Our New Ehome

Frankly Speaking has moved!  Not only do I rearrange furniture, I have now rearranged our blog.  Please check us out here.  All of our archives will remain here for your reading pleasure.  

SNC

That stands for Straight No Chaser, a vocal group that Anne's brother is in.  You might have seen their "12 days of Christmas" video on YouTube last year.  Check this out!  

They also have this myspace page.

We're excited for October 28!

Latest and Greatest Cinnamon Rolls

This is for Jen Pedersen...and anyone else who wants to try their hand at it!  

2 c. milk

2 pkg. yeast (1/4 oz. each)

1/2 c. warm water

1/3 c. granulated sugar

1/3 c. veg. oil

1 Tbsp. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

1 egg

7 cups all purpose flour

Warm milk and dissolve yeast into it.  Let sit until creamy, about 10 min.  Combine yeast mixture, water, sugar, oil, baking powder, salt, egg, and 3 cups of the flour and beat until smooth.  Add remaining flour 1/2 c. at a time.  You'll need to mix in the last few additions by hand with a wooden spoon probably.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until soft and smooth, about 10 minutes.  Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a towel.  Let rise about an hour or until doubled in size.  Punch dough down and roll out into a huge rectangle on your counter, about 1/4 in. thick.  Spread 1/2 c. melted butter all over the dough.   Mix 1 1/2 cups brown sugar and 3 Tbsp. cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle over the melted butter.  Roll up the dough beginning with the long edge of the rectangle and pinch the seam to seal it.  Cut into 24 rolls and place into 2 lightly greased 9x13 inch pans, 12 rolls in each.  Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. 

In the morning, pull rolls out, uncover them, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake rolls uncovered for 25 minutes or so, until golden brown.  Let cool a few minutes and then spread on the frosting.  I use 2 sticks butter, 1 box powdered sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla, and a tablespoon or so of milk and beat it with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Enjoy!  

California Love

We just returned from a fabulous week in California visiting Chris's family!  For a visual tour, check out our Flickr link.  

Play Dough

Today has been surprisingly a very fun day!  We leave for CA tomorrow to visit Chris's family, so I thought today would be a no nap frantic day in anticipation.  But, no!  We took a nice walk.  We visited the library and Cole did not run away from me.  Instead, he picked out several books and we read them all several times when we got home.  Then, after his rest time and Max's nap, we made this red play dough.  Thanks to my friend Mollie we have this amazing recipe.  It's so easy to make and easy to work with.  Cole chose red for our first batch, but I have a feeling we'll be making many more batches.  The photo of Max is from dinner last night...he's just so happy and oh, so cute!  I think it's because I gave him a few bites of cheese...yum! 

Fun at the Park

We had a playdate lunch today at Bryan Park with the moms and kids from our small group. We are so thankful to be getting to know them!  The boys had fun swinging the most.  Push me FASTER, Mommy!  Max ate his fair share of wood chips, too, I'm sure.  And...Cole peed twice while there, which in itself makes a successful morning!  

Potty Prison

One of our biggest potty training challenges has been containing Cole during nap time and bed time.  We decided to ditch diapers totally so he's been in cotton training pants all the time since last week, even at night after that first night that he came out needing to go.   So now he thinks that he can come out of his room to use the toilet several (and I mean A LOT) times when he's supposed to be resting or sleeping.  Tricky!  Often times it's a false alarm and he just wants to escape!  And obviously we want to make sure he goes often enough so his sheets and clothes are not consistently pee soaked.  AAAAHH!  We are not used to interrupted nap time like this!  

Our best solution so far has been to buy a small toilet chair for Cole's room. This way, he can go in his room during nap or bed time and not bother us.  It's been fabulous!  Except for the fact that Cole feels the need to have us empty the little pee tray after every use.    Normally he tells us by yelling through the door, we empty the tray, and then he falls asleep naked.  Today, though, I found the pee tray just waiting outside his door.  Like prison!  I imagine in prison when you're finished with your dinner bowl you just leave it outside to be picked up.  Cole must think he's in potty prison! It was convenient, though, because he communicated to me exactly what he needed done and I wasn't bothered at all!   After rest time was over I asked him why he put the pee tray outside the door and he said, (in a "duh Mom" kind of way) "For you to wash it." 

It's a process, and we're learning...