I Heart Jason

Jason and the girls gave me my birthday present early...a KitchenAid mixer!! I have several cookie orders for the weekend, so he decided to go ahead and give it to me...is he sweet or what? And to make things even sweeter...it is light pink, just like the one pictured...which makes me love him (and it) even more!

Macy's "Back To School" Treat

Here is Macy's big apple cookie for her "back to school" treat. She decided not to eat it for breakfast (but I will admit, what she ate...a honey bun...was just as sugar loaded). She wants to wait on her Daddy to help eat it after supper.

Macy's First Day of First Grade!

Today was Macy's first day of 1st grade! She only went 1/2 day today. The day started off early...we are going to have to get used to that again. Macy really like her teacher. We are very pleased! Here are a few pictures before going off for the big day.

"Back To School" Idea

I did this pencil brownie last year for Macy the day she started Kindergarten. Actually, I made it the night before, and the girls ate it for breakfast the first morning of school...yes...I let them eat brownies for breakfast sometimes :) Thought I would share this again with you. I will share what I am going to do for the first day of 1st gade later...hopefully...Macy is sick right now! We are staying in today hoping she gets better...coughing, snot, and fever may not make for a good first day of school :(

Sweet Crispix Mix

I found a recipe called "Sweet Crispix Mix" and adapted it to our tastes. I love making snacks for the girls, and I thought this one would be a great one for Macy to take to school for her recess snack (note on that...her violin teacher and I were trying to work out a time for lessons this fall...I asked Macy if she would mind missing one afternoon recess a week for her lesson. She said "Sure!" A little while later, Macy said "Mom, what is recess?" That's my girl...she's more into the academics than recess...she must take after her Mother, right Jason?) Anyway, this is my adaptation of "Sweet Crispix Mix" :

1 box (12 oz) Crispix ceral

1 can (12 oz) peanuts

1 cup small pretzel twists

2 cups Cheez-It crackers

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1/2 cup light corn syrup

2 cups light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spray two baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix together cereal, peanuts, pretzels, and cheese crackers. In a medium-size saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the corn syrup and brown sugar. Cook mixture for 5 minutes, stirring continuously. Remove from heat and pour over ceral mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon to coat all of the ingredients. Divide mixture evenly over both baking sheets. Bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Let mixture cool on baking sheets. Break apart. Store in plastic bags or sealed containers.

This mix is DELICIOUS!! It takes A LOT of willpower to stay away from it!!

A Really Good Movie!

If you have not seen "Nim's Island", it is a must-see movie! We rented it last night (I think it just came out on DVD this past week). Macy and Lucy really liked it. I loved it!! The little girl reminded me a lot of Macy for some reason. We watched it last night, and will be watching it again tonight (hopefully Daddy will stay awake tonight) :)

Finished Marshmallow Fairy Pops

If you have little girls, you should try this!!

Marshmallow Fairy Pops

This was a fun cooking project that we did yesterday. Macy has a "Fairy" cookbook and a "Princess" cookbook, so we've been picking recipes to try out of them. The marshmallow fairy pops fun fun and easy! Here is the recipe:

popsicle sticks (we had jumbo ones)

jumbo marshmallows

white chocolate bark

food coloring

sprinkles

Slide a marshmallow onto popsicle stick. Melt white chocolate bark and tint it desired color. Dip marshmallow on stick into the white chocolate, then dip it into assorted desired sprinkles (we poured sprinkles into small bowls for dipping). Lay on waxpaper to dry.

So easy, so fun, and so cute! They were very proud to show their Daddy when he got home yesterday!

Bible Class Project

This is a cute little project that I did with my little Bible Class on Wednesday night (I teach Lucy's age - the 1 & 2 year olds). I thought it turned out cute and would be a good home project, too.

CAUGHT UP!

O.k....I feel better. I am caught up (on the blog, anyway...ironing...now that is another story). And seeing that daylight is now peeking through my window and my sweet Jason will be waking up in less than 1/2 hour to go to work and my even sweeter :) girls will be waking up in, well, 3 1/2 to 4 hours (I told you we were being lazy), I better get to bed. I am dedicating this long night of catching up my blog to my sister, Bippy, who now lives in Texas (thankfully temporarily)...who we have seen a few times this summer, but I know how happy it makes her to see updates on my blog (and now her inbox will be jam-packed since she is on my blog e-mail list and she gets an e-mail every time I post)...this one's for you!! We love you and miss you (terribly)!

