Snapshot Saturday

 Good morning lovely friends! I hope you are all having a great weekend so far. Ours is a little quiet since my husband is working today. After that we have to try to find some nice shirts for the boys' birthday pictures tomorrow. In case you were wondering, Walmart has basically nothing for little boys although they do have tons for little girls. It will be interesting to see how our photos turn out tomorrow! I can't imagine the little ones will be very cooperative. Only one month until the big birthday party (we are doing all three boys together). I suppose I better get started working on it...

And since it is Snapshot Saturday, some picture from the past week in our house. As you can tell, we spent a lot of time outside. I'm hoping it gets nice out today so we can go to the park!

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Five for Friday & Summer Bucket List

1. I'm so glad we can finally spend time outside with the boys! We've been having a lot of fun taking walks every day and playing in the water. The babies love getting completely soaked and trying to drink any water they are playing with. It's so cute! Since it's finally summer, here is our family bucket list for this year! 

2. This past week I had to go in for my root canal. That was one of the most awful experiences ever. It wasn't whatever the dentist was doing that was awful, it was my jaw being held open too far for too long. Ouch! It's still sore from that! But yay, I can now chew my food on both sides of my mouth without pain! 

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3. It's been so boring in the evenings lately without and new TV shows to watch! Good thing we have reruns of Big Bang Theory to watch pretty much every night. I never watched that show before meeting my husband, but I'm pretty sure I've seen them all a few times by now. 

4. Our little puppy is 3 months old (although she's huge already!) and is finally starting her puppy classes. We took her to the first one last night. I was surprised to see that there was no other big puppies, they were all little dogs. (There was also the cutest little corgi puppy I've ever seen.) They had a puppy playtime where we let them off the leash and those poor little dogs, our giant puppy was far too wild for them. Hopefully she does better next time. 

5. My favorite Etsy find this week. It's such a cute necklace! Check it out here.

Have a good weekend lovely friends!

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My babies are 11 months old!

It's hard to believe but my babies are already 11 months old! One more month until the big party for all three of the boys. They are so much fun to watch and they love playing with each other more and more every day. They are getting to be so goofy sometimes, it's pretty hilarious. 

 My little Spiderman gets so excited that he jumps all over the place and crows. It's so cute! He crawls normally but when he is excited about something he looks like a little frog jumping along. He has 4 teeth on top and 2 on the bottom so far. He's been clingy lately and always wants me to hold him. It's so cute though because he will lay his head down on me. The other two boys aren't cuddly like that, so it's kinda nice. 

Little Batman is always smiling lately. He's also a little mischievous, which is probably why he's always smiling at me, the little stinker! He only has the two teeth on top and two on the bottom still. He likes to try to crawl up on chairs and boxes and scare me. These two boys are very adventurous already. He's still doing the army crawl instead of actual crawling. Both these babies are growing up too fast! In another month I won't really have "babies" anymore, just three toddlers! 

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Brown Sugar Meatloaf

This Brown Sugar Meatloaf is easy and delicious! I've made it twice so far and it turned out great every time. It's very moist and covered with a yummy brown sugar glaze, doesn't that sound great!? We all loved it! Next time you are looking for a nice, easy comforting meal for your family you should try it out! I found the recipe over at Sweet Pea's Kitchen.

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 cup Ketchup
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 1/2 pounds Ground Beef Chuck
• 1/2 teaspoon Minced Garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 2 Eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
• 1 package Dry Onion Soup Mix
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
• 3/4 cup Bread Crumbs or Saltine Crackers, crushed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your baking dish with foil. 

2. In a small bowl combine the brown sugar, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Then evenly divide it into 3 separate bowls.

3. In a large bowl combine the Worcestershire sauce, milk, eggs, salt, pepper, soup mix, ginger, bread crumbs and one of the bowls of brown sugar mixture. Add the ground beef and mix well.

4. Shape into a loaf and spoon one of the bowls of brown sugar mixture on top. Place ketchup side down into the baking dish and spoon the remaining bowl on top of the loaf. 

5. Bake for one hour or until internal temperature reads 160 degrees. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. 

