i am smiling so big right now because another batch of sugar cookies has appeared in my kitchen! these treats are waiting to be iced as a surprise for our family vacation next week. can you guess where ethan and caroline cannot wait to go?!?!??!
and i'm just a tad bit excited as well.
this was the first year that the kids and i have made christmas cookies. yes, you read that right. until this year, i, the icing and cookie lover, had yet to share the joy of decorating christmas cookies with my children... but have no fear. we have shared the joy of eating christmas cookies in the past. oh, yes we have. but this year, i thought that the kids were old enough to really have fun with the cutting out and the icing. we all had a ball. my mom came over to help out, which was a good thing. (she kept us all from eating all the dough! and you think i'm kidding...)
here are two excited kiddos ready to get started!
gram enjoyed taking some time off work to spend the morning with us. ethan loved having her help us cut out the cookies. (this picture is one of my favorites from this christmas!)
caroline got the hang of cutting out the cookies, too. 
but before long, caroline could be found doing a little clean-up work...
and here is that child again, sneaking some dough!
caroline was not the only one who wanted a taste... 
he knows he's caught!
this picture is one of my favorites from the day.... that bowl of dough was so tempting. (wonder where my kids get it from!)
before long, we'd finished cutting out all the cookies....
and caroline was complaining that her hands were dirty. i guess it did not occur to her that what was on her hands was the same dough that she was chowing down on just 10 minutes prior to this... 
the cooling cookies looked yummy... and they were. i had to do a taste test on just one. for the record, it was a broken snowman. 
oh what fun we had icing these cookies! i may have had more fun than the kids. my sprinkle of choice is the nonpareil. 
both of them actually did pretty well icing the cookies. caroline had no problem cleaning up her mess as she worked, if you know what i mean. (and keep an eye out for ethan's yellow star in another picture.)
gram helped ethan make a super cute snowman.
caroline's favorite task of the day was applying these little rainbow chips to her cookies. she used them for ornaments on christmas trees, and here, she is making one colorful snowflake! speaking of colorful, look at this girl's tongue. who even knows how many pink rainbow chips she ate!
the fruits of our labor! ok, see if you can find ethan's yellow star now....
it's the RED star on the top right. it was yellow until a little mishap with the red sugar. :)
it was a true test of patience for ethan and caroline to wait until after naptime to enjoy a cookie. and then of course, i made them take pictures first! here they are with their cute snowmen. caroline wants you to please notice that her snow-girl has a flower on her hat (just like hers). and lemme tell you, these snowmen were some tough cookies (literally!). the kids dropped them more than a few times as i tried to get this picture, and they never broke! whew! 
picking their cookie to eat.... such a tough choice! 
and here is the moment they'd been waiting for all day.... eating that cookie! i laughed because they both chose the swirly ones that i quickly made at the end, trying to use up the rest of the (delicious) icing. i thought for sure they'd choose a cookie that they had made! 
and caroline could not wait to show daddy all the cookies that they had made when he got home that evening.
confession: i could not stop eating these cookies. they were so so good. i'm not saying that to brag. i didn't come up with the recipe. they were just so darn good. and sadly, i have very little willpower when it comes to treats like these. the only thing that stopped me from eating them all was that i did not like some of the sprinkles that we used. i know, it's pathetic. isn't the dad supposed to be the one that eats all the kids' cookies!??!?!? well, brian is not a big sweets guy, so i guess i have to play that role in our house. 
so these were some good little cookies. here is the recipe from my friend who is probably tired of hearing me talk about these cookies. :) haha!
sugar cookies
1C butter, softened
1C sugar
1t vanilla
1 large egg
2t baking powder
3C all-purpose flour
preheat oven to 400 degrees.
cream butter and sugar in mixer.
beat in egg and vanilla.
mix baking powder and flour, add one cup at a time, mixing after each addition.
DO NOT CHILL DOUGH.
divide into 2 balls. (eat some.)
on a floured surface, roll dough into 12-inch circle 1/8th of an inch thick.
cut into desired shapes. (eat what's left.)
bake cookies on un-greased cookie sheet on top rack of oven 6-7 minutes or until lightly browned.
do not resist the urge to try one. they're delicious even without icing.
sugar cookie glaze
stir these ingredients together:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
a splash {1/2 teaspoon, maybe} of almond extract, or whatever flavoring you desire. (we used almond.... my absolute favorite!)
divide the mixture into smaller containers and stir in 2-3 drops of food coloring per container making each a different color. (you may need to add more sugar or water to get it to the consistency you like it.)
