Cooking Dried Beans, Children and Sleep

Tonight I tried a new recipe using a package of dried pinto beans that have been in my cabinet for a couple of months. The one and only other time I cooked dried beans they turned out okay. This time, instead of being nice and soft, they were still hard, even after cooking in the crock pot for nine hours on low. The recipe sounded good and looked easy. Maybe I should have cooked them on high. I put them back in the crock pot on low to finish cooking. Hopefully, they will be soft before I go to bed. If not, I wonder if I should let them cook all night.

In my last post, I mentioned that my kids LOVE, absolutely LOVE water. This love of the wet stuff got them into trouble yesterday. Well, you would think that after cleaning all my lower kitchen cabinets that Will might think twice before getting the hose out again. Not a chance. He was good for a little while, playing in the backyard and painting my back door with water from the dog pool. Before long, the pull of the water hose was too much for my little man and he gave in to temptation. My lawn and patio, as well as the basketball stand, were well watered. At least this time, he wasn't drenched.

Andrew, after a hard day of play yesterday, went to sleep around 7 p.m. He woke up a couple of times when we got onto the kids and when we put them to bed. At 5 a.m. (yes, you read that right), he was wide-eyed and bushy tailed. We put off getting him up out of bed until 6 but finally had to get him out of the room before he woke up Will. Mike tried rocking him, thinking he might go back to sleep but Andrew wouldn't have any of it. He was wired for sound and going full tilt. After a little while, Mike got Andrew a small bowl of Cheerios to eat. Before Mike knew it, the Cheerios were all gone. Andrew ate every last one. Mike got him a Pop-tart too and he ate half. He did take two naps instead of his usual one. I laid him down this morning around 10:30 and he slept until 12:30. He was acting sleepy this afternoon so I laid him back down about 4:30 and woke him up for dinner at 6. Since Mike and I usually go to bed really late, like between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., these early mornings are for the birds. Let's hope this does not become a habit.