Cinnamon Rolls

*To answer Callie's comment on the use of raisins or not...OF COURSE NOT...CHOCOLATE CHIPS IT IS!!!! - how silly of you to even ask*

Update on the status of my cinnamon rolls...they are delicious! I must say, for my first try, they turned out better than I expected. If anyone wants the recipe, go to www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/CinnamonRollsBuns.html.

Playing & snow & santa & angels

Of course these pictures loaded backwards of how I'd have liked them to load, but oh well. I can't figure this thing out! ; ) Here are a bunch of pictures from the last week or so. Enjoy!

Maya was just being silly, sporting a stylish orange hat and sitting in the laundry basket.

Here are the girls and Daniel, whom I've been watching once or twice a week. They were playing on the "boat". Daniel was fishing for alligators. I'm not really sure of all that they were doing, but they were entertaining themselves and thats all that matters!

Today (Sunday), we took a trip to the Mall of America, just to get out of the house, and to possibly see Santa if the line wasn't too long. I'd been looking for ornaments for them, since I'm trying to keep this tradition going of finding one for them every year that depicts something meaningful that happened that year. This year we found gymnasts of course, since they both started gymnastics and LOVE it!!!!!

We were amazed at the non-line for Santa today! We waited only about 15 minutes (a record) and both the girls were all excited...until it came time to actually sit on Santas lap. Maggie sat there all regal and composed...Maya was completely hysterical and wanted no part of sitting on Santas lap. It was really funny. I've been waiting 4 years to either have a crying child Santa picture, or to be IN one of the Santa pictures. This was the year we'd been waiting for. : )

Maggie's preschool had their Christmas program last Thursday. They were all dressed as angels (she's on the top - 3rd from the right) and were sooooo cute! Unfortunately, she really wasn't feeling well at all, and was yawning through the whole thing. She almost started to cry at one point. As soon as it was over and she saw me, she burst into tears.

Yup...not a happy camper. She did manage though, to choke down a cookie and red juice, before deciding enough was enough and asked to head home. : )

We got a bunch of snow yesterday and the temperature was a balmy 15 degrees, so we headed out to play and sled down the big pile of snow in the middle of the cul de sac.

Maya is definitely NOT a snow bunny. Mags could stay outside all day, Maya might last 10 minutes before declaring, "Cold!!!!" and asking to go in the house. Her poor little hands are always like ice cubes...maybe Santa will bring her a new pair of gloves??

Time to bake

We've recently had some sick little monkeys in the house (what else is new, we're always sick around Xmas time!!!). Maya got it first, then Mags. It was pretty much a 24 hour thing, minimal throwing up, but lots of laying on the couch and feeling generally pretty crummy.

But, since all was quiet, I've had lots of time to bake! Today I made my very first batch of cinnamon rolls from scratch. They look delicious...haven't taste tested them yet. I'll let you know how they are! They have a glaze on top too. Extra yummyness!

A week or so ago, Maggie and I made gingerbread men and my first ever batch of biscotti. It was very tasty too although it did turn out a little thick. Live and learn! Tomorrow we might make some sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles if we are feeling in the baking mood. : )

Holidazzle

We just got back from our annual trip into downtown Minneapolis to see the Holidazzle parade. We usually go downtown, have an early dinner, then go see the Macy's exhibit and then head outside to get a spot for the parade. This year, we hit McDonalds in Woodbury on our way out (had to downgrade the dinner as you can tell), and headed out to the Mall of America to catch the Light Rail downtown. We'd never ridden the Light Rail before and it was really slick. Too bad it doesn't run out to the eastern suburbs. : ( We got downtown with plenty of time to get to Macy's, stand in line for at least 10 minutes to get the elevator up to the 8th floor...or so we thought. We did stand in line for the elevator for about 10 minutes, but didn't even make it to the 8th floor, where the "Santa's Elves" exhibit was. I think we stopped at the 4th floor and the elevator guy ushered us out saying, "the line for the exhibit starts here". Are you kidding me??? Anyways, we found out that the wait was about 2 hours and we promptly bailed. So, with an hour and a half to kill, we headed downstairs (by escalator) to the FAO Schwartz part of the childrens section. The girls checked out all the toys and spent a reasonable amount of time playing with the Jack in the Boxes. Maya thinks they're hilarious. By the time we bundled up and got outside, it was a total zoo. We've never been there when it was so packed. But, we ended up finding a good spot to watch and the girls loved it. Maya kept saying, "more coming?, more coming?" She was really cute all bundled up sitting on Daddy's shoulders. Then we caught the Light Rail home. We were packed in like sardines (not an exaggeration). We made it home in one piece and the girls went right to bed. They were pooped! Tomorrow is a day of rest, then...the 'Cove' women's cookie exchange. Yummy!