use paintbrushes or a spoon to apply icing to the cookies. (my friend used paintbrushes, and we used spoons.)
this makes around 3 dozen cookies. (just an estimate, based on how much dough you actually bake!)
we didn't just make cookies this day. we made lots of memories that will last long after i've finally burned off those cookie calories! my mom and i are determined to make this a yearly tradition from now on. i'm sure the kids won't mind one bit! and i'm gonna find my heart cookie cutter because valentine's day isn't too far away!
it's christmas time! i can't believe it! we have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of december, and here it is already halfway over! we have been planting some roots for some precious family christmas traditions this year, and i cannot wait to share those with you. but for now, i will start my christmas blogging with our church's cookie exchange! we began this last year, and it looks like this ladies' event is well on its way to becoming a christmas tradition!
before getting down to business with the cookies, we enjoyed a delicious salad luncheon. several ladies in the church took time to decorate tables with their fine china and christmas decorations, and the tables were beautiful! the table that was chosen as "prettiest table" was also my favorite. if you know me at all, you will know why i loved this table....
this mug has my name written all over it....
another table had these beautiful flowers towering above it.
i was drawn to sit at the red plaid table... before i even knew that my dear friend tammy had decorated it! (did you know i liked red!?) i made sure to take a picture of my place setting before i got it all messy. :)
here are all the women at my table. it was nice to sit with some gals that i chat with often and some ladies that i don't get to visit with often enough. we all had our faces filled with food most of the time, but it was a blessing to be together. 
i was tasked with organizing the games for this party, and i think everyone had fun with them. we started off with a simple icebreaker, a "christmas a to z" game. the first table to think of something "christmas-y" for every letter of the alphabet won! this was pretty easy, though my table got hung up on "q". 
the next game was pretty hilarious. i asked for two volunteers from each table to compete in a gift wrapping competition. the teams all grabbed their supplies and picked out their wrapping paper. they all got ready to go, and i stopped the action. i announced, "before we get started, i need you to all put down your scissors and tape. each partner on the left, take your right hand and put it around the waist of your team member. each partner on the right, take your left hand and put it around the waist of your team member. this is called siamese gift wrapping!" i cracked up at how surprised everyone was about this!! so each team had two hands to use to wrap the present-- one woman's right hand, and the other woman's left hand. oh how entertaining this was! (this would be doubly hilarious to see men do this!!! actually, just to have a men's gift wrapping competition in general would be pretty funny!)
i was shocked at how quickly the teams finished wrapping! we awarded one team the prize of "fastest wrapping" and another team the prize of "best wrapping". andrea and ashley in the stylin' tinsel headbands won "fastest wrapping", while tammy and kristie were just behind them. jen and heather were awarded "best wrapping". and they should have won it! they were by far the slow-pokes. (or po-folks, as ethan would say!) here's my silly friends with their prize-winning package! 
you know, i just had them wrap empty boxes, but the next time i do this, i could save some time wrapping and have them wrap my actual presents! :) haha!
the final game we played was the left-right game. someone generously donated ornaments for everyone at the cookie exchange, and we passed the ornaments back and forth as i read a nativity-version of the left-right game. the way this works is that whenever you hear the word "left" or "right" in the story, you pass the ornament (or gift) that way around your table. i didn't get to take any pictures of this because i was reading the story, but i heard lots of laughter as these ornaments went round and round the tables! here's an excerpt from the story...
Some shepherds who lived RIGHT near Bethlehem, were out at night RIGHT in their fields watching over their sheep. RIGHT then, they saw a bright light. The light was so bright that they had to close their eyes. When they opened them again, a beautiful angel was standing RIGHT in the sky RIGHT above them with his arms LEFT opened wide. The shepherds looked RIGHT at each other and were LEFT feeling very afraid.
Then the angel spoke RIGHT to them. "Do not be afraid. I'm RIGHT here to bring you the good news LEFT for all people. Today RIGHT in Bethlehem a baby has been born, He is the RIGHT one, the one that will save the world. You will know the RIGHT baby because He will be LEFT wrapped in cloths, and laying RIGHT in a manger."
when the story is over, whatever ornament (or gift) you are holding is the one you keep! it's a pretty fun way to do a gift exchange. there are several different versions of left-right stories that you can use. the nativity one is really long compared to others i've seen, but i liked it the best.
ok, ok, on to the reason for this shin-dig: cookies! here is my plate of, well, they're not really cookies, but nobody seemed to mind. 
i have wanted to make these oreo bites ever since i first put one in my mouth. i was introduced to these beauties at mops a few years ago, and i had not yet made them. they are incredibly simple, and oh so good... i can't believe i waited this long to roll out these little balls of gold. run right now to the store. grab these ingredients, and whip up a batch of these. you will make new friends.
oreo bites
8 oz. cream cheese
1 box oreos (i used the publix brand that were 1/2 the price of oreos)
milk and white chocolate almond bark or dipping chocolate
-blend together softened cream cheese and oreos in a food processor. refrigerate for 30 minutes.