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Snapshot Saturday

I hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend so far! We are busy busy this weekend, hoping to get a lot of stuff done. It's another Snapshot Saturday today, so here are some photos from our past week. 

 Playing in his new sandbox with the blue sand.
He is still getting used to it and does not like the feel of the sand yet.

Last year he wouldn't keep his hat on, now he loves to wear it!

He's such a cutiepie

 We've been going on walks almost every day this week, they all seem to enjoy it.

 Those little boys are just not quite tall enough to see what their big brother is looking at

Batman looking cute, as usual

 I set Spiderman in the wagon with him, but I don't think either one of them were very happy about it

Looking at fire trucks. This little boy is obsessed with any kind of vehicle right now so he loved it!

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Five for Friday

1. I've only been drinking coffee two or three times a week lately and nothing terrible has happened. I guess I'd be okay to stop drinking it altogether but sometimes these early mornings are just too early!

2.  The babies are almost one but still fit just fine in their baby car seat carriers so that's what we've been using. I feel like they are getting too old to stay in them and they would probably like to be sitting up more often in the stroller, but it's so much easier to just snap them in and out when we are doing errands. It's such a dilemma! Maybe if they were out of their infant seats they would look older, right now people usually think they are 5 or 6 months still! We also still have to buy two car seats, so there's that.

3. On Tuesday next week my oldest will be having an assessment to see if he qualifies for the Early Intervention program. He has to be behind in at least two areas to qualify and as far as I know it's only speech, so we will see what happens.

 

4. We have a wasp or two hanging out around our deck and it scares me. Superman always wants to play out there and I worry that he will get stung. Our puppy also hangs out there quite often too and I wouldn't want her to get stung either. I don't see a nest yet but they do seem to make one every year eventually. 

5. We are having a barbeque at our house on Sunday! What fun plans do you have for the holiday weekend?

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photo credit: Adrian Dreßler via photopin cc 
 photo credit: Louis Engival (Pentax only) via photopin cc

10 Things Nobody Tells You About Having Kids

You know all the things that people always say about having kids. About how you will never sleep again and your days of privacy in the bathroom are over. Everyone's heard all the usual stuff over and over again. Here are some things that people don't always tell you:

1. You can never completely relax again because you have developed "super senses", hearing every little noise your little one makes while sleeping or playing in the other room. I don't really think this applies to men because in my experience they will just sleep through anything and don't pay much attention to what is happening right next to them...

2. You will find that love this little person and worry about them so much more than you ever thought possible.

3. That it's hard. Really hard. Especially the first few weeks. Somehow you will forget the hard part and only remember the good parts...I don't know how this happens. Then if you decide to have another one, you are like "oh yeah...how could I forget this zombie-like feeling that comes with getting up every single hour of the night with a sweet baby!?" 

4. That there is no one "right way" to parent. Every kid is different. There are hundreds of parenting books out there and everyone always has advice for you but the truth is you'll just have to make it up as you go. 

5. That having kids is completely messy and there's nothing you can do about it. It will also change what you consider to be "gross". Baby barf, poop, snot coming out of their little noses that you have to pick out for them, it's all really not that awful anymore. Now, other people's kids...no thanks, that's still disgusting.

6. That most of the time raising kids is really boring. You have the occasional moments of excitement but otherwise you're mostly doing the same thing over and over and over again. Read the same books every night. Sing the same song hundreds of times. It's especially monotonous with babies who really don't do anything except eat and sleep for awhile. 

7. There really is not enough time in the day to do everything you need to do. This diagram is very true:

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8. That your brain won't work as well as it used to. I don't know what it is about having babies that does this, but it certainly has happened for me. Maybe it gets back to normal as they get older? I sure hope so!

9. That any shows involving children or babies will emotionally affect you much more than they did before. Actually, change that to everything. Everything affects me emotionally lately. 

10. That even with all the worry, extra expenses and frustration there is no way you would change it for the world.

 

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Taco Pasta

Taco Pasta is basically exactly what it sounds like: a combination of tacos and pasta! Who wouldn't love that?! My little boy liked it so much he had seconds of it. I'm sure your little ones will like it as well. It's full of cheesy yumminess and lots of flavor. I found a recipe at The Seasoned Mom but changed it up a bit when I made it.

