I love Reese's Pieces!!!

My poor boys are already going crazy being stuck inside all day!

Another fav

Since I posted my favorite cookie I might as well add my favorite entree. Aunt Kayleen's Taco Soup! Love it! Just had leftovers for lunch. Again, super easy to make, super easy to clean up and quick to make. Made from stuff I usually have on hand, with the exception of the Fritos. Good freezer meal, take-to-a-friend meal, and awesome rainy day meal. Here goes...

Aunt Kayleen's Taco "Soup"
1 lb ground beef (I actually just substituted ground turkey, loved it!)
1 packet taco seasoning
2 cans tomatoes- DON'T drain (I use one can stewed tomatoes and break them up in the pot for some texture and then a second can of Italian diced tomatoes for more favor.)
1 can light or dark red kidney beans- DON'T drain
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
shredded cheese, sour cream, and Fritos

Brown meat, drain excess fat if you want to. Add taco seasoning and let cook together for a couple of minutes. Add both cans of tomatoes, kidney beans, and sauce and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes. To eat, grab a huge bowl, drop some Fritos in there, top with taco soup, granish with sour cream and cheese. Delish!

My Weakness

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. And not just any recipe either. I like to say that I have pretty strong self control when I want to loose a few pounds, but not when it comes to these! My freshman year at the Y we had some neighbors bring these cookies over and I have never been the same since (I'm already seeing the affects on the scale from making a batch yesterday). They're so light and fluffy but dense and satisfying. One of the best things is that it doesn't taste like every other pumpkin dessert out there with cloves and nutmeg, there's just cinnamon. Plus, it really is the easiest clean up too! You only have to use a mixing bowl, 1 tsp, 1/2 cup, and a spatula, and I guess cookie sheets if you want to get technical. Well, here it is... and trust me, they're dangerous!

My favorite cookie recipe ever...

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 c shortening
1 1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1 c pumpkin
2 1/2 flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla (I always double vanilla for everything)
1 tsp cinnamon
1+ c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Throw it all in a bowl and mix together, bake for 10 minutes-ish on 375*

Look who's joined us for dinner...

...and so proud of himself!

Watch and Learn

"Reese, pay attention. Let me show you how's it done."

"First, this is how you gotta do it..."

add a little..."

then... "

And that's how it's done. Get it?"

"Got it, Dad."

"Good."

I love being married to a musician.

This last week we were sick. No fun. Carson was hanging on to his fever but he's good today. Sore throats are still an issue so Carson's loving the excuse to eat honey. But we had a good experience last Monday that I needed to write down. For FHE we talked about Priesthood blessings and who has the Priesthood. Then we called a friend over to help give the boys a blessing. That night was the first night in a LONG time where it didn't take us three hours to actually get the boys to go to sleep. We had a decent night's sleep and woke up feeling better. And it's only gotten better! Carson finally slept threw the night last night without having multiple coughing attacks and Reese just got up a 5 am, ate, and went right back down. I got a good six hours of uninterrupted sleep! Lovely. Today for lunch I made Ramen noodles for Carson. When he was done he exclaims, "My mouth isn't sick anymore! The noodles made me feel better!"

Canning, for the first time!

This one's for you, Terri!

I was able to get my hands on a bunch of apples, tomatoes, plums, and carrots. There was no way that our little family of four would be able to eat all the fresh produce before it went bad so I figured I would try canning. Julie brought down all her equipment for me and taught me how to do it. It was actually pretty easy and it didn't take as long as I thought it would. All those apples that I got only made three jars! And the tomatoes didn't go very far either! Of course we ate most of it because it was so good!! You have got to try Terri's pasta sauce recipe http://abitquirky.blogspot.com/2009/10/making-pasta-sauce.html
You won't be disappointed!!!

The final tally. Yes, I was a little bummed that this was all it made but it was just my first time. Next time I'll know that you have to have ALOT of produce to can.

And this is just a little random somethin that I made last week. It was a fun little project that I found at notsoidlehands.blogspot.com.

http://notsoidlehands.blogspot.com/2009/09/freecycle-friday-glowing-jack-olanterns.html

It's also where I found the cute cupcake ghosts that Melissa and I made. http://notsoidlehands.blogspot.com/2009/10/spooky-cupcake-ghosties-plus-easy.html

Fun website. One of my favs!

Cutie Reese

Somebody loves Sleeping Beauty and it's not just Carson...

I don't know how he did this but he woke up with his arm completely out of his jammies. And they were still zipped up!

I've been making a list of all the funnies that Carson has said recently. Here they are...
-Over the summer, we went wakeboarding a lot. Pretty soon Carson was saying "hit it!" for everything! "Mommy, I'm going down the slide! Hit it!" "Mommy, I'm taking a drink! Hit it!" I was vacuuming and he grabbed the cord and said "Mommy, I'm wakeboarding! I'm doing flips like Daddy! Hit it!"
-Carson wasn't too sure about something that I made for dinner. I convinced him to take a bite and he looks up and says, "That makes my tongue happy!"
-He was playing with his Mater truck that makes a lot of noise and he was trying to turn it off. I was explaining that the switch was underneath. He looks at me all confused and says, "It's in my neast?" Not quite Carson. No wonder the boy was confused!
-Ryan was teaching him the difference between old and young. He was saying that Carson was two years old. Carson picked up on that pretty quick so Ryan asked him how old Reese was. "Reese is 15 minutes. 15 minutes old."
-He hasn't been wanting to ride in his carseat lately. He's wanting to sit on the seat like a big boy. I had tried everything, you can't because the police will come and take me away, it's breaking the rules, the policeman will get really mad at us... Finally, I was trying to come up with a new excuse and told him that if we got in a crash he would go flying out of the window. Wrong thing to say. "Fly out the window? OHHHH, THAT WOULD BE FUN!!!"

Eight Months Old!

Chelsie's Photoshoot

Thanks Heidi for the great mentering session! I learned a lot!!

Thanks Chelsie for freezing to death!!

Contortionist

How can he sleep like this???



I guess if you have problems breathing it might be your only option...

Funnest Sunday evening ever!

Popcorn+Cars+Smoothies+

Three Cutie Boys=


The Best Sunday Evening Ever!

Reese is an animal!

He is such a busy-body! You literally can't hold him because he squirms around so much. He pulls himself up on everything now and he's learned how to fall without hurting himself too bad. I thought Carson had a lot of energy, boy was I wrong! He will for sure be an early walker.

Reese's first time trying a cracker.

Fun at the arboretum

We went to the U of I arboretum a couple of weeks ago to feed the ducks. Carson had a blast chasing the ducks, trying to pet and kick them. But those ducks were insane! They were so aggressive! I was surprised that Carson wasn't scared of them because I was!

Following the leader


Watch out for this duck. He's possessed!


It was a beautiful day! And I remember complaining that it was too hot... as I'm sitting here freezing my buns-a-roonies off. But alas, all good things come to an end. (this wasn't an "accident," he slipped in the mud.)