Grandma's Cinnamon Rolls

When I realized we were going to be at 'Papa & Nana's' for breakfast on Christmas Eve morning I could not resist asking to have Grandma Jones make her famous cinnamon rolls. Nothing like them. When she was making her 4th batch of the day it dawned on me that these were pictures that needed to be taken. So - if you have ever wanted to know how to make 'Grandma's Famous Cinnamon Rolls'... Here you go...

You start by making a batch of bread/roll dough. Either by hand or in the bread machine. Melt a cube of butter in a 9x13 pan (by sticking it in your oven that is preheating to 350* )

Sprinkle a moderate amount of brown sugar over the melted butter in the 9x13 pan - set aside.

After the dough has risen roll out into a rectangle and spread with soft butter.

Sprinkle with white sugar...

...and cinnamon ~

Roll up in a loose roll from the wide side.

Cut into approximately 1" pieces with either scissors or using dental floss...

...and arrange in prepared pan.

Lightly press down with your hand.

After pressing down cover with a cloth and let rise.

When nearly double in size pour cream over the top and let set a few minutes so the cream can run down between the rolls.

Bake at 350* for about 30 minutes

(aren't they beautiful?!)

Turn upside down on cooling rack when taken from the oven.

(this is my mom/'Nana' in this picture!)

Enjoy!!!

(Just like my nephew Jacob did!)

Edited to add:

1) Grandma uses some of the butter melted in the pan to spread onto the dough

2) One pint of whipping cream should last for 2-3 batches

Some pictures...

Thought I would share some pictures from our last... week ?... (has it only been a week?!?!?)

(yes - the layout is a little odd, but I am tired of fighting it! So it is what it is! :p)

Beka and Caleb meeting Charlyn at the airport. Beka was very excited, Caleb was not sure what to think at first! After picking her up we ran a few errands - each time Charlyn got back in the car his eyes would light up and he would exclaim 'Ninny, Ninny' (Charlyn... 'Lyn...'Nin...'Ninny)

Charlyn came home on Seth's 11th birthday. Our original birthday plans fell through due to the weather so on the way home we picked up some things at Roth's (grocery store) and had a lovely evening celebrating and watching it snow - if only we knew.... :p

So Seth got a sister for his birthday... curious to see if either Abigail (Feb. 4th) or Nicole (Feb. 9th) will get a new sibling for their birthday?!?!

Required Snow pics...

Here is Beka with a poncho Seth gave her for Christmas - he sewed it in sewing class! Very cute! Below left is Abigail cooking our Christmas breakfast on the wood stove. We had scrambled eggs, pancakes and bacon. Not the planned menu - but delicious!

----> Caleb playing with a gift received on Christmas Eve while waiting for Mom and Dad to get moving so the stockings can be opened! (see the stockings on the love seat to the left?) All in all the last week or two has been crazy, but has given us many memories! We do look forward to catching up the laundry! (if that is possible!)

Christmas Day

A late Merry Christmas from Hodgepodge Acres ~

Our phone was working when we got home Christmas Eve, we got our power back this afternoon, Dennis should get the water back up and running tomorrow. It has been quite an adventure! :)

A Hodgepodge Update...

Once again I am behind on updates. Life sure can get crazy. Thought I would do an all in one post at this point - hope to add some pictures later.

Today is Christmas Eve (Wednesday) We have been without power since Saturday afternoon. Yesterday Dennis decided we needed to make a break for it. Not as easy as it sounds!

Ok - backing up some...

It has been snowing for over a week now, so amazing. Last Thursday (the 18th) Charlyn flew in, we had no problem going to get her. It is lovely to have her home even if only for a couple of weeks. Thursday was also Seth's 11th birthday. We picked up some deli food as well as a cake on our way home from the airport. Had a lovely evening celebrating and watching Charlyn try to stay awake. :p

Friday, more snow, Dennis came and got me during his lunch time as I was scheduled for an afternoon appointment. I had no desire to drive on the less than desirable roads, especially since my tummy is very close to the steering wheel - makes me nervous. Also - Dennis wanted to be driving our Suburban (4WD, traction tires) vs. his work car. I had a great appointment - next one in two weeks (a sign we are getting close!) and got some grocery shopping done while in town. I also got some quilting done while sitting in his office later watching him work.

Saturday - the power goes out...

Sunday - no way we are making it to church...

Monday - a third day of all nine of us together all day! Yikes! We have played games, got packages 'ribboned', and the kids have played outside quite a bit! It is a new reality as to how short the days really are.

We are going through candles and batteries like crazy, but at the same time making some wonderful family memories. :) yes, I say this with all seriousness!

Tuesday... Dennis decides we need to make a break for it - not as simple of a task as it sounds. By this point we are up to 2-3 feet of snow, depending on where you looks. Totally amazing! After it taking a while to get out (and a neighbor with his tractor) and hearing it may be up to a week before we get power (and water since we are on a well) and possibly phone back - it was decided to head to my parents to night.

So here we are now enjoying running water, lights, and Internet! (the important things in life!) We will head back tonight after celebrating Christmas Eve with my family.

