The Saving of the Cookies

I like to cook.

I'm not the greatest, but most of what I make is edible. The kids don't usually complain. I'm not very adventurous, but I am adaptable. Recipes are guidelines. If I don't have half of the ingredients, I just throw in what I do have. Some of the greatest compliments come when I have modified a recipe. What this means, however, is that I can never recreate my best meals.

It also means that sometimes I really mess up.

Unfortunately, because I never keep track of what I've thrown in, I don't really know what the problem is. Mayhem really breaks loose when I venture into a world almost completely unknown to me, like Asian food, or baking from scratch.

Such was the case one evening when I decided to make my family homemade cookies. A little bit of this and a lot of that. I was following only a partial recipe. After the first batch came out of the oven, I knew we had a problem.

Two people instantly came to mind: a good friend who has finally perfected her own (somewhat secret) chocolate chip recipe, and my eldest sister-in-law who represents a good homemaker to me. My friend lives a mile away, and I knew exactly where she was at the moment, so I tried her first. She couldn't hear her phone over the bath water she was drawing for her children.

I was somewhat reluctant to call my S-I-L because it was around dinner time in her part of the world. But, I figured my options were to throw out the dough or interrupt their dinner. I chose the selfish option, which luckily turned out OK. B-I-L wasn't home from work, yet!

It took longer for me to explain the problem, than for her to fix it. More flour!!! Thank you, LaD!

Can you guess which is the before-the-saving, and which is after?

NE's Shopping List

Me: I need to go to the store. Do you want to come with me?

NE: What store are we going to? Walmart?

Me: Nope. I just need to run to the grocery store close to our home to get a couple things.

NE: I want to get some things at Walmart.

Me: Well, what do you want to get? Maybe we can get them at the grocery store.

NE: I want sandwiches and ham and hamburgers and butter and turkey and ham and five books. And are there snakes in there?

The Season

The kids participated in Lowe's Build & Grow workshop on Saturday. They built gingerbread houses, and had a ball!


Dad was planning to join us, but I insisted he just stay home (with the baby) and relax. He should have come. It was designed for children in grades 1 through 5, but I figured LL would be fine since she's in K, and I could help NE.

It was a little too advanced for a five year old, and WAY too difficult for a preschooler.

Maybe if we lived on a farm, and the kids were accustomed to building chicken coops and fences and out-houses, then they would have been fine. But, we live a life of luxury with our indoor plumbing and central heating system. Gratefully, some friends of ours were there, too, and they helped us out.

I'm really impressed with Lowe's. The kids each got their own work apron, safety goggles, and hammer, plus a certificate and patch to be sewn on the apron. These workshops are free! I think the kids will participate again--with both parents.


We have one deciduous tree in our yard. It has skinny leaves that sometimes slip right through the tines of the rake and the blades of the lawn mower. It doesn't really bother us, though. Where we get our "fun" is from our neighbor's trees. Last year we filled over 30 garbage bags with their leaves. (We live on just less than one-fifth of an acre, so I think that's pretty significant.) This year, we decided the time had come to purchase a leaf blower. Now, we just blow them back into our neighbor's yard. Just kidding! We really have the best neighbors ever!





We've had a little snow, which is rare for December here, but mostly we've had amazingly mild weather. Today it got up to 66 degrees! It felt like spring. Supposed to be freezing again tomorrow.

50's Day

All the kindergarten classes celebrated the 50th day of school by having 50's day. The children were encouraged to dress up. A friend let us borrow this Halloween outfit. LL had a ball! They had a bubble blowing contest with gum. They learned the twist. She came home wearing a "Rockin'" hat made with a paper record. I had to explain to all the children what an LP is. :-)
I had my doubts about sending our little girl to school this year. After watching her thrive and learn so quickly--and having her teacher literally beg me to let her stay in (she is one of the few well-behaved students)--we decided to let her stay. She is doing very well, and loves every day.

