BEST EVER ROLLS!!!

I like to try new recipes quite often and allrecipes.com is one of my favorite sites I visit for this purpose. I love how the recipes are rated, it makes it easier to choose a one. Plus, I can read the reviews to see how others have changed it and make my own changes based off those suggestions. Well, I was looking for a bread machine roll recipe the other night and came across this one:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Dinner-Rolls/Detail.aspx
(Sorry, I couldn't get the link to work properly).

All I have to say is that they are truly the BEST rolls EVER!!!!!!!!!!! I have been in search of a bread recipe that is light, fluffy and one that tastes great. I will be searching no more. I would recommend these over all the other roll recipes I've tried and there are some good ones, but nothing comes close to these!

On a side note, I have also been trying to use some of my food storage items to get better acquainted with how to use them and determine whether or not we like them. I used all powdered ingredients ie; powdered milk, eggs, and butter (except for the butter that is spread over the dough before baking). You honestly cannot even tell! I also had to add about 1 cup more flour to get the right consistency. I used half the dough for dinner rolls and the other half for cinnamon rolls and they were AMAZING!!! They have the light fluffy texture much like a croissant. The next time I make these I will try using whole wheat flour and maybe even some agave nectar in place of the sugar, to make them more nutritious.

Recipe worth trying!

"Pee-pee the potty!"

I decided to take another stab at potty training Tyson last week and I have to say that we are making progress. I read a friends blog last week about her latest adventures and success in this process and decided to take on her approach of letting Tyson run around without any pants on (Thanks Allison for your post). This was definitely a more effective approach than trying to encourage him and making him sit on the potty every 30 minutes or so. We stayed home all last week to help him get into the groove of things and by day three he was wearing big boy pants...YEAH!!!!

Last week I wasn't sure how to approach nap time so I would lay next to him after our usual stories and singing time so that I could better monitor him. One afternoon I was pretty exhausted and found myself dosing off while Tyson played quietly next to me, when in my dreams I was hearing a soft voice whispering, "Pee-pee the potty...Mom, pee-pee the potty!" I don't know how long he repeated that until my subconscious mind realized what was going on and I was able to wake myself up. His usual approach of lifting my eye lid and telling me, "Mom, wake-up" probably would have been faster, but he was trying so hard to quietly wake me up with his little whispers. Luckily we made it to the bathroom before any unfortunate mishaps occurred!

Now, I am not going to say that everything has been smooth sailing and that he has got it down 100%, but he is doing well! He has had accidents and this week has been full of setbacks to some degree. On Tuesday I honestly thought that I was going to lose it. After having to clean up numerous messes I finally broke down and put him in a pull-up. I didn't want to have to clean up one more mess that day and convinced myself that sometimes it's okay to use disposable. I usually try to stick with cloth underwear during the day and save the disposables for night time, nap time (since he is such a sound sleeper) and some outings, but that day was an exception! Thankfully he has been doing much better these past few days. I just keep telling myself that he is on the road to complete success and finally out of diapers!!!!

Way-to-go Tyson, mommy is so proud of you and your accomplishments!!!



One night after Ben got home from work I had to run to the store. I wasn't gone more than 20 minutes and this is what I came home to. He LOVES this box and plays in it all the time. I guess I tired him out with all the trips to the potty that day. Ben had put a towel at the bottom in case of any accidents and I covered him up for modesty sake, but he reminds me of a cute little puppy curled up in the box.

Beading First

A couple of weeks ago I joined Ben's mom and his cousin Melissa for a girls day out. We went to lunch and then headed to Hobby Lobby to look at all the cool stuff there. Well, we ended up in the bead isle and decided to pick out some beads to create our own piece of jewelry. Sue has been making jewelry for a little while now and has slowly accumulated the tools needed and read many book and magazines to learn some of the techniques of the craft. We were in that bead isle a long time trying to decide on what we wanted then finally headed home to start our masterpieces. I chose mainly black beads to match a black maternity dress I had found a few weeks earlier. I have to say that I think I could really get into the jewelry making hobby, especially if it means doing it a lot cheaper than buying already made! I don't buy jewelry/accessories much due to the cost.

We had a great time visiting and creating! Thanks to Sue for all her help, tips and encouragement! She is a talented jewelry maker!

This is the necklace I made. I decided to think outside the box a little and go asymmetrical. I usually like balance, but I wanted something a bit more fun!

IT"S A....

GIRL!!!

Our smiley little girl looking right at us!


I had an ultrasound yesterday and yes in fact we are having a little girl. The OB kept checking from different angles just to make sure. He said she was measuring right on for 18 weeks, if not a little bigger, and that everything looked perfect. It's always a relief to hear a doctor say that everything looks normal! We pray everyday that she will continue to grow and develop as she should.

We took Tyson along with us hoping he would be interested and he was for the first 2-3 minutes but that was long enough for him to get bored of staring at a black and white blob on a monitor. Unfortunately Ben wasn't able to be as involved as he wanted because he was busy trying to keep our little boy from touching things and running out the door. We got some good photos though.

Seeing our little girl on that screen was such a miracle! She is definitely a mover. It took some time for the OB to get a profile shot of her little face, She was facing us most of the time smiling and moving her little hands. I have never seen an ultrasound photo of a baby smiling but she sure was.

I am so happy that Tyson will have a little sister. I loved having a big brother growing up! Hopefully Tyson and his sister will be as close as my brother and I were! We can't wait to meet this sweet, happy little spirit!