Cookie Decorating Party

With all these cookies, how's a mama supposed to lose her pregnancy weight? Our friends, the Braatens, had ther annual Crazy for Cookies party for the kiddies. We put on our Christmas aprons and decorated some gingerbread men. The boys made me proud; they didn't lick the community icing knife once! Nope, they did it twice! Just kidding.


Thanks, Meredith, for this pic! Annabelle's shirt appropriately says "Always jolly."


Barrett gave his man a "sprinkle of hair"

Kyle showed such restraint with the sprinkles and red hots! Oh, and he ate the gingerbread man's leg and then told me that now he couldn't walk because his leg was broken so he gave him a (candy) cane!

Cookie Exchange

This year's Mom to Mom cookie exchange was a couple weeks ago but I'm just now able to post my pictures and recipe. My cookies took the prize for best lookin' cookie! I loved what my friend Stephanie did with her Haystack cookies. She used them for the hay in the manger by putting Nativity scene figures around them and Baby Jesus on top. Really clever...which is why she won for best presentation!





Ulimate Sugar Cookies

1 cup White sugar
1/2 cup butter (room temp)
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon bakingpowder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat 375 degrees.Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. set aside. In a large bowl beat butter, sugar and shortening until well blended. Add combined dry ingredients and mix. Separate dough into several balls, roll out and cut into shapes. Place shapes on cookie sheet and bake for 5-9 minutes.


Icing:

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (sifted after measuring)
1 tablespoon low-fat milk (skim or 1% is fine although I have made this successfully using 2% fat milk)
1 tablespoon corn syrup (more if needed to reach desired consistency)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
food coloring (use colors of choice)
Change Measurements: US Metric

1 VERY IMPORTANT; the confectioners sugar must be sifted before using. 2 In a bowl beat the sifted confectioners sugar with milk until smooth. 3 Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until smooth and glossy (if icing is too thick add in a small amount of corn syrup). 4 Divide into as many separate bowls as desired. 5 Add in different food coloring to each bowl beating/whisking until the intensity is achieved. 6 Paint the icing over the cookies using a brush or dip the cookie edges into icing (this will set quite quickly). 7 Place cookies on waxed paper to dry.

Toe Love

I have a lot of photos to go through (Christmas is a very photo-heavy time), but I wanted to get this up before Annabelle is no longer 6 months old.

We went to the doctor today for her 6 month appointment and she got her first vaccination shot. She didn't cry, or even stick out her bottom lip. She was actually smiling at the nurse! After a few minutes, I tried to put her in her carseat (which she doesn't care for) and she cried about that.

Nuthin' better than a preschool Christmas show

Last week was the last week of school for the boys before the Christmas break. Every year they have a little show where the kids sing for the parents. The kids look so cute in their Rudolph and Angel costumes I could just squeel. As if seeing my kid singing Christmas songs as an angel wasn't sweet enough, Kyle did something that brought me to happy tears. As we were all sitting and waiting for the show to start, Kyle spotted me and waved. Then with his crooked little halo he shouted across the room, "I love you, Mom!"
I hope the lady behind me who had her video camera recording at the time will send me this so I can watch it over and over. Until then, here's a pouty picture of Kyle.



Since I'm talking about Kyle in this post, I have another one. The other day I had Kyle on my lap and I was talking to him about how God forgives us. He was really focused and I remember thinking to myself, "Wow. I think my words are actually going into his ears and registering in his brain! I must be doing a really good job of explaining this!" When my monologue was over, he said, "Mommy, what are these lines on your face?" Yes, that's right. He was studying my wrinkles! At least I have that "I love you, Mom" from the Christmas show.

Annabelle is 6 months old!

I can't believe it's already been half a year since she was still in my tummy and yet I already can't imagine my life without her. Annabelle is such a blessing and she brightens our lives everyday.
Annabelle can sit up for a few seconds before losing her balance. She loves to jump in the jumperoo or in one's lap. She is rolling from her back to her tummy and tummy to back. She drools buckets and smiles almost constantly. Annabelle has dicovered her toes. She "talks" to them and tries to put them in her mouth. She is reaching for things and loves for me (mommy) to hold her. We can still take her to the movies at six months. I think people sit far away from us fearing she will cry during the movie but they don't know her. Annabelle is very ticklish. everywhere. Her enamored big brothers have been talking to her and trying to teach her words. The other day Barrett was talking to her saying Heh-heh-head. and Annabelle said, "Heh." Barrett felt very proud. I appreciate his efforts but this is not a word, more specifically it's not the word Mama, so therefore it's not her first word. ;)
Annabelle is magic. She can make people smile...and when you see these pictures I bet you my last $6 you'll be smiling too.

Here's some pictures of Annabelle at 6 months





This toothless grin just kills me!


You're smiling aren't you?

Christmas PJs

We took some pictures in front of the Christmas tree in the Christmas pajamas.

They just wanted to get to the Lakehouse, but I made them stop and take ANOTHER picture

It may become a yearly tradition that the kids could live without...stopping to take a silhouette in a field on the way to Grandma's and Papa's house for Thanksgiving. This is the second year in a row, which in a family of Aggies, makes it a tradition. We had to do it again this year because last year's image didn't have Annabelle. So now I have a header picture for my blog with all 3 of my kiddos.