Cinnamon rolls- perfected

I have fond memories of visiting T.J. Cinnamons in Wichita when I was little. On special occasions, my mom would take us to indulge in the perfect cinnamon roll. What a treat! But one sad day T.J. Cinnamons closed, and no roll has compared since. Some say Cinnabon makes a good roll, but I disagree. It's no surprise that over the years, I've attempted several different cinnamon roll recipes in search of the perfect one... soft dough, gooey filling and just the right amount of frosting -  but those recipes have always fallen short. While sifting through my many issues of Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines this weekend, Rob and I came across one that stood out... Cook's Country's Ultimate Cinnamon Bun. How had we overlooked this before? So while most people spent their Memorial Day Monday at the beach or at a BBQ, we made rolls. Due to a busy day that even included a trip to the Urgent Care (ear infection for Claire), we didn't get around to taste testing until about 7pm. Rob found a reason to eat two within about 15 minutes. The entire recipe makes 8 cinnamon rolls, so you can imagine their size- reminiscent of T.J. Cinnamon's. This recipe will be one for the Z-kitchen archives. If you're lucky, we'll make them for you when you visit. :)

 

Morning mayhem

Little Claire has become quite the early bird- awaking at 5am, sometimes 4am. This does not bode well with Lilly nor Rob nor me, as we would prefer to sleep until at least 6:30!

Claire is able to escape her crib and prowl the house without so much as a peep- just the quiet creek of her bedroom door. 

Yesterday I heard her escape her room around 5am, and then I didn't hear much from her at all for about 10 minutes- it was eerily quiet in the house, so my suspicions arose.  Upon investigation I found her in Lilly's room. Lights were on, Claire was busy and Lilly was still sound asleep in her bed. I tried to quietly coax Claire away from the hanging tent that encases Lilly's play kitchen, but Claire was insistent on staying. "Eggs" she asked, "mas eggs?" I peeled back the curtain that hid the kitchen only to find eggs, the real eggs that were supposed to be in the real refrigerator in the real kitchen. Instead, Claire had cracked them all over Lilly's play stove and was pretending to make breakfast. I gasped in horror as I saw egg white goop down the side of the stove and egg yolk spread all over the carpet. Claire was all smiles and very proud of her breakfast creation. The only good thing was only 4 eggs were left in the 18 pack to begin with. Does anyone know how to remove egg from carpet?

And then this morning... same type of situation. At 6am Lilly ran to our room in an uproar, "Mom, Claire has beans all over the kitchen- the beans you use for banana bread." My mind was racing...Beans and banana bread? Oh geez, Lilly meant flax seed. Claire had taken it upon herself to unload an entire 1 quart ziploc of flax seed all over the kitchen. I turned to Rob and said, "Your turn to clean."

Needless to say, Rob is now at Lowes investigating ways to lock the fridge, we will utilize the lock on the pantry door tonight, and we will seal up anything else that could become Claire's next victim. 

Claire, please learn to sleep until at least 6:30! 

Mas!!!

Mas! 

Mas bubbles, mas orange juice, mas Elmo, mas mas mas! 

Mas means more in Spanish, and "mas" is Claire's favorite word. It's not that the little one is bilingual, she's just taken a liking to "mas." At childcare she hears Spanish and English, so to her "mas" is part of the daily routine.

After we finish reading stories, Claire says, "mas!" After she finishes her morning orange juice, Claire says, "mas!" She has us trained... when we want to know if she wants more of anything, we find ourselves saying, "Mas?" She responds, and we all get along. It's too cute to hear Claire say her favorite word- even Lilly is in on the game.

Lovely girls

Back in April my friend Heather took pictures of the girls... say no more, we know they're cute. Here are a few of my favorites...

Claire is obsessed with bubbles these days...

Lilly was a bit more cooperative for photos...

Claire's new room

We decided to move Claire to a larger room- one that is closer to her sister. After months of deliberation on what in the world to do, I finally came up with a plan- thanks in large part to my mom who always has a watchful eye and thoughtful suggestions for all things decorating. For about the past 3 weeks, Claire has taken it upon herself to climb out of her crib, so a move to a new room is timely. We will order a bunk bed for the room and will post more photos once it arrives. For now, I will walk you through the beginning stages of the room makeover process.
Step One: Paint room.

Here is how the guest room looked before. It was also known as "Nana's room" since Nana stayed in this room every time she would visit. And on the off weeks Nana wasn't here, it was really a giant play room for Lilly, Claire and their toys. And then the other night, Claire took a bottle of Hershey's syrup out of the fridge and dumped it all over the duvet. Nice.

Here's the start... after the walls were primed, blue paint was applied.

