My Little Fisherman

My little guy got a fishing pole for Christmas, so when we went to see Evi's horse yesterday he was so excited to get to use his fishing pole. We caught nothing though, but he had so much fun. It is so fun to see Red Rain grow and now she has winter fur and she looks fluffy. Juan, Sebastian and I were all fishing but I guess it was too cold. Maybe next time.

The craziness comes to an end

Most years people get crazy once the holidays come into sight. Traveling, cooking, spending money, kids and presents, and family.

We had a great time with my sister and her family for Christmas. Since no one wanted to dog sit we decided to not go to Mexico... Just kidding, we didn't go because of other reasons too, but we finally decided to stick around this year. It was a fun time, the kids get along with each other, the girls played Scrabble and the guys were doing who knows what.

This past weekend we went to Bartlesville to see family. We had lunch with one of my many Uncles and Aunts, the kids had so much fun playing with cousins and we had fun visiting with family. Evi spent the night with her second cousins and had a blast! She said she roller skated in the house, and wanted to know if we could get some skates. Afterwards we went to see Nanny and spent some time with her. I told Juan on our way home that I feel she is getting old. I want her to know that we love her. To me the holidays are not about presents or food, but it is about the memories you make with family.

This coming year I will try to make more of an effort to love my family unconditionally, because they are who God has placed in my life. I am glad that I can sleep at night knowing that I am at peace, I'm not in debt, my children love me, my husband is faithful, I have a roof over my head and food on the table and I am blessed! Hope everyone this year can see the family they have in a new light, and can love unconditionally.

Christmas

Here are a few pictures of our Christmas. Sebastian asked me why the boy in Polar Express got to see Santa and he didn't, so I had Juan take him to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa but he got cold feet and Evi was the only one who sat on Santa's lap this year.

Two recipes

Okay. Here is the recipe for the cinnamon rolls and the spicy crackers.

I use a bread machine, and this recipe is for rolls or bread, but I just rolled out the dough and put cinnamon on it for cinnamon rolls.

In your bread machine you put:

7 oz. of milk room temperature

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter softened

1 egg

3 1/4 c. flour

2 tbsp sugar (in one corner)

2 tsp yeast in another corner

1/4 c. water

Put your setting on dough, and when its risen once, put dough on floured surface, roll out spread with melted butter and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar(You can add pecans or raisins if you like). Then roll and use string or dental floss to cut the dough. I placed in a 9x13 pan with melted butter, brown sugar and some corn syrup for a caramel sauce. Then you place in a warm place to rise(to about twice the size) and bake at 350 till golden brown.

To do dinner rolls or loaf, do the same. Except when it is done rising, punch down and either cut pieces off to make into rolls or take dough and roll into a loaf, let rise around 30 min. bake 400 for 10 min, or longer for loaf.

Spicy Crackers

Super easy, fast and a crowd pleaser.

3 pkgs of saltines ( in a gallon size zip-lock bag)

In tupperware mix:

1 cup canola oil

1 pkg ranch dip  mix

2 tbsp crushed red peppers

Mix together and pour over crackers. Let set and flip bag over and over till all is coated. Mixture will dry on crackers the longer it sits.

Memories....

I remember well my mother making cinnamon rolls. I think she is the best cook on the planet! But one thing I hated about those cinnamon rolls were the little cherries and candied fruit she would put on them. I would always pick them off. I'm sure she put them in the cinnamon rolls because they were red and green and after all she was making them for Christmas presents, but I wasn't crazy about them at all. So today I made some cinnamon rolls without the candied red and green fruit. I hope one day my kids don't say "Mom should have put some red and green candied fruit in those rolls to make them more Christmas-like". I asked the kids what we should cut the cinnamon rolls with. Evi suggested a knife, Sebastian scissors, and when I pulled out the string (like my mom did), they were amazed that I would try cutting something with string! I wonder if my mom used string because she didn't have a good knife, or maybe that's the way her mom taught her. Needless to say I will keep the tradition going!  

Freezing Toes

Both of the kids wanted to go out and play in the ice, not snow because there wasn't any, but the ice. So after getting them dressed nice and cozy, they went out to play. About 20 minutes later, Evi knocked on the back door, with boots in hand and in her socks. They had decided to jump on the trampoline and break the ice that had formed on it. I went out to get Sebastian and his shoes were off too. After a change of pants, and warm slippers on we started on our next project... cinnamon rolls.

My Birthday Boy

My baby just turned four! Last week was his actual birthday, but because I was having back issues we had to postpone it for today. So here is how our day went...

We went to church and had a jolly time. After church Juan asked Sebastian where he wanted to eat. Sebastian said he wanted the sushi train, but this weekend when passing by we noticed it is now a pub. So we suggested Texas Roadhouse, where we can throw peanuts on the floor and then crunch them with our feet, and you can ride on a saddle and have everyone sing you happy birthday. Nope the boy wanted sushi. After sushi we came home and got things ready for the party. He is really into spiderman, so I made him a cake and he opened one present then the camera died. But it was a fun time. Now that the kids are in bed, and the blog is updated, I will go and look at his baby pictures and thank God for the life of my son.