Mediterranean Chicken & Much More

Ello 2013, we are already into February and soon it will be Valentine's Day! Where does the time go??

Well for us we have been keeping busy with plenty of art, music, toys, books, dancing and overall learning something "new" every single day.

The superbowl was last weekend... We (myself, you and your bro) are not into football but of course had to watch for the commercials! Since your Dad decided to go with the Raven's I just had to play the devil's advocate and root for the opposing team.

I even made us shirts ;c)

You are probably asking yourself, what would posse me to make such silly shirts... Well I can't find it on youtube but I swear it exists! haha

By the way, they lost...

The night before we had fried ravioli, yummy!  For game day we continued our trend and made corndogs, crock pot queso dip and no football game is complete without WINGS!

Needless to say we were stuffed and saturated with oil.... 

(We had salad the next night)

Oh yes, on a side note I have been painting this super neat vanity I scored last year for $20 in a garage sale across the street. It has a big mirror on top but of course my picture is lacking...

For a moment I thought I didn't take any pictures for a week, silly me they were just on my phone...

 

 

 -We had a visit from my high school friend Kayla and 3 month old Madison. It was sweet to hold a little baby girl... Even more sweet was the moment when the two of you fell asleep on either side of me and she fell asleep in my arms... For a BRIEF, very brief moment I thought "I could totally handle three...."

Then I "slapped" myself back into reality haha

- I made a rather dark mixed media piece that is open to your interpretation but seems obvious in my bipolar mind ;c)

- I adore that picture of the two of your working together with the scissors, it is astonishing to watch the teamwork and twin skills in action...

 You are the tower building champions! 

Yes, we kept the rainbow lights up because they are awesome and make the house feel just a bit more magical...

I walk into the destroyed bedroom the other night and you two are just having a ball watching Gumby and rocking around in a set of plastic drawers... Priceless!

Yesterday I started off the morning by filling the crock pot with ingredients for a Mediterranean chicken...

As you know I am not the primary cook in the family but I have been working with my buddy Pinterest to try new avenues...

As that filled the house with a delightful aroma, I couldn't help but mix up some cookies with a bit food coloring to make it festive for upcoming Love Day! You guys were great helpers, you even helped yourself to all the cookies like the Baby Blue Cat...

 Your Great Grandparents came by to visit and bring you Valentine's day gifts! You scored two new outfits, Duplo Legos and a sweet little 101 Dalmatians Valentine. It was great to see them and watch you interact..

While you two little drummer boys modeled your new clothes I made a scrumptious Greek Salad to compliment our meal... I combined a few things I read online and it turned out great!

Here is the recipe:

-1 cucumber 

-3/4 red onion

-Container of cherry tomatoes

- 1/2 green bell pepper

- 2 cloves garlic

-Feta Cheese

- Green Olives (I recommend pitted)

-Dash of : Olive Oil, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, sugar, dried parsley, oregano...

Yes, many ingredients but man it was totally worth it!

Cooked couscous in five minutes from a box (Near East Brand- Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil)

The recipe for the chicken is here.

I substituted the red wine vinegar for apple cider vinegar mixed with a little pinot noir (red wine), added a sprinkle of Herbs De Provence and BAM!

Finished up the presentation with a fresh bed of spinach, a couple olives and a bit more feta...

It was phenomenal! We finished every last morsel on our plates and wanted more! I will certainly be adding this to our regular dinner menu...

I think that is all for now, whew!

I love you both equally and more than anything!

-

ART ROCKS

Since I've had the opportunity to spend more time with the two of you and focus on arts, crafts, imagination, creativity and such....I have fully taken advantage!

We have built forts, been learning the miniature models in those little letter blocks, realized the importance of Wallace and Gromit , build various wooden block towers...

Oh yes, your mother finally finished her plastic spoon mirrors! Granted they look as if they are the same size, but in fact they are small, medium and large! Alright, the purple is 14 inches across, the blue is 16 and the yellow is a whopping 20 inches! Man that sure took a while.. several months of working on them here and there! haha...

We certainly love art in this family It is always a treat to watch you explore watercolor... 

Our theme since the Christmas tree came down has been red and hearts in honor of Valentine's Day!

Here are a few of the projects we have been working on...

-Using book pages I made this cute little banner...

-I gave you each a set of wine corks which I had cut out 'X' and 'O' with an exacto knife.

Another book page project involved making a bunch of flowers and hot gluing them to a bent metal hanger

Look at those precious little boy faces!

I have been working on using my fancy camera to it's full potential but I am still a bit far from that... haha

This photo is just PRICELESS!

I love you two equally and more than anything in the whole wide world! 

ps- Watch the movie The Perk of Being a Wallflower, it is an excellent film!

Freezing Cold Fun

BRRRRR! It has been soooo cold recently that I am chilled down to the bone... We have been spending our days staying warm inside playing with toys, reading and cuddling up on the couch for a movie here and there...

Oh what?! How could I forget dance parties! It finally occurred to me the other day that having twins means unlimited possibilities, in particular, playing games... You always have a partner! We were having a blast with 'ring-around-the-rosy' ... I took many pictures trying to get your cute faces, but Bentley was just not feeling it... 

