Sugar Art

Decorating sugar cookies when you're 2 and 5 is like an intricate, multimedia art project.  Different types of frosting, sanding sugar, and sprinkles are just the beginning because it all goes on COOKIES!

These particular pieces of art were gifted by the singers to the homes they visited on the annual youth caroling trip.

Valentine's Treats

A couple years back I started the tradition of homemade donuts for Valentine's Day treats.  This year the kids and I enjoyed our treats and unfortunately illness hit the house before we could follow through with the tradition of sharing with friends.  Maybe we'll try again after HandyMan gets home.

"My name is Chubby..."

A few weeks ago HandyMan spent many hours on a bus with a bunch of high school students.  At one point when I called him, he was being pulled away for a game of Chubby Bunny.  The Chubby Bunny game I knew involved lots of marshmallows and usually gets messy-he assured me that this was not the same game and gave me a brief overview and it got lost in the minutia of the day.

Fast forward to this afternoon.   I'm sitting on the footstool in our playroom and GGirl comes up to me, with flat hands squishes my cheeks towards my mouth and says "Mommy!  Say 'My name is Chubby Bunny.'"  Apparently HandyMan or one of the teens from the trip taught GGirl the Chubby Bunny game.  She went on with other lyrical lines, but in between laughter and trying to repeat my lines, my mind went back a -ahem- few years to my grandparents house and my cousins teaching me a similar game about Chubby and his motorcycle.

While the new version is a cleaned up rhyme, it is still fun and brought some good laughs to this Mama and the 4 and a half year old.

Little Card Shark

Today, while MMan was taking a marathon nap, HandyMan and I played cards with GGirl.  For her birthday she received a boxed set of children's classic card games.  She's starting to get the hang of them.  I think she's on her way to a competitive streak, but when it comes to cards, it's in her genes.

I come from a few generations of card players.  Stories are told and I have fond memories of playing cards with my grandparents on both sides of the family: Uno, Hand & Foot, and Skip Bo were all family favorites. Gatherings with my parents often include a round of cards.  And now GGirl is joining the card-playing ranks of the family.

Halloween Treats

Because we live in a rural area we don't see a lot of kids traipsing around on Halloween.  We do get a few folks who know us and bring their kids by, so I try to have something around.  A couple of years it was candy, but then there's leftovers and my will power around mini candy bars is close to nil.

Last year I made sugar cookies and spent the afternoon with YouthGal (aka- GTot's favorite baby sitter) and GTot decorating them.  I wanted to do it again this year but just didn't have the energy to do the whole shebang  sugar cookie - cutting- baking - frosting mess.  So I improvised.  I made a batch of my favorite sugar cookie dough and a batch of the best Chocolate Sugar Cookie dough.  I colored the plain dough orange (well, as orange as I could get it with very little red food coloring in the house) and we cut out pumpkin faces with the chocolate and put them on top of the pumpkin cutouts before we baked them.  We used a pastry cutter to get the zig-zag affect which made the mouths super easy.  They turned out pretty cute and tasted pretty good too!

We didn't use much of the chocolate dough, but that's ok because there's a bake sale I'm going to have to do something for later this month and this dough freezes beautifully!

A Simple Christmas Menu

I love the week(s) surrounding Christmas and New Years because usually they are filled with family and friends and a break from the normal routines.  This year, I keeping the menus simple so that I can enjoy GBaby's Christmas adventure and the friends and family who will be crossing our threshold.

We're joining friends for an early dinner on Christmas Eve before the service at church.  When we get home, I'll have cheese and crackers, fruit and goodies to snack on with a glass of wine (probably while I finish wrapping gifts!)

Christmas morning will bring a "normal" breakfast for us: scrambled eggs and biscuits or some other such meal of ease.

At our house this year, Christmas Dinner will be a mid-afternoon affair: a small gathering. I picked mid afternoon for a couple reasons.  First, I really enjoy having a large meal midday instead of in the evening.  Second, I can cook in peace while GBaby naps!

Up on the dinner menu: Honey Baked Ham (ordered by Mom-In-Law and delivered to my door- Thanks!), a variation on these Acorn Squash Bowls , homemade Parker House Rolls and asparagus.  A friend who's coming is bringing a pineapple-jello type salad.  For dessert: more goodies from the never ending Sweet Stash hiding on my freezer!

I'm getting hungry and can't wait!  I'm also percolating my New Year's Menu - check in next week for that yummy-ness!

Linked up at Life As Mom's Ultimate Recipe Swap: Christmas Dinner

What I'm Working On. . .

The liturgical season of Advent began on Sunday.  This is a season of waiting and anticipation of the arrival of Christ on Christmas.

As a child I have vague memories of opening little paper doors on a glittery display as we counted down the days until Christmas.  This year I am working on our advent calendar.  I'm making a variation of this advent calendar and so far (I have two days done) it's looking pretty good!  Instead of felt, I'm using paper and mod-podge.  So, with Advent and the anticipation and preparation for Christmas underway, some of my creative juices are heading towards projects rather than blogging... I'm sure you understand!

I will post the project when I'm a little farther along.  In the meantime, if you have an older child -one that can handle scissors, intricate patterns and glue- you may want to print this out and enlarge it as a great craft project during the advent season.  I particularly like that it incorporates all of the symbols of the Christmas Season and ties them back to the True meaning for Christmas.

Baking for the Holidays

Over at Life as Mom today they're talking about foods that make great gifts.  Usually there's so much food around the holidays that I don't often gift food, but here are a few recipes that gift very well:

:: Easy Sugar Cookies are usually a quick go-to for parties or hostess gifts. The are pretty and present well on a holiday plate (usually from dollar store), holiday plastic wrap and a bow.

:: Reduced Sugar Fruit Spreads that I made this summer will be great for gifting this holiday season.  Add a ribbon to the jar and they're ready to go.  Or pair it with a Biscuit Mix in a breakfast basket.  The recipe works beautifully with frozen fruit too!

:: Quick Breads [HV Blueberry Bread, HV Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread, Cranberry Orange Bread] also gift very well and there are often holiday tins that you can bake them in to make them a bit more festive.  Or wrap them in a holiday plastic wrap and you're good to go!