Wii Wish you a Merry Christmas!

Well this year my parents win the most shocking and surprising gift award. I was talking with my mom and she told me that they had gotten my sister a Wii for Christmas. So in typical sibling rivalry fashion "I want a Wii, I'm putting in my request for next year." On Christmas we arrived at my parents house and were shocked (Jon more so than me...the look on his face was priceless) as we opened our Wii. My mom said they were planning to give us cash and decided that since we wanted a Wii also to just use that cash to get us the Wii. I've pulled just about every muscle in my back and can barely move but it's so fun.

This year Nathan was really into the whole present aspect of Christmas. After opening every gift he wanted to take it out and play with it. And Emily had no idea what was going on but next year she will.

Christmas Eve:

Making a "Graham Cracker" House

Opening the Christmas Eve gift (always jammies)

Wearing his new jammies

The loot

I will add more pictures (specifically from Christmas Day and Round 2, as I like to call it, the day after Christmas) at some other point, notice I don't give a time frame since I have no idea when it will happen. It could be tomorrow it could be July, lol!

My Yummy Cinnamon Rolls

I have perfected the making of cinnamon rolls in our house. I found the recipe online and made it a bit easier to follow (the original version was all over the place). These are hands down the yummiest cinnamon rolls ever.


Ingredients

* 3/4 cup water
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup shortening
* 4 tablespoons sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 package yeast
* 1/4 cup water (if needed, I usually add about 1/2 of this)
* 3 1/2-4 cups flour

Directions

Melt shortening in microwave about 1 minutes or until shortening is melted. Stir in sugar and salt.

Heat 3/4 cup water to about 110 degrees and stir in yeast until dissolved. Set aside for use in a few minutes.

Slowly add about a cup of flour to shortening mixture.

When yeast starts to bubble add to flour and shortening mixture.

Add egg and remaining flour. Knead on counter until no longer tacky, this is when I add a little extra water.

Grease bowl with oil and place dough in bowl and add more oil to coat top.

Place a towel over bowl and let rise until double in bulk (about an hour).

In small bowl, mix 1 cup or so of sugar and add cinnamon to taste.

After dough rises, roll out on counter to about 1/4" thick.

Melt 1/2 stick of butter and spread over dough.

Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over entire rolled out dough.

Roll up dough into jelly roll style and take knife and cut into about 1" to 1 1/2" slices.

Put in pan (I use a stone but you can also use glass or aluminum but it needs to be greased).

Cover with towel and let rise until double (another hour, but I usually make my dough at night and let it rise over night so I have nice hot cinnamon rolls in the morning).

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes or so.

After they cool you can frost them with your favorite frosting recipe, but I have found they are sweet and yummy enough without any frosting.

My Clean Kitchen

Ok so it took a few days and I only have one "after"picture...but here it is:


Seriously I'm trying so hard to keep my kitchen clean because it was down right NASTY just a few days ago. So nasty that I didn't want to eat anything that was cooked in it.

Who's up for a little game?

A while ago I posted about how sometimes it's easier for me to clean when I am accountable to someone. I do this by taking before and after pics and posting them online for the world to see. It takes courage to post those before pics, but you feel so much better after posting the afters that it's totally worth it. So here it is...my kitchen (granted 3 days ago this would have passed for clean...it was that messy...but I'm hoping to avoid that again).


My goals today while the kids are napping are to shower (haven't done that yet), tend to my shaving accident (see "Ouch" post...it's still bleeding off and on too), and then get my kitchen in order (empty and reload dishwasher, declutter table, clean stove surface). We shall see how much gets done and I will post my afters when I am finished.

If you are brave enough to join me go ahead and post a before picture of any room in your house that could use some attention, clean it, then post the after pics. Leave a comment so I know to come check it out!

He ate it! And asked for more.

Ok so technically this is a Nathan related post but I felt it fit on this blog better than on his because it's kinda a recipe...sorta. Nathan has been quite the picky eater (surprise, surprise...what do I expect). There are literally days when all he wants is milk. Last night we were playing and he said he was hungry and wanted an egg (an odd request since he typically doesn't like eggs). So I made him an egg and added a splash of vanilla and a bit of milk while scrambling it and he gobbled it up and asked for more.

So this morning for breakfast I asked him if he wanted an egg and he said no. So I asked if he wanted french toast, and he said French toast (when he repeats he means yes, when he says no he means no). He used to love French toast, but recently has been in a phase where he hates it. SO hesitantly I made him one piece of French toast (same protocol for making the egg as last nigh...splash of vanilla, bit of milk). Dipped the bread in and cooked it up. I did add some cinnamon and sugar to the back side of it. Once it was done I really got creative. I cut out two eyes and a mouth and filled them in with fruit (peaches for the eyes and strawberry for the mouth) and added some cheese for hair. Nathan LOVED it! In fact I left the kitchen to change Emily and when I returned he had eaten it all (I was gone maybe 2 minutes at the most, really how long does it take to change a baby?). So I made him another (sans smiley face this time). Afterward I was thinking next time I could use sausage or bacon for the eyes to make them stand out more.

Lessons learned: Let Nathan pick what he wants to eat more often and whenever possible serve it with a smile!

Ouch! (Not for the weak stomached)

Please tell me that you have never heard of anyone dying from (or losing a limb from) cutting themselves shaving. I was shaving my legs on Saturday for Jon's dad's wedding and got myself good. It's not even a cut, it's more of a huge scrap (I even found the piece of skin that was scrapped off floating in the water...ewww). This stupid cut STILL hurts. Every step I take, every time I try to sit on my legs (which I do a lot) I'm in so much pain. I hope I survive my shaving incident.