Bliss.

What could be more perfect than homemade cinnamon rolls on a Sunday evening? I have to brag a little, since the above doesn't happen very often. I must admit, they turned out pretty tasty. Anyone hungry?

Here is the recipe in case anyone is wanting to try them out:

Side note: This is the recipe my mom would make when I was growing up, so it has fond memories associated with it, (wipe away tear). It can be made into rolls or cinnamon rolls, depending on your mood.

Refrigerator Dinner Crescents

2 pkg. yeast (about 2 T.)

1/2 c. warm water

1/2 c. sugar

2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. shortening

3 beaten eggs

3/4 c. hot water

5-6 c. flour

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. (My mom said she also adds 1/2 t. sugar to this yeast mixture...I don't know why). Meanwhile, beat eggs in large bowl. Add sugar, shortening, and salt to eggs. Beat well. Then add 3/4 c. hot water, and then yeast mixture. Add 2 cups of flour at a time and beat until smooth. Grease bowl and top of dough with some shortening. Cover and refrigerate overnight (or let rise for at least an hour, or until it doubles in size). Rolls-Divide in two and roll into circles, cut into pie shape pieces. Roll from big end to small end. Cinnamon Rolls-Divide in two and roll into large rectangles. Generously cover with butter, cinnamon, and sugar. Roll into large roll and cut with string. Place on greased baking sheet to rise once more (about 3 hours). Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until slightly brown.

(I know people prefer different kinds of icing on their cinnamon rolls, thick like frosting or glazed. I prefer the glazed way like my mom used to make. Here is hers):

Icing

3-4 cups powdered sugar

Milk to desired consistency

Dash of salt

Dash of almond extract

Dash of vanilla extract

Mix and coat rolls straight from the oven. Yum! Store in refrigerator.

Can you guess...

what we'll be adding to our collection...??

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It's a GIRL!!

Just some things I'm excited for. Aren't girls so fun?

Making use of our yucky yard.

When we first saw our new home and it's neglected backyard, we thought we'd just have to spread some weed killer and new seed and we'd be in business. Boy were we wrong! It needs lots of work!! There are all sorts of boulders buried back there, old tree stumps, trash, you name it, hidden beneath the weeds. Anyways I'll spare the details. The point is, we've been working hard out there with any spare time we have. So, we decided to do some smore's, while we burned some of the unwanted tree branches. You can see just how lovely the yard is, along with our 1930's garage in the background.

Then last night for FHE we worked in the yard and then got some ice cream afterwards. Hard work is always more fun when treats are involved.
Looks like she didn't enjoy her ice cream...however it's just the photographer. Kinda funny how disgusted she looked by it.
I'll have to post some pics of the yard when we get it looking decent, assuming we'll eventually get to that point :)

Need I Say More...

Those of you who know me well, know what a candy freak I am. Well, it's that time of year when Halloween is only what...2 months away and these little treasures start showing up in stores. Oh, I could go on and on about my cravings for these. I'm allowed to be overly obsessed about food when I'm pregnant, right? I'm pretty sure I'm single-handedly keeping Brach*s in business right now, but then again I have to get my fill before they no longer sell them. So, Happy early Halloween my friends!

Trying out the local grub.

Ben had a few days off this last week, so we decided we needed to be brave and try some of the local food. Someone recommended this place called Ragonese Imports to Ben. We'd driven past it before, but I didn't even know they sold food. I thought it was more novelty knick knacks or something. Apparently they do sell food. It truly felt like a New York experience...everyone lining up in this little sub shop/grocery store, shouting out different names of things, some I'd never heard of before. When it was our turn, I ordered something safe--a turkey sub, but Ben tried the Chicken Parmesan sub. They both turned out to be pretty good. We took our subs to a park nearby and made a picnic of it.

Enjoying his enormous, saucy sub.
Afterwards. I guess it just takes you out.
Helping her brother look out over the river.
Stopping to take a photo in the gardens.
Overlooking the water feature.
We're having fun trying out new places and exploring a whole new city. Next time is NY pizza...report to come.

The bestest.

My bestest friend (yes, I realize this is not a word), Kim, and her fam came to visit this weekend. It was so fun to see her and meet some of each others kids in person. Kim is the one who got us interested in coming out to Albany, and then they up and moved on us to Connecticut :( No hard feelings. She's still not too far though, so we have lots of plans to meet up. I'm thinking I need to have a girl next, so we can keep the same pattern. It made for some nice playing for the kids. Here they are watching Barbie in Nutcracker.

Even the boys got into it.

Camden just loved Brookie. He would just lay there and stare at her. Hopefully this means he's ready for a younger sibling.

Playing dress-ups.

Kim and I.

We had a little trouble getting a good pic, but here it is none the less.

Thanks for coming Kimster!

We had a blast.

House pictures

For those of you who are interested, here are some pics of our house. Keep in mind we'd still like to do a few things, but with a students budget, those may not come very soon. Luckily when we bought the house, they had already painted it nicely, so we were able to move right in. However we did have many other "projects" to do since no one has lived in it for about a year. The yard, for one, is something we've never had to deal with before. I'm sure it will take up a lot of Saturdays for awhile. But that's what you do when you own a house, right? We feel blessed to be in our own home, especially going back to school. We just hope that we can afford it :) So, without further ado...

The downstairs bathroom

Family room

Dining area leading into front room and sun room

Kitchen (my favorite part)

Kitchen leading to laundry room, bathroom, and family room.

At the bottom of the stairs

Coming in from the front door.
Front room into kitchen
Front room and sun room


Master bedroom


Upstairs bathroom




Maddie's room

Camden's room

So, there you have it. Hopefully that wasn't too many pictures. I just wanted to be through for those who will never actually see it in person (that way you can picture us here :).