We Made Christmas Cookies

Rarely do I do a blog with mostly photos but sometimes a photo is worth a thousand words so, well, let me explain the photos.

My mom has these awesome Christmas cookie recipe she has handed down to me. Okay, really she probably got it out of some cookie recipe book of Christmas ideas in the check out line in a grocery store when we little but it's our family recipe and it's a tradition and there a million happy memories surrounding these cookies. She has perfected it, she and i have tweaked it and oh my, they are scrumptious.

S4 has been very anxious to put the 'sparkles' on the cookies. But he was happy to help roll out the cookies. My plan was to have cookies baking for the boys when they got off the bus and then they could decorate their own cookie before making their own.

Husband was home (being laid off now) so he snapped a few photos. Oh look how happy we look. It really is a cute photo. You must realize, S4 has on this apron, but no pants. He is good on wearing pants only out of the house. otherwise, they just slow him down.


mmmmm! Don't they look yummy baking! My cookies are boring circles (snowballs I call them). We have a polar bear, a reindeer, a Christmas tree and a snowman cookie cutter.

The boys were ecstatic to get home and see I had cookie dough all separated for them and ready for them to make their own cookies. I had thought this up ahead of time...if everyone has their own dough and their own cookie sheet and their own frosting germs might not be so bad and then when they are starving (again or still) they can just grab the cookies they made. A brilliant idea, don't you agree? Really, it is. See S3? He is already sneaking tastes of the cookie dough.
S1 took a diligent approach to cookie making. I see a potential great pizza crust maker in his future...which is good cuz his moma can't make pizza crust to save her life.S2 said "Oh, this is cool, dude" many many many times. His cookie dough got rolled out so thin you could see the table through the dough. I made the dough up and it needed a light dusting of flour. In the time it took the boys to make cookies, they went through an extra four cups (approx) of flour. They think their cookies are scrumptious still, however.S3 was worried about the dough stuck on his hands. He hadn't noticed I kept seeing him sneak pieces to eat so when this was stuck I could see the "I really want to eat this but I could get in trouble" look on his face so I said, "Just eat it off!" Oh man, after that almost all of his cookie dough just disappeared. I seen S1 began to nibble a bit, S2 said it was great and S4 claimed the whole idea to be disgusting.S4 FINALLY got to put the "sprinkles" on the cookies. This was what he had waited for with anticipation for FOREVER.Here is one of my circle/snowball cookies baked, frosted and sprinkled. Notice my fancy spancy Wendy's napkins. When these cookies are still warm they are just the best. Like, I can eat way too many warm and nibble once in awhile on the regular 'room temperature' ones. I hadn't even eaten one at this point but prepared this cookie all ready for Husband who had run outside to do something......
And apparently it wasn't going to well with the plow truck. He was kinda too busy to eat a cookie....This is love. He is trying to get the fan belt on and he still sorta smiled for me. Notice he is not looking at me but still concentrating on getting that fan belt on.....

Only the boys ate the cookies rolled out, cut out and frosted on this table. It's scary a little, isn't it. But I love this picture, you know they are having a great time!Husband even made it in to enjoy the cookie and survey the mess. He didn't say anything other than "yup, this cookie is good."Here is S1. He made a monster cookie.S2 couldn't wait for me to take this photo. Notice the deer has blue eyes. He spent a long time decorating this one 'just right'.I love these photos of S3. He hardly noticed me taking pictures of him until I told him I needed to see if the cookie was good when he took a bite. I think he liked it.This picture of S4 eating the cookie is just great. I decided to add the photos of him dancing around with a cookie because that is just S4. He is always doing something like this.It took a LOT of elbow grease to get the table clean. I had no energy to make more cookies after that, but I still have a bunch of dough left to make some more cookies today... alone. I would not take back an evening making cookies with my boys...it took close to two hours...but I would so not eat anything they made either! And I just wanted to share a little snapshot (okay, a lot of snapshots) into our making Christmas cookies adventures.

I hope you loved this post! I just have to say, it took nearly five hours to get all the pictures on it. My computer went super duper duper duper slow (that's an understatement!) but I think it was worth it to share it with you! Besides, I was busy in between times checking out Carrie Underwood's dresses on her TV special (that girl can sing! I would love all those dresses and heels...I'd have no where to wear them but they sure are fun to see!) and getting a few things taken care of for the next day.

