Friday, December 17, 2010

We did it!

I am happy to report that we were successful in making Pioneer Woman’s famous homemade cinnamon rolls.  Do you know who the Pioneer Woman is?  If not, you must check out her site!  Especially her cooking site.  I am hoping Santa brings her cookbook to me for Christmas!   

So, back to the cinnamon rolls.  All I can say is they are TO.DIE.FOR!  I have wanted to make them for quite some time.  But, finding time or making time for them was the trick. 

We made the dough last night and stuck it in the fridge.  It takes about 2 hours to make the dough so we decided to finish them this morning.

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Roll out the dough…

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LOTS of butter, sugar, and cinnamon!  The second batch was a little more messy than the first.  Marla suggested melting the butter and adding the sugar to the butter before pouring it onto the dough.  It worked great and even though this picture looks messy, I can’t imagine what it would be like if we didn’t do that.  Thanks Marla!

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Let them rise a bit before sticking them in the oven…(It made 8 pans!)

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The final product…

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PURE yummyness!  I think I could have eaten the whole pan.  But, I have only eaten 3 today.  But who is counting?

After making our cinnamon rolls, we headed to Bass Pro so Hayden could talk with Santa!  Time was running out and we wanted to make sure that Santa knew everything he was wishing for this year. 

Waiting our turn…

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We waited less than 10 minutes.  (MUCH less than last year!) I have to admit I was quite nervous.  I had no idea how Hayden would react to Santa.  It didn’t help that pretty much every kid in line in front of us cried when they saw Santa.  Poor Santa…I hope he doesn’t take it personally! 

Here goes…

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Having a little chat…

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Success!

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I think the Santa scenery at Bass Pro is beautiful.  The wait (or lack there of) was wonderful!  You get a free 4x6 picture.  And, the boys in our family love them some Bass Pro!  I do wish the picture was a little more close up, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons in our book!

After our picture, we had to explore a bit.  We actually walked out of there not spending a dime. 

Checking things out…

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Loving on his Daddy…

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After our visit to BPS, we went to Primos next door for a yummy lunch.  We had not eaten there before and we loved it!  We will definitely be going back!

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And for fun…Check out last year’s picture.  Our baby boy isn’t a “baby” any more! 

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Thursday, December 16, 2010

Playdate Christmas Party Fun!

Yesterday Hayden hosted his first Christmas party with a few of his friends. 

DSC_0328 We had so much together!  We were missing a few due to work and illness, but hopefully we can get together again soon!  We ended up having 5 mommas and 7 babies!

They played…

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They tackled each other…

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They waited patiently for their food…

DSC_0288   DSC_0291DSC_0293 Ate some yummy food…

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Read a few books…

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Took family photos…

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Did a book exchange…

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Played some more…

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Loved on Grace…

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Made some cookies…

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Played outside…

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Enjoyed the cookies the girls made…

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And took naps!

Thank you all so much for coming!  We had so much fun and can’t wait to play again soon!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Catching Up

I finally have a chance to catch up after being MIA on the blog for a week.  I am so sorry for all you loyal followers.  We have been BUSY around here at the Smith house!  I have not been on my computer more than about 15 minutes in the past week if that tells you anything!

So, what have we been up to? 

Cleaning, organizing, decorating, painting furniture, having a girls night, shopping, decorating some more, and having a super fun play date!

As I told you on the last post, Jen came in town last week.  She has helped me so much this past week get our house whipped into shape!  Thank goodness!  It was about to make me crazy!  (Jeff might argue that I am already crazy.)  I couldn’t wait for her to get here so she could help me make some decorating decisions! 

Here’s a sneak peek…

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Lisa, does that top plate look familiar?  I have always treasured that plate and bowl I got from you.  What was that, 7 years ago?

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Remember that $10 Good Samaritan chest I got?

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DSC_0372 I can’t wait to do our full house tour, but I have a few more projects to complete beforehand!  I promise, it will be soon!