Christmas Cookies

Ryan had his annual shopping trip with his brother this afternoon, so Olivia and I decided to make Christmas cookies.  I tried a new recipe and it was pretty good, but I’m a sucker for my mom’s sugar cookies. Don’t even get me started on her snickerdoodles!   Olivia, however, LOVED these cookies!  I thought I’d post both of the recipes here:

http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2010/12/worlds-best-sugar-cookie-recipe/

My mom’s sugar cookies:

3/4 c. shortening

1 c Sugar

2 Eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix thoroughly. Then sift together and stir in:

2 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Chill 1 hour.  Roll out 1/8 inch thick.  Cut into shapes.  Place on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes.

I also used the following recipe for the frosting and I liked it because it tasted good and was also very forgiving (I’m not good at spreading frosting.)

ICING:

1 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. milk
2 tsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Anyway, so I let Olivia go through the cookie cutters and decide which ones she wanted to make. 

Her choices?

Gingerbread babies, Christmas trees and. . .bunnies. 

After the first batch was done, Olivia had lost all interest. I froze half the dough and STILL made 4 dozen cookies.  Her interest returned for a bit when it was time to frost them.  Here are a few of our completed Christmas trees.

So, now what do I do with all these cookies?  I had every intention of giving them away, but who is going to want these creepy Christmas bunnies?

Don’t laugh, I had limited decorating material PLUS I wanted something simple that Olivia could do by herself.  It’s the taste that counts, right? LOL!  We actually only frosted a few and I have multiple bags of unfrosted cookies.  Maybe we’ll get around to frosting them sometime and making the other half of the cookies.  Now, Olivia is watching her favorite movie, Monsters Inc, and I may get started on the Christmas cards. 

Santa Party

My husband’s work always puts on a Santa Party each year filled with games, arts and crafts, cookies and, of course, Santa Claus. 

Olivia has a crazy good, accurate arm on her. 

I don’t have a picture, but Olivia also won the cake walk. . .guess she’s taking after her mama.  LOL!

Creating her snowman. . .

This little girl loves using glue!

Proud of her snowman. 

Now we’re getting ready to spend the afternoon making Christmas sugar cookies!  I love this time of year!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

This morning, Olivia and I went to get her Christmas picture taken.  Because she was all dressed up, I got out my camera to get a few pictures of her before we left.  None of them turned out.  She was either cheesing too much or looking away or moving around, etc.    As we were walking out of the house, she sat down by our little Christmas tree and said, “I want my picture taken by this tree!”  I pulled out my camera phone and snapped this adorable picture!

How beautiful is my little girl?  Although, don’t tell her that or she’ll say, “I’m not beautiful!”  I really wish I had gotten this picture on my good camera so that the quality would be better.  And I’m hoping that I don’t love this picture more than the ones I spent $70 on.  LOL! 

Adalynn

Sweet Adalynn passed away tonight at 7:23 pm.  She was just shy of four months old.  Please pray for this precious family as they deal with this unbearable loss. 

Prayers for Addy

A few weeks ago, I was going through my old scrapbooks and found a picture of a friend named Christina who I met while working at my first job as a courtesy clerk at Albertsons.  I hadn’t seen or heard from her in over 15 years.  We were often referred to as twins because we were the same size, had the same hair, both played the flute and from the back no one could tell us apart.  I couldn’t for the life of me remember her last name, but luckily she had written her full name on the back of the picture.  I decided to look her up on facebook and reconnect with her.  I’m so glad I did.  She had gone on to get a degree in elementary education (just like me) and I even found that she had the same couch as me in one of her pictures.  Unfortunately, I also learned that she had a daughter in the NICU.  Her daughter, Adalynn, was born in August with RCDP (Rhizomelic Chondrodysplasia Punctata) an autosomal recessive form of chondrodysplasia punctata characterized by defective plasmalogen biosynthesis and impaired peroxisomes.  I don’t even know what all that means, but this little girl has undergone many surgeries and has been placed on the oscillating ventilator and on dialysis.  Many times, children with RCDP do not survive beyond the first decade of life.  As far as I know, Addy is her one and only child.  My heart is literally breaking.

Even worse, today Christina was called back up to the hospital (she lives a few hours away) because Addy’s health is continually declining.  I remember getting that call with Logan.  It is the worst call you can ever imagine getting as a parent.  Please say a prayer for Christina and her family and sweet little Addy.  I don’t think it is merely chance that I happened to come across her picture when I did.  Please ask God to surround this family with his peace and love and pray that Addy will experience an improvement.  Thank you.

Reminiscing. . .

Olivia discovered her pony ornament on the Christmas tree today.  Boy, she was in love.  If you’ve been a long time reader, you know all about her pony.  She didn’t really ride it. . she used it as a walker and it gave her mobility.   She couldn’t crawl or walk, but she could get anywhere on that pony.  She maneuvered that thing all over the house all day long.  Very special toy in our household.  

Weekly Menu Idea

I have been printing off our weekly menu for a few weeks now and wanted something I could reuse.   I designed a weekly menu on the scrapbook software that I have and printed it out.  Feel free to use mine, but since I go to the grocery store on Thursdays, our “week” starts on Friday. 

Then, I framed it behind glass and wrote on it with a Sharpie.  I’ll probably buy a different frame, but this is one that I just had laying around. 

Each week, you simply wipe clean with a damp cloth and write the next week’s menu.  You can include breakfast too, but that’s usually not the meal that we struggle with.  Now, I just gotta find a place to hang it.  Yep, the Vitamin B12 strikes again. LOL!