Cookies

In the last month I have been asked twice to make sugar cookies for the Cub Scouts. The first time was for the Pinewood Derby. I made 100 Derby Car cookies using the "Official Boy Scout Derby Car" Cookie Cutter. Then last week, I made 100 Boy Scout of America Official Symbol cookies for our Pack's Blue and Gold Banquet. I really enjoy making the cookies, and am so grateful that I have such great friends to help. On Thursday, Christy watched the kids while I made the cookies and on Friday, the three main ladies of Cub Scouts came over to help me frost the cookies (the job that takes the most time if you have to do it by yourself). So here are some pictures of the process. I already have my next cookie idea in mind, and I do have to say, it's gonna be cute!

We've been busy lately!

Here are a few of the Family Fun Nights that we've had in the last week:

• On Thursday we celebrated Chinese New Year. We had a great Chinese dinner of homemade lemon chicken, crab rangoon, egg roll, and fortune cookies. I made the lemon chicken. It is so delicious, tastes just like Chinese take out and is so much cheaper. Chuck picked the rest of the food up from China Road. The kids had Chinese New Year coloring pages, it is the Year of the Tiger, and we talked about China.
• On Friday we celebrated Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Many years ago we celebrated both Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays separately, but now we lump them together on President's Day. Well since I believe that both of those men are extremely important to the history of our nation and if Christopher Columbus and Martin Luther King, Jr. get their own days, then in my house Lincoln and Washington will have their own days! For Lincoln Day we read a book about Lincoln and then reenacted the Civil War. It was great fun, but unfortunately The South won and we are all in a very different situation!
• Sunday we celebrated Valentine's Day and had a remembrance day for my grandma. For breakfast we had heart shaped waffles with strawberries. The rest of the day was pretty crazy. We had a tea party at my mom's with tea sandwiches, scones, cheese ball, sugar cookies, and brownies, and of course TEA! It was yummy. The kids then went with their aunt and uncle to the Lippanzaner (sp) Horse Show. The kids had so much fun and loved watching the horses. Chuck and I went out for a quick bite to eat and then watch Four Christmases.
• Up next, on Saturday will be George Washington Day, we will definitely be having a cherry pie! We also have been having Olympic Days here and there and I hope that we can wrap it up with one big final Olympic party.

Snow Play

We've had a bit of snow this winter and there have only been a few days that haven't been too frigid to go out and play. One of those days, the kids really wanted to build snow forts. Or should I say, they really wanted me to build them snow forts. So I went out there (not something I really like to do-playing in the snow) and dug out a fort to Skyler's specifications. Once I was done, he decided it wasn't quite good enough for him and he gave it to Lily and came up with a new plan for his. Our picnic table was moved along the back wall of the yard and it was covered with snow. Skyler's new plan was for me to dig out the picnic table. It was kind of hard, but I did the best I could and he really enjoyed playing in it.

Our Musicians

This is what life is like in our house these days.

Something

Well, I guess I did not start the year off with blogging more as well as I had hoped. There were many times I had great posts in my mind, but they never made it out of my head and in to the computer. But, here I go again. I am trying. January was a tougher month for me than I had anticipated. I did not get to run as much as I wanted to or needed to, which always messes up my attitude toward life. Chuck and I began P90X, a very tough home workout. I really like it, but it has been a week since I have been able to work out because I got sick. Last Wednesday Lily was sick with a fever and a cough. She was better the next day, but had so kindly passed whatever it was on to me. By Friday afternoon I had to put myself to bed. I just couldn't go on; I felt terrible! I stayed in bed for over 27 hours! It is the first time in the 15 years that we have been married that I was this sick. We missed a party on Friday night, I missed Skyler's first Pinewood Derby, and we had to cancel our Christmas with my brother! It was terrible. Monday, Skyler went back to school and I thought that I was going to be okay, but I wasn't doing too well, so had to call and have Christy take Skyler on the Cub Scout field trip. I am finally getting better, but still very full of snot and have a bad cough. Hopefully soon, I will be back to full speed. I have a lot of sub jobs in February and am finally making some progress in school. I can't wait to get done with this Pharmacology Unit! More fun posts to come, hopefully, sooner rather than later.

Skyler's Star Wars Lego Christmas Vacation

Skyler made out like a bandit in December in terms of his most favorite toys in the world. Having a birthday in December can be quite a good thing when you get an extra load of these toys. He has built approximately 6 Star Wars Lego sets: the AT/TE Walker, the Millenium Falcon, Darth Vader's TIE Fighter, the X wing Fighter, the Corporate Alliance Tank Droid, Ahsoka's Starfighter and the Vulture Droid. That means ove 2,350 pieces have been put together to create these awesome toys! He loves them and the fun that he and his sister have is priceless!

New Year's Celebration

Last night we had a great time ringing in the new year! We had a fantastic meal for dinner, homemade tomato bisque soup and appetizers all around. I made homemade pizza rolls, beer bread, spinach artichoke dip, and shrimp. It was all so good, we stuffed ourselves! We then went to watch the firework downtown. We have a great spot where we watch them from the comfort of our own car. We go to the parking lot of Harrah's in Iowa and have a great view of the fireworks. They explode right over us!

We asked the kids what their favorite thing about 2009 was. Lily did not respond and Skyler said recess was the best thing he could think of that happened to him in 2009. I asked if he meant kindergarten recess or first grade recess and he chose first grade recess because they get to do centers if they have indoor recess. Oh, to see life through the eyes of a child again!

I hope you all have a fantastic 2010 and set some goals and achieve them! It's a new year, anything is possible!