To try.....or not to try........

THAT, is the question!

1. Homemade heart shaped pizzas for Valentines....

Yep, try it. the kids loved it, pink crust and all. The one on the left is not cooked yet. The hearts totally grew when I cooked them. (symbolic? I think so)

(This was kind of last minute instead of the usual pink/red breakfast for dinner, so I used my fav. quick pizza dough recipe that doesn't have to rise....it takes 5 minutes to whip together:

1 T yeast, dissolve in 1 c. water

Add: 1 t. sugar, 1 t. salt, 2 T oil, 2.5 cups flour.

Knead, Roll out and press into pizza pan.

450 for 12-15 minutes.

I doubled the recipe to make 2 pizza crusts)

2. "Jelly fish dinner"

Nope. Don't worry about trying it. I thought it would be fun to try when it was my Saturday to babysit and the kids LOVED the idea.....but really spaghetti noodles cooked in a hot dog? Really? what was I thinking?!? They kept saying, can I just eat them separate? WHAT?!?! You don't want to eat cooked/soggy spaghetti noodles jammed in your hotdog? What's wrong with my kids?

3. Fabric Knot-beaded necklaces

Try it. Super easy. The RS did a craft night here making these, but I couldn't make it, so I just watched the movie here:

http://www.youcanmakethis.com/blog/779/how-to-make-fabric-covered-beaded-necklaces-studio5-time.html

and had no problem making them. I made some for my sisters (my sister's husband coaches for a team who's colors are purple and white), and WISHED I could've had the patience to figure out those fabric/ribbon flowers. The concept was easy, I just didn't want to deal with it.

4. Saying NO to this sweet Valentine

Don't try it. She's too sweet.

5. Dinosaur Egg Oatmeal

Try it. I got 5 boxes of those things because my kids like oatmeal. They were actually pretty cool. There were dinosaur eggs then when you add the hot water they turn into baby dinosaurs.

(total for the above: $16..........could've been better but I REALLY wanted a roast)

6. Catching one (of four) birds flying in your house

According to Camden and Sally........try it.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

(I just got done hiding the kids' Valentine surprises from us, I can't WAIT for them to wake up tomorrow and go searching for them!)

El Circo!!!!

My kids "read" (I say that loosely with Emerson and Aleeya since I read TO them) their 10 books each to get free tickets to the circus!

So off we went to see Barnum and Bailey's "Greatest Show on Earth"

Here we are before it starts. (Iris was at a babysitter's)

Here is Emerson AS SOON as it started........and how he stayed through the whole thing. (It WAS a little loud)

Aleeya wouldn't open her eyes AT ALL at the beginning. It LOOKS like she's sleeping, but she just wouldn't have ANYTHING to do with the circus. I caught 4 pictures through the show and how she progressed.

(What's funny, is that she kept saying how much she liked it after it ended)

Okay, so obviously, my kids' favorite parts were the animals and the tigers were no exception.

This tiger was HUGE.

This was one of those "amazing" moments. There were SIX (count them!) motorcycles going at the same time in there and never crashing. It was incredible.

What is a circus w/o elephants?!?! This one was carrying a dog (in a basket), that was just so cute.

I couldn't help but laugh when the elephants would lay down. They were just so big and looked like chubby babies (not that I would know what a chubby baby looks like.....) when they would sit down with their arms up.

Camden has OFFICIALLY changed his mind (again) as to what he wants to be when he grows up. We've gone from-

-a "fixer" guy

-a zookeeper

-a taxi driver

-a chimney sweep (after seeing Mary Poppins)

-to now.......THIS guy

(riding a motorcycle on a wire with a lady in spandex hanging on DOES sound like a pretty good occupation now that I think of it.)

This next picture. I've gotta explain before I show you what was the "grand finale" at the circus. There was a cowboy section (think the Wild West) and these cowboys came running out and were juggling their hats.

When they looked up at our seats, I noticed they were all Oriental guys. Which is fine, because they seemed to be the most talented in the circus anyway, but I just couldn't wrap my mind around Asian cowboys..........THEN they must've changed costumes because here's what they came out in next

check it out....

They were these jumping guys with tassels and things that looked like flames coming off of them. Jumping back and forth on these 6 trampolines. It was cool, weird and mesmorizing all at the same time..........like a lava lamp.

All in all, it was fun. My vote is still Disney on Ice, and parts of the circus were REALLY cool, but some were just boring, loud and a little too Broadway w/o the talent.

I AM glad we went though......and so were the kids......even Aleeya.

Remember when I said......

that Iris will only eat from a bottle? And that I pump all the time? And that I LOVE my fancy shmancy pump that I've had for 5 kids? (okay, I never said that, but I thought it)

Thanks to Sally, the dog, I have to run to Target later today and buy a new nozzle thingy.

It's just a good thing I recently watched Marley and Me or I REALLY would've gotten mad.

Follow-up

So a little while ago I posted about my cinnamon roll issues and asked if anyone had recipes! And since only ONE person posted a recipe, I can assume one of two things:

1) no one CARES about my issues

2) you've all tried THIS recipe and decided it was your favorite too.

I'm going with the latter on this one.

Yesterday was my big experiment on making THESE Cinnamon Rolls.

One of my biggest beefs about "experimenting" with cinnamon roll recipes is the HUGE mess and not knowing if it'll turn out right.

Anyway, I made my usual HUGE mess and got them in the pan to rise (with the help of my ever-so-smug assistant, Emerson)

They LOOKED great, right?

Then they rose, and rose and rose, and looked even BETTER.

After cooking them here's what they looked like (one iced already)

The verdict? IT'S A WINNER!

It's super unhealthy and very rich, so each of us maybe ate one or two. The icing is INCREDIBLE and all in all, it wasn't too sweet (if you like them less sweet, put less br. sugar). It was just right. They even LOOKED good.

My neighbors, kids, Brooks' home teaching companion, and the PPI interview-ee of Brooks that night all gave them 2 thumbs WAAAAAY up.

Phew, I FINALLY can stop looking. Granted, it's a 5 and a half hour project from start to finish, so I still won't stop grabbing a few tubes of cinnamon rolls at the store for quick morning breakfasts, but if I'm going for tastes and a special occasion, I'll definitely use these.

Note: they're made with Vanilla pudding..............yummy.

Onto a few other things:

Iris LOVES spaghetti. She had it for her first time last week

and LOVED it.....but she's pretty easy to please when it
comes to food.

The rest of the pictures are the good ol' ones that happen on Sunday RIGHT before you're about to leave, and your child grabs a camera while you're pumping milk (Iris will NOT nurse anymore. She refuses. Period. And she's happy with her choice. Me? Not so much.) Anyway, I set the pump aside quickly for a few just because they were going to take the pictures whether I liked it or not. I was glad they did though. I don't have too many of me and my entertaining angels.

(I love how Aleeya is looking at the camera on this one even though it was HER idea to touch noses!)

250 ways to say I LOVE YOU

I LOVED reading over this list of fun ways to express your love........for Valentines or anytime! I think I'm going to have to try a few.............

When the kids sleep.......

THE MOM COOKS! All right, so that doesn't ALWAYS sound like the most fun, I know, but I like a good project and a challenge AND something that I can DO that STAYS done. :)

Last weekend moneysavingmom.com was hosting a Freezer Cooking Day, and challenged other moms to do the same. I LOVE having stuff in the freezer, but I'm not always an every month type of a person....but I like freezer meals on busier days or days that I want to spend their naptime doing something else then getting dinner ready.

But because of the snow and the fact that last weekend was still in January and I didn't want to take from February's budget yet, I did the challenge yesterday and today. I broke it up over two days just so I could only do it during the kids' naps and for a few hours this morning alone with Aleeya while the boys were at preschool (and princess Iris was sleeping). TRUST me, she's not as helpful as you would think.

There were a few bumps in the road, but all in all, I was glad with all that was finished.

I made:

18 lemon poppyseed muffins

18 cinnamon muffins

3 batches of banana pancakes

2 pans of lemon bars (divided into single snacks)

and 100 ready-to-bake M&M Peanut butter Monster cookies.

Let me explain.....we don't NEED 100 cookies, nor did I think it would make that much....they just kept multiplying and since it was a new recipe I had NO idea what to expect........maybe that's why they call them "Monster" cookies........

For the main meals:

(3) Homemade Sausage/Peppers Spaghetti sauce

(3) BBQ Meatballs

2 batches of pizza pockets

1 pork loin marinating for Cafe Rio tortillas

2 lbs. taco meat

(3) dinners of Saucy Meatloaves (we tried this recipe last week for the first time and EVERYONE ate it. So I had to make three)

(1) Lemonade Chicken (it was SUPPOSED to make 2, but oh well)

(2) Chicken Taco Bake

(2) 3 Bean Mexican Chili

I didn't get to the 4 Garlic Pizza doughs (can you make that plural?!?!) that I wanted to get done because naptime finished and I needed to go pick up Bronson from the bus stop. Maybe tomorrow during naps, because I look forward to trying out this new recipe!