Here are a few of Cash's faces...

- Wonderfully happy

-Wailing

-Weird

-Wild

What a joy it is to be your MOM ;c) Keep in mind this was just in a span of a few minutes... You have many more where these came from... haha

Bentley... You seemed a little worn out... or just not into pictures at the time...

As of late I have been on a health kick and your Dad has opted on his own accord to join in the craze...

He made brussel sprouts (I know, sounds so disgusting autocorrect is telling me 'brussel' is not a word) along with  broccoli and quinoa! 

It was D-licious! 

One of our main unhealthy condiment addictions is RANCH dressing... I found a recipe for a healthy version  and it was actually very good! Granted it was more liquid consistency but the flavor was wonderful! That evening we had baked wings versus fried... goooo us! 

The next morning I attempted to make a bread, bacon, egg bake in muffin tins... It was extremely awkward to eat but yummy! 

The following night we had apple and celery stuffed pork chops, asparagus and a green salad... delicious! 

Truthfully most meals can be made into healthy versions... Luckily we are not a salt family so the absence is not noticeable...

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On a completely random note... Your champion of a mother won tickets to the Lady Gaga concert and your Dad let me have the night off ;c) Our seats were upgraded last minute, everyone wanted pictures with us, Skype interviewed us for some project that I am waiting to check out and the show was spectacular! Ashweeee and I have a FANTASTICAL time!

When I look at this picture first I see a killer outfit, followed by a 'hey, I finally fit back into that corset from age 18', but most importantly I see a message of  self-empowerment! Be yourself no matter what! Granted I would not dress in this manner everyday due to the amount of time and effort put into making a 'hair-bow' ... However, if you two wanted to dress this way or any other I want you to know I will ALWAYS accept you for who you are without judgement... Never be afraid and always embrace your inner Little Monster! 

I love you Cash Ryland and Bentley Jax, equally and more than anything! 

New Year, New Fun!

 Due to the craziness of Christmas and the New Year, we had yet to exchange gifts with your Grandmother and family (just 10 minutes away)... YAY for new food and trucks that make a rap beat you like to get-down to... We are also in the process of picking out a table/chairs set from the Christmas moola you two received from other family members.

  

Since school has been finished I have been making a conscious effort to spend every waking moment teaching you new skills! This week we focused on ART... as well as the little letter blocks with toys inside, who knew they were for more than just staking towers? haha

I worked on a few as well... 

-Hot glue on glass bottle and painted

-Finished gluing and painting spoon "flowers" for mirrors

-Used a mixture of glue, food coloring and a bit of dish soap to create a sand-glass effect on bottles

-Pinned and hung Disney Pins on my crafty cardboard/fabric mouse ears... I can't wait to take the boys pin-trading!

-Painted wooden spoons...now i just need a clock to attach them to and hang!

For my New Year's resolution I wanted to start getting healthy by Eating Clean. Of course your Dad thinks it is just another one of my momentary desires and it will pass... but HAHA, I made some delicious baked chimichangas from this recipe.. It was delicious and healthy! I have since made dishes with all fresh ingredients and without salt! The goal is to get toned and wear a bikini again one day... (stop laughing)

If you are curious what we do on a typical evening while your father is away on business...

Here is a video I just love of your two and your dance moves in unmatching clothes, GO YOU!

 Yes, you got upset every time it was over lol

How did I get so LUCKY?!?

XO,

MOM

New Year's Snow and Photoshoot

New Year's Eve we enjoyed some delicious Pad Thai made over several hours from your Dad... We danced and enjoyed ourselves...

You rang in the New Year banging pots and pans! The next morning we awoke to a beautiful light covering on the ground with something we are not frequent to... SNOW! It was wonderful to watch your eyes light up and say "its snowing, snowing, is snowing..." It was just priceless!

 We had an absolute blast...

 *Our little snowman*

Two days prior we had gorgeous weather and I figured the sunset would be phenomenal  Since it has been a while since we have family picture, we packed up the car and headed up to a beautiful vantage point...

However we managed to forget the tripod..uhhhh! So I quickly took out the stroller and a box of Josh's  work items and set the camera atop praying it wouldn't fall into the wet grass...

It turned out to be a great shoot and i'm so fortunate to have these three guy in my life!

I plan to paint one of the portraits but i'll keep that a surprise...

Here are a few new things you have been doing as of late:

-Using two signs together to communicate 

- Using words more clearly instead of  "twin lingo"

-Following several directions at one time

- Learning to use scissors, hold crayons, markers, colored pencils "properly" (which I still don't haha!)

- Mimic any task I am doing... dancing, cooking, cleaning, laundry, sweeping, making the bed, vacuum, art, ...basically everything!

- You dress yourselves in MATCHING clothing by choice... Which can often lead to a house-wide search for the matching such-and-such... 

- You sing and are very opinionated at times if I attempt to dance or sing with you at the wrong time...

-NO is your favorite word besides MINE

-You continue to always grab a "share" for your brother or his juice and bring it to him...

-You never fail to say and sign 'please' and 'thank you', which is freaking adorable! 

- This is your favorite song on the Kinect besides Pink-So What!

Man you two are a blast!

I love you two equally and more than anything! 

-