Cinnamon Rolls...Yum!!

I recently found a recipe for homemade cinnamon rolls. A few months ago I did the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls, very good...but very time consuming and messy!  Apparently Richard Gere has a B&B in New York and this recipe is from his menu!  Instead of making the dough, this recipe calls for frozen biscuits that are thawed and smushed together to make a rectangle of dough. 

Much quicker and easier!

Here's the recipe!

1 (25-oz.) pkg. frozen biscuits

All-purpose flour
1/4 cup (I stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons water

In the oven!

• Arrange the frozen biscuits, sides touching, in three rows of 4 biscuits on a lightly floured surface. Let stand 40 to 50 minutes or until biscuits are thawed but still cool to the touch.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Sprinkle thawed biscuits lightly with flour. Smush biscuits together to form a 10x12-in. rectangle of dough (I think I might try using a rolling pin and a little water to make the dough more uniform).
• Brush with melted butter.
• Combine sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle mixture over dough.
• Roll up tightly, starting at one long end. Pinch seam to seal. (Do not seal ends.) Cut roll into 6 (2-in.) slices (I made 12, 1in rolls and they were plenty big); place slices cut-side down, in lightly greased muffin pan (or any pan, I used round).
• Brush tops with melted butter. Using a fork, gently lift centers of rolls to form peaks.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly; 
•  Stir together powdered sugar and water, brush over rolls. (The icing is more of a glaze, but still delicious and plenty sweet)  Serve warm.

.

Delish!  I couldn't get a picture before Jared took 2!

O-R-E-O!

Yum!

Pizza Party

Saturday night we got together with some good friends for some pizza.  These good friends just happen to include Ethan's beloved Arika (babysitter) and her family and the other families who send their kids to Arika.  We decided meeting at someones house would be better than a restaurant with 3 toddler boys, so we went to Arika's house.  The weather was great and the boys had a wonderful time playing in the backyard while the adults visited and watched the kiddos.  I didn't take too many pictures, but I'll share what I have.

Jackson and Zach...the 'Big Boys' getting hosed off after playing in the creek

Braden and Ethan enjoying an evening swing

Ethan's new friend, Noah, finally geting his turn on the roller coaster

Braden and Ethan wresteling, a usual occurance I hear

It's a Dirty Job...

We (Jared) worked in the yard yesterday and, of course, Ethan was right there ready to help.  Jared split and moved several hostas.  I think we had 6 hostas when we bought the house almost 5 years ago and now we have 20 (never bought 1)!  Anyway it rained quite a bit yesterday morning, but the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day.  Even though the sun was out, you couldn't forget that it had rained, due to all the mud.  Ethan doesn't care if it's muddy, or wet, or gross.  I tried to keep him on the deck and then gave up.  He wanted in the mud, like Daddy!  After the whole day outside, we washed his crocs 4 or 5 times and changed pants 3 times.  Oh, life with a little boy!

I couldn't get him to look up

Hard work!

This is what his shoes looked like all day!

It's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!!

Ethan had such a good time seeing all the animals at the zoo yesterday, we decided to go to the local Rural King on our way home from church to check out the bunnies, chicks and ducks.  He just ran from bin to bin looking at all the little chirping  chicks and ducks and wanted to pet the bunnies.  The only way I was able to get him away from them and back to the cart was the popcorn...also a Rural King favorite.



This completely captures his excitement!


P.S.  The title is a quote from Despicable Me...such a cute movie!

Oh Saturday...what a great day!

Yesterday was a great day around here.  The weather was finally nice enough to be outside, the sun was out, and it is the weekend!  We started our day doing a little yard work in the backyard.  And Ethan had a blast helping.

Just raking...

Before lunch our neighbors, Heather and Braden came over and the boys ran like crazy around the yard playing with everything from golf clubs to sticks.  Then we all went to Krekles for some lunch and ice cream!  They even have 'baby cones' so Ethan got his very first ice cream cone all to himself, and he loved it!

Yum!

Then....after nap, we headed to the zoo!  It was the opening day and we met the Maxey's (our neighbors) there for a walk through the zoo, a train ride and a carousel ride.  The boys had a great time, especially in the petting zoo with all the goats.

Not getting too close to the baby goat

Ethan and the goat

Checking out the peacock

Ethan and Braden as a goat caretaker and a cow...

Our ride on the manatee

After a fun filled afternoon at the zoo we all went out for dinner and then home for bathtime and bed!  What a great day! 

Our Little Escape Artist

Ethan can now open doors...I'm not too excited about this new skill.  Our pantry is no longer safe.  Another, not so exciting, skill he has aquired is opening the gate on the fence outside.  I guess we'll have to get a lock.  Anyway, I snapped a couple pictures of him in action this morning...

Front door...

Back door.

 Notice the upside down basket in both instances he uses as a stool.  So ingenuitive.

All in a days work!

I was flipping through a recent Potterybarn Kids catalog when I came across this!  They are so cute and I thought to myself...'I can make those'.  So, today, I headed out to Hobby Lobby and picked up some fabric to give it a try.  The feet and legs were the trickiest parts and I almost ended up with a legless/footless owl!  I spent all of naptime, parts of the afternoon and pretty much all evening putting this thing together.  I'm not sure what I'll do with it, since it's a little girly for my 'all boy' boy, but I'm pretty proud of my 'adaptation' of the pricey Potterybarn version.

My handmade, slightly quirky owl pillow

Close-up





I might just try and make a little companion for this one...maybe that will be Wednesday's project.  But probably not, I didn't get anything else done today (except Ethan's haircut, see below).

Where did my baby go?!?

Today Ethan turns 22 months.  And we got his haircut for the 3rd time, which should have been the 4th or 5th because his hair was ridiculously long and shaggy.  Anyway, I realized as he was sitting there getting his hair cut (very well, I might add), that he is almost 2 years old and this haircut really makes him look it.  He is talking like crazy and in sentences!  His favorite sentence is probably 'I see you' or I want ______too'.  Everything we have he has to have too.  It is definitely a fun stage, until he doesn't get what he wants, but I'll spare you the tantrum details.  I'll leave you with some haircutting pictures.  Happy Monday!

Bye Bye Shaggy Do

Haircuts are exhausting.  This is on the way home.

After!  With some lunch.

Longing for warm weather...

Last week we had beautiful weather and spent a lot of time playing in the yard.  This week...not so much.  I forgot to post these when I took them, so I thought I'd 'will' warm weather to come back.  Please come back!!

Look at all my toys!

His new/used bat

Climbing the slide all by himself

March Madness...

This past weekend, we had a little March Madness of our own.  Jared was invited by an old friend from the Rolla, MO days to play in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament at his church.  Andrew and Samantha live just a little past Indy, so we made our way over on Friday afternoon and stayed the weekend.  The tournament was all day Saturday, but sadly, the guys were out earlier than they had hoped.  Ethan loved watching his daddy play 'ba-ball' and did so good this weekend.  I think he may have traumatized their dog, Gibson and he is probably still sleeping it off :).  After playing basketball all day, we watched basketball all evening, so March Madness indeed!  Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

'Team Rambo' in action!

Ethan with Samantha and Andrew just before we left

Tired boy...only 5 min after we got on the road.

Thanks Hodges for a great weekend!

Long Weekend in Salem

We headed to Salem this past weekend for some quality grandparent/aunt/uncle time. Saturday was about the only nice day so Abby, Alex, Jared and I took Ethan to the playground.  And, as usual, he was not ready to go home. 

Jared and Alex in a pretty serious game of tetherball

Ethan decided to join

Racing down the slide

Digging in the rocks

 Saturday afternoon/evening we went out to Grandma and Grandpa Collier's house.  Ethan loves to run around outside especially if the dogs are out running too. 

Hank and Ethan

  Ethan and I stayed Sunday night and on Monday, I had the privilege to do some wedding planning with Abby and my mom.  We went to Centralia to pick out decorations for the reception...what fun!  Everything will be beautiful and I'm looking forward to it!