Also, I wanted to make some sub sandwiches to throw in the freezer, but I haven't picked up the deli meat yet.

Best tip used this time?

DEFINITELY a tip my sis-in-law just told me about.....using a #10 can to put your freezer bag in, then spooning/dumping the mixture in. WOW, did that save time and clean up!......yet I STILL can't get it all in the can. :)

You can be grateful I saved you all pictures of my kitchen during cooking time though. FILTHY!

I'll leave you now with a quote from the kids:

Emerson: "I wish Sally could have babies!" (Sally is our dog)

Bronson: "She CAN'T have babies, because number one, the doctor took out her things, and number two, she isn't married."

I'm just wondering.................

WHY I don't get this treatment when I'm sick.........

Crazy weekend

We got snowed in. Yep, you heard me right. Saturday, we couldn't go ANYWHERE (and before you think that us East coasters can't handle snow, keep in mind there aren't any snow plows for all the ICY roads......and we live on a hill!)

Brooks made a snow cave for the boys!

School was even cancelled TODAY (Monday) and so was Bronson's basketball (he's HEART BROKEN). The boys have gotten to sled quite a bit as well......now I'm convinced I need to start buying snow clothes, a shovel and a SLED instead of always borrowing them!

Iris is still goopy and getting over ear infections and two top teeth coming through.....but no need to worry, nurse Sally is here!

(ever since Iris was a baby, Sally has taken her as her own. She cleans her ears and nose for us and was actually the one that let us know that Iris did have an ear infection by continued "cleaning" of Iris' ears. I'm sure you're thinking that's pretty gross, but I think it's cute they have little mother instincts in them too......Iris is just used to it by now)

Church was even cancelled on Sunday and the bishop gave permission to hold sacrament meeting in our homes! The boys were excited they didn't need shoes or ties (or hair done for that matter)

Here's Aleeya getting ready for "church"

They were so cute sitting on the couch and there definitely was a sweet spirit in the living room. Bronson gave a great talk, I also gave one, and Brooks did as well. Aleeya was the chorister, and Camden and Emerson were on prayers. I just love my sweet family.

It was a nice weekend.......except for the fact I felt SICK the whole weekend with chills, body aches, loaded cough, flu-ish stuff, etc. I walked around with my blanket on the whole day yesterday and sat by the fire when I wasn't cooking, changing kids or feeding them. It was nice though because we got in some games downstairs in front of the fire.....including the boy's new favorite boardgame, "Sorry".

Cinnamon Rolls.....the bane of my existence!

Okay, I just LOVE cinnamon rolls. Love Love Love them! Sometimes they are a little sweet for me in the morning, yes, but on Sunday dinners (we always eat breakfast for it), I just LOVE them.

(Actually my PERFECT breakfast ever would be Duncan Hines Blueberry Streusal muffins with a smoothie.......has GOT to be the Streusal kind!)
I decided to whip up a batch with a new recipe I found with whole wheat and no rise. All the comments were rather complimentary, so I gave it a go. WHY I IGNORED THE DISCLAIMER IN THE BEGINNING THAT SAID: "These are biscuit style cinnamon rolls", is beyond me. I'm sure you can guess. They turned out LOOKING great, but they were bitter and biscuit-tasting. Go figure.

I'm just SO tired of making cinnamon rolls and having them NOT turn out! I can't think of ANY other thing I make that makes a bigger mess and more dishes. So I go through ALL this work.....for a major disappointment. I've tried MULTIPLE recipes.....and some are just too crumbly (not a good match w/ kids), etc. Okay, okay, I did make ONE batch a while back with my sister's Mrs. Powell-like Cinnamon rolls that were AWESOME. But every time I've tried since then they haven't turned out (my sister's recipes consists of " a little bit of this......., and little of that until the 'right' consistency......., wait until the yeast is 'happy'", etc. You get the idea).

I like the fluffy Cinabun type cinnamon rolls (however they ARE too sweet, so I would modify the sugar a little, but it's the fluffiness I'm talking about).

DOES ANYONE HAVE A GOOD RECIPE FOR ME?!?!?!?