I love my family...

The Lord has blessed us with our sweet family. We miss those that are not living near us right now and hold them close in our hearts! Give thanks today for your family!

Our precious Ashlynn turned 2 in April and of course she had to have her favorite character Elmo for her birthday cake!

We gave her a pink car and she loves it.

Aunt Stephanie is a missionary in Honduras so talking to her on Skype is such a treat! Ashlynn is opening the present she gave her.

My Mother's Day was so special! I am grateful our daughters. I will always miss my sweet Amy and thankful for the many Mother's Days memories I have with her. It was fun having dinner at Stacy and Travis' new home. We celebrated with each daughter separately due to schedules. Unfortunately I forgot my camera when we were with Shawna and family. Both girls gave me special gifts & cards and I felt soooo loved by them!

Hannah turned 10 and we celebrated with pizza and cheesecake and of course gifts.

Cute things she says...

Monday through Thursday I take care of a sweet 4 year old girl named Colette. We have so much fun together and she says the cutest things. We baked Snickerdoodle cookies yesterday afternoon. Colette sprinkled the sugar/cinnamon mixture on the cookies. I put them in the oven and when I turned back around saw that she had wiped all the sugar off the counter onto the floor. She was proud she had "cleaned up" for me. I got a wet cloth to clean up the sugar off the floor and told her not to do that next time because it would draw ants. Her reply was, "do ants draw?" I then had to explain that some words sound the same but have two different meanings. This is not the first time I have had to do this. I think I need to brush up on my English to be ready at all times for this little girl. :)

Last night she asked if she could take home the play make up kit we have. I told her no, that it needed to stay here. She said she only wanted it for the week-end and would bring it back Monday. I again said it needed to stay here for her to play with. She then said, "Well, no one will be here this week-end to play with it so I don't understand why I can't take it home". After one second of thought I didn't either...so she took it home. :)

Her daddy wrote me this morning about the make up kit:
When we got home with her "makeup kit" last night, she wanted to give me a makeover, which included putting rollers in my hair. After she had put about 3 of them in, she asked, "Am I killing you?". So I replied, "What?". And she said, "When I put them on Miss Elaine, she kept saying, 'You're killing me!' ". I cracked up. (She indeed was pulling my hair hard! But I better find a better word to express this! :) )

Yummy Cinnamon Rolls

This recipe comes from a sweet online friend. She is a wonderful cook and I am so glad to have this recipe. I made them tonight for Bible study in the morning. While making them I announced on facebook what I was doing. Not long after I took the first pan out of the oven a friend came by. She had read facebook :) . I sent her home with 4 of them. Others ask for the recipe. I have written it just the way it was given to me by Janna. I have added her name because I want her to have the credit for these wonderful rolls. I put confectioner sugar icing on mine. They are great with a cup of tea or coffee.

Janna's One Hour Cinnamon Rolls

2 pkgs. yeast (or 2 T.)
3 T. sugar
1/4 c. warm water
1/2 c. oil
1 1/2 c. buttermilk (lukewarm)
4 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Butter or margarine
Raisins, opt.

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Stir together flour, soda and salt and set aside. Add yeast and oil to buttermilk, then add all to the flour mixture. Beat until smooth and knead about 10 minutes for lighter rolls (I knead it in my Bosh mixer for a while). Cover and let rise for 10-30 minutes. Roll out to a large rectangle and put brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins (if desired) and butter on the rolled out dough. Roll up starting from one long edge. Cut into slices about one inch thick and set flat sides down on a baking pan. Melted butter and brown sugar in the bottom of the pan first is optional. Let rise a little more and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. (I always double this recipe!)

Anniversary...

We had a delay in our flight from Pensacola to DFW last Sat. Due to weather we had to land in Waco, TX (didn't even know there was an airport there). We were supposed to be having dinner with family at 6 that night. Instead we were sitting in the airport wondering when we would go home. There were only drink vending machines at the airport. A college study came by and began selling Subway sandwiches. We were all happy about that. Jim and I shared one...our anniversary dinner. :) As he said, "we made memories!" Stacy & Shawna fixed our lunch the next day and we had a wonderful time. Shawna had small bouquets of flowers on tables. They were so pretty! The food they prepared was delicious! A friend of Stacy's made the cake with a beach theme since we had been at the beach. It was so cute and tasted delicous! What a fun celebration!