Taco Pasta

• 2 cups Small Shell Pasta
• 1 pound Ground Beef
• 16 ounces Taco Sauce or Salsa
• 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 cup Velveeta Cheese, diced
• 1 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
• 1 can Black Beans
• 1 can Whole Kernel Corn

1.  Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.
2. Brown the ground beef and drain the grease. Stir in the taco sauce and the Velveeta and heat thoroughly.
3. Drain pasta, mix the corn and black beans with the pasta in a large bowl.
4. Add the beef mixture to the bowl and mix everything together.
5. Put the mixture into a greased 9x13 baking dish.
6. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Hope you enjoy it!

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Sunday Social: Summertime!

I hope you all are having a good weekend so far! Today I'm linking up for the Sunday Social because I haven't done that in a couple of weeks now. 

1. What is your best summer memory as a kid?

Well, I wasn't really a kid, but the summer right before I went to basic training (I was 22) was my favorite summer ever. I had tons of fun hanging out with people from work, had fun at work, went rollerblading a lot, went running almost every day, and had tons of fun at a music festival that I worked at.

2. What is your favorite summer drink?

 Sun Tea. I love making that stuff. I could drink it all day. Sometimes I do.

3. What is your favorite summer TV show?

 I just wrote about this actually. I think my favorite of these would have to be Under the Dome.

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4. What is the best outdoor summer activity?

 Rollerblading! I love to do this but I haven't in a few years. I didn't think it was a good idea while pregnant.

5. What are your summer vacation essentials?

I haven't been on a vacation in a long time...it sounds fun though!

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My little Superman is 23 months!

Next month I will have a two year old! That doesn't seem possible! And he's such a good and helpful little boy too. We had to take him to the doctor yesterday and he has an ear infection, poor boy. He also had a developmental evaluation yesterday as well. He did great and acted like his normal self, I was worried he would freeze up, which he does sometimes. He also didn't cry at the doctor's which is a first! He's growing up!

My little man is into cars and trucks and building block towers. He loves all his stuffed animals and gets excited for story time at night before bed. He gets a little overwhelmed when his two little brothers don't leave him alone to play. He loves watching Curious George. His two year molars are coming though. He loves to color and paint and play with playdough. His favorite thing to do is take walks and ride in his wagon. If he's walking, he has to stop every time a car drives by to watch! We live two houses away from the elementary school here so his other favorite activity is watching all the cars line up every morning to drop off kids. He really is obsessed with any kind of vehicle right now!

Since we just went to the doctor yesterday, I know what his height and weight are for once. He was 35 pounds and 36 inches tall. We just had to buy him new pants because I realized suddenly that all his old ones were too short! He's looking so grown up now. He's still doesn't have any words. We are waiting for early intervention to call us so that we can find out if he qualifies for that. The lady who did his evaluation yesterday said he was a very well-mannered little boy. I'm so proud of him! 

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5 Summer TV Shows You Should Watch

Is anyone else sad when shows come to an end and you have to wait half a year before they come back on again? At least we have some great summer shows to watch while we are waiting! If you're wondering which shows I'm eagerly waiting for this fall it's Walking Dead and Once Upon a Time. And here are the awesome shows we are going to be watching this summer to keep us occupied:

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1. Royal Pains - a medical drama about rich people that can afford to have a personal concierge doctor at their beck and call. Well, it's about the doctors, but they are rich too. Everyone has tons of money and medical issues.

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2. Under the Dome - a small town is suddenly and strangely cut off from the rest of the world inside a giant invisible dome. Chaos and violence erupt inside as people start to realize that eventually they will run out of resources. Many mysterious things happen and nobody knows what's going on.

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3. Covert Affairs - a young CIA operative saves the day during many dangerous missions where she goes undercover. Lots of people fall in love. People disappear and die or pretend they are dead.

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4. Suits - a drama about lawyers wearing suits and covering up lies and falling in love with each other. 

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5. The Last Ship (This is a new one we want to check out, hopefully it's good!) - a global pandemic wipes out 80% of the planet's population and the crew of a lone naval destroyer must find a way to pull humanity from the brink of extinction. Is anyone else going to try this show out? 

What are some of your favorite summer shows to watch?

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