Foiled!

And, this is what happens when the Cookie Cheater finds out the cookies have been moved out of reach.

Cookie Cheater

Nile and I were baking cookies today during Novak's morning nap. A few were on the counter to cool when he woke up.

I told him no cookies until after lunch.

A few minutes later Novak walked into the kitchen and was oddly quiet. I was expecting him to start calling out "cookie" to see if I would give him one.

Nope.

He walked out a few seconds later, proudly showing off the cookie he pilfered off the counter.

So, apparently he can reach the counters now.

Nile says he is calling him the "Cookie Cheater" for the rest of the day.

calm within the chaos

I'm sitting here in the recliner in our living room, nursing Novak. All around me is laundry. In one basket, a load of Nate's clothes I folded this morning. In another, a pile of Nile's clothes, clean, but needing to be folded. And in another, a half-folded load of diapers. The rest of the diapers are on the floor partially sorted, patiently waiting for me to stuff and fold them. And, I can hear the washer entering it's final spin cycle on a load of swim trunks and beach towels (we have swim lessons tomorrow). All of these will need to be put away, hopefully before Tom gets home from work. Hopefully.

The kitchen is a disaster from Nile and my baking experiment this morning. (peanut butter oatmeal sandwich cookies - which are very, very good! Maybe too good...)

I have a to-do list a mile long, some things that I should have already done (preschool registration papers for next year), and some I would just like to do (scrapbooks are way out of date, I need to set up the boys' college savings accounts...)

But I'm not complaining one bit.

I am exactly where I want to be. And I wouldn't change a thing.

Unless, of course, you know of any laundry fairies that are available...?

Baking Day

I'm done. I swear. With the holiday baking, that is. This year my sister, mom, and I combined to bake or make 9 different types of cookies and candy. Then earlier this week, Nile and I baked Swedish cookies.

This is not good for my waistline or my attempts to lose the baby weight.

But ever since reading about these sour cream sugar cookies on the "A Mommy's Blessings" blog, I have been really wanting to make them. And, like the frosting on the cake, er cookie, when I won the Cappuccino Brownies giveaway on that blog post, it was like fate yelling at me to make these cookies...thanks to Holly for the recipe! Here's a link to her blog - feel free to check it out!

So on Friday, Nile and I whipped up the dough, and put it in the fridge to chill. There was way too much going on yesterday, so I decided Sunday was going to be Sugar Cookie Day! This morning, after putting Novak down for his morning nap, we started in.

I have also been wanting to try this "cookie paint" after reading about it in Family Fun magazine. It's basically dyed egg yolks that you paint on the cookies before baking. We started with that, then Nile got bored. Since we had these unused egg whites, he decorated his cookes with an egg white wash and colored sugars.

Nate, focused on painting a special cookie for his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Chaney.

Hmmm. Nile, licking his fingers? Really? What a surprise.

Now, you have to remember that a 5 and 3 year old did this cookie decorating, so I think they look pretty awesome! Here are the finished cookies, waiting to be put on plates and "donated" to the boys' friends. (Remember the waistline? I'm not keeping all of these around!)

And the verdict on the recipe? Yum! This is a keeper for future years!

Run, run, as fast as you can...

One of the boys' favorite books is "The Gingerbread Man" - I read it almost daily to Nile. For a few weeks he's been asking to make his own Gingerbread Man. So, we bought some premade gingerbread dough (even I know when to let Pillsbury take over) and borrowed some cookie cutters from my mom. Today, since we had to stay home for the morning (cousin Emily came for a visit), we decided to do it!

Step 1: Roll out dough and select your shape.


Step 2: Bounce excitedly as your brother gets to cut out a cookie. Ask ten times if it's your turn yet. Switch places with your brother. Repeat 10 times.


Step 3. Watch mom put cookies in oven. Ask her 15 times if they are done yet.
Step 4. Watch mom take the cookies out of the oven. Ask her 10 times if they are cool yet.
Step 5. Ask mom again when they will be ready to decorate. Get frustrated when mom tells you we don't have the ingredients to make royal icing.
Step 6. Send mom to the corner store (i.e. gas station) for powdered sugar.
Step 7. Watch mom make icing. Ask her 5 times why the egg yolks don't go into the icing.

Step 8. Finally! Decorate the cookies!


Step 9. Ask mom 50 times when you can eat the cookies. Sigh when she says not until after naptime.


Step 10. Eat a cookie and pronounce it the "greatest cookie ever."

I suppose I'd have to agree. They do look pretty festive, don't they?