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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

We Miss You Already, Abigail

When our sushi plans fell through thanks to a packed restaurant, we defaulted to dinner at Carsons and it did not disappoint.  We dined on garlic parmesan wings (he needs to sell me that sauce by the gallon) and some yummy sandwiches, of course accompanies by a yummy glass of red wine.  The boys loved the experience just as much as we did and were asking to go back to Carsons tonight.  I see another visit for takeout in our future...not sure I'm up for solo dining with the boys :-)

Today kicked off with some oatmeal pancakes before heading off to story time.  Due to technical difficulties, I didn't have my backup music and we had to sing sans music.  I hope we didn't scare anyone from coming back...I'm not much of a solo artist!  Thank goodness a couple of other moms joined in.  The featured stories today were...


SOOOO cute! And...


A great counting book.

The music may have been lacking but the bubbles were in great supply!


We came home to regroup before heading to the beach.  After bopping around to several beach locations trying to avoid the rain, we finally got lucky and were able to enjoy about 30 dry minutes with our toes in the sand on Abigail's last day here.


We had time for a quick lunch and a green juice that even the boys enjoyed (made with collards, apple, lemon and orange...YUM!)  before it was time to head to the airport.  Abigail's visit went WAAAAY to quickly.  

I always have a hard time saying goodbye to my family and I dealt with it the way I've learned works best for me...with a good sweat.  Today's workout looked like this...


I finished out my day with a Mom's Night Out with some of my MOPS momma friends at a wineglass painting event.  I kept my design simple and enjoyed the night out with some wonderful women...


Since my movie-watching buddy is gone, I guess it's time to curl up with my latest book...


So far, it's a VERY interesting read.  I have a feeling I'll be done with it soon.  What should I read next???




Monday, April 29, 2013

Fun Times with Aunt Abigail

We have crammed lots of fun into the past couple of days, taking full advantage of our fabulous guest.  We kicked off the weekend visit with a Friday evening bike ride to the park...



...did the March for Babies walk bright and early on Saturday morning with my MOPS group...


...followed up the walk with a yummy breakfast at Jan's Place in downtown Jensen beach...


...the boys LOVE their bacon!  We had to check out the train tracks after breakfast and were lucky enough to get to watch a train pass by...

AWESOME!!


It felt good to cool off and relax with some fun by the pool after all that excitement...


Saturday night Abigail and I got to hit the town for some wine at the Gafford and a delicious dinner at Spotos Oyster Bar, the new hot spot downtown.  Next time I'm going during daylight hours so I can enjoy the gorgeous views while I dine.  I will definitely be back!  YUM!

Sunday kicked off with a bike ride to the beach.  Those bridges are an EXCELLENT workout...



It was pretty sunny and windy up on top!  We had a blast playing in the sand and checking out the waves...



Colton

Mason

This is by far my favorite shot of the weekend...


I feel so blessed to call them mine.  They are some cool dudes!  

Later in the day, we took a walk downtown for some frozen yogurt while the boys napped in the stroller.  I am quite certain we got in our exercise quota for the day yesterday.   

We finished off our day with some buffalo turkey burgers blue cheese broccoli slaw and zucchini "fries", both recipes compliments of SkinnyTaste.  Next time I'm putting much more hot sauce in the burgers.  They were pretty wimpy in the spice department but still quite yummy with the homemade skinny blue cheese dressing.  

Today we got to spend some time reading at the beach while the boys enjoyed their play group.  It was so relaxing I forgot to snap our picture.  Woops!

We've got plans for a sushi dinner tonight.  Can't wait!!!  We're bummed that we'll be taking Abigail back to the airport tomorrow....gotta squeeze in as much fun as possible into her last 24 hours with us.  
















Thursday, April 25, 2013

The Past 48 Fun Hours

We have thoroughly enjoyed our last 48 hours.  We've taken multiple trips to the park...


These guys are old pro at the slides now!


Check out their tunnel skills too.  


Peek a boo!  Can you guess who's who??

Lots of time outside makes for very happy Plankers...

Mason

Colton

Poor Sam-the-fish passed away after being with our family only 5 days but thanks to Petco's fish return policy, he was quickly replaced with a new fish who also goes by "Sam."  (I was relieved to find out that my water was fine, which means it's not my fault he croaked...phew!)  Isn't he pretty??


It's hard to get a good picture of him cause he never stops moving which is why we adopted him--he never stops moving, just like us.  Hope that trend continues...

We also paid a visit to the fabulous Blake library...


I'm sure we'll be spending lots of time there this summer--A/C, books, puzzles, and it's FREE!  What's not to love??  I wonder if they have a summer reading program for 2 year olds???

We also did some work in the kitchen today.  I made some DELICIOUS cranberry walnut bread using a super-easy, super-delicious recipe from Budget Bytes (thanks, Jenni, for the recommendation)...


...while Colton practiced his "baking skills" with play-doh...


Today was one of the rare occasions where the boys didn't take their naps at the same time so I got to spend some one-on-one time with each of them.  I love those rare opportunities.  

