Not REALLY Santa?

Santa was in our local Costco today. He was in plaid shorts, a t-shirt and smelled slightly of beef sticks but Keaton and I were sure it was him. This is how we came to believe:)
We get right about to the deli area and Keaton decides to go into full blown tantrum mode. My normal, "Keaton if you can't calm down we are going to have to leave instead of staying and getting a drink to share" was not working. When we came to the lady who was passing out the free micro samples of ham we discovered she was O.U.T. The nerve. This put Keaton over the edge (can we say tired?). Santa seeing the issue comes on over. He gets right in Keatons face and says, "buddy this isn't gonna work. Be nice or you are off THE LIST". Keaton looked at me and spent the rest of the time saying, "are you o.k. my lady?/ what can I do for you my lady?" (where he got the my lady part I am not sure, he has a pretty funny vocabulary).
So Keaton and I left the Costco believing in and LOVING Santa :)

Itty Bitty Ball

Keaton just finished up Itty Bitty Ball last week. I was so thrilled to get him in it this summer. Our city does this program for kids 3-5. They spend a week learning basketball, a week on baseball (his favorite was when they used water balloons to practice catching and wading pools for bases), and a week on soccer. Keaton loves to play so he couldn't pick a favorite. He loved them all. After the first week when I asked him what his favorite part was he said, "I love it when I make a basket and I can hear you say GO KEATON"....sweet. He had a lot of his good friends on his "team". His good friend Zach he met at swim lessons, Joshua (the rocket neighbor :), and Joshua from when he was in nursery (yep 2 Josh's). We will definitely have to sign up again next year (best spent $24 of the year). His only disappointment.....he was sure he was going to get a trophy at the end like his cousins (I really tried to clear that up at the beginning....he KNEW I was wrong :(.

Keaton and Zach with the HUGE ball they used the last day to play "crab soccer".

Keaton kicking Zach instead of the ball.....REALLY I am trying to teach him.

Had to include one of our little Vanny girl :)

3...well 4 mos!

Our little princess turned 3 mos.... a month ago. I really meant to get this picture up and a summary written, oh well ;) She is such a little blessing to us. Now she is 4 mos and is rolling around, easily entertained by Keaton and still is a good sleeper. She also talks to us CONSTANTLY. I think she must take after Keaton (who Lee says takes after me :). She just had her 4 mos appt. and is 17% for weight and 20% for height. That is not too shabby since she started out 3%. She weighs a whole 12 pounds now.
I have to tell you how much she adores Keaton (unless he has poked her for the umpteenth time). When I was pregnant with her I had the distinct feeling that she was excited to come down from Heaven to her family. She was excited to see Lee and I but she was MOST excited to see Keaton. That pretty much sums it up for most people we know, everyone seems most excited by Keaton :)

Lost....and FOUND

I lost my little Keaton today. Just like that I turned around and he was gone. We had gone to the park with a few friends and I could see all of them...no Keaton. Can I say I lost it? I have never really misplaced a child. I couldn't imagine he would go off by himself without being a pied piper and taking some buddies with him. I was sure one of the lurking weirdos walked off with him. I called and called and called for him and went from one area of the play area to the other looking for him with tears in my eyes and panic in my chest. Poor Savannah could feel my panic and she started to fuss right along with me. My cousins wife jumped up and stared looking too. I just couldn't think straight about my options...call 911 (does that count as a life and death emergency?), organize a search party with the 200 other moms at the park that day, WHAT? Sure enough within 5 minutes Keaton wandered back over to his chips and salsa (I brought enough for everyone....he thought I only brought enough for him). When I asked him where he was: "I was in the castle, why did you not look in the castle?" Cleary HE was not concerned (although after he felt my concern he stayed pretty near the rest of the time).

I think every so often one of these terrifying moments are good for us mama's it helps us appreciate these precious moments even more. Keaton got extra hugs, extra kisses tonight, even 3 extra bed time songs....just in case :)

San Diego

Last week we were in San Diego for my niece Brinlee's blessing. All of my family was there except Deja (she is in Europe) and Amaras husband. Here are some of the highlights:

The arm you see is Brinlees big brother Nate. Nate is like a second Mom to Brinlee. We wanted to get a picture of the girls together (Savannah is 2 mos older). Brinlee was just waking up. Meesha commented that someday Brin would be mad that Savannah was all dolled up and she was not even awake. The babies LOVE Nate. Here is Savanny trying to charm the pants off Nate. He was pretty loyal to his baby and wouldn't even look at her :)


This is at the Point Loma Cabrillo monument. We were not sure if this guy was worked there or was some strange guy hanging out to make some money. He was a little odd so Meeshas boys wanted a pic with him.

