Cinnamon Sunday

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we were not home so Sunday was stay at home Sunday with Baylor.  It turned into Cinnamon Sunday when I was inspired to  make cinnamon roll bread and snickerdoodles.  Baylor loves both of them, he really loves cinnamon in general.  I really love making bread although I am not really big on eating it.  Unless it is warm and slathered with butter!  

I love dough after the first rise.  I love how it feels and smells.  

This bread is cut into two pieces, rolled very thin, slathered with cinnamon goo, rolled, and twisted together.  My helper could not help himself but had to help me out with all of it.  

All rolled up and ready to rise.  

All risen and brushed with coconut oil ready to bake. 

And then the smoking started with the butter in the goo started oozing out and burning on the oven floor.  And then the side fell off.  

Which made a nice tasty baker's treat!  

The wounded side.

With a much prettier behind.  

And all rolled, cinnamon and delicious inside.  

Cinnamon roll bread for my snickerdoodle.  

And then I made sticker noodle cookies (as Baylor calls them).  They are definitely his favorite cookie.  And one of mine too!  It was a good day to stay at home with my little man!  

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It try not to work on my birthday and I am usually successful.  I was planning on a family lunch with my parents but Lori got called into work so it was Grandma, Buddy, Baylor and I.  We took two cars because Dad did not want to go shopping after lunch and I did!  Meals are free on your birthday which is good because I really am not into pigging out for lunch.  Baylor had a good time picking this and that and so did we all!  He ate a good lunch and then two bowls of ice cream.  

I found a penny smashing machine and we each picked a different one.  

We took a few photos outside. And by we I mean I took some, Mom did and then Baylor did.  

Dad and Baylor headed home for some boy time and Mom and I headed out shopping for some girl time.  We went to Good's which I also call the Mennonite Kmart.   I picked up some canning jars, Christmas clearance items, bird food, and a few other things and bobs. Then we went to what used to be called the Flower and Craft Warehouse but closed and opened under a new name that I cannot remember.  But we walked around the sales floor which was mainly home decor items. I found a nice candle and a hand towel with the color scheme I want in the new bedroom in the addition.  Then we went to an antique mall where I have lots of memories shopping with Molly and Mom over the years when I was a collector. I don't think I have been in there since Baylor was born so it has been awhile.  But we enjoyed seeing the old things, the vintage things, and they why would anyone else buy this things.  We loved it all.  The mall is close to Mom's house and Dad called us when we were nearly home to find out when we would be back.  The boys had a good time together too. Mom made me a German Chocolate cake which is what we ended up having for dinner. My gift was a set of stainless steel soup spoons that I told them would be an appreciated gift.  I love big bowled soup spoons and I never had but a few. 

I heard it was a full moon so Baylor and I raced outside to see who could find it first.  It is really hard to take a good moon photo but trust me it was really a good one.  

Friday Mom and I went to the Green Dragon pretty early in the morning.  Baylor and Dad had more boy time.  We bought lots of veggies and fruit for the week and had a nice time walking around.  It was cold but there were a few vendors were outside but we mainly stick to the inside vendors anyway.  We stopped at the house and picked up Baylor for a trip to my old work place.  There are still several people I worked with when I was there and it was really nice seeing them.  They enjoyed meeting Baylor also.  When I left there my life was pretty messed up and it was nice to see them now with it all together.  We hit the grocery store and headed home.  We stayed for a few hours and then headed home.  It was a nice birthday and much better than being at work.  

Ski Round Top

Lori took a half day off of work so we could go tubing as a family.  It was actually in the 50's so the ground snow was melted around the mountain but they had a lot of made snow on the slopes and the tubing lanes.  Ski Round Top is only four miles from our house but we have never gone.  I don't ski and I did not know about the tubing.  

I did not take my phone with me because I did not know what to expect so I only have photos of the lanes from the parking lot.  The long shed on the left is the way you get up to the top.  I thought we had to walk but it has a moving sidewalk the entire way up.  After we got our passes and I made a bathroom break we went out to get our tubes.  Baylor and I picked orange and Lori had purple.  They had covers with handles and a pull rope.  Baylor managed his tube really well all the way up to the shed and even on the moving sidewalk. He had a few tumbles but he recovered very quickly each time.  He made his own dismount with just a little help from me picking up the tube.  He choose to ride with me the first time.  He sat in his tube and I sat in mine holding his rope.  He screamed, "Weeeeee, weeeeeeeeeee, weeeeeeeeeeeeee!" the entire way down.  He loved it.  Lori followed us but she went down on her belly, laying on the tube dragging her feet most of the way.  The next two times Baylor went down with her and I followed them.  The third time I nearly knocked them down because I just kept sliding. Baylor was ready for a hot cocoa break so we went into the lodge for a warm up break.  Baylor and I had planned to go back out a few more times until an unfortunate cocoa incident when I left them both unattended to use the restroom.  By the time I was back at the table, Baylor was covered in warm cocoa, crying, and saying he hated it here and he never wanted to come back.  We cleaned up as much as we could and just headed home.  But I know we are going to go again and maybe next year get a season pass!  It is four miles away! I want to go again!  