Hope you have a chance to enjoy making Christmas cookies with your kiddos!

S2's Style

S2 has his own sense of style. I think you can see that by the photo here on the side of the blog. He dresses to the beat of a different drum, if that makes sense. Sunday's are true challenges. Why can't you wear gym clothes to church? I like to have one day he looks 'normal', that's why. However, when he looks normal he ends up looking abnormal.

It's one of those things I just love about him!

So, it was really no surprise after watching Davy Crockett (the original) that he would decide he needs a coon skin hat. And it shouldn't surprise any of you by now that he had a coon tail all ready...thanks to my loving parents.

He put the coon tail on the back of his beloved Red Wings hat and I could tell by the light in his eyes that this was going to be his new fashion statement for a good long time.

The next day, when he wore his hat proudly to school, he got many a reaction, as I am sure you can imagine. Our first drop in the morning is the kindergarten room for S3. All the little kindergartner's swarmed S2. They all seemed to have a bit of fear in their eyes.

“Is it real?” they asked.

“Yup. But it's not alive,” S2 replied.

They would look at the tail, then the front of the hat. All hovered near him, but not too close. Finally one little boy dared to ask “Can I touch it?”

“Sure”, S2 allowed.

The little boy held out his hand and it was quivering. The closer he got to the tail, the more his hand shook. He would get very close and then jerk his hand back. It took him SIX tries before he actually let his fingers just barely graze the tail.

It was all I could do not to cheer for the boy as well as laugh hysterically.

S2 has caused quite the phenomenon at school now. I wouldn't have expected anything less.

A Morning with S4, Part Two

For breakfast we made chocolate chip pancakes. By we I mean I had two shadows, S3 and S4, who were determined to be the first to stir, the first to flip, the first to eat. I first drank a cup of coffee.

Husband was out to breakfast with a buddy so it was just the five of us. We just got our first snow of the year and it's measurable snow (well, technically we had a dusting the day after thanksgiving that was gone with the sunshine). We have about four inches, if you really stretch the ruler down into the grass. Just a bit north of us, where AD lives they were dumped with well over a foot of snow from the same lake effect snow storm. Anyhow, the boys were discussing going sledding as we ate our pancakes.

Just on a whim I looked to S4 and said “Hey, did you ever go sledding when you were a little kid?”

He chewed his pancake slowly as he began to sit higher in his chair until he was on his knees so he was as tall as any of us and with a swallow declared loudly “Yes, I did.”

“Really?” he had all our attentions now. “What happened?”

“Well,” he began, “When I was a little kid I went sledding out there (he points out the window) because I lived here, you know. And I went sledding for a little bit and then I got a Christmas tree all by myself.”

“Really?” S1 asked excitedly.

“Yah,” he answered as if to say 'duh!'. “You remember the tree because you were there too.”

“I was?” S1 asked.

“Yah, you rode the horses to pull the tree and you shot a deer while you were on the horse.”

“Cool!” S1 agreed.

“So you cut the tree down all by yourself?” I asked him.

“No, I was just a little kid. I was only five. S3 was three then.”

S1 began to snicker. “He just swapped ages with S3!”

“Yah, I was five,” continued S4, “And when I was done being five I turned, um...” He began counting quietly, one, two, three, four, five, six.... “I turned six. And then S3 was five!”

“So what did you do with the tree?” S2 asked.

“I decorated it all by myself,” S4 answered. “And then I opened all the Christmas prizes by myself cuz they were all for me. I had a Mater and Lightening McQueen and Doc and Mac and real road.” He sat down and speared another piece of pancake. “But that was when I was a little kid.”

A Morning with S4, Part One

He was just too funny to not blog about today.

We heat with wood here on our little farm. That means the house is usually toasty warm and our skin is super dry. I found a bottle of baby lotion the other day and after my shower this morning decided to lather up on it. S4 knocks politely on the bedroom door (this shocked me, he usually bursts in like thunder wherever he wants to be) and came in with his nose in the air sniffing like a dog. “What is that smell?” he asked quizzically.