Good Smelling (Edible?) Play Dough

With Lucy's broken toe, we are trying to do less-active activies (than running around in the yard kicking soccer balls and riding foot-as-pedals cars in the driveway). I ran across this scented play dough recipe (once given to me by my wonderful friend Regina), so we decided to have some more indoor fun in our jammies. The play dough is wonderfully scented and is very pretty, being that is is made with kool-aid. Lucy also thought it might be edible, and I guess it might be, however once you read the recipe, you probably will agree that it is probably best NOT eaten :)

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup salt

3 tbsp cooking oil

2 packages unsweetened kool-aid (2 of the same color/flavor)

1/2 cup boiling water

Mix the flour, salt, cooking oil, and kool-aid together (good for the kids to do). Add the boiling water (better for Mommy to do)...let the kids watch, though...the color change that the water creates is cool! Knead together with your hands. This makes perfectly pliable and non-grainy play dough. Let your kids use their imaginations...give them cookie cutters, kids kitchen utensils, rolling pins, etc. Store play dough in an air tight container.

Try it...it's fun!

Lucy's Heart

So the picture is of Macy, but the post is about Lucy. I think it may be possible that she is going to have Macy's really big heart...here is the story...The day we were at the ER, a sweet nurse brought Macy and Lucy these handmade bears sewn by a group of Christian ladies in the Amory area. Apparantly this is a method of outreach that they use, and believe me, they reached my little girls that day! Macy and Lucy were so proud of these bears. They were basically just alike, except their faces. And I will say, to me, at that moment, one had a cuter face than the other...but Lucy didn't much care. The lady handed the cuter-faced bear to Macy and the less-cuter-faced bear to Lucy (I sound like I am rambling, but bear with me...I do have a point!). Anyway, my selfish self thought that the real patient (Lucy) had been handed the less desirable bear, so I took them both and showed them to Lucy and said "Lucy gets to pick which one she wants since she has the boo-boo." She kept pointing to the bear she was handed, saying "That's my bear, the lady gave me THAT bear." It wasn't that I didn't want Macy to have the cuter one, I guess I was just thinking that Lucy should have it, since she was the patient that day. Anyway...they played with their bears (which I am now believing are EQUALLY cute) for the rest of the day. Macy was so tired that night and literally zonked out in the middle of the floor. I was in the kitchen, Lucy ran in and grabbed the bear given to Macy off the kitchen table. I watched her as she gave the bear the once over and ran out of the room. In my mind, I was thinking, "She wanted Macy's bear (the cuter one) after all. She waited until Macy was asleep and decided to take it as her own." However, when I walked into the living room, I was absolutely HUMILIATED!! There I was putting my own selfish thoughts into my little girl...and do you know what Lucy had done?? She had done what this pictures shows. She had tucked that little bear that belonged to Macy all along under the blanket with Macy. A child is so innocent! Lucy didn't care which bear was cuter or not...to her, their was no cuter bear or less-cuter bear...it was Macy's bear and Lucy's bear. It took my 2 (almost 3) year old to make me realize my fault of selfishness...and to help me realize that I need to put on selflessness. Praise God for this sweet little soul!

At Home With the Boot

Lucy seems quite proud of her new shoe! She is handling it very well, although she lets me know constantly that she is "tired of the boot" and that her toe is "pretty much better."

First Broken Bone

Just last Monday, Lucy broke her toe! She broke the big toe on her right foot. There was an accident with a very heavy TOY ironing board. Bless her heart...lots of screaming!! I took her to the ER on Tuesday, and it was indeed broken. She was such a trooper! (So was Macy, who endured it all with me...I was glad I wasn't by myself that day). So Lucy is now sporting a cute little navy blue shoe boot for the next 2 to 4 weeks.

****I don't recommend giving a 2 (almost 3!) year old child Loritab...the night after the ER visit, I gave Lucy her prescription pain meds thinking it would help her sleep (because she NEEDED to sleep...we ALL needed to sleep). Ha! She was up until after 1:30 a.m. saying over and over that she was going to eat me (all the while smacking her lips and saying how good I was going to taste). We now only give Children's Tylenol for pain :)

Even Got My Picture Taken!

This is a rare sight...a picture of me :) Please keep in mind that I rarely wear sleeveless tops (but I did mention that it was VERY hot, right?), AND I have lost some pounds since these pictures (and had a haircut) :)

We've Played Outside

We have played outside, although it has been VERY hot!

The Finished Brownies (Artwork??)

We've Made Brownies (Lots of Brownies)

Macy and Lucy love, love, love brownies. One afternoon, we decided to make them, cut them with cookie cutters, and decorate them (like Mommy does cookies)...so we broke out all the cookie cutters, decorating bags, food coloring, and Wilton tips...they went to town decorating brownies. It was so much fun!!

***DISCLAIMER...Please note (for all of my cookie customers)...that Lucy did NOT learn to suck icing out of the decorating bags from me :)

Making Nana Feel Better

Macy has the biggest "heart" of any little girl I know and loves making things to help people feel better. This picture brightened Nana's new room at Trinity!

Been To a Few Birthday Parties

We have lots of family members with summer birthdays, so we've been to a fair share of parties in the past few weeks!

Making Bumblebees

You can make a lot of "cwafts" with paperplates...just the plain ole cheap kind!