A Year ago, Then and Now

Someone asked me a while back about the picture and title I had on my side bar, "From 1-3 in 3 weeks". These are our 3 grandkids, and Kyrie is 3, her brother Trey and cousin Jessi just turned one. Our daughters are keeping up with my side of family tradition in having babies very close in age! (Another post, another time!!) Last year I kept the road a little hot between here, Sidney & Fargo! I had been to Sidney for several days in Lynisha's last month of pregnancy to help her with some things & keep her company, as we all know how the last weeks can crawl! I came home on Friday Jan 19, and with a predicted snowstorm and Dalayna's baby due within a week, it seemed rather prudent that I head up there, so on Saturday a.m. Jan 20 I left on the 9 hr trip to Fargo by myself. We had several days of leisure and walking the stairs & halls before baby girl Jessi arrived on the 25th of Jan. I stayed a week with them, headed home on Fri Feb 2, spent the night with some friends in Iowa, got home on the 3rd, was home a week, and on Monday Feb 12 Lynisha called me & said she thought she was in labor. I headed back out there (3 hr drive), and as it turned out it was false alarm, but feeling like it was going to start up any time again, I stayed the week, and baby boy Trey arrive Feb 17, just a little over 3 weeks after Jessi. I stayed a week with Lynisha to help her out, and then headed home. Thus was my Jan. and Feb last year! This year is a little more calm... well, except for the first birthday party, which I will be posting pictures of soon!!

Did you ever wonder...???

What big families were like?
What they did for entertainment?
Why I retreat to my computer for blogging company of ADULTS?
Why 2 of my daughters got married quite young?
Why the older kids don't come home very often? (lol!)
Why I hesitate to have company for meals?
Why you don't see pictures of my "middle" kids on here?
Well, This should give you a good idea of why! Here they are in their "best form", going strong. Tonight it was pick on Relyssa night, and those two boys can about rival the funny video below.
By the way, it's not really like this every night at Dinner...THANK GOODNESS!
(A reminder here, sorry about the quality of the photos--no new camera yet, but hey, it matches the quality of their table manners!)

Gearing up for the weekend!

A good walk in the morning is a great way to energize you for your day! (If I keep telling myself this long enough, I really WILL believe it!) It did work today anyway, it was a little warmer, so that helped. Yesterday I had to walk in circles inside my house, and that was exercise, but it's really the good fresh air that energizes me. Now that I have a walking partner (my S-I-L, who just moved here from Montana to be with her mom) it makes it easier for me to walk, as I don't do it by myself. To be honest, I do have several others I could walk with, however it means either me going across town to them, or them driving over here to me, so it's not as convenient as someone 6 blocks away. The tower in the picture above is at a new park about a mile from here. That's where we usually head to walk, they have great walking paths, and this morning we went to the top of the tower also. The hawk was sitting there, and I got a quick picture before he took off at our intrusion.
This morning I looked out my back window and discovered Ryan had gotten home sometime after I'd went to bed last night. When I went downstairs to check bathroom & Laundry & bedrooms, peeking in Relyssa's room I see a blond head in one of the beds there. WHAT? I thought the girls all went to school today, It took a moment to realize that it was Kayleen, Ryan's girlfriend, not one of my girls who had went out the front door, snuck back in the basement door & went back to bed :*)
So, I'm on with my day here... there's "hot spots" to put out, menu's to plan, groceries to buy & beds to make. Today's also our Thurs. "Scrap-gals" lunch, so maybe I should get my work done first?

Today its...

Blue sky and Sunshine!

YUMMY!

The last time I made these I made a couple of the pans with cream cheese and fruit instead of the cinnamon. Soften your cream cheese, spread on your layer, add a fruit filling (I used a strawberry spread that I had, and an apricot on another)
and do them the same way. They are a little "messier", but WOW GOOD!!
Frost these using a powdered sugar glaze.
I love making cinnamon rolls, and have tried several recipes over the years, but I think these are my top favorite (for now at least!)

TWIST CINNAMON ROLLS WITH CARAMEL ICING

2 c. scalded milk
2 c. warm water
4 pkg. yeast
1/2 lb margarine/butter
4 eggs beaten
12-13 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 t. nutmeg
Place yeast in bowl, add 2 c. warm water and sprinkle 2 t. sugar over top. Stir slightly. Scald milk with approx. 1/3 c. of the sugar. Place margarine in bowl and pour hot milk over it to melt. Stir. Cool slightly, add salt, beaten eggs and 2/3 c. sugar mixed with nutmeg. Also add yeast mixture. Stir in approx 12-13 c. flour. Knead. Keep dough quite sticky. Leg rise till double. Grease 4 pizza pans and set aside. Divide dough into 12 equal parts. Roll out one part to fit in a pizza pan--spread dough with butter/margarine and sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. Do this two more times. You will have 3 layers of dough on each pan. Place a glass in the middle of the pan as a guideline, and cut 1 1/2 inch pie wedges to the rim of the glass. Pick up a pie wedge and give it a couple of twists then lay down again. Do this all around the pan. Let rise and bake at 325* for 20-25 min. Turn rolls out of pans and turn right side up to cool. While hot, ice with caramel icing.

CARAMEL ICING
1/2 lb margarine/butter
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. milk or cream
Boil until smooth. Add 3 1/2 c. powdered sugar while warm and beat well.

It's a SNOW day!

From other blogs I could see that many others around the country got dumped on last week. We didn't get any here, but today it finally started snowing again, and this morning after the first school call that told us it was a 2 hr late start, an hour later we got a call that they cancelled for the day. Of course my 6 yr old was QUITE dismayed! She HATES missing school, and sees no reason for not being able to go! The 16 & 14 year olds didn't have that problem, when they were told, they just grunted & pulled the covers over their heads~
Looks to me like it's a good day for the fire place & bread baking!

Update on our day... How some of us are spending it!
I'm not sure whether it's a kid or a blob-
The wind's came up & the snow's a blowin', but that doesn't stop the kids from wanting to be out in it!
Me however, I'll stay inside, do my baking & enjoy the results with my coffee!

Hiding out

Electronic games are a scarcity at our house, and the one game-boy (a very old one) is in hot demand if it is visible. Today when I was trying to get the kids to do their after-school chores, Kaela was not in sight, and putting some things away in our room, I spotted her around the corner in our bathroom, perched on the ledge behind our tub. Too bad, you're found out, but it was a nice quiet spot while it lasted!!