Mason was a fan of his new brain game...aka Tangrams...


I'm making it my mission to stimulate their brains as much as possible.  Any other good ideas out there??  We're loving this challenge so far...

Speaking of challenging, I've been challenging myself pretty good at the gym the last couple of days.  I did a FANTASTICALLY intense legs workout yesterday coupled with a 5+ mile run.  Here's what my workout looked like.  It was killer, in a good way, and will definitely be happening again soon...


Today we did a 4 mile stroller run and I also did some quarter-mile elliptical intervals paired with shoulder exercises and finished it all off with 100 elevated push-ups.   One day maybe my core will be healed and I'll be allowed to do the real deal when it comes to push-ups, but for now 100 of the elevated ones at the end of a workout is just fine :-)  

We finished off the day with a nice dinner out with "Aunt" Sheryl and "Uncle" Tom.  The boys thoroughly enjoyed their french fries and "chicken with bones" aka chicken wings aka Daddy's favorite foods.  Like father like sons...


Mason really had a case of the sillies for a bit.  We don't get out much...lol.

Speaking of silly, they thought this was pretty silly today too...


They spent a good 15 minutes falling off their chairs on purpose and then laughing about it.  Boys...

We can't wait for Abigail to get here tomorrow.  I'm pretty sure there are many more silly moments in our very near future.  Hope she's ready...cause we are!!!!!

On a completely different note, I read this blog on parenting a wild child tonight and found it to be very insightful. I recommend it if you sometimes feel like you're pulling your hair out raising your children, like I am many times. Check it out...

SOURCE
















Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Tuesday Rambling

Despite a dreary day yesterday, our afternoon was still filled with lots of fun.  We did some coloring...


...we played with the pegboard from Mimsy and Grandpa... 


...and we practiced with our new "taking turns" board...


Being a twin and sharing things, including your mommy, isn't easy but we're hoping this will help us.  There's velcro behind the pictures so we can swap places easily and they can look forward to the next time we have to take turns.  

The weather finally cleared and we were able to get in a quick walk with the wagon after dinner for a little moongazing...


It was a GORGEOUS night for a walk.  We stopped to take a look at our pineapple on the way back into the house.  It's getting close to being ready to eat...


We can't wait!  We just devoured an organic one from our produce share and loved every bite.  We tried out a yummy pineapple-ade recipe using the rinds as well.  It was a hit with the boys.  We just boiled the rinds in a pot of water for 10 minutes or so, then transferred it to the fridge to sit for about 24 hours before straining out the rinds and enjoying the juice.  I sweetened the boys with just a touch of honey.  YUM!  We'll never waste that rind again.

I'm trying to get back to my clean-eating ways, seems I'm always trying to do that doesn't it??  This morning's breakfast was quite yummy...


Coffee with cream (still trying to kick the half and half habit but can't find a satisfying substitute), oats with cinnamon and a chopped granny smith apple, and egg whites topped with lots of hot sauce.  It kept me satisfied all morning...for me that's the secret to sticking with my plan.  If I get too hungry, watch out!

For lunch I had a salad topped with beets, a little blue cheese, some grilled chicken, and homemade yogurt balsamic dressing.  After polishing off my salad, I was jonesin' for something sweet and indulged in a homemade protein bar that I was glad I had on hand.  I don't really measure the ingredients, but I made them by combining almond butter, cocoa powder, raw honey, oats, whey protein, and coconut oil.  Tastes like a cookie!  Speaking of protein powders, I finally found an organic one I like...


I got it on Amazon.  If you do subscribe and save it's even cheaper and gets delivered to my doorstep.  I do that with organic oats, flax, oat bran, quinoa, coconut oil, etc...the staples that don't need refrigeration.  What would I do without Amazon?  But enough on that...

After my breakfast, the boys finally woke up and we hit the road for story time.   Good thing the boys can eat en route and in their stroller.  (Hats off to working moms...I don't know how you get everyone out the door on time five days a week.  My boys love their sleep...)  Today's story time features were...


and


The story time attention span is pretty limited, especially on trash day and delivery day so we finished up with some extra bubble time.  I don't think anyone minded.  

We had some extra time to hang out with our friends for a bit afterwards.  We love "Baby" Morgan who's suddenly looking more like a toddler than a baby.  We need another baby friend...good thing they've got one on the way!


The boys made everyone's day with their sunglasses.  They love their accessories...boots, hats, sunglasses.  They even asked to wear their jackets this morning.  Silly boys!

We had a lovely time at our last music class for this session.  We already can't wait for August.  Those boys may not sing much in class but they're absorbing all of Miss Rabe's lessons. Check out last night's jam session...


They serenade me multiple times each day.  Now Bob and Sam can enjoy it too.  Maybe they'll learn to swim to the music.

We're counting down the hours til Abigail gets here....less than 70 hours to go!!  I am SOOOO ready for her company.   Time to tackle some chores in the mean time...those clothes won't fold themselves.   I'm hoping to squeeze in a quick workout after nap time and maybe a trip to the park too.  It's surprisingly nice outside and I feel like we should take advantage of it.