Saturday -- Valentine Fun!

I woke up Saturday morning and went to my Weight Watchers meeting.  I have been going to WW on Monday mornings after teaching my business law class, but I was always getting there too late to participate in the meeting.  The meetings are important I think to the whole WW program, so I've decided to try going on Saturday mornings instead.

Okay.  I officially LOVE the Saturday morning WW meetings!  Why, you ask?

I stepped on the Magic WW scales on Saturday . . . and I had lost 4.8 pounds!  That makes 16.2 pounds total since I started Weight Watchers at the beginning of the year.  The leaders at the meeting were so great and supportive . . . and jealous!  :)  (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating)

But of course, I know the secret to weight loss that those skinny WW leaders don't know. . . Fat people lose weight faster in the beginning than skinny people.  It's just not as hard for a fat person to drop 3 or 4 pounds in the beginning of weight loss, while a skinny person has a more difficult time dropping 3 or 4 pounds. 

Of course, that is just my opinion from years of experience of losing and gaining weight.  Not a scientifically proven fact.  I know that the more I lose, the harder it's going to be to lose even 1 pound. . . but I'm rejoicing in the weight loss victories here in the beginning!

After WW, I picked up Zach from his spend-the-night birthday party.  They had stayed up until 4 o'clock in the morning!  He was ill and exhausted and just plain miserable to be around . . . so when I checked on him later that afternoon, I found this:

He was worn out after his BIG all-nighter!  After he woke up, he was still a little tired, but he was much easier to be around!

I had planned a fun cooking night with the boys as their Valentine surprise.  Zach loves cinnamon rolls, so I had planned on making the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls with them. 

Well, they weren't interested in helping make the cinnamon rolls!  They wanted to eat the cinnamon rolls, but they didn't want to help make them!  I was kinda disappointed.  Afterall, this was supposed to be their special Valentine activity with me . . .

My original plan for Saturday night was a "camp-out" in the living room with the boys and their sleeping bags, but after Zach's all-nighter on Friday, I didn't think that would be a good idea.  After my initial disappointment in the cinnamon roll surprise, I told Zach that they could camp-out in the living room for their special Valentine activity . . . and he thought that was a great idea!   And . . ."Momma, can we make a tent to sleep in too?"   Well . . . of course!

Here is Zach making the tent for their camp-out in the living room:

Yes, that's my kitchen table and my dining room table in the middle of the living room!  Apparently, you need tables to make a tent for camping-out inside!

Zach draped sheets and blankets around the tables until the whole area was enclosed.

I put the couch pillows on top to keep the sheets in place while Zach arranged the boys' sleeping bags and pillows inside the "tent."

Alex and Zach were both so excited about camping out!  Little Shane had already fallen asleep early in his room, so he missed out on the camping experience.

The next morning Shane crawled in the "tent" with them  . . .

He wouldn't let me take a picture because he doesn't like the flash.  Sometimes he's such a joy!  Ha!

Sunday morning, I got up early (5:30 a.m.) because Shane woke me up.  I had made the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon roll recipe Saturday night and put the dough in the refrigerator overnight.  Since I was up so early, I decided to go ahead and make the cinnamon rolls to take to church for the boys' Sunday School class.

These were very easy to make . . . And very convenient too since I made the dough the night before . . . The only noteworthy item about the dough. . . It's a sticky dough so when you roll it out, be sure to flour your board generously to make rolling it up easy.

That's my Pampered Chef pastry mat I used to roll the dough out on . . . I love it! 

Here are the cinnamon rolls right out of the oven:

And wait . . . .Here they are after pouring the icing on them:

Aaahhh!  Soooo Gooood!  I did alter the icing recipe.  I didn't have maple flavoring so I used Vanilla flavoring, and I didn't add the coffee.  I didn't have any coffee to add. :)

They were still soooo good.  Very very sweet stuff!  That pan represents 1/2 the recipe!

So even though my original plan to have a fun baking night with the Ferrell boys fell through . . . we still had a great night together and yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast the next morning!

Flexibility is key with . . .

                                 the Ferrell boys and me!