Beckett- Ad Man

Beckett is our observant kid. He always surprises me with his little observations. But last night both Alma and I were shocked by his knowledge of commercials. This was especially shocking since we are a DVR family and rarely watch anything live with commercials- like maybe 10% of the time and I don't allow the boys to watch TV with commercials. The exception to this is when we watch the news while I get dinner on the table. And maybe that was enough for Beckett.

Last night when he was watching the news with Alma he sang a jingle to the Nationwide Insurance commercial. A few hours later I was taking out the garbage and said "Oh shut when I noticed the bag had leaked and Beckett said "Mom you need Force Flex." It took me a little while to figure out what he was saying- how sad is that. My little TV junkie. Alma said he watched Beckett all night last night after his little song and he only watched the TV during the commercial breaks- and then would go back to his playing when the news came back on. Maybe a future ad executive? Hmmmmm.

Football Season is Back

Football season is here again. This means Friday nights at the NU game. Where we eat a cowboy burger and I give Alma the stink eye for filling the boys up on soda and candy. Grandpa shows up and gives the boys more candy. The boys make friends with the unfriendly visitors crowds (yes we always sit on the visitors side). Uncle Wendell and his kids show up- more fun. We wave at friends who also like the visitors side. Alma's cousin and his wife show up- yeah some one for me to chat with! Saturday the TV is playing football all day- because every college game somehow affects BYU. We have an agreement that I can plan activities for the family so Alma spends time with the family- but if we are just puttering around the house he can have a game on. Which works out pretty good for us. And then on Sunday we discuss the BYU game in detail with nephews and brother-in-laws. Alma will moan and groan about the BYU team and see a dismal end to the season- and the others will try to show him how wrong he is. Yeah football. It has been fun seeing pictures of TJ at the games we watch on TV. Last week she had front row seats!

An Ideal Weekend

We had one of those wonderful weekends not too long ago. It started with dinner at Big A's- my favorite. It was pretty cute because when we were done one of Coen's new friends from school showed up and he about died of joy.

Then our neighbors were having their giant annual yard sale- and I tried to get Becky to buy this bed (no go) and there were a couple of old globes I should have bought but waited until after our walk and they were gone. Drat.

And then we walked to South Pine Cafe (my other favorite) and I had olllaberrie french toast- and it was amazing.

This hobbit went on the walk to down town with us.

On the way home we walked to the park and played there for a while. What more could you want on a sunny weekend day?

Nevada County Fair

We did the required end of summer trip to the Nevada County Fair. I had a great time with the boys- Job's Daughter's corn dogs- rides- animals- crafts- it was everything you could want. And here are some cute pictures from our day.

The pony ride was a highlight- not that you can tell from the pictures. Their friend Jordan was there at the same time and he and Coen spent the entire ride waving at each other and yelling "Hi Coen" "Hi Jordan".

This was Beckett's favorite thing- the MOO MOOS!

That boy loves his moo moos.

Coen was a little sad that he couldn't ride on all the rides. He didn't understand why not since he went on bigger rides last year in France- so that took a little explaining.

Coen chatted this poor kids ear off the whole ride- he is his mother's child.

Becky gave me a hard time about not posting on the blog- and she has a point the last several months have been a little slow. We have been super busy and lots of fun stuff to share- but I just haven't gotten around to it. I don't have a great excuse just lazy. The last couple of weeks have been especially difficult with my back. So any down time is spent in bed filled with drugs. but tonight I am filling a little more motivation. See my sad kitchen cupboard- these are the daily drugs.

And some more random pictures-

Coen loves to craft.

Beckett loves to pile things.

Beckett also loves to dress up. And he takes Yoda every where he goes. Yoda is actually a backpack from Aunt Laura- and he is almost as big as Beckett.

Love light sabers much?

Cooking Day

I had another cooking week.

Yesterday I canned 10 quarts of pears and made some fig-lemon compote. I also tried to make tortillas but wasn't thrilled with the results- so I will be trying a different recipe.

I also read this great idea about using crock pot bags to freeze your meals and then just putting them in the bag in the crock pot- and then you throw the bag away! No cleaning of the crock pot! Freezer meals! I was sold.

I found the bags to not be quiet strong enough to freeze- so I put them in a gladlock container too.

Here are the recipes I used:

First I did two cranberry pork roasts I love- I got the recipe from my Cooking Light Slow Cooker book- so I don't have a picture. But it is pork loin with a can of cranberry sauce a littel brown sugar and some ground mustard. It is one of my favorite meals.

I also did this Brown Sugar Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin I found on Pinterest.

I also made this Roman Style Chicken from Hello Chicago. (also on Pinterist- and I think originally from Food Network in a non Crock Pot form.)

And from the same blog Moroccan Chicken.

And also from her- Bar-B-Que Pork Sandwiches.

This rib dish.

And this dish from 365crockpot- which I hope is good but not to sure. This is a trip-tip recipe with sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese. I used some sirloin steaks that were cheap this morning at the grocery store- and I used sun-dried tomato pesto because it was on sale and half the price of sun-dried tomatoes. No pictures- because I always find the pictures on her blog off putting.

And from the same cooking light book I made a stuffed flank steak- again no picture.

All told I made 13 meals today. I made multiples of most of the above. I spent probably 3 or 4 hours total.

We have had a week-

Me to Beckett: Honey come here.

Beckett: You no call me that. I big boy.

Me: Call you what? Honey?

Beckett: I no Honey.

Me: I call Daddy Honey.

Beckett" Me no your husband. Me your big boy.

Coen: Jackson has never been kissed.

Me: You have?

Coen: Yes five times. By Alec's girlfriend.

Me: What is her name?

Coen: I don't know. She kissed me on the lips and the cheek.

Me: I think I will have to talk to your teacher.

Coen: Please don't Mom. I liked it and I don't want it to stop.

Beckett continues in his Star Wars obsession. Yesterday he sat on Alma's lap for an hour looking at Star Wars stuff on Ebay - and asked me to help him look again today (I didn't). And this morning he told me "Someday I will have all the ships!!!!!!!!!!" I put that many exclamation points because that is how happy this idea made him. His entire body was glowing.

Coen is loving Kindergarten and I am loving the time with Beckett. He is the easiest kid when he is alone. Happy to play all day by himself- and he finds me several times a morning just to give me a hug and tell me he loves me. He did say this morning - I tired of alone with me.

Beckett goes to Pre school two mornings a week so that he can play and I can help in Coen's class. I love being in his class. The first day he just kept coming up and hugging me super tight (actually he does this all the time) and I asked him after school what was wrong. His reply: I just miss my home and Mom so much when I am at school.

I know I am missing some cute things- They have been on a roll lately- but that is all I can think of this evening.