The working woman!

(I wrote this yesterday, but couldn't get the darn thing to post...)

Yesterday I had my first day of work. It was all I remembered it to be! The kids are crazy, but I had fun and was tired at the end of my LONG 3 hours (just kidding, it flew by). Back tonight for round 2 of training. I don't know when I'll get my own classes. I might have to wait until the next session starts and that isn't until March I think. We'll see. Everyone is really nice though and I think it will be a fun place to work. I've also started watching Daniel once or twice a week. He's actually over right now and he and Mags are watching Fox and the Hound. Real hard work I know. : )

With that out of the way, we're on to Christmas cookies! Maggie and I made gingerbread men the other day. It turned out that we made a LOT of gingerbread men, but Maggie cut them all out and we've eaten quite a few of them. She had fun and really did a lot of work.


I can't figure out why the pictures won't load in the same order I select them, so

Maggie hard at work with the cookie cutter.

My little girlies...

The girls were driving me crazy yesterday, so we had a spur of the moment craft time...decorating "stockings". Well, they sort of looked like stockings. They love to glue and went to town with colored noodles, pieces of ricrac, stickers and paper shapes. Maggie's turned out especially beautiful as you can clearly see!
As you now, it is like pulling teeth go get Maya to take a nap. So, we have an agreement that sometimes works. I tell her that if she lays in her bed, I will sit in the big chair until she goes to sleep. Well, today she tested the limits and got out of her bed - and I promptly got up and walked out of the room. She didn't like that very much and cried for a while. I went downstairs to fold a load of laundry and when I came back up it was quiet so I decided to check to see where in the room she'd fallen asleep. (usually its on the floor). This is what I found.

Curled up in a ball, book tucked up under her arm, fast asleep. I just had to run and get the camera. Honestly...wouldn't it just be easier to lay in bed????

Back to the gym...

Well, I'm about to be gainfully employed again. I'm going back to coaching at the gym. Turned in my application at Maggie's class this morning and was hired on the spot. Not surprising, seeing as my resume was "exceptional", their words, not mine! : ) Not sure exactly when I'll be working. Probably 2 nights a week and Saturday mornings. Desperate times call for desperate measures!!!! I'm also starting to watch Daniel, the neighbor boy once or twice a week while his mom substitute teaches, so I'll be getting paid a little for that too. And, selling leotards. I sold my first 2 the other day, granted it was to the grandma of one of the neighbors, it still counts! So, I just went from 0 to 3 jobs.

Maya woke up again with both of her eyes gooped shut. She hates the warm washcloth, so it takes a little while to get them de-gooped. Still debating whether I should take her in or not. Maybe if they're still bad tomorrow...

A funny story about Maggie...
She was making a picture to send to Grandma (it will be coming by the way, Grandma) the other day and she drew pictures of Grandma, Grandpa and Grammy on it. She wrote Grandma's name with the letters G W A M A on the top. I said that she did great spelling, except for the R really looked like a W. I asked her who she drew and told her I would write their names on top of the pictures so Grandma would know who they were. I wrote the names and she threw a fit when I wrote Grandma over the picture of Grandma. She said she already wrote Grandma's name. I said, but honey, she's not going to know what it says because you can't tell that the W looking thing is an R. She said, no mom, it's a W. Then I got it. She sounded it out just like she says it, GWAMA. I said, good honey, you sounded it out just right!!!! Gotta work on those R's I guess! :)

Random pictures

We made it through Thanksgiving. We had 7 adults and 3 kids for dinner and everything was tasty and went smoothly. Now the tree is up and the house is mostly decorated. Just a few things left to put up, and everything left to put away.

Here are several pictures from the last week or so. Nothing exciting, all cute! ; )

Oh, I almost forgot...Maya had her first gymnastics class this morning. She had a great time as I knew she would. We were debating whether or not to take her because she has a cold and I think an eye infection of some sort - pretty sure not pink eye. But, here eyes are puffy and red and there is some goop going on. It's entirely possible we infected a lot of kids with something, but I hope not. We couldn't bear not to take her after talking this day up for EVER! Poor baby, now she's taking a nap. ; )

Mags in front of the tree, Cinderella ornament in hand, sporting one of her many leotards.

