Happy St. Patty's Day

I know I should really get these things posted earlier to the actual day but I am finding it hard to find a few minutes to even get downstairs to our computer.  So today the laundry is not getting done so that I can update a little more on here.

I love St. Patrick's Day and so does everyone in our house.  Strange considering there is absolutely no Irish blood running through these veins.  My kids actually think that this is Pat's second "birthday".  Somewhere down the line he told them that the day was named after him, and now that is all they think about when the day actually comes.  We have a couple of leprechaun traps that have survived Kindergarten, but this year I kind of took it easy and only set up Rawley's.  Wednesday nights are very busy at our house so I had to set it up without the kids, promising of course to actually do it. So here is our small but hopefully effective trap.

We didn't catch one this year but he did bring us some fun treats!

I have wanted to do this for my kids lunch last year, but hot lunch day fell on St. Patrick's Day. So this year I got to surprise my older 2 kids with this. I think they enjoyed their green lunches!

The whole gang in their green garb. No pinches here!

We survived and it was a lot of fun, I would call it organized chaos! Which seems to be the trend around here a lot these days! Hence the new blog name!

Family Photos!

My awesome older brother actually agreed to take our family pictures again this year! We had a fun time and the weather actually cooperated! Here are some of my favorites.

Hopefully he will be willing to do it again!  Hint Hint!

January!

This month was fairly uneventful!  So here are the most fun things!  We woke up one morning to this!

Okay not necessarily fun, and not how I wanted to spend my Monday morning. Oh and did I mention it was freezing!!! All I can say is it better not happen again!

This on the other hand was pretty exciting!

Yep 2 teeth in one night! He was a trooper putting up with all the pushing and pulling! And now the awkward photo stage begins!

Okay

Yes I am awaiting my 10 lashings for being very very behind on the events that have been happening with us lately.  I think that there has been much procrastination on my part, and since I finally feel a little like blogging I will play catch up and fill you in on the last 3 months!  Wow has it really been that long?  This might take a little longer than I thought!  So I guess I will start with December.  I think I was feeling a little overwhelmed with December and for that reason decided to take a hiatus from blogging.  The month always starts with a bang and goes out with a bang!  Literally!  We were lucky to get to the annual Johansen Christmas Party again.  The kids love this party, and so do I.  Really you can't go wrong with family, friends and good food.  Plus a live nativity and visit from the man in red.  Emmy got stage fright when it came time to do the nativity so she decided to sit this one out with Addy.  Hadley got to be an angel and Rawley was one of the 3 wise men, and Santa did a good job with the gifts as well.  I think the kids were pleasantly surprised how well Santa knows them.

School break was a little different this year.  The kids were out an entire week before Christmas, which made shopping that much more difficult.  I ended up having a lot of late nights to make up for not getting it all done early, but scored a kinect for the Xbox one night because of it.  That thing was tricky to find!  I guess there is one benefit to late night shopping and Walmart being open 24 hours.  I also managed to get one other great deal for Emmy.  She is our girly girl and this year I wanted to find a doll house for her and all of the princesses.  The one I found was perfect and the $40 price adjustment I got after I bought it was even better!  We were lucky to have all of Pat's family home for Christmas.  His sister Devynn came for a month with her 2 boys, her husband Brian was here for a week.  Laura and her family came for a week, Eric their oldest is living here and going to school so that made their decision easy.  The other main reason for the family gathering was to celebrate Christmas with Pat's parents who were serving a mission for our church last year.  It was so nice to see everyone again.  It had been almost 4 years since we had seen Devynn, and we had never met Laura's youngest Marlee who is just a few months older than Addy.  We had a nice low key Christmas.  I love it when that happens! Here are a couple of pictures! I didn't want to overload this post with pictures so here are my favourites.

New jammies on Christmas Eve

The Tree

Addy and Grandpa P, I love that as soon as she got a hold of Lambchop she was in her snuggle mode. I don't think Grandpa minded that much either!

We rounded December up with more partying! We spent New Years Eve with my family opening our name gifts, eating lots and lots of food, playing the Kinect and ringing in the New Year! Always a fun time!

Why does cold weather make me want to bake?

That is the question of the day!  I don't know the reason but recently I have been in the baking mood.  It must be the fact that I am stuck inside my toasty warm house all day long and have run out of things to keep my 3 year old entertained.  So this past weekend I went a little crazy!  It all started when I was trying to think of something to do for my friend Amy who just had a new baby boy.  I had already bought a gift but wanted to take a little something more.  I didn't want to do a full dinner because I am a little worried about whether or not they would like it, so I decided to do what a friend had done for me a number of years ago after I had my second baby.  So I dug through my recipe book to find a recipe for Cinnamon buns.  The title actually says Cinnabon's so I am guessing that it is pretty close to the actual recipe used by them.  I promised Amy I would share so here it is for all of you to enjoy!  I don't know how long they lasted at her house but the pan I made here didn't even last a day!