This is the only pic we took together....man I wish I had put on make-up.

This is my mama. It was nice for us to gave the help with the babies.

Keaton loved the beach. He got knocked down by a wave at the beach so he had just the right mixture of fear and love :)

Smashed Beans

(does the pic help or hinder?)
It seems like the world is getting into being more prepared. The other day I bought a 25 pound bag of pinto beans for around $10 at Costco. I got home and wondered what I was thinking because I have never cooked beans from scratch. Guess what....EASY! I found this recipe at Sisters Dish. It is so easy! Once again this saves me a ton of time. I make a big crockpot of these the first of the week and they are great as a side for fish tacos, a quick dinner or lunch of bean burritos, or for the start of easy hearty bean soup (see below). I figure the whole pot is about $1 so it is a great deal (please note I always buy my seasonings at Smiths in bulk for pennies).
SMASHED BEANS

I rinse and soak 3 cups of beans for ~ an hour or longer(depending on how much time I have-I DO THEM OVERNIGHT). Then I rinse them again (IMPORTANT TO MAKE THEM NOT GASSY), put them in the crock pot with 3 T bacon grease ( I LEAVE THIS OUT)and cover them with 3 inches of water. If I need to add more water later in the day, I bring it to a boil in the microwave before adding it to the crock pot. I cook the beans on high for 5-6 hours (I DID THEM FOR 8-10), or until I can easily smash one of the beans between my finger and the countertop...make sense?:)
MY MOM'S TIP IS TO SCOOP OFF THE FOAM SEVERAL TIMES WHILE COOKING. THIS TIP MAKES THEM MUCH EASIER ON THE DIGESTION.When the beans have about 1/2 hour left to cook I add the following: 5 jalapeno rings(from the jar, you could use fresh jalapeno), 1/2 T seasoning salt, 1/2 T garlic salt, 1/2 t onion powder, 1/2 t cumin and 1 T chili powder. After that cooks for about 1/2 hour, I scoop out the beans with a slotted spoon to the food processor and puree with ~ 1 cup of cheese. I add liquid from the beans as I puree until I get my desired consistency.


Hearty Fiesta Bean Soup Ingredients:1 (15 oz) can chicken or vegetable broth (I used chicken) 1 (16 oz) can fat-free refried beans 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 (15.25 oz) can corn, drained and rinsed 1 (10 oz) can tomatoes & chilies, like RO*TEL (I used the 15 oz generic brand petite diced tomatoes with green chilies)Directions: Put the broth and refried beans into a soup pot and heat, while whisking together, until the beans have incorporated fully into the broth.Add the rest of the ingredients and heat, while stirring until the soup is boiling.Serve with cilantro, cheese, sour cream and a couple dashes of Tabasco.

Chicken

In my honey lime enchilada post I commented that I always pre-cook my chicken to have for recipes. I had a number of people ask me to explain what I do so I thought I would take a second and let you know.
I always buy my chicken when it goes on sale. I buy what I can get cheap. I love boneless skinless, especially if we are just grilling or something but sometimes you can find breasts with the bone for 99 cents. Those are good too. I save some out for when I need a whole breast. I then take and fill my crock pot with the rest. I stick it in there and let it cook 6 hours to 10 hours depending on time. I then have Lee shred it (that is the crucial part....he is usually pretty willing except the other night when I screwed up the time estimate and needed it shredded at 4 am). I then fill sandwich bags with it. I then stick the baggies in the freezer for a quick dinner like Honey Lime Enchiladas, chicken soup, chick and dumplings from Cooking Light Magazine, chicken chili, chicken and broccoli casserole, etc. (let me know if you NEED any of these recipes). I have found having that step done lets me get a good dinner (or top a quick salad for me) on the table in a jiffy.
I also do the same thing with ground beef. Half the trouble with ground beef is the browning. If I have that done I can have tacos on the table in 10 minutes, Shepard's pie with leftover mash potatoes with 10 minutes prep (a little more cooking time), or Cooking Lights' no chop chili in 10 minutes.
I also make up a big double batch of my favorite homemade BBQ sauce and will buy the big pack of chicken thighs at Costco for 99cents a pound (or this week there are boneless pork ribs for cheap at Associated). I then separate them out into Ziploc gallon bags with plenty of sauce. Then when I am stuck for dinner I can pull one of those out and I have a quick marinated grill item ready and all I need to do is put in some potatoes and a veggie.

Hope this helps!