A Cinnamon-ey Success - We Smashed Last Year's Record!

Despite rain in the forecast, we set up tables, chairs, and tents for our second annual Hot Chocolate and Cinnamon Roll Stand.  I've already mentioned this, but our little stand is a fundraising event where we "give" away yummy food and drink for a small donation.  People are encouraged to donate loose change, but some bring bills...and some of those bills are pretty big!  We take that money and donate it to World Vision, an international ministry that provides farm animals, Bibles, and education opportunities, among other things to poverty stricken people in third world countries.  

God truly blessed this day for us.  Just as 9:00 AM rolled around, the sun came out from behind the clouds.  The glory of the day was upon us, just in time!  Now last year, we collected over $350 and the girls had a blast picking out a donkey, a flock of chickens and sponsoring a child.  We were excited to see if we could smash that record this year.  We had over 100 people come by the house this year, tons of kids running around the yard, and 150 rolls eaten.  But the big question...did we break our record from last year's $350 donation?  Time for the drum roll....Oh yeah!!  Our friends and family donated over $900 to World Vision!!  Amazing!! Thank you so much for coming and supporting this wonderful cause, and I loved seeing so many of our neighbors and friends!  What joy!  

Please check out the pictures from this event:  

Thanks y'all!  See you next year!!  

Calling in Reinforcements

I know when I get too busy.  It always happens around the holidays.  Like most busy moms, I usually overbook events, cooking, and other irresistible fun things during Christmas time.  This week, I knew I needed help early on since the Cinnamon Roll Stand was coming up.  So I did the only sensible thing.  I called up my family to come over and help.  My big sister, Ayron, came over early in the week and helped me make the first 100 rolls.  We buttered, mixed, sprinkled, buttered, rolled, baked,  then buttered some more.  It was a sweet, buttery masterpiece by the time we finished.

Well, the work wasn't over!  I wanted to make 50 more rolls. I sort of manipulated my mom into helping me by pushing what a great skill it would be for her to make cinnamon rolls from scratch.  The evil plot worked!  She came over yesterday morning and helped immensely.  Now my mom is one of those women who can grab a few ingredients and whip out a golden, buttery pie crust while I am still busy studying the recipe.  She just has that natural skill.  I had not realized how handy her ability would be for cinnamon roll making!  I have gotten better and better at cinnamon roll making, but my dough is not a strong suit.  It tastes good, but it looks pretty bad.  Sometimes I imagine the dough as a rebellious teenager that is just laughing rudely at me as it cracks, sticks to the surface, and refuses to take the shape I want.  My mom took that dough, and before it knew what had happened, she slapped it on the counter, and rolled out the most gorgeous 30 x 10 inch rectangle I'd ever seen!  I didn't get anymore lip from the dough after that.  

She handles that rolling pin like a samurai holds his sword.  It's a weapon, and she's not afraid to use it.

Just like Julia Child, I'm telling you!

So she stayed busy while I took a few pictures, then went and watched a Christmas movie.  Just kidding, I pitched in...with the dishes.

Cooking isn't my only big chore, now we move on to stamping and addressing Christmas cards!

My need for reinforcements moved on to the Christmas cards!  While I wrote out the addresses, the girls stamped, stuffed, and licked.  We were an unstoppable force!

 This morning, I recruited the girls to help me with more cooking....

Cubby counts out and then unwraps caramels...

...while looking super cute.  

Emma, who is still growing out her bangs (this is going to take forever!), helped me a ton by peeling carrots.  Peeling carrots is a job everyone fights over, for some reason, despite the bloody knuckles that almost always results.

Aahhh....my little team of workers makes my life so much easier, and fun!

Then it was craft time!  I love going to Michael's craft store at the end of each holiday and picking up all the leftover craft kits.  I box them, then pull them out the next year and it's like brand new crafts at clearance prices!  

That's not the greatest way to hold a glue stick, J.D.  Oh well.  I better go check the cooking and not worry!  Thanks to you, reinforcement team, I finished all of my work today!  In just a few hours, the Cinnamon Roll Stand will open, and we are more than ready!! 

