Cinnamon Rolls

Yesterday evening we went to grab a few groceries at Walmart. Elina was being such a good helper by taking bags of frozen things into the basement and putting them in the freezer. But I was a little worried that she might forget a bag or forget to close the freezer lid, so I went down just before bath time and checked. Everything looked good...til this morning. I found a bag of Rhodes rolls (72 count!) that I forgot to put in the freezer!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! That bag apparently had an amazing seal, because it was very full of air and yeast! And I couldn't very well through away a $7 bag of dough. So what you ask is a woman to do...make cinnamon rolls!
This is the picture right before I started cutting them up to bake. Mind you by this time my kids are FREAKING out! They haven't had breakfast, gone potty, or gotten dressed. None of our morning routine because I was so focused on getting this dough baked and not wasted.
Unfortunately things were way to hectic to take a picture of the finished product. But my neighbors can attest to how delicious they were. I choose to give all but the ones we ate for breakfast away, because the more you eat the less I do! And let my tell you, in all of my 25 years of baking I have never made such yummy cinnamon rolls. We got 2 dozen very large, very gooey amazing cinnamon rolls. And topped it off with cream cheese frosting of course. I just might have to leave out a bag of frozen rhodes rolls every time I feel in the mood for cinnamon rolls from now on.

Garden of the Gods

Sunday afternoon we packed a picnic dinner and headed up to the Garden of the Gods State Park here in the Springs. Keira put it very well on her facebook "Garden of the Gods is a natural red rock formation in Colorado, and you can walk around and some people rock climb, but its just really peaceful and beautiful :)" I grew up camping at Red Rock Canyon just outside of Las Vegas, so taking my kids here is very special to me.





In this picture Noah is adamant that he is ok to go by himself. Luckily Keira was insistent that he needed help! Because there was about a 4 ft. drop off the other side.







I love this pic of Elina! Like I SOOOO see it going in her wedding slideshow some day!







Awesome way for the kiddos to get all their wiggles out. They slept so good that night, and went to bed very easy!



These pictures are of "kissing rock" formation. And the last shot is Elina appearing very embarrassed when we told her to imagine she was kissing Troy Bolton for the picture!

Best Helper

Elina was the biggest help tonight with everything. I am so proud of her and I just need to brag on my blog tonight, it bring tears to my eyes just getting started. It started with her getting a bag of rice and a can of cream of chicken soup from the pantry for me. See our cansolidator shelves and the bulk of our food is in the storage half of my basement. And it is Elina's new "trick" to be able to undo the latch on that door and get my "order" for what I might need to cook that meal. And she is especially proud when she is able to sound out words and sounds from the letters on the cans she doesn't recognize by sight. Then she measured the water, sprinkled the salt, pepper and onion powder on the rice and soup mixture, topped it off with the chicken and cheese and even went so far as insisting that she put it in the oven. After the timer was set we went to work in her messy room. She did the bookshelf while I put the babies toys back on the shelf. And then we went to work on the overflowing drawers. See, Colorado Springs can't decide whether it wants to be cold or warm for these past few weeks. On cold days we use the jeans and hoodies from winter and on warm days we have been pulling out the new summer clothes. So the drawers have become stuffed with too much good stuff. And Elina helped me fix that and with such a good attitude. I went through Lydia and her drawers and pulled out the winter clothes. While Elina went through the old navy box that has been accumulating all the new summer clothes. And she made a pile each for herself, brother and sister and of course was glad to put them all away. At dinner she (and Lydia) CHOWED on chicken and rice casserole and green beans and even had seconds. Noah was having a meltdown about not being able to watch the "whole thing of Hercules and see him become a true hero!" (his words exactly, I swear!) After clearing the table Elina quickly jumped in her jammies and offered to help with the baby while I was fighting, I mean helping, Noah with his. Next thing I know I find Elina helping Lydia sit on the toilet to go potty before bed. Quickly followed by a new diaper (including Desitin) and a wrestling match ensues between the one year old and her jammies! LOL, don't worry...Mommy won! Last great deed of the night for the five year old: holding the story book open for me so that I could hold both little kids, one on each leg to avoid all contact between the two, while I read 101 Dalmations. AMAZING! She really made all the difference in the mood of our family tonight and I am so proud of her! I even slipped her a piece of chocolate from my stash for her to eat in bed and made sure to give her lots of praise. Lets pray, hope, beg, bribe, whatever you want to call it, that this wonderful child decides to frequent my home more often!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Awesome day at the zoo with some of our favorite Chandlers! I'll let the pictures do the talking!

Avatar The Last Airbender

So Noah lost a fight with a pair of scissors...MY WORST NIGHTMARE! Actually it's not that bad because it didn't happen to one of my girls. Boys are ok to have really short hair right? And I swear the scissors were put away in the back of my closed makeup drawer. Anyways, the kid put them flat on the very top of his head and cut out a silver dollar size hole. It looked like he had male pattern baldness. And yes, you are all guessing it, he now rocks an extremely short buzz cut that the lady did to "fix" it. Halfway through the haircut (buzzed to the skin on top and front and a good inch long around the side of his head) she holds up the mirror and shows him. Noah got a very ugly face and said he didn't like that lady's hair cut at which point I explained to him that she was just fixing the hole he cut in his hair. Lets just say that showing the mirror halfway was very good at influencing him to not cut his own hair again so hopefully this will be problem solved. I am sure this is all humorous and familiar to you all that have raised children. But the sad part is that Noah is very conscious and even embarrassed about his lack of hair. And Kylee and I have been doing our best to encourage him and remind him how handsome he is even without hair. The real trick came when we told him he looked just like Avatar The Last Airbender and showed him the trailers.

Now he thinks it is the coolest haircut around! And he has to carry around a stick so he can do motions that he saw in the trailer and the "whoosh" sound effect to play with. And what, you might ask, is the closest thing to a "stick" in my house?

Yes, that is my mop. My heart is happy to have two problems solved tonight! A "fixed" haircut and a son with regained confidence in himself!

Converse Family

These pictures are for you Uncle Wade! Because in the words of Elina "We are a converse family just like the Chandlers!"

Bath Tub

This is what happens when you think you are being smarter than your kids by getting the baby out and jammied first so she won't pee on your carpet while you are helping the two big kids get jammied.

On the way to Iraq

This amazing photo of my husband was taken in Bangor Maine by a Ms. Lynne Tower. Maine is one of the big stopping points for the flights in and out of Kuwait. And they have lots of welcoming people that go around and take photos and then post them online. So thank you Ms. Tower for capturing my soldier so perfectly!

Movies, movies, movies!

Holy movie splurge!! In the month of March I bought:

The Blind Side

Princess and the Frog

AstroBoy

Tarzan

Sherlock Holmes

Hercules

Snow White

High School Musical 2

Are you kidding me? I am the biggest Redbox fan in the world. And here I am buying everything instead? I guess it is just another coping mechanism. That or a really good excuse to indulge in "things-that-will-distract" while Jason is deployed!

Sour Grapes

A few weeks ago we bought some grapes from Costco. And oh my goodness! They were SO sour, we couldn't even eat them. So Kylee got a game going of Chubby Bunny! And we had a blast! Just for the record: Jason fit 30! Kylee did 20! and Elina mastered 7! and this mommy didn't even try...to many years of being pregnant has seriously heightened my gag reflex! And you had to spit out the grapes when you were done because they were THAT SOUR!

Today

This week at home has been very hard on my kids. We spent our Spring Break at my mom's house in Cabot Arkansas. And that was the perfect distraction for my kids to not be focused on their dad leaving. But I think only Elina really understands what Daddy being in Iraq means. Noah is so whiney and prone to crying. This week he has been constantly on the verge on tears. It is really driving me nuts! I try oh so very hard to be patient once I remember that the whininess is because of Jason being deployed. But that is a hard feat at 1am and he is screaming "I need you Mommy or Don't leave me" Noah never tells me "I miss Daddy or I am sad because Daddy is gone". Noah is very confused with the meaning of "Iraq". So a few days ago I switched to saying that daddy is going to be at work for a long time. Well, what is a long time to a three year old? A week...two? And I am sure Lydia doesn't have a clue that she will not see her dad for a year. I would imagine that infants and toddlers do not have time recognitions like a five year old would. She just screams "DAD!" at every picture she sees of him!

On a happier note: I just picked up the new family picture we had made before he left. And I am more than pleased with how good they turned out! Here is a preview: