It's Great to be Eight!

As you can see Jacob is extremely excited to be eight! He had two great days celebrating his special day. We went to an indoor playground (it still isn't warm enough to be outside for very long)on Saturday and we had cake and ice cream yesterday. That dragon on his cake was drawn by the birthday boy himself. I was impressed. Happy Birthday to Jacob!!!

Happy Easter!

For as long as I can remember my mother has made these delicious rolls for Easter morning breakfast. They go great with hard-boiled eggs and freeze well so you can make them in advance. The orange glaze just makes these melt in your mouth. They were also featured in the April Friend. So if you're looking for a good Easter treat, here is the recipe for Bunny Buns, mine are rising as I type this and I can't wait to steal one of their little tails off and eat it. Happy Easter!

(We don't put faces on ours and the tails are not fluffy like the picture but it'll give you a general idea of what they look like.)
Bunny Buns
1 package active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup milk, warmed not quite to boiling

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons grated orange peel

5 1/2 cups flour, sifted

Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup hot orange juice, 1 teaspoon butter

1. Wash hands with soap and water.

2. Sprinkle yeast in the warm water and set aside.

3. In another bowl, blend milk, sugar, shortening, and salt. Cool until lukewarm, then add eggs, water with yeast, orange juice, and orange peel.

4. Stir in flour a few cups at a time to make a soft dough. Let stand for 10 minutes.

5. Knead dough 5–10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic. Place it in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover bowl with a clean towel and put it in a warm place. Let dough rise for 2 hours, or until double in size. Punch dough down and let stand for 10 minutes.

6. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into strips 1/2 inch wide and 14 inches long. Roll between hands into rounded snake shapes. Cut one strip into pieces 1/2 inch long, and roll into balls.

7. Place one long piece of dough on a greased cookie sheet. Place one end of the strip over the other to make a loop; bring the end that is underneath up and cross it over the other end. Place a ball of dough on top of the bottom loop.

8. Cover bunnies and let rise in a warm place for 45–60 minutes, until nearly double in size. Bake at 375ºF (190ºC) for 12–15 minutes.

9. For the glaze, stir powdered sugar, orange juice, and butter together. Frost bunnies with the glaze while they are still warm.

Do Unto Otters

It's been awhile, I know but well, we've just been reveling in the fact that we are all healthy (it's been a long time)and enjoying the slightly warmer weather (although I can't say it's officially spring yet.)

I thought I would share one of our favorite new kids' books. It's called "Do Unto Otters" by Laurie Keller. A rabbit comes home to his tree to find out that Otters have moved to the river next door and he is a little concerned that they won't like each other. The wise owl tells him to "Do unto otters as you would have otters do unto you." The remainder of the book goes through the rabbit explaining how he'd like otters to treat him in a very humorous but very effective way. My kids love love love it. I am sure I read it about 3 times a week at minimum. A fantastic way to introduce manners and being considerate to others. Apparently you can watch and listen to someone read the book on YouTube and I also found out they are making a movie based on the book.
Enjoy!

St. Patrick's hair do

So this is just like the heart hairdo, except you do three or four to make a clover and combine the ends into a ponytail and add a green (it must be green, right?) ribbon or bow. It's so cute and lots of fun. You can do it on a smaller head (and with less hair) by simply making the hearts smaller and only on the top of the head. Sad to say Lorelei doesn't even have school on St. Patrick's Day. Who's gonna see her pretty hair? These pictures were taken TWO years ago, see how little she is? Where has the time gone? Good luck to you all!

Happy Birthday to a beautiful baby!

Annabelle is turning 1 today! Can you believe it? Time has gone by so fast. Here is a pictorial of her first year! She's a bundle of fun and such a joy!

Why?

Madalyn is 3 and true to her age loves to ask me "Why?" questions a lot, a whole lot.
The other day she asked me why we have ears. I told her it was so we could hear sounds, like music and talking. She looked up at me and said "No, it's so we can stick our hair in our ears." Madalyn has had an obsession about putting the ends of people's hair in her ear and tickling the inside of her ear with it since she was a tiny baby. It used to be anyone's would do but now she just sticks with her own ponytails. She gets frustrated if I do a hairdo that doesn't allow her to do this. I am fine with her sticking it in her own ears, but it creeps me out when she does it in mine.

Valentine's Day Hairdo's

So while my sisters are crafty in the usual ways; painting, sewing, decorating etc, I lack skills and confidence in those areas, so here is my remedy to that. I love Valentine Hairdo's they are so sweet and lovely.

While technically this one isn't strictly a Valentine's do, I love it! With different ribbons it quickly becomes a spirit day do (we do that all the time with red and black pawprint ribbons)a easter do, a Christmas do, etc. You make 4 small square sections on the top and flip them into knots going towards her ears and then thread one strand of ribbon (make sure it's extra long) through the first row of knots, then braid it in with the hair hanging down from the ponytails, secure with rubberbands. Repeat until all four sections are braided and secured Pull all of the hair, including the braids into a ponytail and use your ribbon tails to tie a bow around the ponytail holder. So pretty!



This is so easy and gets so many comments. Simply make a small rectangular section on the top of her head, divide that in two and secure into loose ponytails. Stick your finger through the base of the ponytail and pull the hair hanging down up through the hole (does that make sense?) Take the hair that is now sticking up and divide it into two equal sections. Make into a heart shape and secure with a ponytail or clip. Repeat with other section. You could do one, two, or three hearts depending on the size of head you're dealing with.

I did the same thing on Maddie (last year) with just two half ponies and it looked super cute so you don't even need a lot of hair for this one.

This one can be cuter than my picture. As you can see my first ponytail should have been down farther, but then you just gather the hair into rubberbands to make a heart shape I would also try a little harder to make my parts neat and tidy.


You can also do this one from last year which still is one of my favorite hair dos of all time.


HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!