“What smell?” I'd taken a long shower, who knows what smells the boys could have cooked up in that time?


“The smell like sunblock.”


“Oh!” I handed him the baby lotion. “It's baby lotion, not sunblock.” You see though, I DO lather my boys in sunblock. Even S4 knows this! So if they burn, it wasn't because I neglected their lotion!


He handed me the bottle back with a “moma is crazy” look on his face and in his voice when he said “Moma, we are not going to the beach.”


“I know, hon, we won't for a long time.”


He looks out the window and then explains to me slowly, as if I didn't hear him the first time. “Yup, there is snow in the sky and it is snowy on the ground. It is almost Christmas.” He turned to me for dramatic effect. “It is NOT beach time.”


“Yes, I agree.” I nodded seriously. If I had laughed, I am sure he would have thought me a lost cause.


He walked out of the bedroom. “Well, goodbye.” He shut the door and I heard him authoritatively tell his three brothers, “Guys, it is NOT beach time. Not for long time. Not until we have Christmas.”


“We know.....” they had a 'roll my eyes' type of response. That taken care of, he jumped on the couch to continue watching his Saturday morning movie.

"When I Was a Little Kid"

S4 began this story – or bunch of stories – this summer. I have thought to not write them out to you but was encouraged to do so the other night so here it is.....

One night when we were eating dinner, S4 began telling us a story about when he was a little kid. I don't recall how this all even began but it went something like this...

“When I was a little kid, my other Dad and Mom........” and he would tell this elaborate story with all sorts of details.

Here is why I didn't want to share this story...he would end it with “But then they threw me in the fire so now I live with you.”

How awful does that sound? Why would he say such a thing?

Now he doesn't end them that way, thank goodness. But I have found the other boys begging for his stories but I think I ask for them the most. It is such fun to hear his imagination! The stories usually happen when we are cuddled together, as in, Moma needs a nap will you cuddle next to me and tell me about when you were little? And then he will snuggle up next to me, tell me the story, tell me he will tell me another he just has to think of it and then he will fall asleep.

This week with my fuzzy head cold I got a chance to hear a new story so here it is for you...
“When I was a little kid, a long time ago, I went hunting. I shot a bear and a racoon and I made the racoon into a hat and then I shot a deer just because I seen one and could. Yup, I was a good hunter when I was a little kid.”

When he gets some new stories, I'll try to remember to post them.

Why the Coffee is Always on...or Should be

When we came up for the name of this blog, the thing we debated over the most was “coffee please”. Coffee now, double shot, espresso on the double...those were coffee terms I thought resonated more with my life. But if you say the word “please” desperately, it gets the point across.

And this is why I need coffee.

I have this fuzzy head cold thing going on. I will feel fine and then not be able to breathe thru my nose again. I know, lovely image there. But it's my sinuses that are so sore and leaving me feeling wiped out. So, I took some cold medicine before I went to bed last night that is just for sinuses. It worked great. Today I have a zillion things to do so I took some more of that cold medicine last night as soon as I got home from church and figured I would wake up feeling wonderful and fully healthy this morning.

I woke up alright.

Husband came home from Bible study and I woke up to realize he was home and fell back asleep. I remember thinking “oh, blessed sleep!” That was elevenish.

Some time later, I woke up again and just reveled in the quiet waiting for the alarm to go off. I waited and waited and waited and waited and then I looked at the clock. It was just after one.
I found that odd, but then again, I get to go back to sleep!

Except I woke up at 2, 2:45, 3:15 and at 3:15 I never fell back asleep. I just laid there waiting for 4 to come around when I would have to get up. My leg was twitching. My mind was racing, a thought would come to mind and I would be seized with panic (the biggest thought was PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let us find S3's glasses tomorrow morning at school! Because, as you can now guess, he had lost them the day before). The panic things really frightened me.

And oddly, one line from Miley Cyrus kept running thru my head “who's that chick rockin kicks, she must be from out of town”. Why that line, why that song, I don't know but it was on insta replay in my brain all night/morning/whatever.

