New Slow Cooker

To make a long story short, our crock pot that was given to us as a wedding present broke. (It as given to us by my co-workers at Rembrandt. The main reason I remember that is because they all kept trying to convince me it was so easy to cook with one. Those poor souls didn't realize how little I knew about cooking. Thankfully for Brian I've learned my way around the kitchen better). So our hunt began for the "perfect" crock pot and now that I actually use the slow cooker on a very regular basis, this was more of a challenge. I wanted it to be perfect! I recently fell in love with a website, "A Year of Crock Potting." Her link is to the right if you want to check it out, but she has some FANTASTIC recipes. Anyway, after much contemplating, we chose a crock pot. Then when I went to buy it, it was on sale. Then I got home that afternoon, opened a magazine and found a $5 rebate for that brand crock pot. I think it was destiny. I'm still adjusting to the high heat (it heats from all sides, not just the bottom) but we'll get there. It's a programmable one, so once the cooking time is finished, it automatically switches to warm. And I would be a big liar if I didn't admit that even though it wasn't a factor, I'm in love with the color!!! Welcome to the family, Crocky!

No Nap just Doesn't Work...

Since Nolan's been at pre-school, most days he takes a nap there. Granted, its shorter than his naps at home, but he does sleep for a bit and that seems to be fine and I don't give him a nap when he gets home. A couple times his teacher has told me he "rested" quietly, but didn't sleep. He seems fine on those days so I don't feel like he HAS to take a nap when he gets home. But, apparently, I'm wrong. If he doesn't sleep at school, he will nap. Perhaps not in his bed, but he'll snooze. I was letting him watch some TV to rest, in fact, and this is what happened.

I was making dinner and realized there was no sound, no talking coming from Nolan. I knew immediately this is what I would find.

I didn't want to move him to his bed, because he's impossible to wake up from late afternoon naps. I figured a light snooze in the living room would actually be the best. But I did bring in the necessities. Haley couldn't resist cuddling up. And before long he covered himself completely:

Beachy Keen, Jelly Bean

So lets please ignore the fact that I'm way behind on blogging. Let's pretend that this post is not really from a whole week ago, because with the weather as cool as it is today, it feels much longer than that. Last Saturday Brian and I went shopping for some fall clothes for Nolan and figured we'd stop by the beach. We were floored at how hot it still was and decided that we better take advantage the following day and squeeze in one more actual beach day. I'm so glad we did! We went to church with the Cheyna & Andrew and then we hit up the beach. The kids had a great time and we all enjoyed soaking up some warm rays and playing in the sand. Nolan is still not so sure about the waves, but in his defense they were really big this time. Near the end, he relaxed a bit and let Brian take him out pretty far into the water on his shoulders. If it was, in fact, the last hot day of "summer" I am glad we sent summer off properly. And though I'll miss days like this, I am welcoming the cooler temperatures!

This is Saturday, when the waters were super calm. Nolan was practically running into the water this day and got soaked. That is how it goes...no swim trunks, no towel, kid wants to swim in the ocean.

As you can see, the waves Sunday...much bigger. Here's some sand castle construction under way: Abby & Nolan playing in the sand. I stole this from Chey's blog!The dads teaching the kids how to "surf"!More sand playing: