Christmas Day!

Presley was the first one up and came into our room about 7:40. Yeah for sleeping late! I just got up and was going to turn on the tree lights when she walked into the room. She still had not realized Santa had come. We went to wake Brooke up and then went to see what Santa had brought. They were excited about the four wheelers but I think the horses were a bigger hit. Brooke was gathering the horses she wanted and placed them by her four wheeler. They went to see if Santa ate his cookies and he did and he left a note. I adore watching the excitement and joy on their faces. Christmas truly is a children's holiday. My heart was so full of love for my girls on Christmas morning. They were just precious.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

Christmas Play Date

We had a play date with Aleck and Ella. The girls love to watch over Ella, sometimes a little too much. Brooke follows her every move and loves to pick her up. It was a little annoying until the newness wore off. Then they went off to play with Aleck and left Ella alone. I got some great pictures of all of them in front of the Christmas tree. Aleck loves to dress up and I meant to show him the spiderman costume and forgot. I think he prefers the princess outfit when he is at our house. And of course Brooke had to be the super hero, too funny how it all works out when children get together and play. It was a great day and I had forgotten how much fun we use to have with our play dates before the girls started going to school every day. The girls were even more excited when I told them they would be going over to Aleck's house after nap time. Thanks Brenda for letting me get my grocery shopping done. It means a lot to me.

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls!

I made Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls this year to deliver to friends. The girls were a big help and loved rolling out the dough but loved eating the sugar more.. These are hands down the best cinnamon rolls ever. I think this will be my tradition every year. I will definitely have to be on a diet before I begin making these awesome rolls because I have eaten five cinnamon rolls to date. My jeans are already tighter. Can you guess what my New Year's Resolution will be? I have made sixteen pans of cinnamon rolls. The recipe makes eight round pans of eight cinnamon rolls. Mmm good!

 I have included her recipe. I promise if you make these you will not be dissappointed. Even better if you buy her cookbook she has pictures for each step while making the cinnamon rolls. It is fail proof. I started following her blog for her photography and am now hooked on her cooking as well as her new novel that is about to come out. She is an amazing writer. You too will fall in love with her. Go visit her website and browse around.

Ingredients

■1 quart Whole Milk

■1 cup Vegetable Oil

■1 cup Sugar

■2 packages Active Dry Yeast

■8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour

■1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder

■1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda

■1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt

■Plenty Of Melted Butter

■2 cups Sugar

■Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon

■_____

■MAPLE FROSTING:

■1 bag Powdered Sugar

■2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring

■½ cups Milk

■¼ cups Melted Butter

■¼ cups Brewed Coffee

■⅛ teaspoons Salt

Preparation Instructions

Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 400 degrees (see note below) until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don’t skimp on the frosting.

Note: My rolls don’t work for me at 400 degrees anymore. I now bake them at 375 degrees.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Christmas tree pictures were so funny this year. Presley can't seem to show a real smile. It is a fake smile every time she smiles. I finally asked her to put her lips together but that was still fake looking. It just made me laugh. Brooke couldn't be still she kept moving her body and her head all around. She seems to always want her chin up. Funny times in front of the Christmas tree!

Christmas Fun!

After the Eddie Coker show we went to the Mathis home to trade Christmas gifts and I took this picture of the kids. I think this is the best picture I have taken where they are all looking at me and smiling good smiles not fake smiles. Man, I love these kids.

Fun With Eddie Coker

We went to see a  childrens singer song writer Eddie Coker on Saturday at The Kessler. I highly recommend seeing him if you get the chance. He was great! He kept the kids entertained by pulling people from the audience to come on stage. Had people sing and dance. He would come out into the audience. He was just pure good clean fun. The girls had a blast. Clay was called up on the stage and he was so darn cute. Alan also was on the stage with a few other dads and Eddie had them doing some crazy things that kept the kids thoroughly mesmerized. It was a great day and so much fun to spend it with Clay and Josh. Thanks Rita for letting me know about Eddie Coker. We even bought one of his CD to learn all his songs. A little music to remind us of our fun day.

If you haven't been to The Kessler  .  It is a great place to see a show. All the proceeds of that day went to the March of Dimes. So we had fun and added to a great cause.

Christmas Program

The Christmas Program was such a sweet treat of a child's gift of learning.  It was precious to see their smiling faces as they sang the Christmas songs they had practiced for so long. The girls would tell me it was a secret and they couldn't tell me what they were practicing. It definitely was a surprise to see how outgoing and vibrant my two girls were while they sang. I had not seen that side of them and was so proud of them. They were two cute little reindeers. Presley's antlers wouldn't stay on so she held them on her head for most of the song. Brooke really got into the singing and was so animated with her hands. She gets that from daddy. He talks with his hands most of the time.

The preschool performed Reindeer Pokey, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Over The River. At the end everyone sang There Was a Little Baby, and We wish You a Merry Christmas.

This was the opening Prayer before the show began:

Watch over your children, O Lord,

as their days increase;

bless and guide them wherever they may be,

keeping them unspotted from the world.

Strengthen them when they stand,

comfort them when discouraged or sorrowful;

Raise them up if they fall,

and in their hearts may your peace

which passes all understanding

abide all the days of their lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I wish I would have gotten better pictures but for some reason I couldn't get my setting right on my camera and ended up shooting on automatic. Things moved too quickly to mess with my camera. It was too dark in the parish hall I think my next purchase for my camera will be an external flash.

The girls are out for Christmas break and on to entertaining their little minds for the next two weeks. They are really excited about Santa and love looking for Evan the Elf every morning. This is what having kids is all about the joys of Christmas is the best part of raising children. But lets not forget the real reason for Chistmas, Jesus Christ a Saviour is born. I keep telling the girls we will  sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and will make him a birthday cake. They love to sing Happy Birthday and are so excited for the cake part. It makes my heart happy.