-roll into balls and refrigerate balls for 30 minutes.
-coat with melted milk chocolate or almond bark (i used baker's dipping chocolate- you will need at least 2 bowls of this, maybe 3. you can also use melted chocolate chips, but they do not dip as cleanly and nicely as the dipping chocolate.)
-drizzle white chocolate over the balls.
-refrigerate and serve chilled.
-makes about 50 bite sized balls that will disappear in no time.
i am making them again for bible study tomorrow night. (yes, tammy, i am saving you some this time!!) i am slightly addicted. and so are my bible study friends.
my sister-in-law made my favorite cookie at the exchange, and i did not get a picture of them. :( maybe because i was too busy eating them?? they were candy cane crisps, and mmmmmmm, they were yummy! i'll try to get that recipe up here sometime soon. kristie, i think you need to make another batch of them so that i can get a picture of them. yeah, that's it. i need a picture. ;)
my good friend jen worked tirelessly to create her childhood favorites: the beautiful bell-shaped sugar cookies at the top of this post. they were just as delicious as they look! and she is right, the bite with the red hots in it is the best bite! :)
here's a look at some other cookies that were there. i do love me some sugar cookies with icing. and the nonpareils are just my most favorite sprinkles ever. 
these had a really pretty name, and i've forgotten it. "jelly stars with sugar dusting" does not do them justice. anybody know what they're called?? aren't they so dainty and sweet? 
these homemade thin mints won most festive cookie! those were a lot of work! and they were really delicious, too!
there were so many more cookies... i do not even want to know how many calories this table was holding.
after all the fun and games, it was finally time to load up on cookies!
i begged jessica to leave some for me! :) nice beads, jess! 
so here's the tin of cookies that made it to my house. my kids were delighted to see me walking in the door with this tin. and not because they love their mother. 
and um, if you wanted me to take a picture of my tin now, well, i could.... but it would be um, empty. i mean, the cookie exchange was two weeks ago. and that would just be wasteful to not eat the cookies in a timely manner. i may procrastinate in a lot of areas in my life, but cookie eating is not one of them! and the kids helped. they gladly helped!
stay tuned for more christmas fun around here!
after easter lunch, the kids and kristie and i gathered around their little picnic table at nana's to make resurrection rolls. i didn't get pictures of every step, but you'll get the general idea.
each child gets a triangle of crescent roll dough. the dough represents the linen cloths that Jesus was wrapped in.
dip a marshmallow in butter. the marshmallow represents Jesus and his sinless life, and the butter represents the oils of embalming. 
dip the marshmallow in cinnamon & sugar. this represents the spices used to anoint the body. (we just poured ours on!)
wrap the coated marshmallow TIGHTLY in the crescent roll. make sure you bring the sides up & seal the marshmallow inside. this represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death. (very important to make it tight!! we had marshmallow oozing out...)
place in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 mins. the oven represents the tomb. pretend like it was three days!
when the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, HE IS RISEN! the marshmallow melts and the crescent roll is puffed up, but empty.
the kids were excited to see "what was in their roll" when it came out of the oven. they were shocked to see that it was empty! just like the tomb! (ok... so this picture is totally staged... but they were shocked!)
here's karina checking ethan's roll one last time to see if anything's in there...
ethan thrilled on making the resurrection rolls, just as i'd hoped he would! caroline and karina were somewhat interested but were more along for the ride... i'm guessing that next year, the girls will be pretty excited when we try these again. next year, i think we will make these for breakfast on good friday. doing it after easter lunch was not ideal because the kids were tired, and they were also more interested in the cake & cookies for dessert than these rolls! ha! so i can see these rolls being a great way to start off easter weekend. i am sure next year i will be searching my blog for this post so that i can remember when i said i was going to do them. :) (that's the beauty of blogging... back-up memory when the real thing fails you!!)
another plus to this activity is that these rolls taste delicious! they are pretty much like cinnamon rolls, since the marshmallow serves as the icing (very important in my book!). file this recipe away for next year, and add this activity to your easter traditions. your kids will love it!
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