Famous cookies

This weekend, I was working on decorating Easter cookies. Gillian really wanted to help so yesterday morning I told her we could make chocolate chip cookies together. She was so excited and said "Your World Famous cookies?!?" I said "Yes!" After I ran all my errands I called her upstairs to help. Gillian did everything. I simply handed her the ingredients. She even scooped cookies onto the tray! After the cookies were done Gillian came running to taste her famous cookies. She shared with John too!

I think these are some of the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. I asked Gillian "Did you put in a special ingredient?" She said "I just put in a little ungredient. Just a little extra sugar!"

Chocolate Lover

On Sunday, Gillian and I stopped at Starbucks to pick up a coffee for Daddy. Gillian insisted on getting a drink too. She decided on a chocolate milk. We waited in line a long time. So she had plenty of time to con me into getting her a chocolate chip cookie too. While we waited for the coffees to be made, Gillian sat and ate her snack. I said "Gillian that's a lot of chocolate!" She told me "I'm a chocolate lover!"

Clinking Cookies

I love making cookies for holidays and just for fun. Yesterday I brought a platter of Easter cookies to Grandma's house. Gillian ate more cookies than I would like to admit. But she also handed cookies out to Uncle Kevin, Aunt Betty and Grandpa. Gillian and Aunt Betty started a new tradition of clinking cookies before they would eat them. Silly girls. 

Cookies

Yesterday, Aunt Betty and I decorated Valentine's cookies. Gillian insisted on helping. She got everything ready, the paper plates and all the sprinkles. She started with a cookie that spelled out I ❤️ U. She said "I don't know what this is." But that didn't stop her. She decorated it with a lot of blue icing. She made a handful of cookies. I have to say that I am really impressed with her skills. She really pays attention when I decorate. For example, when she wanted to add purple pearls to her cookie; she took the lid off poured some pearls into the lid and used tweezers to add the pearls. She is very messy with her decorating. She ends up with icing all over her face and in her hair. She also doesn't realize that she shouldn't lick the tweezers or toothpicks. But it was a lot of fun!

And her cookies came out amazing!

Cookies

On Saturday, I made some sprinkle cookies. These cookies need to be refrigerated for 24 hours before baking. John saw them in the garage fridge and said "So I saw these cookies in the garage." I said "What? Daddy, did you make cookies?" Daddy said "Nope. Wasn't me." John got very frustrated "Mom, I know you made the cookies. Why are they in the garage? When are you making them?" I said "I don't know what you are talking about." He was so mad at me. 

After dinner, I asked Gillian "Do you want to help me make dessert?" Gillian said "Yes!" John said "Can I talk to you a second?" I said "Sure." He looked very serious and said "Just us. No one else." He dragged me into the living room and said "No seriously, what's going on with the cookies?" He's very persistent. I explained that the cookies needed to be refrigerated overnight. 

Needless to say, he was very happy that I baked the cookies today!

The belly

Gillian said to me tonight, as I was pulling a tray of cookies out of the oven, "My belly is still hungry." I giggled. She continued, "You know what makes my belly feel better? Cookies! He likes cookies." I said "Oh really?" She smiled big and said "Yes! Him's likes cookies. Can I have a cookie to make my belly feel better?" I've never heard that line before. So yes, you can have a cookie!

Cookie assistant

Aunt Betty came over on Sunday to help me decorate Valentine's cookies. John and Daddy decided they would build Legos all day. Gillian, on the other hand, told me "I's going to help you. I do the sprinkles!" When Aunt Betty arrived, Gillian squirmed into her lap and refused to move. Again she told us "I can help!" Aunt Betty decorated a few cookies with Gillian sitting in her lap and then she moved to another seat. She then iced a cookie for Gillian to decorate. Gillian was very precise with her placement of the sugar hearts. 

After adding the sugar hearts, Gillian decided that the cookie needed sprinkles too! Pink of course. Gillian was happy to help decorate that one cookie but that didn't stop her from critiquing our work. If we decorated a cookie with just icing she would say "You forgot sprinkles!" If we asked her what color to use she would say "Pink!"  

I iced a cookie for Gillian to decorate. She decided to use white pearls on it, but initially wanted to use my tweezers. I told her to just use her fingers because it was hard to use the tweezers. She did a great job. 

I asked her what she wanted to use next, sugar or sprinkles. 

She decided to use pink sugar. 

Gillian decorated a beautiful cookie. She also helped Aunt Betty with another cookie. Below are her finished cookies. 

I think she is going to be a great cookie artist!

the little things

We are lucky to have some amazing kids.  I don't have a big or funny story to tell you tonight just a few little stories.

This morning John got dressed in our room.  He told me "If I had a TV in my room, I would watch the news in the morning.  Or even the weather channel." 

I gave the kids each a mummy cookie for dessert.  Gillian held it in her hand and said "This cookie is amazing!"

We received our Magic Bands for our Disney trip today.  John was inspecting his band and said "Look!  He put our name on the inside."  I said "Who?"  He said "Mickey Mouse!"

