Weekend Wackiness

I know that it is Tuesday, two whole days away from the weekend, but I am just now getting a chance to sit down and get this posted!

You know the weekend is going to be a good one when you wake up on Saturday, on your own—not by a six year old or an alarm, and it is after 9 a.m.

1. When I woke up, I decided not to wake anyone else up. I would cook me some breakfast and watch the first episode of Pioneer Woman. The little boy and big boy both woke up not too long after me, so we all ate breakfast in the living room and watched PW. Luke was less than happy at first as he was ready for some Saturday cartoons. However, both boys were liking the show and letting me know what they wanted me to cook for them.

2. The major thing on my list to accomplish on Saturday was to rid myself of the plethora of books in my house. I previously mentioned that Josh collects cars. Well, I collect things too….books. Josh has been trying for a couple of years to convince me to get an e-reader, but I have resisted. I think I am finally going to do it and after some research, I think I am going to buy a Nook. Here are the books that left the Stewart household. We took them to Half Price Books to sell. We each made a guess as to how much we would receive.

             • Luke guessed $10

             • Joshua guessed $45

             • I guessed $22

Who do you think won??

3. Luke gave me this key chain. I love it.

4. Joshua did the dishes on Saturday morning. I was super happy. I thanked him.

5. On Sunday I made ice cream….for the first time ever! I hope it's good. I will post more about that later this week (if it is good.  if it is bad, you will never hear about it again)



6.  Luke loves to sing, but he often times gets the lyrics wrong.  He gets this honestly from his Mother.  In fact, I can know the right lyrics, but I will continue to sing the wrong ones.  I have a problem, I know.  Anyway, the current wrong lyrics from Luke that just about made me wet my pants on Sunday are from the Song Am I the Only One by Dierks Bentley.

From Luke:  If I have to raise hill all by myself, hippy ho that ain't right.

At first, I thought, there is no way he just sang hippy ho, but I asked and yes, that is what he was singing loud and proud.  I love him and all his wrong lyrics.  The writer of that song totally should have checked with Luke first.

Our weekend was great and Luke was ready for his second week of school. He did warn us upfront that Thursday was going to be a bad day. (We should all probably try to schedule our bad days and then warn others. It is really a great concept) He said that Thursday was early dismissal from school and he hates that he will miss out on some things. I wonder how long this love for school will last.

Oh, and PS, we went to the Rangers game on Friday night. 

This kid likes to do the wave.

Luke's Fun Summer Away

I have some pictures from Luke’s stay in South Carolina!  All of these pictures were taken by my father-in-law.  Well actually, that might not be true, I guess my sister-in-law, or mother-in-law could’ve taken some of them.  My point, the great pictures below are not mine.  They come from the Stewarts in South Carolina.

Here are the pictures from his road trip to South Carolina. 

What is funny about these, is that we have some pictures of Luke at these same sites from his first trip to SC.  It will be neat to look back and compare the two.

Here he with Grandma when he first arrived. 

And I am pretty sure it was Luke Great-Grandma who made this cake--so sweet!

One of the fun things that Luke was able to do while staying with his grandparents was to have a season pass to Carowinds!  I completely lost count of how many times they were able to go, but it was a lot!  He had lots of fun there.

This boy LOVES roller coasters!

I just LOVE this picture!!!  I want it framed and in my house.

Luke's Aunt Charity really wanted to go to the zoo and they were able to go towards the end of his stay.

This boy looks too happy for a kid who only has some glass between him an that huge gorilla!

Too sweet.

They also went to Discovery Place (I think that is the name of it).

He worked a puzzle with Grandma and Great-Grandma.

And played his Grandpa's drums!

Another neat thing that Luke was able to do was to tag along with his Aunt Charity for her Senior Pictures.  And not only did he tag along, but he was in a few with her!  I think it is too sweet that she wanted him in her pictures.  She is a great Aunt and Luke misses her so much.  When we got home, he told me he wanted an older sister like her.  My heart melted. 

When we got in the truck to head home from South Carolina, I looked back to him and he was looking down and looking sad.  "What's wrong, Luke?"  I asked him.  "I'm really gonna miss them."  He said.

Luke had such a wonderful time and I cannot thank my in-laws enough for having him out there.  I know it is a summer he will remember forever!

First Day of First Treats

Luke could not have been more excited about his first day of first grade.

He walked into his room, went straight for his chair, and sat down ready for class.

