Past Simple and Past Progressive

Past Simple: talk about something that happened in the past. 

                 We ate breakfast yesterday. 
                  I didn't care if the food was cold. 

Past Progressive to show: 

Continuous action that was taking place when another action happened. 

               We were reading when the door bell rang. 

Two continuous actions that were taking place at the same time. 

                While were eating breakfast the sun was shining through the window. 

A continuous action that was taking place at a specific time in the past.

               When the tea spilt on me, I was laughing.