It's not all roses, of course. She is a little more clingy at home, I suppose because she isn't getting the same kind of love and acceptance at school. I'm not so naive to think she would be loved as much as I love her, but I wouldn't mind a little more positive environment for her first school experience. (was that a run-on?)

LL is almost always happy and positive and considerate. She doesn't like it when a sibling snatches her things. And she is all tears when she is tired. But for the most part, she reminds us what we love about life. She has a different viewpoint than most people. It is always interesting to hear her thoughts!

Webelos

ED is now in Webelos! He is 10! He told us that he actually feels different. D said he could expect that every ten years. Pretty significant! The weird part for me is being able to remember when my older brothers were Webelos. And now I have a son that age! He got a lot of awards at Pack Meeting last week. Always more fun when you get recognition.

We are very impressed with how kind and responsible our eldest chooses to be. He is a great big brother, and a good helper. He can clean a room (when he chooses) almost as quickly as his dad. :-)

Double Digits

We had the easiest friends' birthday party ever last Saturday. Eleven boys bowling, playing video games, eating pizza--two hours flew by!! I could hardly believe it was such a great success. Even the very novice bowlers enjoyed themselves. I had to bite my lip a few times, so I didn't full out laugh at some of the "performances".

One boy would grab his ball, run as fast as he could to the lane, then drop the ball straight down. I'm surprised he didn't smash his toes. Another (somewhat large) boy clumsily threw his ball with all he had half-way down the lane. I fully expected it to fall into the next lane over. Another boy refused to tie his bowling shoes.

The birthday boy got two strikes! I didn't catch either one on video, but here is a sampling of his "style".



For his class on Friday, I made camouflage cupcakes. Then for his family party, he picked out a Boston Creme cake. And for the friends' party he requested an ice cream cake. Talk about a sugar rush!! Birthdays are a big deal around here, and I'm pretty sure we overdid it. But ED was grateful. And they don't get friends' parties every year.

Catching Up

I've been neglecting the blog world lately due to an extra busy schedule, but I think I might just be back...

A couple weeks ago, I got to go to my family's Annual Girls Weekend. It was a blast! So great to get acquainted with our new sister-in-law, and reacquainted with the others. I didn't realize just how much I'd missed them until I was there. The last time I was able to attend was when ED was a baby. He will turn "the big one-oh" (as he calls it) on Saturday.

I remember my dad making a big deal of my 10th birthday. Double digits! I felt so important, and quite grown up. So, I've wanted to pass that along. We don't do friends parties every year, but turning double digits deserves a little more recognition. ED decided on a bowling party. It's going to be more expensive than other options, but it won't be at our house, and that fact alone makes it worth the extra expense! (And actually, it's quite a bit less expensive than other "fun" places.) The boys will eat pizza, play arcade games, and bowl, of course. All we have to do is show up with the cake and pay our money; the bowling alley will set up & clean up! ED's excited (and so am I, obviously)!

So, we made it through Halloween, but just barely. It's not the favorite holiday of the adults in our household. But, alas, we choose to go through pain for our children. For a couple years, I've wanted all the kids to dress up as bugs. This year the girls obliged. ED chose to be an exterminator. We modified the astronaut outfit to make him into Killer Small. All the girls had spots and antennae and wings. They were very cute! Unfortunately, you'll have to use your imagination because we didn't get any pictures.

This year, we painted our pumpkins.

















Even AE got into it. She was very intent. Of course, she tasted the paint, and ended up looking like a she got a really bad makeover with extra red lipstick!
In just a few minutes, the activity turned from meticulous painting to smothering the pumpkins in paint with both hands.

The Evolution of the Healing Thumb

A couple weeks ago, NE slammed her thumb in the back screen door--really hard! She had been crying anyway because I was making her come in, so it took a minute for me to realize that that's a real cry, not just whining!

She is one tough cookie. Of course, she didn't like it when Dad had to squeeze out the infection about a week after the event, but all in all has really been a trooper. There's still a bruise, but she doesn't seem to notice it at all anymore.

I wondered if this might cure her of her thumb-sucking habit, but she had no problem switching thumbs!