact that it is completely enclosed and basically looks like a chute...pretty steep. He shocked all of us when he disappeared into the slide and seconds later would appear giggling at the bottom...he repeated this 4 or 5 times and each time emerged in a different position at the bottom.

As for the visit, we are always accomplishing home projects when Grammy and Grandpa are in town. This time we accomplished some "curb appeal" by planting flower and bushes, fertilizing and removing stumps and weeds. The big built in planter in front of our house is now filled with beautiful flowers instead of the two dead bushes that were there when we moved in.

Before:

After:

J helping Grandpa move some dirt:

Checking out the hose:

As for our other babies (our dogs), poor Bear has been limping recently so I took her to the vet only to learn that it she has a shoulder injury. She confirmed it with a yelp when the vet was examining her. The vet said that "we scared the pee out of her" when they attempted x-rays...ooops...I should have warned them that she peed the last time she went to the vet since she was so scared...he didn't mind though and said that he gets peed and pooped on all the time. Somehow we were talking about the boys and the vet told me that he is an identical twin with identical twin brothers and an older sister (all 2 years apart)...could you imagine?!

More highlights from the visit: Geoff and Mark played 5 games of raquetball one afternoon, we tried a new Indian restaurant, the boys rode with daddy and Grandpa on a miniature train at an outdoor shopping complex, and we played my favorite card game: 500. We try to play it everytime Mark and Jan visit and Mark and I normally partner and win. But Jan and Geoff must have stacked the deck and beat us 3 games to 1.

Saying bye bye at the airplane:

Pico De Gallo Quesadillas

I thought I would post a good recipe we have tried and really liked! Since the boys can't have peanut butter and they don't like lunch meat, our alternative sandwich has been quesadillas. Well, I wanted to give them a little more substance than cheese and tortillas and found this recipe. They didn't like them first try (I think it was too thick) but I made them again last week and they split one entire gigantic quesadilla. I'm talking tortillas that were a little too big for the pan I grilled them in...they ate...it...all.

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and I really like that I can make the filling in advance and then just put the quesadilla together very quickly when it is time for dinner.

Pico de Gallo Chicken Quesadillas
Submitted by: Tony Cortez

Prep Time: 25 Minutes

Cook Time: 30 Minutes
Yields: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:
2 tomatoes, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 limes, juiced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into strips
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 (12 inch) flour tortillas
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup sour cream, for topping
DIRECTIONS:
1.In a small bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, lime juice, cilantro, jalapeno, salt and pepper. Set aside.
2.In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add chicken and saute until cooked through and juices run clear. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
3.Put the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the hot skillet and saute the sliced onion and green pepper until tender. Stir in the minced garlic and saute until the aroma is strong. Mix in half of the pico de gallo and chicken breast meat. Set aside; keep warm.
4.In a heavy skillet, heat one flour tortilla. Spread 1/4 cup shredded cheese on the tortilla and top with 1/2 the chicken mixture. Sprinkle another 1/4 cup cheese over the chicken and top with another tortilla. When bottom tortilla is lightly brown and cheese has started to melt, flip quesadilla and cook on the opposite side. Remove quesadilla from skillet and cut into quarters. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Serve quesadillas with sour cream and
remaining pico de gallo.
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