Um, yeah...this was yesterday. I got her a dress to wear for Christmas, and yes, those are our stockings on her feet. She was "helping" me decorate the house. : )

Look at our HUGE tower of blocks!!!

For her birthday, Mags got a Princess cookbook. They had these ice cream sandwich things in it that used rice crispy bars instead of cookies. We ditched the ice cream, but make the rice crispy bars, complete with a lot of sprinkles!

We were having a major cabin fever day. Mommy made up a game called the "Sticky Notes Body Parts" game. It's really self explanatory...Mommy wrote a bunch of body parts on sticky notes, Maggie had to read them, then stick them on Mommy's corresponding body parts. Then we switched roles and I stuck them on her. Loads of fun!

Doing stickers at the kitchen table with "Princess Hair".

Silly girls. Maya says, "Wanna cookie?"

Big Pa-toot!

I've always heard about the nightmare moment..you know, the one where your kid says something totally inappropriate in a very public place. Well, it finally happened to me. We were in the grocery store yesterday getting the rest of the needed items for Thanksgiving dinner. We were in the middle of one of the isles, along with several other people. I wasn't paying attention to who was walking by, but apparently Maggie was. She just blurted out, "Mom, that lady has a big pa-toot!" Of course I was mortified, but the lady just walked by and acted as if she didn't hear it, although I'm sure she did. I'm sure this won't be the last time Mags says something inappropriate in public, but hopefully next time it won't be a comment about the size of someone's rear end!

Maggie-isms

I have always prided myself on someone who has a lot of patience. But now I'm not so sure. I think we're all going stir crazy with cabin fever, and it's not even technically winter yet! I think the girls are having a hard time adjusting to the fact that they can't burn off all their energy outside anymore and they're driving me nuts!!!! Maya has once again decided that naps are a thing of the past and I'm pretty sure its for real this time. We converted her bed a couple weeks ago to the toddler bed, and she refuses to nap in there. So, we thought we were real smart and put the pack n play in her room for naps..she can't get out. Well, that worked for one day, then she figured out how to get out! So, the pack n play is put away again and we're back to step one. She is just exhausted, but refuses to sleep. Plus for some reason she's been getting up at 6 to 6:30 am. Maggie too. Thank goodness daddy's still home at that time and I can lay in bed and pretend to sleep until 7. And, to make matters worse, she gets nasty when she's tired. Hitting, spitting, kicking he dog, pulling Maggie's hair. She's a real charmer. : ) On the bright side, she's starting to potty train and that makes me happy. I'm not pushing her, like I did with Maggie. That really drove me to the brink of insanity and I vow not to do that to myself again. So, she's going 4, 5, 6 times a day on the potty and we're talking about how ALL the potty needs to go in the toilet. And I'm pretty sure her favorite room in the house is the bathroom. She had her 2 year checkup last week and she's perfect. Her growth has definitely slowed down. She's not going to be a giant like her big sister. She's now only in the 60th percentile for height and 10th for weight. So, kind of a lightweight. : )

Maggie on the other hand is really fun right now. I am thoroughly enjoying the 4's! For the most part she's respectful, patient and generally fun to be around. She's old enough to actually do a project, or play a real game and stuff like that. I had my first parent/teacher conference this week and she's doing great. They had the kids do a coloring, and her teacher said that only like 1 in 40 preschoolers do as good of a job as she did. Stayed in the lines, colored the whole thing, using appropriate colors for corresponding parts. So, she's a stellar colorer! She loves school. She's kind of funny with the things she says too. Here are a couple of Maggie-isms:

1. Oprah's - translation: overalls
2. 101 Damnations - translation: 101 Dalmations

Tonight we had family pizza and movie night. We had a "pizza picnic" downstairs on a picnic blanket, and then watched the movie Cars (which we rented from the library) and had popcorn. The movie was really cute and Maggie watched most of it...Maya watched about 5 minutes of it. She did enjoy the 5 minutes that she watched though. She was making car noises and cheering the race cars on! It was pretty cute.

One last thing, just an update about Becky and baby Emma Faith. Emma had her hernia surgery and everything is now back where it's supposed to be and she's off her breathing tube. Her heart has seemed to be miraculously healed and she's doing great. Continued prayers for them though as there is still a long road ahead.

Beds and Perkins

Maya is officially a big girl! This afternoon we converted her crib into a big girl bed complete with the princess sheets and pillow Daddy got her for her birthday! She thinks she's hot stuff. We'll see how it goes tonight. We'll keep you posted!