Cubby's First Solo!

We attended another fabulous Do Re Mi concert last night.  The Do Re Mi's are a junior choir singing group, and this is my girls' second year singing with this group.  The Christmas concert last night was just as it should be. It was the perfect combination of happy, whimsical, silly songs and serious carols about Christ's birth.  

The entire concert was adorable, so professional, and well done. The most notable moment for me were the girls' solos.  Each had a small solo part to sing.  This was Cubby's very first solo ever!  She has sung plenty of duets with Emma, and we do get to hear her sing plenty of solos at home, but this was her first on stage, with a microphone, in front of a crowd singing performance!  She was fantastic!!! No hesitation at all.  She sang sweetly and clearly, right on pitch into the microphone.  No stage jitters at all!  See for yourself:

Emma sang a little more serious song called One Little Star, about the star over the town of Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.  She did really well, too.  I think the transition from the first solo singer to her was a little bit challenging.  She handled it extremely well.

There's nothing like watching my daughters singing in an adorable Christmas concert.  The joy of Christmas is now alive and well in my heart!  

Crazy Competitive

Yep, this one's about me.  I hate to admit it, but I am crazy competitive.  I have been like this my entire life.  But I am ready for a serious change since really, it's no fun for anyone to play games with a person with this much need to win.

My competitive streak started way back in my volleyball and basketball days in high school.  I loved being the big hitter or the blocker during volleyball matches.  I thrived on winning.  I loved playing volleyball with a passion, and I, being taller than a lot of other players, had an advantage that made it truly fun and exciting to play.

Now as far as basketball goes, the honest truth is that I wasn't a very good player.  I had the height, but no speed, and no real coordination or shooting precision.  So, my coach just put me under the basket and I would rebound and shoot the ball in the basket by using the backboard all day long.  It wasn't rocket science, and a kid like me, without real talent or stamina, was able to get pretty far in a small league like the Imperial Valley.

As a thirty-something-stay-at-home mom, I don't get to compete in volleyball or basketball games much anymore.  I have to release my need to compete somehow, so I (sadly) do it through games with friends and family.  When Danny and I were first married, we played Scrabble once in a while.  Scrabble is my favorite game of all time.  I would always beat his butt, no question.  However, after a few months of steady play, Danny started catching on to a strategy and began catching up to me.  I was beating him by a smaller and smaller margin.  One fateful day, and I am so ashamed to admit this, but he pulled ahead of me in the game, and I literally got up and left the table.  I have never lived that one down, let me tell you.  Even now, he'll ask before we begin a game, "Are we going to finish this game?"  It only happened once, but it stuck as a very unlovely memory.

We started playing games pretty regularly a couple of years ago with another couple, Luke and Elizabeth.  They were both very experienced in game playing, and would often bring over new games and teach them to me and Danny.  Now, they had never seen this competitive side of me before; I had tried fairly hard to keep it hidden, knowing how ugly it could be.  But one day, they brought over a super fun, but very challenging (for me) card game called Phase 10.  Basically, to win the game, you have to get through all ten phases to win the game.  I couldn't get past phase 1.  They were all moving ahead into phase 3, then 4, then 5.  I couldn't get past phase 1.  My cards were atrocious.  I finally slammed my hand down on the table and walked away.  They were in shock.  Elizabeth's mouth seriously dropped open like in one of those movies when someone sees something unbelievable. It was horrible, ugly and most of all, rude.  I immediately felt ashamed.

I have had to consciously work on my need to win ever since that day.  I have tried hard to keep level-headed, repeating in my mind, "It's only a game, it's only a game."  Now just a few years ago, my sister married my sweet brother-in-law, John.  John is an excellent, although super stealthy, game player.  He will get behind in a game, so that you think he's out of the running, then he'll come out with an awesome hand, that just blows everyone out of the water.  He's the guy that lays all his cards down on the first hand, leaving everyone to clean up their disastrous remnants.  Now he's competitive, too, but nothing like me.  He teases me to get me going, and I tease back, and then the old April just comes out of nowhere.  Now as we all get seated around the table to play, the trash talk starts, usually aimed at me and sometimes at John, and it sometimes cycles out of control.  Kind of like tonight.

