Healthy(er) Cinnamon Rolls- Bread Machine

Cinnamon Rolls are one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. My children and husband love them just as much, if not more, than I do.  Recently I've been experimenting with making my usual recipe a little bit healthier(I realize it's still not exactly healthy, though!), and I think I've found a winner. Here it is:

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp of warm milk
1 Tbsp Coconut oil
2 Tbsp Butter
1 egg plus 2 egg whites
1/2 cup raw sugar(or regular sugar/honey- if using honey 1/3 cup)
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
3 tsp yeast

Filling
2 Tbsp melted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar mixed with a tablespoon of cinnamon

Glaze

1/2-1 tsp milk
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 Tbsp of butter
1 tsp of vanilla


Pour all ingredients in bread machine in order listed. Put on dough cycle. When done, roll out and spread filling, roll back up and slice rolls. Let rolls rise for about 20 minutes in greased pans, then bake at 325 for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

I usually get 16 rolls from this recipe, and usually bake one pan, and freeze the other. If you want to freeze them, just pop them in the freezer right after you've had them rise. Enjoy!

The Same Team

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Tell me if you've ever had this happen to you. Your husband arrives home from work completely exhausted and starts telling you what a rough day he's had. Do you sympathetically scratch his back and say,"Oh I'm so sorry, honey, why don't you go lie down for awhile? I'll try to keep the kids quiet so you can rest." Or is your response more like,"Well at least you weren't stuck here with the kids all day and you got to have adult conversation! These kids are just as much yours as they are mine, so suck it up until bedtime!"

Guess how I usually respond? If you guessed the first response, as much as I hate to admit it, you'd be wrong.

Recently, I've realized how competitive I am with my husband. I treat our lives, and our different roles in our family as a competition. I'm not sure how long I've done this, but it comes so naturally to me, that it's hard to stop. But I absolutely must stop. The Bible says married couples should complement each other, not compete with each other over who has the harder job!

My job is is to help, respect, love, and submit to Erik. It is not my job to tell him when it's ok for him to be tired, or to convict him of sin. Besides, can you imagine if the roles were reversed, and he was doing that to me? I would be miserable!

Life gets hard. I think it's safe to say that I'm in a difficult season of life right now, with seemingly millions of children running around(or, you know, four.) I feel isolated, overwhelmed, and frazzled quite a bit. But you know who probably understands how I feel better than anyone? My husband! How silly of me to try to compete with him, when he knows what I'm going through better than anyone else. Yes we have different jobs, and no he's not home all day every day, but he's still taking care of and providing for his family.

The bottom line is that I must start remembering that Erik and I are on the same team. We have different roles, but when it's all said and done we both want the same things for our family.

"The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down." Proverbs 14:1

Linked to A Wise Woman Builds Her Home & Yes they're all mine

Oh the Things They Say(and Do)

These children of mine sure can make me laugh. Here's a summary of some of the funny things they've been saying(and doing!) lately.

The other night when we were doing our family Bible time, Erik asked Jack,"Do you know what a Psalm is, buddy?"

"Oh, sure, daddy, of course!"

"Ok, what's a psalm?"

Pause. And then, "Row, Row, Row your boat gently down the stream!" 

Well, he's close, I guess.;)

***

The other day I got frustrated with Jack about something, and when he realized that I wasn't too happy about something he had done, he goes, "Oh, Mommy, I like your hair!"

Hmm, I wonder who he's learned that from?!

***

Every morning Lily asks to wear a "pretty dress." Whenever she gets it put on, she'll sigh and say, "I so beautiful!"

-Speaking of pretty dresses, last week I came out dressed in a comfortable shirt(but something completely acceptable to wear out in public), and Anna says to me, "Why are you wearing daddy's shirt? Go put on something pretty!" Ouch. :)

-For whatever reason Lily has decided that first thing in the morning is a great time to take off all her clothes, climb out of her crib, and get into bed with Anna. Needless to say, most mornings I wake up to Anna screaming for Lily to get out of her bed. 

-Instead of "Amen" at the end of a prayer, Anna has started saying,"The End" when she's done praying.

-Jack has had to wear his spider man costume to bed every afternoon this past week, that way he's ready to fight the "bad guys" when he wakes up.

And this one is one of my favorites, I told Anna we could go on a date this week, and when I asked her what she wanted to do, she says,"Go to the health food store and Starbucks!" Yep, she is so my daughter.

I've lost my Mind

That's how I feel every single day of my life. I walk into a room, and I can't remember why I'm in there. My kids go down for a nap, and there's so many things that I want to get done that I end up starting one task and only finishing it half way before beginning another. My purse winds up in the freezer. I write something down so I won't forget, only to forget where I placed the piece of paper. I've been known to give a sippy cup to my husband, and hand a fork to the toddler.

One time I was filling out a form, and when it asked for my first name I instinctively wrote,"Mommy."

There was even one time where I thought I'd lost a child, only to realize I was holding the "missing" child. Yes, please don't judge me too harshly.

 What is going on? What has happened to my brain?! I'm not pregnant, I'm getting a full night of sleep(most of the time), and I'm taking care of myself.

 And then I remember the four little people I take care of every day, and I remember this little thing called "Mommy Brain."

I've heard it's normal for this season of life. That it's temporary.

Here's hoping that's true.. and even if it's not, that I can at least start remembering my own name.

My Sweet Max

Max is almost 11 months old! I can't believe it! He is so laid back and easy going. Erik and I laugh and wonder if our older three children were this easy, and wonder if we're just more experienced now, or if Max really is just super easy going. And all I have to do is browse through baby books and blog archives to discover that, yes, Max really is super laid back!

He adores Jack. I don't think Jack can do any wrong as far as Max is concerned. Lily still thinks she's also Max's mommy. He's starting to become more and more of a Mommy and Daddy's boy. He takes two naps a day, and is usually ready for bed by 6:30. He wakes up in the happiest mood in the morning, and for some reason thinks that watching Erik put his black socks on before leaving for work is the most entertaining part of the day! He army crawls mostly, and is starting to pull up on everything. He'll be walking before I know it, which should be pretty funny since he's on the small side.

I'm still nursing him about three times a day. This is the longest I've ever nursed a baby, with all my other kids I've been pregnant by this point and had to wean them. I am truly enjoying Max's baby days, and feel so blessed to have two sweet boys and two precious girls.