Cookie Monsters

Since it's hard to buy presents for people you don't know well, and because teachers are always so busy, we make treats to give the girls' teachers at Christmas time. 

Honey, Lovey & Sweetie all take this job very seriously and really concentrate on making beautiful designs for their teachers they love so much! It is so cute to see them so focused and dedicated to the task. It's VERY important not to mix the cookies up so that each girl can ensure HER teacher gets the cookies SHE decorated. We also add in some other stuff I make, Butter Toffee Crunch, some Deluxe Party Mix and sometimes some fudge. This year I scored some gorgeous and festive baskets 70% off at Michael's (occasionally procrastination pays!) and made the whole gift look fancier than it really was :)

Here are my little elves, hard at work again, lucky for me they love this stuff! and check out the definition on Sweetie! Those arms are really toning up from all the cartwheeling, handstanding and walking on her hands lately!

Hanging with GG

GG is in town so we paid her a visit yesterday morning! She had made the girls some new nighties for their birthday and wanted them to try them on. We got there just as she was starting to bake cookies and the girls helped her get the batch started. mmmmm yummy fun! I remember baking with GG when I was little so it's neat that my girls will have that memory too.

We didn't get very far on the cookies when we ran out of time and had to get GG to her hair appt. Before we left the girls did try on their nightgowns and they all fit! We dropped her off at the hairdresser's and went to the library to return books and hunt down some new ones while we waited. As luck would have it, I pulled into a space that had an hour left on the meter. Score!

After the library we made a quick stop at the bank and then back to Aunt Cathy's to help finish baking the cookies! GG has waaaaaaaaaaaay more patience than I do so I just let her do the cookies as the mangling was getting to hard for me to ignore! LOL

We had some sandwiches and were refuelled to run more errands, much to the kids' delight. I'm trying to continue my streak of "ruining" their vacation with doing things for them cuz that's the nasty kind of mom I am apparently!

I'm going to the gym in the evenings now, to save money on childcare and let me tell you, by the time class starts, I'm more than ready to go! It always takes awhile to get used to being on summer schedules, with nowhere we have to be at no particular time, things get too lazy around here! The wet weather isn't helping either, too much indoor time drives us all a little bonkers...

Cookies!!!!!

The kids had a day off from school this week so we did some baking. We made cheesecake and smartie cookies! The mixing team may have overdone it and beat the dough to a pulp and the cookies turned out very runny and thin! The good news is that they still taste awesome and are going like hot cakes!

 There was a dance break as we waited for the cookies to come out of the oven. They call this move the "Double Disco". Snazzy huh? Warmth, love & laughter on a winter day, good times in the kitchen. :)))

Party On!

We raced around like lunatics yesterday & crashed out the door just barely in time to catch the bus. I was surprised that I couldn't see the headlights coming down the road already! We waited a few minutes. Still nothing. Hmmmm. Murray wondered if the buses were delayed because of the weather. I ran in to check the district website but couldn't remember which district they were in right off the top of my head. I googled one number that came to mind but that obviously wasn't the right one because that page said all schools were closed. And that couldn't be right! Not on the 2nd last day of school, the last FULL day of school that I'd set aside for cleaning, wrapping and getting things finalized without interruptions or distractions. 

Still in denial, I googled the school and unfortunately found out that I'd had the right district number after all. I thought the girls would be excited to have the day off but annoyed that they hadn't gotten to sleep in. When i went out and announced the news, all three groaned and moaned "awwwwwwwww!!!! no!!!!!". Their classes all had special activities, parties, movies, plays etc planned  so it was the one day of the year that they DIDN'T want a day off.

Since my day was messed up beyond repair, I phoned Teena to see if she needed me to watch Boo for her but it turned out to be her one day off. She'd planned a similar day to mine except for shopping and errands.Since I was staying home anyway and not sure what to do with 3 Christmas crazed, at loose ends kids, I thought it would be helpful to bring in more of them and invited Boo over for the day so Teena could get her stuff done. That didn't seem loud or messy enough so then we called Tulip and the girls next door. That seemed to be just the right amount! I baked cookies and got icing ready for them to do some decorating.

While I was doing that, they tried to demolish the downstairs. Apparently, quiet activities like watching tv were not on their agenda!!! I quickly finished bagging the icing and got them to put away their swords and all other warfare.

The cookies were a big hit and they did a great job with minimal mess, surprisingly! There were even sprinkles involved and I didn't hear a single cascade of sugar! Once they'd sampled some of their work, I fired them out into the back yard to burn some of it off. Eventually they got cold and insisted on coming back in but by then it was almost supper. I decided it was in my best interests to send everyone home with all the toes they'd arrived with!

Teena and Boo joined us for supper since Dale was out shopping for the evening and this was like the icing on the, well, cookie I guess! They were super excited and turned it into a pj party supper and were quite confused as to why we'd want to wear our regular clothes to eat in!

Good food, great times, forever memories :)))