Clear Your Dishes Update

I'm gonna get real here folks.  Remember this guy?

Um . . . EPIC FAIL!!!! The whole point was for them to remember to clear there dishes without having to be reminded. I'm still having to remind them EVERY SINGLE MEAL!!  I'm going crazy! Any suggestions as to what to do! I don't feel like it's a complicated thing to do. My latest thought is to maybe have an M & M jar and every time they clear their dishes they get an M & M. What do you think?

Me & Mr. Cassidy

I just found this music video and LOVED it!  I LOVE their sound! I may totally be slow to discovering them so if this is old news than please move on, but if not then definitely give them a listen. 

Wordless Wednesday-Zumbatomic

Disclaimer: This is my first time linking up to another blog so I have NO idea what I'm doing but here goes nothing!

Today the kids got to dance for the YMCA's invest in youth dinner.  It was a pretty big to do and I know I should have taken more pictures of my older kids, but this little one really stole the show.  Here she is getting pumped up before the performance.

Ice cream . . . free of charge, courtesy of the YMCA!

I linked this post to http://mamato3blessings.blogspot.com

Last Baking Class - One Hour Cinnamon Rolls

I am so mad at myself for not taking pictures of our last cooking class. It was a whirlwind of a class though so I am not beating myself up about it too much. And don't let the lack of picture stop you from making these rolls! We made a double batch of this dough and if I had paid more attention to the recipe I would have realized that one batch makes a TON of rolls. Oh well!  It fed the masses that came to visit our house for the weekend. Anyhow, these rolls are super tasty and really take such a small amount of time to make. I recommend when you split the dough in half to make one half of the down cinnamon and the other half orange. So worth it! YUM!!!

One Hour Cinnamon Rolls

Mix and let sit for 15 minutes:

3 1/2 c. warm water

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. oil

6 T. yeast (4 1/2 Saf-Instant)

 Then add:

1 T. salt

3 eggs

10 1/2 c. flour 

Mix together for 10 minutes, then sit for 10 minutes. Oil cupboard, dump out dough. Divide in half. Roll one half out into rectangle. Spread with ¼ c. melted butter and then with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Roll up tight, but not too tight. Divide into 12 rolls and place on greased cookie sheet. Repeat with other half of dough. Let rise. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 400.

Cinnamon-Sugar

1c. sugar

1 T. cinnamon 

Frosting

1 cube butter

2 dashes salt

2 t. vanilla

6 c. powdered sugar

milk

Orange Rolls: Add the juice of 1 orange and the zest to the filling. Add orange juice

to regular frosting

Chocolate Rolls: Add baking cocoa and a few drops of water to regular frosting

Cream cheese Rolls: Add cream cheese to regular frostin

What's Your Escape?

What is your escape during stressful times? This is mine . . . DOVE dark chocolate.  Not milk chocolate and definitely not Hershey's! Hershey's is far too grainy. It has to be dark and it HAS to be DOVE. I know it's probably wrong to turn to a food when I'm stressed, but come on! A girls got to do what a girls got to do. In a perfect world I would turn to Zumba or Hot Hula which I do do 6 days a week, but who has the time to drop everything when something comes up to go and do that.  Case and point . . . we put in an offer on a house. It's a 1940's house with charm and character. However it's at the top of our budget. Tomorrow is the inspection and if he find's anything major wrong with the house we're pulling the plug. So all day I've been stressing. So what do I do . . . pop one of these little beauty's in my mouth. It's smooth and creamy and for a moment I feel all of my cares wash away. Even if it's for just a moment its enough of a moment to provide some relief and then I can go on with my day.

So what's your escape?

St.Patricks Day

Here's the table scape for our St. Patricks Day dinner.

Pretty much everything on the table is from the dollar store, minus the silverware.  Gotta love the dollar store!

WARNING!!! When dying all your food green wear gloves or be prepared to look like your changing into the Hulk.

We had sort of a strange array of food this year. 

Green waffles . . .

Four leaf clover pasta (this wasn't planned, but I found it at World Market and HAD to pick it up) . . .

and green hash browns.

Every year I do this for the kids and every year the kids act surprised and LOVE it!

 After dinner I told the kids to go upstairs while the hubby and me made the treat. This little one didn't want to go.  She wanted to watch. This is her impatiently waiting for her mint milkshake.

Here's the shake!  Mmmm.... with rainbow sprinkles!

Happy St.Patricks Day everyone! May your upcoming week be full of good luck!

They Say It's Your Birthday!

Today we got to celebrate this cutie's birthday. We got to go to the zoo. We were worried that we would get rained out cause there was a 90% chance of rain, but we totally lucked out!

Isn't she SUPER cute?!

First off we met up with the cousins at the penguin place.  This heron was hanging out amongst the penguins.

And this is probably why . . . FEEDING TIME!!!  We again were SUPER lucky cause we were able to see the penguins feeding time.  Did you know that all the penguins have names and that guy knows them all?  I sure didn't!

 Piglet was a little apprehensive about the animals, but quickly warmed up.

 Look how pretty this kitty is.

 One of my favorite parts was seeing the lion cubs. This is Piglet watching them play.

 They were so active and cute.  Look at that mama kitty.  She just paced back and forth watching over her cubs.

 Awww . . .  LOVE!

 This little boy was so sweet! He wanted nothing more than to be right next to Porkchop most of the time.  Look at him watching him.  It makes me almost want to have another baby so Porkchop could maybe have a little brother . . . but only almost!

 Here's Piglet being apprehensive again but this time about the elephants.  

 These kids had such a great time despite the colder temps and wind.

 I am totally loving being close to family now so they get to have these fun experiences with cousins.

 These are the hippos.  This is how I look and feel most days.

 The kids were a little bummed that the petting portion of the zoo wasn't open yet, but they still got to get up and close to a cow, chickens and goats.

 For some reason this was Piglets favorite animal, the flamingos. 

 To finish our zoo experience we went to this awesome indoor park and just let the kids run and explore.

 They even had animal shaped blocks for the littles.

 I think they all had a GREAT time.  They slept all the way home.  In fact, to let them sleep longer, my hubby dropped me off at 2 separate stores while he continued to drive around the parking lot. Worked like a charm!