After bath, I dressed Gillian in her Ariel pajamas.  She said "These are boring!  I can't wear these!"

The fire whistle went off tonight shortly after the kids were put to bed.  Gillian, who has come to terms with the whistle (see blog posts:  Whistle Not Nice and Whistles and Babies ), started to scream.  Daddy went to comfort her.  She kept saying "It scared me!"  Daddy calmed her down and once the whistle stopped, I heard John say "That whistle was killin me!" 

Cows in the meadow

Aunt Betty came over today to help me decorate some Halloween cookies.  We took a little break to eat dinner.  After dinner, Gillian came upstairs and decided to sing a little song with Aunt Betty.  Aunt Betty asked her to sing the alphabet song.  Gillian had another idea.  She grabbed Aunt Betty's hands and started singing "Ring around the Rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down!"  She and Aunt Betty sat down on the ground.  Then Gillian said "The cows in a meadow."  Aunt Betty said to me "What?  Do you know those words?"  I had never heard a second lyric to
"Ring around the Rosie."  But apparently Gillian has, because she laughed at us and continued to sing "The cows in the meadow eating buttercups, ashes, ashes we all stand up!"  And she made Aunt Betty stand up.  Aunt Betty and I giggled, because we had never heard these words.  But again, Gillian grabbed Aunt Betty's hands and started singing again "Ring around the Rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down!"  Gillian sat on the floor, but Aunt Betty only crouched.  Gillian didn't like that.  She said "Tushy on the ground!"  After Aunt Betty sat on the ground, Gillian then said "Then do criss-cross applesauce."  Aunt Betty did as Gillian said, and then Gillian said "Now I sit in your lap."  And she sat in Aunt Betty's lap.  The two of them laughed and then finished singing the song. 

Oh Beans

Gillian got a balloon on a stick today. She  held it in her hand and stuck out her arm and said "To Asgard!" (For those that don't know, Thor is from Asgard)

We saw a man in a wheelchair today. Gillian stared at him and said "Why doesn't he have to walk?" (Very embarrassing for Mom.)

I was talking to John about coming to the dealership to help me work. Gillian said "I go to the dealership. I paimpt cars! I paimpt cars pink and blue!"

We were out to lunch today and Gillian saw a little boy. He was probably 2 or 3 years old. But Gillian said "Awww him so cute! Why him so tiny?"

I was making cookies this afternoon. Gillian came upstairs and said "I smell something. Are you making cookies?" I told her no, so she turned the light on in the oven. And said "Are you making princess cookies?"  When I told her no, she said "Why not?" 

Oh Beans!

Cookie helper

I made cookies the weekend for John's kindergarten graduation. When I asked John if he would like me to make cookies for his class, he said "That would be great!" He wanted to help me decorate the cookies, but when he asked I was working on the outline for the caps and I told him no. Instead he stood over me while I outlined saying "Steady. Steady." As you can imagine, he was very helpful. But it didn't stop there, on the next cookie he said "Steady, steady. Whew, that was a close one. You know, I could help. It's going to take all night to do all of these cookies."  

Lazy Sunday

Today was raining and yucky all day. John and Gillian didn't complain at all about being inside all day. I think they were a little exhausted from playing outside all day yesterday. They spent most of the day in the basement playing with their toys. 

John came upstairs and said "I knew it! You are making cookies! I couldsmell them   downstairs!. He then stayed upstairs to help me cut out cookies. He is a good helper. Every time the timer went off, he would say "Mom! Do you hear that?"

We called the kids upstairs for dinner tonight. We could hear John on the stairs, but Gillian was crying. John yelled at her "Come on Gill! You know where the door is!" Daddy yelled downstairs and said "Did you turn the light off?" John said "Yea! But she knows where the door is!" Gillian, still crying, walked upstairs. She was not happy that John left her in the dark. And John got a lecture about turning the lights off when someone was still in the room. 

Traffic and cookies

Driving to work this morning and I got stuck in a little traffic. I completely forgot that there was construction on 520 and that it was the first day back from spring break for some schools. Anyway, I got stuck in some traffic. John says "I've never seen these houses before. They are creepy!" I explained to him that we see them everyday but today we got stuck in some traffic so we aren't going past them quickly. And that they might look creepy because the trees have no leaves. He said "Maybe you should have gone the way with no traffic!"

After dinner tonight the kids had chocolate chip cookies. Gillian took her second cookie downstairs and brought one for Daddy too. She came back upstairs and I caught her grabbing two cookies. I asked her who those were for. She said "Me and Daddy! Daddy need cookie!" I told her that she could bring a cookie to Daddy but she could not have another cookie. She disappeared downstairs with one cookie. I finished cleaning the kitchen and went downstairs. I found the kids in the basement. Gillian was eating a cookie. I asked her why. She said "I eat cookie! It's my cookie!" Sneaky little girl.

