More Cookies!

Earlier this week I made some candy cookies – yummo!  (And I have this total déjà vu that I already posted about them, but I can’t find a post, so I’m going to just assume I’ve lost my mind.  Pardon if you’ve already read about these cookies.)  I saw these guys on Pioneer Woman, one of my most favorite sites, and decided I had to try them.  Mine did not turn out so beautiful as hers, but I bet they taste just as great!

Ha!  I just found the post – I DID already post them!  Anyway, I finished up the dough by just plopping them on the cookie sheet instead of in a muffin tin.  Much less crumbly this way.  I don’t think I ate one though.  :)

You can see how they kind of fall apart after they come out of the muffin tin.  Still yummy though!

And much less good for you than all the cookies I’m making from scratch.  :)  I am using freshly ground whole wheat flour in all the cookies (you really can’t tell!) as well as turbinado sugar instead of the super refined white stuff.  This does affect the cookies a bit.  They don’t have quite the same zing, but they still taste good, and IMO, are better!

Today I tried my hand at snicker doodles (from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook), and I think they turned out pretty good.  I’m not a big fan of this type of cookie, but several other people ate them and pronounced them just fine.  :)

I had to bake six of course, to test.  Here they are, all wrapped in their cinnamon sugar goodness, ready to bake:

And all done – they look like snicker doodles!

The rest of the dough I froze rolled up in little balls, but not rolled in the cinnamon sugar mix.  I figure I will thaw them, coat them, then bake them on birthday day.  I’m going to need an extra oven on the 18th!

Saturday Here and There

On Saturday I got to go with Sola Gratia up to Artesian Lakes for a retreat!  Wahoo!!  You can read about our day last year right here.

I didn’t take very many pictures this year, but I had a great day!

In the morning we rehearsed some upcoming music before taking a break for lunch.  We had a HUGE yummy lunch that of course I ate every bit of.

I remembered to take a picture of the main course.  I’d eat that again!

After lunch we peeked at the fish and saw the biggest turtle I’ve absolutely ever seen!

That’s it’s head:

I just couldn’t believe how big it was.  I’m sure I lead too sheltered a life.  :)

And the last picture I took – a big ol’ alligator.  :)

In the afternoon we had a vocal workshop lead by our new music associate, Jan.  It was really informative.  Then we sang a bit more and came home about 5 o’clock.

This was the longest I’ve ever been away from James.  :(  I brought my pump ‘cause I knew I couldn’t make it the whole day!

Matt took care of the kids all day while I was gone – what a good man!  And he did a better job of taking pictures than I did.  :)

They went to Mamma and Pop’s house to visit (and eat Nilla wafers!)

Look who got one!

And it looks like they watched a little Thomas as well!

Aunt Missy and Katie were there too – what a nice visit!

I had a great day, and so did the fam at home.  Poor James was definitely missing me by the time I got home, but he made it!

Looking at this picture, I can easily imagine them all grown up.

And yes, I get a little teary-eyed!

             Kaydee, Emma, Joanna, Anna

Lisa invited us to see the movie Dolphin Tale (about Winter the dolphin) on Friday.  I really wanted to go and take Joanna, and my mom was happy to stay home and watch James and Natalie.  Wahoo!  The girls’ friend Kaydee from school came along as well, and also their friend Seth and his mom.  But they got there after I took the picture.

It was SO CUTE to watch them all sitting in a row in the theatre, glued to the screen.  It was a great movie for them too – a good family flick.  I’m glad they let us sit next to them.  :)

Crackers and Cookies

I ask the girls a lot of questions about school when they come home.  Joanna remembered that one of her friends had some cheesy crackers for their snack.  Joanna really wanted some, so I decided to make a batch!

I ran across a recipe that I bookmarked for some veeeerrrrrryyyy simple cheese crackers.  Here it is.  I’ve seen homemade goldfish cracker recipes before, and I will probably make them sometime, but they’re a bit of work with the dough rolling and cutting and everything.  These are pretty much “slice and bake” crackers.  Here goes!

I halved the recipe to fit in my food processor.  Into it I put 2oz cheddar cheese, 2.5T butter, and 1/2c. of whole wheat flour.

Then I buzzed it until a ball of dough appeared and started chasing itself around the bowl of the mixer.  Then I took the ball, formed it into a log and started slicing!

Then I baked them at 350 for 12 or so minutes.

Then I neglected to take any pictures.  But they were big hits with all the kids!  Even James figured out how to take bites of them.  Their texture isn’t very cracker like.  It’s more like a shortbread cookie (but not at all sweet).  They were perfect for throwing in the lunch boxes!

James’ birthday party is in just over three weeks, and I know the time will fly by!  I’m planning on having lots of cookies to go with our milk, so I’ve started mixing some up to freeze.

These are just some plain ol’ chocolate chip cookies (made of course, with whole wheat flour and turbinado sugar). 