Joshua and I both took the day off and when we got home we made a special snack for Luke to have after school. Our Luke is a chocoholic so when I came across this the other day on Confessions of a Cookbook Queen’s blog, I knew we were going to make them.

http://confessionsofacookbookqueen.com/2011/08/worms-and-dirt-brownies-recipe/

Chocolate, and more chocolate, and more chocolate, with worms! What more could a six year old boy want after school?

To start out, make up a box of brownie mix and then spoon into jars.

Cook until you stick a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean. I cooked these about 27 minutes.


Once cooked, remove to a cooling rack and let cook completely.

In the meantime, chop up some oreo cookies until they resemble dirt!

Grab some gummy worms, and watch your husband eat a couple.

Then, you realize that you are also supposed to use chocolate icing.  You being to freak out because you do not have what you need to make it from scratch and you don't have any store bought.  Then your husband says that you do in fact have some store bought icing because you failed to make a birthday cake for him.

I'm wondering how long he will remember that I did not make that birthday cake.  Oh well, lemons into lemonade, I've got icing!  Thank you for the reminder, Josha!

Remove the top and foil and microwave for about 30 seconds.  Stir and then pour into the jars.

Top with oreo dirt and worms!

Then stand back and marvel at how gross and yummy they look at at one time. 

When we picked Luke up from school, he told us all about the fun things they did today -- going to see some sea turtles, eating lunch, and winning a prize in P.E.

Once we were home I showed him the snack we made him.

He dug right into that chocolaty mess.  And LOVED it.

I am pretty sure Joshua and I have the Parents of the Year thing in the bag.  I tasted this stuff and it was GOOD.

Love you Luke and Daddy and I are super happy that you had a great first day in first grade!!!

The Difference a Year Makes

For the record, I would like to state that I did not cry when we took Luke to first grade. I did not cry when we came home. In fact, I began to be quite proud of myself. I was holding it together.

I then sat down at my computer and loaded the pictures that we took of Luke before heading off to school.

Then I decided that it would be a great idea to go back and look at pictures from the first day of kindergarten.

And then,

 

I cried.

I showed Joshua.

And he teared up.

Please tell me what I do to stop this from continuing because the way I see it, this is a vicious cycle that does not appear to be ending anytime soon.

Easy Saturday Dinner

Today we finally finished unpacking Luke and put away all of his things. We cleaned the house from top to bottom, did all the laundry, and grocery shopped. We will finally all be back on track after our summer and on a schedule. Yay!

I was tired after our long day, so dinner was a super easy meal we love—taco salad. What I also love is that the clean-up is easy.  Major plus in my book!

1 pound ground beef

1 package of Old El Paso Taco Seasoning

1 bag of Doritos

1 can Black Beans

Leaf Lettuce

Grape Tomatoes

1 small can Chopped Green Chilies

Grated Cheese

 

Brown the beef and drain. Add the package of Taco Seasoning. And then if you are like me, add some chili powder. Add the black beans in with the meat and let sit on low for 5 minutes or so. Then take off the heat. Crush up the Doritos in the bag and pour into a large bowl. Chop up the lettuce and tomatoes and add to the bowl, then add chilies. Add meat and bean mixture to bowl. Top with cheese (a lot if your family is like mine). And mix.

(sorry the cheese did not make it into the picture.  And the pictures are not so good as I had lost all natural daylight.)

If you are like me, you will top yours off with taco sauce.  (Go Rangers!)

If you are like Josh, you put Thousand Island dressing on it….weird. The possibilities are really endless. You could add olives, sour cream, or guacamole. I think every time I make this it is different than the time before.

Yum!

Little Kahunas

Before Luke was born, Joshua and I went to Ranger games a lot.  And for the most part, we would always sit in the same area above third base.

I always loved hearing the lady who sold the Big Kahunas.  "Two chocolate chip cookies with ice creeeeeeeeam in the middle!!"

We had a get together with my Dad's side of the family on Sunday and we were to bring a dessert.  I did not have a lot of time to put something together, so these Little Kahunas were just perfect. 

Fast to make.  Cute.  And most importantly, yummy.

Football Season

Football season is upon us. Which means I receive emails like this from my husband during the day-- what fun food are we having for dinner for the Cowboys game???

Let's just be honest.  Sometimes the replies are, "Hey, why don't you swing by and pick up a pizza and some drinks on your way home" or "Huh?  What game?  I am going out with friends tonight/today."

