Cinnamon Rolls

This is my son's current fave- homemade cinnamon rolls.  They're pretty easy to make since I use the exact same recipe that I use to make homemade rolls.  After the dough rises, I roll the dough out on a greased cookie sheet.  I cover the dough with melted butter, then a generous amount of cinnamon and sugar.  (The cinnamon and sugar is mixed together beforehand, I usually do about a 1:4 ratio- 1 tbsp cinnamon for a 1/4 cup sugar).  Then I start on one side and gently roll the dough up, so it makes one big log.  (Make sure to pinch the end of the dough down so it stays in place).  I personally like to use a piece of floss to cut my log into rolls.  Then I place the rolls in a greased cake pan right next to each other (side to side).  It makes every edge of the cinnamon rolls  so soft and gooey.

Bake on 350 for 25-30 minutes.

And then for the best part- frosting!  
Mix together:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup margarine/butter (softened)
2 tbsp milk
Then stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.  
Pour over cinnamon rolls.

Or for a delicious cream cheese frosting-

mix together:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup margarine/butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
tiny pinch of salt
1 lb of powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 cups)
and about 1 tbsp of milk for consistency

Preschool Activity- Lego Sorting

 Great activity to practice fine motor skills, colors and numbers!
I gave each of my kids a stack of legos.  They had to separate them and sort them by colors.  

After all of the legos were sorted by colors, I had them count how many legos there were of each color.  Then they wrote it down on a piece of paper (with a matching color of marker). 

Homemade Rolls Recipe

My family has been making these homemade rolls for as long as I can remember!  They are always a delicious addition to any meal!  Here's what you need:

2 tbsp yeast
1 ½ C warm milk
½ C margarine/butter (soft)
½ C sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
½ C warm water
flour

Mix all ingredients together in a stand mixer.  (I always heat up the milk and margarine together in the microwave before adding them to the rest of the ingredients).  Add flour in spurts until mixture does not stick to the side of the bowl and bowl looks clean (see picture below).  Continue to mix for about 5 minutes.  Let dough raise for 30 min to an hour.  Shape dough into small balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 min (until golden brown).

Homemade Easter Baskets

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays!  One of my favorite memories of Easter, growing up, was hiding Easter baskets every year with my family.  My mom made each of us kids our very own, personalized Easter basket out of plastic canvas that had pictures on each side, different than any other person in the family.  I loved the uniqueness of each Easter basket, especially my own!  So when I got married, I decided to carry on this tradition and made my husband and I our own Easter baskets out of plastic canvas.    

I borrowed my mom's old cross stitching books to get ideas for the sides and lined the insides with fabric.  

These plastic canvas Easter baskets took forever to make!!  And they are a pain to store- they take up a lot of room and get bent easily.  So after making these two Easter baskets, I decided that I needed something that was more my style- simple and easy, and more practical to store.

So for my kids, I decided to use fabric instead of plastic canvas.   

I still love being able to personalize their Easter baskets by picking out fabric that fits their personalities.  And these fabric Easter baskets were much easier and faster to make!  In between the fabric, I used a thin batting to make it a little more thicker, and then I just sewed all of the sides together and added a handle.  These baskets are simple to store since the fabric can easily be smashed down and therefore take up very little room.  I was very pleased with the way these fabric Easter baskets turned out!

All About Me Books

This was a little project we worked on during school time over a full week, each day adding a couple of pages to our "All About Me" books.  It was a fun way to incorporate writing, drawing, and recording some of my kids' current favorites. 

This is what we included in our books:
Age
Favorite Color
Favorite Food
Favorite Song
Favorite Movie
Favorite TV Show
Favorite Book
My Family
Favorite Game
Favorite Toy
Favorite Outfit
Favorite Place to Go
Favorite Animal
Favorite Thing to do with Daddy
Favorite Thing to do with Mommy

  

Spring Do a Dot Printables

I've been getting requests for some more free do a dot printables, so I thought some spring-themed do a dots would be fun.  

   

(To save or print, click on the image you want. It will take you to the pdf that you can save or print. For personal use only).

Relief Society Garden Party

Our ward recently celebrated the Relief Society's birthday by throwing a garden party.  (Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the actual event, sorry!) Here is what we did:

Who: Not only did we invite all of the women in our Relief Society, but we also extended the invitation to all young women in the ward ages 8 and up.  Everyone was encouraged to wear a hat.

Decorations: We had a bright, spring theme with lots of yellow.  We purchased a few spring decorations from the dollar store and had fresh flowers on each table.

Food: Cucumber sandwiches, ham sandwiches, chicken wings, tortilla wraps, vegetable plate, lemonade, herbal tea, water, cookies, baby cupcakes, cream puffs.

Activities: We mainly ate and talked.  There were also a few door prizes (having to do with our garden theme- gardening gloves, tools, flowers, etc).  We had paper hearts on each table and asked everyone to write one thing they loved about Relief Society.  (We later used these hearts to decorate our Relief Society bulletin board).

Handout: I made each of the women this magnet- something bright and yellow and optimistic to go with our theme- with one of my favorite quotes: "In all of living, have much fun and laughter.  Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." (By Gordon B. Hinckley).

I printed these as 4x6's (2 fit on a page since they are 3"x3").

I would recommend printing one to start off with to make sure the coloring is right.  At the first store I printed them at, the yellow was too dark, so I made a lighter version as well. 

I ordered this adhesive magnetic sheet that worked great to apply the prints too and was perfect for the size of the prints (fit 28 on one sheet, possibly could have fit 32 but I was little conservative).  Also fyi- the magnetic sheet comes rolled in a small tube, so I would suggest sticking it to your fridge for a few hours to flatten it.

Feel free to use this print for your own personal use!  It makes a great little gift!

Bean Dip

Another family favorite!  This is a must at any party we have!  This bean dip is as delicious as it is easy.  What you need...

8 oz. package Velveeta cheese
8 oz. package cream cheese
1 can of chili (personal fave- Hormel with beans)
1 can of refried beans (personal fave- Rosarita traditional)

Combine all ingredients in a crockpot. Cook until cheese melts and dip is warm.  Enjoy!