We tried them (quality control, of course!), and they’re yummy.  I scooped them onto a cookie sheet, froze them for a few hours, then put them in the bag labeled with the baking directions.  Now I just have to keep myself out of the dough for more than three weeks!  Ahhhh!!!

Today I tried making some candy cookies from the Pioneer Woman.  Super yum, though mine didn’t come out quite as pretty as hers.  :) 

I’m going to try freezing them baked and see how they taste thawed.  Of course that means we had to try them freshly baked.  :)

Pink purses, musical books, and new nap mats

I guess we need some man bags around here.  : )  It is very fun to carry around a purse!

James loves our Thomas book that plays music.  He know just what buttons to push for the best dance music.   :)  James loves music!

I mentioned to my mom the other day that she’ll need to make a nap mat for James since ours is very pink!  Not that he couldn’t suffer through the pink nap mat, but I also kind of hate it.  It’s cute and comfy, but it’s a booger to take the cover off and put back on (for washing).  So my mom just used some scraps she had laying around and whipped this out!

Natalie’s going to go ahead and break it in for James.  :)

And the best part is that you can throw the whole thing in the wash!  It’s really just like a very thick quilt.  Wahoo!!

Some recent cute Jamesieness

The dishwasher is very fun to pull up on.  I just have to make sure not to leave any knives in the utensil basket.  :)

Oh that boy is SO CUTE!!

And just because you can’t have too many James pictures:

I love that kid!  He’s been doing a lot of “big boy” crawling lately, and is becoming more and more comfortable on his feet.  I’m nearly positive I’ve seen him “cruise” just a little bit on the furniture!  He also has finally kind of said “Momma.”  He means milk though.  :)

School

This is the amount of stuff we brought home from school on Tuesday.  It’s insane!  It’s like we’re packing for a weekend or something.  This is four kids’ stuff plus my lunch box.

I subbed in a toddler class on Tuesday (and will again next week.)  I had a great day, but oh my did I crash that evening.  It plum wore me out!  I am so so so so so so so glad I don’t work full time outside the home.  It’s just not for me, I think!

Joanna brought home her B made with beans.  From what I gather, she was playing with the glue and got in trouble and didn’t get to finish.  I can’t be sure of the real story though.

I’m so excited about what came home today!

She wrote her whole, accurate name!!  And it’s so pretty!

Not that I’m comparing (or that I even care), but Joanna’s friends have been writing their names for forever!  She just hasn’t been interested.  (And I tell myself her name is harder.)  :)  She got very excited that I noticed and made a big deal about it.  I love that girl!

Shoe Experience

One of the questions on the paperwork for MDO/SLC asks “Does your child have a good neighborhood experience?” or something to that effect.  My answers have varied.  They are usually something like this:
-I don’t know what this means.
-???
-I have never understood this question.
- -----

Because I really don’t understand what it means.  Now, on to what I’m actually talking about:

James has had a much different “shoe experience” than the girls.  The poor kid is not going to know what to do when I start putting shoes on his feet this winter!  He’s been barefoot for sooooo long, and before that he was tiny and just wore socks.  I have some Robeez for him once it starts cooling off, and a few pair of handed down shoes with hard soles to practice once he starts walking.  It will be cold (most likely), or as cold as it gets around here, when he actually starts walking.  He’ll have less barefoot practice than the girls.  They started walking in the warmer months.

Oh, I think that was the most boring paragraph ever.  On to pictures of James in some too cute sandals!

He had trouble standing.  He tried to take them off, then just resigned himself to them.

But isn’t he just so handsome?!!

This is when he spotted me and began to try and take me down:

:)

We’re gonna rock and roll all night and party everyday!

Joanna’s BFF Anna had her fifth (what?!!) birthday party on Saturday at Jumpalooza.  She’s very into dolphins (I think all dolphins?), and specifically Winter the dolphin.  Here’s her Winter cake.  (Winter has a prosthetic tail!)

I took no jumping pictures.  Anna’s dad was taking lots with his big fancy camera, and my camera felt inadequate.  :)  I can’t wait to see Tony’s pictures!

Here are the girls (and Paul David!) eating pizza:

Most of our good buds were there, and we had a great time!  James even bounced a little, and he slid down the big slide with me.  Happy birthday again Anna!

On Sunday Natalie was invited to her friend Cayley’s 3rd birthday.  I think this was her first party to be invited to all by herself!  It was at 2pm, so she and I snuck in a quick cat-nap in my bed before the party.  I love snuggles with my Natalie!

Cayley’s mom made the girls princess hats, and they got to decorate them:

Natalie went for more of a minimalist look. 

This is what it looks like trying to get four girls (and the little boy cousin!) to take a picture in their hats together:

There is sweet Cayley with her princess doll cake!

Opening presents… we gave Cayley a princess look-and-find book.  She hugged it after she opened it.  I think she liked it!

Natalie LOVED playing the the girls’ room and play room and she loved rocking in this big old rocker.  It went very far back and forward – fun!

Happy birthday Cayley, we love you!