On the way to 'Papa & Nana's' we did stock up on bottled water and some easy to fix food so are going home in better shape then we left yesterday.

Time for me to scoot and enjoy time with my family.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas IS coming!!!

One of the downsides (?) of having a large family is that even when not buying much per child there are a lot of gifts to be wrapped and or hid. Since we can not find a good hiding place for all the gifts we find wrapping them is the best way to hide them. Usually about now they would go under the tree but since 1) we have two family gatherings between now and Christmas and 2) we have a two year old that would not hesitate to open anything left on his level when not being watched we felt the need to get them up and out of the way until Christmas morning. Once again - finding an out of reach place is not easy when dealing with a 'monkey'. Dennis decided that a book case outside our bedroom would be a good start and made it a challenge to see how many he could fit up there. Since he likes doing puzzles - he did amazingly well. :)

Dennis and I have enjoyed hearing the kids discuss who the different gifts might possibly be for as they can not see any name tags. Oh the joys of parenthood! :p (Bahahahaaa)

We have also found a variety of stools and chairs near the

bookcase... A sibling took this picture of Caleb trying to figure

out if there really is a way up there. (No, he was not allowed to climb)

Now where to put the rest as they are wrapped?

Let the Games Begin...

This title would have made more sense if I had made the posting when I planned to - a couple of weeks ago (I think - time is a blur) Anyway - this is about our Christmas happenings so far - and to think Christmas is still two weeks away!

A tradition at our house is to keep out wooden train set, Christmas books, DVDs & music put away until after Thanksgiving. (we do need to have a family meeting on the Christmas music issue!) I had hoped to put a picture of all (three!) of my boys playing with the train set but have not gotten a good one yet. But here is a pic of Abigail reading Christmas books to Caleb.

We got our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving in preparation for a Christmas party at our house the coming Monday. Dennis and the kids went out and cut two trees (he let them have one downstairs) I stayed home and took a nap in a deliciously quiet house. Here is Caleb helping get decorations out. I think everyone needs a 2 year old to help out with their tree decorating! And re-decorating... Not sure what the tree is going to look like come Christmas day! :p But that is ok - keeps things interesting. And come not long after Christmas I will be chomping at the bit to get things put away as once Christmas is 'put away' we can start getting baby stuff down and ready to go! (72 days left on the countdown chart!)

We did have a lovely Christmas party here for the homeschool mom's of our support group. Twelve ladies in all counting Nicole and myself. Amelia made us some lovely soups and the ladies brought finger foods to share. We also had a 'white-elephant' gift exchange with which 'candles' seems to be the theme! Can't go wrong with candles!

Last but not least was the family Christmas party at Dennis' work. Somehow I got put in charge (yikes!) but once we got a framework on the event many wonderful people stepped in to help out. The day of I really did not do much except keep an eye on my own kiddos. I believe there was about 55-60 in attendance and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. First I have to say - having helped plan many of these parties over the years it was a special thrill to not have to look for a location to hold the party. They are in a BEAUTIFUL new building that has a large training room that was perfect for our purposes. I the room are three very large TV's mounted in corners. We had all in use. One had a Wii playing (which was ALWAYS in use!) another had Christmas cartoons playing, and the third had the Army-Navy football game going. (no, that was not in my plans, but if it will get dad's to come I am all for it!) I did learn that this is one case when Marines are 100% behind the Navy - guess that proves there is an exception to every rule! :p (to anyone that does not know. Dennis was in the USMC way back when - the first 6 years of our marriage) We also had crafts, games and cookie decorating going on. A wonderful potluck dinner with the main dish close to catered. :) yummy! The afternoon wrapped up with a visit from Santa. He was great. A gift was put under the tree for Dennis - in order to get the gift he had to sit on Santa's lap. So that is where I will end this lengthy post! On to see what else this Christmas season has planned for us!

A Couple More Birthdays

Ok - so I am very much behind on my blogging. Life has gotten to be crazy busy and not showing any signs of letting up. So today I decided just to make it a priority. The picture to the left is Amelia on her Sweet 16 - amazing how time flies. Her day did not go quite like she would have liked but she seemed pleased in the end. Her birthday was is on Nov. 30th, which this year was the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. Hard to make plans with friends that way. We went to church in the morning came home and had pizza, floats and cake when she also opened gifts. In the evening we were back to church for the annual Praise Banquet - she was able to sit with friends at that point wearing new clothes! The picture below /to the right was taken on Charlyn's 20th birthday! This was the first time for one of our kids to celebrate a birthday away from home. Nicole was able to fly back and visit Charlyn for a week including on her birthday, it sounds like they both had a great time. (Nicole is on her way home now!) In the picture are... L to R: 'The Bentley girls, Jonathan (a friend from Oregon that also lives in VA), Charlyn and Nicole. This was taken after a concert Jonathan was in. Sounds like they had a fun and full day. Maybe she has blogged about it on her blog (link to the left on the main page)

It is so amazing to watch our children grow up into adults. *sigh*