More January Fun

Baylor loves to kick snow and ice and one night after stopping at the store he wanted to get some kicking in.  There was a huge pile of snow in the corner of the parking lot so we pulled over to it and I let him kick away.  

He loved it but it ended like I thought it would.  He slipped and fell on his hands.  The ice was cold and hard and all of a sudden the fun changed to hate as in 'I hate the snow. I never want to play in the snow again." 

But he was in better spirits when we got home and he helped make his first batch of rice crispy treats.  He was an excellent chef! 

We ended up covering half with some leftover ganache from a cake roll I was also working on.  

Saturday morning was the January Aunt's meeting at DiAnn's.  The boys got right into playing and I don't think Baylor ate much at all.  Eli is still really good with Baylor and Connor even though he is now 13. And really tall!

We have Aunt's meeting nearly every month.  This year my goal is to make a different cake roll for each one.  I chose a Swiss Cake Roll  for my first one.  

Yummy!  

Little Brigid is getting into the swing of Aunt's meetings and playing with the other kids.  DiAnn gave Baylor a stuffed snake that he was smitten with.  DiAnn watched the kids while Heather and I ran off, I mean took a brief visit, to a antique mall in Red Lion.  It was nice going without kids running around trying to 'look' at things.  She found a kids chair and I found a few items I may go back for once the addition is done.  It was nice having some cousin time with her.  The kids did great and only Brigid got sad that we were gone.  I am not even sure Baylor noticed.   

Farm Show 2014

Wednesday was our annual trip to the farm show.  I love these trips we do every year.  It gives us something to look forward to every year.  The morning started out cold but warmer than yesterday.  

Part of the drive to the farm show took us along the river which was frozen.  It is not very often that it stays cold enough for it to freeze and one year when it did, the ice took out an old bridge across the river.  

Before we got there I looked back and saw Baylor sitting like this.  While it is not very safe it just amazed me how big he is now.  

As usual he was really excited when we arrived in the parking lot.  He loves the farm show even if it is just for the milk shake and corn bin now. 

The trip on the bus was super fun of course.  

Our first stop was for food.  It is less crowded when we get there than when we leave so we tend to eat first and walk around second.  We feasted on all the fried food we don't make at home: fried mozzarella cubes, french fries, and a blooming onion.  We had one chocolate shake and one vanilla shake.  

After plowing through the fried foods (we shared the onion with our table mates) we walked around.  These chairs were calling our names apparently as we all took as seat as the chairs requested.  

We headed over to the main hall and stopped at a stand that sells the goofy cowboy hats the kids seem to love getting every year.  Since Baylor is a farmer and not a cowboy he thankfully was not interested but did try one on for me.  The cow on a stick was more interesting to him but I was not willing to take it home.  

He milked the cow again.  He does it every year and he still enjoys it.  

We checked out the cows and watched out for poop.  

We only saw three horses but they were of the giant kind again.  We both loved seeing them and how big they are.  

And we meet some llamas.  They were not interested in being pet and I was not interested in being spit on so we stayed back.  But the man in the pen with them was quite fun.  Especially when he figured out we were family too, he became extra animated and interactive with us and especially with Baylor.  

This year's butter sculpture had dancing cows! 

By now all Baylor was asking about was when were we going to get to the corn bin.  Thankfully that was our next stop.  Lori stayed with him and sat on a hay bale while I did my walking around and shopping.  

While he was playing he made a new friend, Owen, who is wearing the gray and blue striped shirt.  Apparently they had a good time together.   

I checked out the gingerbread houses first.  They were amazing! I cannot imagine making one of these.  

I worked my way through the vendors picking up some spices and cookie cutters because somehow I needed more of both of them.  I relieved Lori so she could walk around some also and had my turn watching Baylor and Owen play in the corn.  Then Baylor wanted his ride on the carousel.  

Lori stood by him for a few rounds and then sat down on a bench for the rest of the ride.  

Right by the ride is the play fort and he made several runs down the slide.  

We headed out and stopped to pick up some potato donuts for the ride home.  We also found the peacocks and bought Baylor a feather this year. 

He also wanted to pet the horse.  They had a horse skull on the demo table and he was quite entertaining with is descriptions of the skull and I was surprised how cool he was with horse bones being on a table.  He picked out a little stuffed sheep at the toy booth and bought it with his Meme money.   

I wanted to show him the big arena and check for Farm Show t-shirts.  I did not find any shirts but we did watch some sort of horse and cart time racing.  There was a horse, a cart, a driver, and a navigator.  They were doing an obstacle course of a sort and were being timed.  

Baylor stood there cheering on the racers.  

And within minutes of being in the car, he was out!  

He woke up once we pulled in the driveway and did not go back to sleep.  So we had some cuddle time on the couch playing with the phone and his new feather.