Jr arrived at 4:30. Jr was happy swinging in his swing at 5:15 so I took a quick shower. He was dozing when I got out. Until Fernie Cow the cat decided to pull a surprise attack on Josie the dog and the cat ran into the baby swing and woke Jr up. I tried to get him to sleep because by then the cold medicine was beginning to wear off and I was finally a little tired and thought an hour nap might be nice. But Jr never fell asleep.

And at six in the morning, I jumped with shock to hear the huge crash coming from the boys room. I hurried upstairs to see S2 dragging S4 from his room by his feet. “What is going on? What was that noise?”

“We bonked heads and I want him out of our room,” S2 explained as if it's a normal occurrence. I think more happened than that, but how could I prove it so I just told them to go downstairs and get some breakfast. S1 clicked the light off and I am pretty sure I heard him sigh like “finally, peace”.

S3 had been sleeping on the couch (not sure why) and when he woke up he was crying (have no idea why). S1 finally came downstairs to show me his drawings of how he thinks a gun could be improved. That seems too difficult a conversation to comprehend before seven in the morning. Jr was jumping up and down in his exersaucer as if to say, “Hooray! I woke you all up!”

I was debating whether or not to make a pot of coffee. You see, Husband is home today (he will be for awhile, he is now laid off) and I was pretty sure the sweet aroma of coffee would wake him up. Who wants to get up early on their day off? So I had put it off until adorable KM (the next door neighbor girl) knocked on the door to plead “Denise, I am so sleepy from taking NyQuil for my cold...could you make me some coffee?”

Oh, I love this girl who loves coffee like me!

The pot was on before she was all the way in the door. My cup was gone in mere moments (I had a lot of milk in it to cool it), why had I ever wondered whether the coffee should be on at all? Then all five boys and I were out the door, leaving husband to sleep and me to herd them to school. We arrived and found S3's glasses under the computer table where they had fallen (said many “thank you, God”'s for that, really) and when we arrived home I got the next pot of coffee ready to go when husband wakes up.

Yup, two pots gone before nine am.

The Tooth Fairy Found Our House

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all of you and Merry Christmas season to all of you! I apologize for not blogging earlier (it's been EIGHT days) but we were swamped busy for five of them and now I have a cold and my head is all fuzzy. I do not look pretty at all....and I have sent the boys outside to run hard on this clear blue sky day so I can catch up with all you, my dear friends! Besides, they need to run off some energy before the snow storm hits this weekend and I need let the 'get charged' tea I am drinking to charge up my fuzzy brain.

All that to tell you this story....................

The tooth fairy arrived at our house last night.

S3 has kept 1st Lost Tooth on tour for quite some time. It spent a few days lost in it's home baggie under some laundry but nothing too traumatic. It was finally time to bid it goodbye and hope the tooth fairy really did exist.

Somehow, S3 has in mind that the tooth fairy gives out gold dollars for first tooth lost. Since he has another loose tooth, I have a sneaky guess that tooth 2 will need a gold dollar too.
S1 and S2 came pounding down the steps an hour after they had been sent to bed to get another pee and drink and to inform Daddy that S3 was sound asleep. “Go be a tooth fairy!” they giggled to Husband who retorted, “Hey, don't be calling me a fairy!”

Visions of husband as Tinker Bell made me laugh out loud.

He was able to remove the tooth from the bag and leave the bag and the gold Sacajawea coin behind. This morning, Husband didn't have to be to work until later and as we laid in our bed to get a few more morning snooze minutes in we heard our usually earliest riser, S3, suddenly exclaim “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! The tooth fairy did come!” Laughter. “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Guys, the Tooth Fairy came!”

His pajama-ed feet came sliding down the steps. Husband had gotten up by this time and greeted S3 at the foot of the steps. He was waving the gold coin. “The tooth fairy came!”
“Alright!” Husband high fived him.

I stumbled out of bed and S3 gave me a giant hug. His face was beaming, all trace of sleep gone as he held up the gold coin. “Moma, look, the tooth fairy came and left me this!”

I rubbed his back, “that's great, honey!” His enthusiasm was contagious.

He walked toward the table for breakfast staring at the coin and saying “Yes, yes, yes! It really is a gold dollar! The tooth fairy came! Oh, yes!”

Now that is a great way to start the day!

He spent every free moment of the morning wiggling away on Tooth 2.