It also means that if the Cowboys are having a lousy season, the Stewarts are having a lousy season. Josh is a sports freak. Not fan, freak. I knew this when I married him so I rarely complain about it. I’ve just learned to live with it. I’ve learned to find out the score of the game before I come home.

Loosing=no talking. Winning=hey honey, I’m home!

And when I say I rarely complain, I mean it. I think I can count on one hand the times I’ve complained.

1. He became angry and threw a pin he was holding. It hit our TV and punctured a hole in the TV—right in the middle. It seems it actually took me weeks, or months (I don’t remember), to realizes it. I was however ticked when I knew how the hole got there.

2. Our poor Luke was born in the middle of a terrible Cowboys season. Josh screaming while baby Luke is sleeping was not a good idea. He received the evil eye. He then learned to yell quietly and this was actually humorous to watch.

That is pretty much it. I cannot recall getting upset sports wise any other time.

Thursday night was the first preseason game. As luck would have it, earlier in the week I had come across this delicious looking recipe for mushroom sliders.

http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/08/bbq-portobello-sliders/

I thought this would be the perfect occasion to make them and some chips and dip. Not a meal that will help you loose those last five pounds, or the first five.  But, yummy.

Velvetta Cheese
1 can of black beans
1 can of rotel
sour cream
1 pound ground beef browned

Photos by Luke

A mother who is totally with it would have sent her child to spend the summer with his grandparents with his camera in tote. I am not that with it mother. I sent him with clothes, shampoo, toothbrush, and toothpaste. No camera. It would have been so neat to see what Luke would have chosen to take photos of while away. But, we will just never know because his mother is not the coolest thing ever.

Sorry.

However, Luke does have a with it Grandpa who took many pictures of him during his stay and hopefully I will be able to share those soon.

On the road trip home, Luke asked for my camera so he could take some pictures. So, what we have here are photos taken by a six year old boy who is riding in the backseat of his Daddy’s truck for 16 hours.

You know these are going to be interesting…….

First up, we have green blanket—that is the name of this blanket “green blanket”.

I know it does not appear to be green, but it once was. I bought this blanket for Luke when I was pregnant with him. It was wrapped around a stuffed pig. Get it, a pig in a blanket? Cute and was probably overpriced, but I could not resist at the time. This blanket has gone all over with Luke in his six years. He took it to prep school when he was three and it was accidental bleached, thus the yellowish color. It was no surprise to me that he took a picture of green blanket. He loves it much.

Next we have a picture of his Texas Rangers hat.

He proudly wore this hat all over the Carolinas. By the way, Luke has told me that he hopes to pay for the Texas Rangers one day. I told him that would be great, but it would also be okay if he played for a different major league team. He said he would only play for the Rangers because he did not want to be far away from me. I melted. Once I was over that, I realized that clearly I need to fully explain to this child one day that playing even for the Yankees will be okay, IF you are paid well. But for now, we hate all but the Rangers, especially the Yankees!

He could not leave out his Daddy’s Texas Rangers hat.

Go Rangers!! And guess who will be going to a Ranger’s Game the Friday night after school starts! Luke does not know about it. It will be a fun surprise and end to his first week of first grade. Can’t wait!

Then we have his Captain Underpants Book. I wrote and blog entry on his obsession with these books.

A crazy straw?

Yes! Notice that he needed my assistance in this one and I am holding it up for him. I really have no explanation as to why he would have chosen this object to photograph. Boys are just strange sometimes. I was just honored to be needed in the moment. :)

It is hard to tell what this is, but it is a tote bag, obviously of CARS 2.

The boy is obsessed with CARS as well. I thought owning all the hot wheels from the first movie was bad enough. Now he is collecting from the second movie. My house is being taken over by cars!!!

Once he was bored with objects in the car, he started taking pictures outside. These really make me laugh.

These are trees. For some reason, I actually really like this photo. It is neat in an abstract kind of way.

He was overly excited and said, “Oh, I got the Eiffel Tower in this one!” I did not have the heart to tell him we were a long way from France. I just smiled.

This one tickled is fancy as well.

He told me NO less than four times that it was a REFLECTION in the window. It was NOT the actual stuff. You don’t say.

Of all his photos, this one was by far my fav.

What is cool here is that Josh actually said, “Hey, that is a neat barn!” And Luke then took a picture! I love that he was able to keep focus on the barn and the cars are blurred with movement!

Pretty good kiddo!

And lastly, we have this frog he obtained in South Carolina. 

I love that Luke likes to take pictures. It is fun to see what he comes up with.