Jon has been craving cinnamon rolls lately, so yesterday on his first "offical" day off, we made them as a family. I have been enjoying my mom's bread machine lately (I think it's got something to do with all the carbs I've been craving with this baby...)--this is my 3rd bread machine use in the two weeks we've been here! :) My family enjoys the goodies, but they accuse me of trying to make everyone fat. But it's funny how the goods disappear within two days! :)
Evan got to help me mix the brown sugar and cinnamon for the rolls. He didn't really understand what it was until I started putting it on the rolled-out dough...then all he wanted to do was snitch up all the extras that fell on the counter... I think he thought he was "helping..." :) Then he helped Daddy make some awesome cream cheese frosting, and once again helped "clean up" all the extra frosting left on the beaters. Needless to say, he loved the finished product even more! :)
After enjoying some freshly baked cinnamon rolls, Evan and daddy got to wrestle and play around. Evan almost didn't know what to do--he was so excited to be able to play with daddy for once! Since Jon's commute to work from my parents' house is nearly an hour long, by the time he gets home from work, we eat supper and then it's time to give Evan a bath and put him to bed. So this was a good change. Evan has been "tackling" daddy for a while now (usually in our bed on Saturday mornings when he gets to be lazy with us), but now he's got his own little "moves" down to tackle anyone laying on the floor! He's got the "ready, set, run!", the "half spin, attack!" and the "three circles, fall down, get up, attack!" It's really funny watching him...he does the same three things all the time. He's such a boy! And his newest game with daddy is to climb on his back for horsey rides. Evan loves this fun time with daddy, and daddy is a trooper for putting up with the rug burn on his knees! :)
Then to end our first "daddy's day off" we took Evan to Saint Louis to watch the Balloon Glow. Tomorrow afternoon is the yearly hot air balloon race, but every year on the night before the race, all of the balloons blow up and light up for everyone to see. For those of you familiar with Forest Park, the balloon glow was on the ball fields near the police horse stables, but it was so crowded that we had to park in the zoo parking lot! So we certainly got our exercise for the day by making the hike up and down all of those hills in the park! :) By the time we finally got there, we had less than a half hour to enjoy the balloons. Evan liked the balloons...from a distance, but up close, I think they were a little bit scarry. He just stared in awe (or maybe fear?) at the big fires going up inside of the balloons. I do think he enjoyed the colors of the big balloons and getting to see all the fun designs (the energizer bunny, one balloon had a cow, one balloon had a goldfish (like the cracker), one balloon was a pepsi can, one balloon was a Wherenberg Theater bag of popcorn, and lots of balloons had pretty squares of colors like a quilt). When we asked Evan which balloon was his favorite, he said, "pa-corn." It was pretty cute. I thought for sure he would tell us the "moo" balloon since he LOVES looking for cows when we're driving...but he surprised us with his answer! :)
We snuck out of the park right before the fireworks, but we did get to watch them from a distance. And on the way home, daddy treated us all to icecream cones! Yummy! :) (And for all you who know that Evan used to only eat the cone without the icecream, you'll be happy to hear that he's decided it's ok to lick the icecream now!) :)
Enjoy the pictures! For the full album, click here.
Evan was snitching the "spilled" brown sugar and cinnamon off the counter...
Evan helped daddy "clean up" the icing off of the beaters...
Daddy makes a good horsey!
My two silly boys
Watching the Balloons Glow in Forest Park
Playing swords with the pieces to his new super fort