 Then the walls were tarped, a tape edge was created (took several hours argh!), and pink paint was applied to the the TEN FOOT ceiling and tops of the walls. Neck pain!

 When the girls came home, they ran to see what I'd accomplished during the day. All of the tarps were hanging on the walls and Lilly exclaimed, "The waterfalls are beautiful."

To Lilly and Claire, the plastic tarps were waterfalls streaming from the walls- water everywhere, and needless to say, the girls were quite disappointed when I took them down. The parent in me kicked in and determined I'd better avoid suffocation hazards. Last night Rob helped me paint the white stripe that separates the pink from the blue...

So here's the room so far... 

 There's quite a bit more to do, but we're off to a great start!

Preschool Graduation

It's hard to believe, but it's the end of Lilly's first year of preschool. On her last day of school, the class celebrated with a graduation ceremony of sorts and a water day party. Here's pig-tail Lilly receiving her diploma from her teacher. Pig tails are her favorite hairstyle these days.

They also celebrated all of the summer birthdays, and Miss Lilly was one of the lucky summer celebrators.

Here's to a great first year of school! Lilly will continue preschool next fall and await the big move to kindergarten one year from now. Time flies!

Star Spangled Dreams....

Tonight's bedtime routine was typical... Claire went down without a hitch, and Lilly required her 45 minute routine. We read stories- several of them, I turned out the light, and proceeded to say prayers and sing songs. Each night our songs usually depend on which stories we read- I make them up as I go, and this seems to amuse Lilly quite a bit. The songs are usually funny and goofy while following the general story line. Tonight we read Bible stories, so Lilly requested a song about Jonah and the whale and one about Joseph and his coat. So, I made them up! Inevitably, when the songs end, Lilly tries to con me into singing more. Tonight I told her Dad would sing her a song when he got home from the airport- he is on a business trip and should be home soon. Lilly frowned and then revealed a secret that has eluded me for weeks, it seems. Lilly said, "Dad will just sing the Star Spangled Banner." I thought she was kidding but at the same time wondered how a 3-year-old would know the Star Spangled Banner. I began to sing the tune, and she confirmed it was indeed the song Dad sings at night. So, now the truth is out... Rob is prepping Lilly for a life of patriotism- either that or I need to teach him how to make up a tune or two.

Preschool Mother's Day Celebration

Earlier this week, Lilly came home from preschool with an invitation to a "Sippin' Soda Mother's Day Party." And this morning she was super excited for the celebration. 

We started the morning with the entire class singing songs to their moms. Next we began crafts- "I love you" bouquets- Lilly's hand and mine in the sign language form for "I love you" (not to be confused with the UT Longhorn hand symbol.) Here's Lilly cutting out the leaves for the "flowers." (I may have to put this in my office at work.) She's a pro at using scissors- she's come a long way since the beginning of the school year.

Here's the finished bouquet...

Next we sipped root beer floats. Lilly thought the root beer was "too spicy" and opted for plain ice cream.

Here are a few photos of Lilly's entire preschool class and teacher.

Yep, that's my Lilly with the pretty face!
Happy Mother's Day, everyone!!

Forever Friends

Lilly and Hannah were supposed to be resting on the couch, quietly watching Barbie Nutcracker in the basement. Instead, they were crafting a fort. This reminds me of the forts my sister Amy and our neighbor Ruhe used to make when we were little. Hannah and Lilly are off to a good start...making a giant house/tunnel out of the sectional, ottoman and pillows.

The creation...

I just took whole wheat banana bread out of the oven, and the aroma brought the pair upstairs. They asked to change venues- to finish their movie in Lilly's room. So, now they are eating banana bread and sipping ice water on Lilly's bed. The fan is on overhead and AC is on in the house- Hannah commented as she snuggled into bed, "Ah, cold, just like I like it." Knowing them they'll be back across the street to dip in Hannah's pool after dinner. That will make 3 times in the last 24 hours... oh what fun to have a best friend across the street!

Please continue to pray for Hannah. She is still receiving chemotherapy (this is an off week), and she is set to have scans this Thursday. We pray for decreased tumor size and no new growth!

Zoo wheels

The weather is getting warmer, so we took advantage of an abnormally cool (80 degree) weekend to take a trip to the zoo. We've always wanted to rent a surry, and this time we actually made it to the rental booth before they were sold out. Lilly and Claire  enjoyed the ride while Rob and I provided the manpower. We were able to see the entire zoo in one hour. Up and down, up and down the hills we went cruising in our contraption. Lilly commented "I love this bike." Claire yelled, "Faster! Faster!"

We were able to get close to this little 150 year old creature. I called him a turtle, and Lilly quickly corrected me, "No, it's a tortoise, mom."

Happy spring everyone!