Prayers by Kasen 10.14.15

......

Kasen: "Thank you, God, for the world so sweet. Thank you, Kasen, for listening. Amen."

........

Sneaking in a little self-praise! ;-)

#KasenSpam #TheWayAThreeYearOldPrays #PraisingHimAndHimself

Prayers by Kasen 9.6.15

Me: "What are you doing?"

Kasen: "I just want to pray by my own self."

.......

Kasen: "Thank you for the world so sweet, thank you for the food we eat, thank you for the birds that sing, thank you God for everything."

........

Kasen: "Mama, can you sing like the birds?"

Me: "Uh......."

#KasenSpam #TheWayAThreeYearOldPrays #ByMyOwnSelf

Give ya some, some, some of this Cinnabon!!

"Is it worth it, let me work it. I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it."

With Missy Elliot's recent Super Bowl half-time performance, many of us are feeling a bit nostalgic for her crazy beats and even crazier rhymes. However, after searching Pinterest for some cinnamon rolls inspiration, I now wonder what Miss Elliot was really talking about. All I know, it that after working it, putting the dough down, flipping it, and reversing it.... these ooey gooey cinnamon rolls were sooooo worth it! 

Ain't No Shame, Ladies do Your Thang Cinnamon Rolls

Makes 8 to 10 rolls - Total time: 1 hrs. 55 mins. 

Ingredients
For the rolls:
• 1 cup warm milk 
• 2 eggs, room temp
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 package active dry yeast

For the Filling:

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed

• 2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

• 1/3 cup butter, softened

For the Frosting:

• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened

• 1/4 cup butter, softened

• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Mix in the sugar, margarine, salt, and eggs. Add the flour in quarters and mix well. 

2. Knead the dough into a large ball and put it back into the bowl. Cover it with a dish cloth and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until doubled in size.

3. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

4. Roll dough into a large rectangle. Spread dough with the softened butter and sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture evenly over it. Roll the dough up and cut into 8-10 rolls, trimming off ends if needed.

5. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about thirty minutes.

6. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. 

7. While rolls are baking, beat together the ingredients for the frosting. Spread or drizzle it on warm rolls before serving.

Enjoy!!

xoxo,
Mrs. Kosko

Prayers by Kasen 2.12.15

Dear God,

Thank you for Chewie. (I'm mean why not include Chewbacca in your prayers?!)

Thank you for Han Solo. (If we pray for his co-pilot, we should pray for him too.)

Thank you for firefighters. (Legit.)

Thank you for fruit snacks. (Hmmmm.)

Thank you for Daddy, Mama, and Kasen. (Said in a monster voice.)

In Your name we pray, Amen.

#KasenSpam #TheWayATwoYearOldPrays

xoxo,

Mrs. Kosko

Prayers by Kasen 1.26.15

Dear God,
Thank you for Daddy coming home. (As in 'from work', I'm guessing.)
Thank you for Mama putting bum cream on me. (Not sure about this one - he hasn't had the need for 'bum cream' in awhile.)
Thank you for the Seahawks. (Go Hawks!)
Thank you for Russell Wilson going to bed. (SB QB's have bed times too.)
Thank you for Bam Bam Kam going to bed.  (He must have a bed time after he gets done damaging souls.)
Thank you for Uncle Shane picking me up from school. (That one time 4 days ago he picked him up from daycare.)
In Your name we pray, Amen.

#KasenSpam #TheWayATwoYearOldPrays

xoxo,
Mrs. Kosko

The Context of Comments

My department had a staff retreat yesterday. Towards the end of the day, we had a session on cultural competency. Working for a school district full of diversity, a session like this can always be a great reminder to even those who feel they are aware of perceptions and avoid judgements. The presenter, Dr. Caprice Hollins (<----- amazing if you ever get the chance to hear her speak, a gentle but powerful presenter), had one line that resinated with me. I am paraphrasing a bit, but she explained that you must understand one's comment by the context of their experiences. How true is this? Seriously. If this were applied to most exchanges it may alleviate so many of our misunderstandings. More importantly, it gives the benefit of the doubt, the ability to lose judgement, and the empowerment of the person you are making and exchange with. It honors what people have gone through, and allows for there to be difference between people.

xoxo,

Mrs. Kosko

The Ultimate Seahawks Super Bowl Giveaway

I've not fully decided what I will be writing about on this blog yet. So while I work on still setting things up, I felt like this was the best place to share this with you.

