Farm Weekends are the Best Weekends

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away (2 hours by car with 2 kids = an eternity), a defiant young prince and a sassy little princess spent a cold January weekend with their grandparents who lived on a beautiful farm in the middle of nowhere. While the farm was covered in a glistening dusting of snow outside, inside the farmhouse was warm and inviting. Morning sunlight spilled in through the kitchen window, which overlooked a bustling bird feeder, swarmed by woodland birds, squirrels and the occasional opossum. Lazy dogs sprawled out over the couch cushions, and the sound of wind chimes echoed in the background as the cold breeze cut through the air outside on the frozen tundra and made the barren tree limbs dance and sway. 

The prince and princess were very precocious and very adorable, which led to them being very loved (and very spoiled) by their grandparents (and parents...guilty). Toys of various shapes, sizes and colors were scattered all over the hardwood floors of the farmhouse and caused a considerable amount of pain and annoyance to anyone trying to get to the bathroom. But so loved were the children by their grandparents, that they didn't mind cleaning up a plethora of plastic blocks, tripping over multiple tractors and listening to the repetitious grating of “Old MacDonald” on the See 'N Say no fewer than two thousand times a day. E.I.E.I.O.

No, quite to the contrary. The grandparents loved having their little farmhands around as much as possible to help with the farm chores such as digging for worms, mowing the grass, watering the plants, feeding the birds and making sure the golf cart got its daily exercise. And the little prince and princess were happy to oblige, as nothing made them happier than to be on their very best behavior in the presence of their grandparents so as to make their parents’ stories about how wild, unruly and infuriating the children are sound completely unfounded and exaggerated. As part of their reward for being such wonderful little angels all weekend long, the prince and princess received a very special treat from the grandparents. A treat so amazing that at the mere mention of it, the little prince would shout so loud that his glee could be heard across all the land. Lo and behold - Pillsbury™Grands! Cinnamon Rolls with cream cheese icing!

The defiant and willful little prince had a valiant and chivalrous side and insisted upon helping the poor servant girl (a.k.a. his mother) with the baking of the cinnamon rolls. Years of tearing up important papers around the house and ripping up magazines and mail had prepared the prince for the task of peeling the paper off the can. But the brave little prince's very favorite part, much to the chagrin and horror of his mother, was that moment when he whacked the tube on the side of the counter and achieved that desired pop! His mother hid around the corner and waited for it to be over.

When she reemerged from hiding, the two of them carefully arranged the cinnamon rolls on the baking sheet and the noble little prince spent an exceptionally long amount of time counting them over and over and over and over and over and over and over. By the time he finished, even the baby could count to 10 and was now nearly old enough to go to college. Finally, it was time for the cinnamony spirals of sugary deliciousness to go into the oven to bake. The next 20 minutes were quite possibly the longest and most agonizing moments of the young prince's life, and he questioned the cooking process every 30 seconds and repeatedly plead his case regarding his horrific hunger. However, the grandparents were prepared (and not at all annoyed by the whining) and took it upon themselves to groom the child for a future of hostile mathematical takeovers and battled the young child to a game of War. 

Meanwhile, the tiny princess threw a tea party for herself and the small insane one-eyed Terrier with lemon tea and fancy cakes, which the little dog desperately wished were real and repeatedly tried to eat. When suddenly, from across the room, the kitchen time beeped in all of its magnificent digital glory and the little prince and princess squealed with delight, dropped whatever it was they were playing with (left for the grandparents to clean AGAIN later) and raced to their seats! They bounced up in down on their chairs, in a combination of agonizing anticipation and pure ecstasy, impatiently waiting and screaming at the slowpoke chef. Finally, the time had come to enjoy the fruits of their labor - cinnamon rolls for everyone in the kingdom!

At one point the little prince was very disappointed in his mother for not remembering to bring multi-colored sprinkles to the farm to put on his cinnamon rolls (as that's his preferred style of enjoying the delicacy), but at the mere mention of giving his cinnamon roll to his sister if he was going to be so darn picky quickly rectified the situation and his attitude greatly improved.

Even the grandfather himself declared this to be a fine fancy feast and joined the children in a special celebration of love, family and togetherness. He taught the young prince all about the many ways to enjoy the bounty of that magical tube and the proper method of cinnamon roll consumption. The two toasted and cheered, dipped and swirled, laughed and ate like rulers of the kingdom. 

They all feasted and feasted, until their bellies and their hearts were filled to the brim. Recharged with delicious goodness, the children were now prepared to battle the cold winter day and resume the driveway rock pile relocation project they've been working on for nearly three years. In addition, the little prince and princess continued to charm the grandparents for the rest of the weekend, while simultaneously destroying the farm house, harassing the dogs and leaving a layer of stickiness everywhere they went, while their elders were none the wiser (or maybe they just enjoyed every minute of the chaos). 

And they all lived happily ever after. 

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by General Mills through their partnership with POPSUGAR Select. While I was compensated to write a post about Pillsbury™ Grands! Cinnamon Rolls, all opinions are my own.