Valentine's Day

Daddy and I don't celebrate Valentine's Day but we do encourage the kids to celebrate with their friends. John got Star Wars valentines this year and Gillian got Minnie Mouse valentines. John wrote out all of his valentines by himself. It took him a long time, but he wrote all the names is his friends and signed every card. He even delivered them all. That was challenging. Each kid had a bag with their name on it. So John had to read his card and then find the matching bag.

I got to pick the kids up from school today. Both of them had big bags full of valentines and treats. John told me all about his day, "We had pizza that was shaped like a heart!" Gillian also told me about her day, "Miss Margaret opened the cookies! I give them to my friends!"

John also gave Daddy and I a Valentine's card. He did such a good job writing the message!

Making Cookies

On Christmas Eve, I decided to make cookies with the kids.  I made them each their own batch of sugar cookies.  They got to pick their cookie cutters.  John chose two different dinosaurs, a big circle, a baseball bat and the swamp fox.  Gillian chose a flower, a big Mickey Mouse head, a small Mickey Mouse head, a Mickey Mouse glove and a rabbit in an Easter egg.  I let them roll the dough all by themselves and cut their own cookies.  Gillian loved cutting her cookies.  If I didn't immediately pull them off the table, she would actually re-cut new cookies on top of the old cookies.  John had fun too.  He was much better with the rolling pin and actually did a really good job cutting out his cookies.

 

Today, Aunt Betty came to visit.  The kids ran around the house showing Aunt Betty all their new toys they got from Santa.  After they showed her all the toys, they were unsure of what to do next.  So we decided to decorate their cookies.  There wasn't many cookies leftover.  The kids have been eating them plain as snacks over the past couple of days.  I pulled all kinds of sprinkles out for the kids to decorate with.  John and Gillian started decorating.  Gillian kept calling the icing "glue."  "I need the glue first!"  She would ice the cookies and then cover them in sprinkles.  She grabbed sprinkles by the handful and covered her cookies.  She had three cookies done before John finished his first cookie.  John was a little more methodical.  He tried to cover every inch of his cookie with icing before putting any sprinkles on the cookie. 

The finished cookies:

The kids had so much fun today.  Aunt Betty and I got a ton of laughs too.  It was totally worth the mess!

The Adventures of Buddy the Elf

Our Elf on the Shelf arrives the day after Thanksgiving.  His name is Buddy.  Buddy is one of Santa's messengers.  He comes to visit the kids during the day and then goes back to the north pole at night and reports back to Santa.  The next day, Buddy will be found in a different spot.  Buddy was a little adventurous and silly this year.  Here are all the places the kids found him this year:

November 23 - Buddy ate one of Mommy's cookies:

November 24 - Buddy needed to brush his teeth:

 

November 25 - Buddy had a tea party with Rapunzel:

November 26 - Buddy SMASH!

November 27 - Buddy went fishing:



November 28 - Buddy read some of the kids "friends" his book:

November 29 - Buddy tried all of Gillian's bows

 

November 30 - Buddy made snowflakes

December 1 - Buddy trapped the kids in their rooms

December 2 - Buddy made "snow angels" in some of Mommy's flour

December 3 - Buddy got tangled in some Christmas lights

December 4 - Buddy checked out the Christmas tree

 

December 5 - Buddy went bungee jumping with a slinky





December 6 - Buddy needed to relax after bungee jumping.  He took a bubble bath.

 

December 7 - Buddy went cruising with Barbie



 

December 8 - Buddy was just hanging out in Gillian's room

December 9 - Buddy borrowed John's favorite friend, Travis! John said "I was holding him so tight!  I don't know how Buddy got him out of my arms!"

December 10 - Buddy got stuck in a jar

December 11 - Buddy roasted marshmallows.  According to John "He's marshing marshmallows!"

December 12 - Buddy found a marker and made John & Gillian's pictures look silly.  Gillian did not like it all.  She kept saying "He make me scary!"

 

December 13 - Buddy helped decorate the Christmas tree

December 14 - Buddy was hanging out in Mommy & Daddy's room. 

 

December 15 - Buddy found the kids at Mimi & Poppy's house.  And then he disappeared and ended up back at our house.

 

December 16 - Buddy left the kids craft project.  John loved it so much.  In the middle of building it he got up, ran over to Buddy and said "Thank you!"

 

December 17 - Buddy went mountain climbing up Mommy's hutch



 

December 18 - Buddy left John a note.  "Listen Better."

December 19 - Buddy made a hot air balloon out of a birthday balloon for Daddy.

December 20 - Buddy left the kids a snack.  Cookies that look like Buddy!

December 21 - Buddy colored a picture

December 22 - It's a pirate's life for Buddy

December 23 - Buddy tricked John!  During dinner last night, John said "wouldn't it be funny if Buddy made a fake Buddy?"  Buddy must have heard John, because this morning there was a fake Buddy in John's room and the real Buddy was hiding in the living room.

 

December 24 - Buddy played a game of Candyland with Rex, Wolverine and Cinderella

We had so much fun looking for Buddy this year. Can't wait to see him again next year!