But before we get in to things, enter to win here: https://contest.io/c/paqvtes8 (It only takes 30 seconds!)

If you are curious as to why I am trying to win this trip - other than the obvious, the Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl AGAIN! - then please continue reading.

Our story...

December 7, 2008: Kyle asked me to marry him!
For a guy who gets uncomfortable picking up in the phone to order a pizza, Kyle's planning for his proposal to me was pretty epic! For those that don't know how he proposed, here is the rundown. We had already purchased tickets to the 12/7/08 game, but Kyle called me at work about a week before the game to tell me that he won a radio contest and we were going to be able to take a field tour before the game. I was stoked to say the least. When we got to the stadium, we found the person who was to give us the tour, she ushered us on to the field. I was taking my time, but Kyle and the woman giving the tour both seemed to walk at a face pace as if they were purposely going somewhere. I was a bit annoyed as I was hoping to take it all in, watch the players practicing, and really take our time. We ended up in the south end zone rather quickly, in front of many of the iconic Seahawks fans (think Mr. and Mrs. Seahawk), and were greeted by the VP of Community Relations for the Seahawks who offered to take a picture for us. It was after the camera snapped a picture, that I turned to see Kyle getting down on one knee. It was only after screaming "yes!" that it was explained to me that the whole thing was planned. I realized later there was no radio contest and Kyle worked hard to get us on that field that day. He started with a call in to the ticket office, and through conversation after conversation was able to get in touch with the right people who helped in making that one special day for us.

November 21, 2009: Kyle and I got married!
After almost 9 years of dating Kyle and I made it official. Before our ceremony we took our wedding party and photographers on a visit to Seattle. We hoped to get a couple shots in from of the stadium in honor of it being the place that helped get us to that day. Our photographers (shout out to F7 Photography) caught the attention of some of the stadium security and ask if we could get some shots on the north end stairs. After an impressive exchange, the stadium staff agreed to let us on the stairs, but only so far up them because the final match of the MLS Cup was taking place the next day, and they could not risk having the field viewed before then. That was enough for us though. We were thrilled to capture the moments we did on the stairs and around the stadium.

December 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, & 2013: We made it a point to go to a December game in order to celebrate the 2008 game that started our engagement to each other.

If you've stuck with me this far, thank you! But there are two things wrong with this story. The first is that on December 7, 2008, the Seahawks took the field and played the Patriots. While we think of that day as a win for Kyle and I, the Seahawks played their hearts out but were beat out by the Patriots in a 21-24 loss. The second is that while we've made an effort to get to a December game each year, you will notice December 2014 was not listed. This year, buying tickets was just not in the cards for us. As with all 12s we've enjoyed watching the games on TV, but everybody knows that nothing beats being their for a game. The excitement of a Seahawks game in person almost electric.

So, I am asking you to click the link above and enter Washington Tractor's Super Bowl Giveaway. By entering you have a chance at winning, but you are also giving me a chance to win too. Even better, feel free to share this post and my link (https://contest.io/c/paqvtes8) with your friends and family as the more entries the better!

Thanks for reading out story, now let's just hope we can add a really amazing new chapter to it! We feel humbled and blessed for our experiences and memories Now we want to make up for missing not going to a game this year, and even more so want to make up for the 2008 loss by seeing the Seahawks beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX!!!

xoxo,
Mrs. Kosko

#GoHawks #SB49 #AGirlCanDream #GetTheKoskosToTheSuperBowl

P.S. Check back, as I hope to really get things going on here! :-)