an dochas and the haran irish dancers

it's another "salina weekend" for my daughter, which means there are 3 little girls who need cared for on friday until daddy is off work. the problem w/ that scenario, though, is that they typically want to extend their stays to include overnight (if not the whole weekend!).

so mommy made her plans to go to salina while i made our plans to attend "an dochas and the haran irish dancers" at pittsburg memorial auditorium. little rain was at uncle kirk's house, helping "work on the farm," which i thought worked out great as she would probably lose interest in the show before it was over.

i tried to get daddy (lucas) to meet up w/ us at the show, but he didn't seem to have much interest in going. it was just going to be grandpa, raven, riahna, and me for the evening. we started off w/ dinner at cafe del rio (which riahna and rain call "del wios") and then on to the show. the little girls acted SO grownup and proper -- they were impressive! they were excited to go see the dancers and knew they would like the show. the tickets were assigned seating and good seats on the floor at memorial auditorium.

the girls had both been fighting a cold, but as the evening wore on -- they just started to wilt. raven, especially, was showing signs of not feeling up to her best. the performance was really good and lots of fun, but she just couldn't make it until the end. she was running a fever, her head was hurting, her throat was hurting, and she was coughing. she had asked a couple times to leave and go home, but we encouraged her to try to stay.

after about 50 minutes of performance, we decided to leave. we knew there was no intermission, so we figured we had made it most of the way through the show. raven was just miserable. we called daddy and gave him the news -- your little girls are coming home tonight (instead of staying all night at our house) and they are sick. i'm sure that made for a long weekend for him!

during the show, riahna was seated in my lap where she could get a better view of the dancers. there was a little boy about her age seated a couple seats over from us. he did everything he could to get her attention -- but she wouldn't look at him. i could tell from her rigid body that she knew he was trying to get her attention, and she was extra attentive to the show. he snapped his fingers, he waved at her, he wriggled around in his seat, he clapped his hands, and even danced w/ stomping feet. nothing worked.

to an outsider, it would look like he had made no impression on her at all. by the time he was stomping his feet, his mother was doing what she could to get his attention to make him sit still and be quiet. the second that he turned away to see what his mother wanted, riahna quit watching the show to watch him. as soon as he turned to watch her again, she was riveted to the show again. this went on for about 8 minutes, and it was quite comical. poor little boy never knew that he had gained her attention, and that little ornery girl had done a very slick job of playing hard to get! it was really quite entertaining to watch!


an dochas and the haran irish dancers provided a great experience and a good evening of entertainment. i am so glad that we decided to see this show and take the little girls to experience it. the funny thing was that most of the songs were about drinking and dying, but they were performed w/ lots of fun and gusto!

a "special" breakfast

great snow day breakfast recipe -- cinnamon french toast bake (taken from the show 'from the kitchens of pillsbury w/ brigitte nguyen). this show, done from various product test kitchens, gives a person some great ideas for using the brand name products in a different way.

here's one that we use for special mornings when we want to enjoy some time together, but i don't feel that i can take a bunch of time out to fix breakfast (usually b/c i'm fixing the lunch meal for the whole family or something like that!).

cinnamon french toast bake

1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 - 12 oz cans cinnamon rolls
6 eggs
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cup maple syrup
icing from the cinnamon roll packages
powdered sugar - optional

1. prehead oven to 375.
2. pour butter into 9 x 13 baking dish.
3. cut cinnamon rolls into 4 pieces each.
4. put cut pieces into buttered dish - 2 layers.
5. beat eggs, cream, cinnamon & vanilla.
6. pour over roll pieces in butter.
7. sprinkle pecans on top.
8. drizzle syrup over top.
9. bake 24 - 28 minutes until brown.
10. drizzle w/ warmed icing from cinnamon roll package.
11. dust w/ powdered sugar, if desired.

we like ours served while hot, w/ a drizzle of heavy cream over it. the leftovers save well and easily reheat in the microwave. makes a great midnight snack or a leftover breakfast.