My competitive spirit turned ugly.  I love playing the game, and don't realize how that need to win looks to others around me.  It ain't pretty.  That's all I'm saying.  I don't think a little bit of healthy competition is bad at all.  And it's funny how some games I don't feel that great need to win.  Let's just say it's selective.  I've decided to stay away from those games that get me really fired up, at least for a while.  I guess I just really don't ever want my kids to see me flare up like that, especially at their dad, over what?  A game?  Too silly.  Too crazy.

I'm just wondering how many people have someone in their lives like me.  Someone who gets hurt when another game player decides to "skip" them in the game.  Someone who people warn others about before playing, like, "April's playing, be careful!"  Yep, that's me.  Crazy competitive.  But working on it.  Starting today, I'm working on focusing on the people's faces around the table more than the game board in front of me.

Anybody want to play?

Cinnamon Roll Stand....Here We Come!

In just six days, my family will host our 2nd annual cinnamon roll and hot chocolate stand.  This was Emma's idea last year when she begged me for a lemonade stand, and I, not wanting to stand out there in the hot sun, convinced her that the winter would be a much more profitable season here in the desert.   We decided last year to give all the proceeds from the "sale" to an international ministry called World Vision.  

Every year, World Vision sends out the coolest gift catalog.  It has pictures of a variety of farm animals (or "beasts of burden" if you are my husband) pictured, along with a price, and a description of how that animal can be of use to a family in a third world country.  For example, a pig costs $195.  That sow can produce as many as 20 piglets in a year.  As the catalog points out, "within 6 months, each of those piglets can weigh 200 pounds and fetch a hefty price at market.  The income can be used for children's education, medicines, and other essentials." Two chickens cost $25, a goat is $75, a dairy cow is $500, and so on.  Last year, the girls made over $350, in mostly loose change, since that's what we encourage people to donate.  We had the most fun picking out the animals for people.  We even had enough money leftover to begin sponsoring a child.  

Out of all the parties, concerts and programs we attended last year, the hot chocolate stand was by far the girls' favorite event.  They talked about it endlessly.  Earlier this fall, when the stores first became decorated for the Christmas season, the girls began asking excitedly if we were going to have the stand again.  It wasn't really even a question.  The fellowship with our neighbors and then the giving experience was one of those things that, for us, helped define the reason for the season.  

 

We set up the stand early in the morning and used the tent since the forecast called for a slight chance of rain.  The gorgeous, overcast and chilly day only added to the fun of the experience for  the girls.  See their outfits?  They are always, and I mean ALWAYS ready for cold weather gear.  

So, now to the point.  I spent my whole afternoon today baking cinnamon rolls in preparation for our next stand this coming Saturday.  My sister came over after church, and we stirred dough, melted butter, and sprinkled enough cinnamon and sugar to make Paula Deen very proud.  Ayron and I had so much fun.  This is when a kitchen with a large work surface really helps!  We baked 100 rolls from scratch!   

Here are the rolls just before I put them in the oven. 

I checked those puppies often!  No one wants burned rolls, I know that much!

This is me stirring the outrageously good icing.  Coffee + powdered sugar + maple flavoring = heaven sent flavor.  Seriously.  The best thing on the planet. 

Yay!  Look at those adorable little pans, all ready for eating!

Drizzling icing....

Oh, sweet home Alabama!

100 rolls ready for eating!!  

Oh, the pictures could go on and on.  I went on a little hay day with the camera here.  

Doesn't that look fantastic!?  Wait!  Is there a roll missing??  Now who on earth would eat one right out of the pan?  I'll bet I know the culprit. 

Ok, seriously, I'll stop the photos.  Just believe me when I say that this will be one of the best rolls you'll ever have in your life.  Seriously delicious.  I hope to see each and every one of you at the stand in my front yard, next Saturday from 9 until 11 AM.  Bring your loose change, or even a dollar bill or two!