Can I just say we love Perkins?! Yes, the Denny's-like restaurant with cheap food. I took the girls last night for dinner. Daddy was out of town and had been for several days and I just really didn't have any motivation to cook! So, off we went. Kids eat free on Tuesday, which was the main reason we went, but they also have a clown that does balloon animals for the kids, and they have a table out where the kids can decorate their own cookie! It really doesn't get any better. : ) Mags had 2 giant pancakes with whipped cream and sprinkles (real nutritious I know!), and Maya had a few bites of grilled cheese and fruit. They had a great time!



Oh, one other quick thing. Our friends, Josh and Becky Watzcak had their baby girl early this morning. I think I've told most of you, but baby Emma has a bunch of serious problems and will be in the hospital for at least the next month. But she was almost a pound bigger than they thought and is breathing well and is stable. She has a long road ahead, so any prayers for Emma and Josh and Becky would be appreciated. You can check their blog if you want more details. There's a link to it at the bottom of this one.

Maya turns 2!

Can you believe my little girl is already 2? She's still a baby to me, even though she's become quite heavy and I think has thrown my back out from recently wanting to be held all the time. : ) She is growning up though...she can ride her tricycle, goes on the potty several times a day, drinks out of a big girl cup with out (usually) spilling, and does handstands (BIG bouncy) and forward rolls across the living room like she's been doing them for years. Where has my baby gone? Then again, the other day she stripped down naked in her bed and peed-and layed in it, pulled out handfuls of her sisters hair, poked and prodded and hit the dog until she got bit, and licked the street. Hmmm...just when you think they're growing up!

Anyway, we invited the neighbors over for a little party, complete with a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, and cupcakes.

This is a bowling set she got from the Zehetners...of course the mat that tells you where to set the pins is...on her head!

Gordy and Lori sent her a Water Baby! The thing is HEAVY when filled up, but she loves it. Aaron came up with the name Pumpernickel...Maggie came up with Roxy. We'll see which wins out in the end!

This is her present from mommy and daddy. Leap Frog fridge letters. She just loves to push the button that sings the ABC's.

Here she is eating her birthday cupcake.

All the party goer's chowin' down!

Daddy lighting the candels and starting to sing Happy Birthday!

She picked the pink cupcake to be hers-with the candles!

Halloween and more

Halloween was yesterday and it was quite an event. Belle and Elmo went trick-or-treating with daddy around the neighborhood. Apparently daddy and Elmo only made it to a few houses because Belle, along with Bat Girl and Bat Girl (neighbors Kyra and Raya), were sprinting from house to house and Elmo just couldn't keep up the pace. All the neighborhood kids were so cute, as usual and we had a little party at our house after trick-or-treating. There was enough sugar to kill a boatload of people and kids were all totally wired, but they played and ate candy and had a dandy ol' time. Me and a few of the other "Cove" moms dressed up in 80s garb, but forgot to get a picture (darn!).

Belle and Elmo all set for trick-or-treating!

Digging for something Elmo?

Mags and her loot.

Aaron's new form of punishment...standing in the corner. She doesn't move!!!!! ; 0

Bestest little buddies, Lily and Maya.

Grandma sent a little Halloween package with some treats that we got the day before Halloween. Maya devoured the marshmallow ghost. I think she got my sweet tooth!!! Oh, and I think she ate at least 6 suckers on Halloween day, not to mention all the other stuff!

This was the favorite activity the other day. Brian pulling the girls around on an old blanket. He was working up a sweat, but they absolutely had a blast! I have a video and I'm trying to get it on here, but it's not letting me upload it for some reason. I'll work on that...it's pretty cute!

Mamma and sickie the other day. Who can pass up a snuggle like that?

Miss Resourceful. She's discovered that the stool is quite a useful tool and can get her all kinds of good stuff!

Seattle trip-Part 5

Here's a bunch from Snoqualamie Falls, great grandma and grandpa's, and when CJ and Gabe came to visit.

Seriously, I can't figure out this picture business on this blog site. Sometimes they load in the order you request them, sometimes not...I'll have to ask Tamara to help me again... : )

CJ, Gabriel, Mags and Maya at Grandma's house.

All the kids attacking Grandpa...he just wanted some peace and quiet!

Maya with great Grandma

Gifts from great Grandma and Grandpa...magnets!

My two babies and great Grandma and Grandpas...at the beach.

Here we are at the beach. It was a beautiful day!

We found lots of crab shells and seashells. Mags and I collected this "crab family".

At a restaurant in Snoqualamie for lunch...this BIG bear was taking up a whole booth for himself. Maggie joined him for lunch.

The falls were beautiful.