Cinnabon's

1 1/2 Tablespoons Yeast
4 Tablespoons Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Cups Hot Water
1/4 Cup Oil
5 Cups Flour
1 Egg

Combine Sugar, Water, Oil, 2 Cups of Flour, Egg and Salt in large bowl or mixer. Add yeast and let set for 1 minute.  Add remaining 3 Cups of Flour.  Let rise till double in size.

Roll out on lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick and 2 feet long by 1 1/2 feet wide. Spread with 3/4 Cup of Butter or Margarine.  Top with mixture of  3/4 Cups of Brown Sugar and 1/4 Cup of Cinnamon.  Roll into long tube.  Cut into 2 1/2 inch pieces using thread or dental floss.  Place 1 inch apart in pan lined with wax paper.  Let rise till touching.  Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes till brown.

Ice Immediately
1 Package Cream Cheese 8oz.
1 Cup Butter or Margarine
4 Cups Icing Sugar   (Powdered Sugar for all my American readers)
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
Drop of Lemon Juice  ( I use around 1/4 Teaspoon)

Eat until full!

My kids won't stop asking for them so this may have to be a regular on our Breakfast or Dessert menu from here on out!

She's finally walking.

I was so worried that Addy would start walking while we were in San Francisco, but luckily she decided to save it until we got back.  She finally decided it was easier to get around on 2 feet.  I can't believe how quickly she is growing up.  But I guess she can't stay a baby forever.  She also has increased her vocabulary to include kitty along with mama and dada.  Soon she will be talking up a storm! What a big girl!

San Francisco

So a couple of days after Halloween we were able to take another trip, this time just the two of us.  I was actually just tagging along, Pat spent the day in a continuing education class.  So that left me exploring by myself from 8-5 every day.  Who knew that San Francisco was so easy to get around.  We rented a car, but next time won't.  Not only is there hardly any parking the only parking in most places was Valet and it cost a lot.  Even our hotel only offered it.  On the first day there we had great weather, I spent the morning at Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39.  Saw the famous Sea Lions, had a good view of Alcatraz, browsed the shops and got familiar with the area.  Then grabbed some take out and went back to the hotel to eat and rest my feet.  After that was all said and done I walked down to the Hyde Street Pier.  Got an even better look at Alcatraz, Coit Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge, and walked down the pier and looked at the restored ships they had docked there.  Hyde Street is a crazy street.  I think it is one of the steepest streets in all of San Francisco, but you can't really tell from the picture I took of it.  I met Pat back at the hotel after his course was finished and we went back so that he could see everything that I did that day, and so we could get some dinner. 

The Sea Lions

Golden Gate Bridge

Coit Tower

Alcatraz

Hyde Street

While we were there we wanted to see a Broadway show. I was very sad that Wicked decided to go on tour during the time of our trip but I wasn't disappointed in West Side Story. Even better I actually recognized one of the cast from the show. Well actually Pat did, and pointed it out to me. Neil from So You Think You Can Dance Season 3. He was my favorite on that season so to see him in person was pretty great! Might have even got his picture if we stayed after for the cast Q&A, but we didn't want to miss our bus back to the hotel. This was the theater where it was showing at.

I also spent the day at Union Square doing some shopping.  It was super easy getting there thanks to the front desk attendant at our hotel.  They actually recommended using the bus instead of driving everywhere.  It took only 15 minutes to get there and every store you could imagine was within a 4 block radius.  This was from the patio at The Cheesecake Factory in Macy's.  It was a great view and good food of course!

Our last day there I decided to find Lombard Street. You can't visit San Francisco and not see it in my opinion, but for some reason Pat was not that interested. After a quick stop at the front desk for directions, I was on my way. It wasn't too far, but what they forgot to mention was that walking up Hyde Street is like walking up the side of a mountain. But hey now I can say I did that too! I couldn't imagine living on this street and having a million strangers walking up and down it every day.  Still it was very cool to see.

After dinner and a movie (our plans to go on a sunset cruise didn't work out)on our last night we stopped at Union Square one last time. They had been working on it the entire time we were there so we decided to see what was going on. They had put in an outdoor ice rink and we missed it by 3 days. It would have been so fun to be able to go skating!

I have a list of things to do the next time that we visit, and hopefully it will be soon. It was such a fun city to visit, and surprisingly very family friendly. We might have to make it a family affair next time!