Crazy Cookie Baking & Busy Weekend...

December has been in full swing and it seems to be flying by. I apologize I've been neglecting my blog lately. It is so hard this time of year just to stay afloat day to day. I am still knee deep in Christmas preparations and gifts to be made. I will give you a quick overview of what we have been up to so far....

Last Saturday I hosted my first tamale making party. My Mom and sister came over to make some. I learned last year how to make tamales at a holiday workshop at church. The tamales are yummy and we look forward to feasting on them some more this winter season.

On Monday I began the preparations of my crazy cookie baking. I made sugar cookie dough. On Wednesday, I made a double batch of peanut butter dough. On Thursday, I made gingerbread, Russian Tea Ball and Chocolate dough. I find it a bit easier to prepare all my dough a few days ahead of time. It's less overwhelming of a task.

Just this past Friday, we participated for the third year as Nomads for our churches annual event of Walk Thru Bethlehem. We have so much fun as a family participating in this. If you ever have an opportunity to attend one of these events please do. If you are curious as to what this is please allow me to explain. Picture a Renaissance Fair where the audience is asked to become involved and brought back in time for a little while. Walk Thru Bethlehem is just like that and more. Our whole church courtyard is set up as the little town of Bethlehem of that time period just as it was 2000 + years ago. Costumes, sets, props, conversation, food, animals you name it. Every sensory organ of your body is taken back in time to that important event in History. Thousands flock to our churches event every year and many have become saved as a result to this eye opening event. We have been so blessed to be apart of this and look forward to it every year.

Saturday the cookie crazy baking began. First I baked Double Mint chocolate cookies. This was my first year baking these and let me tell you they are very good and will be added to my Keeper list. I'm a sucker for chocolate and if you have ever tried the Trader Joes peppermint chocolate cookies these are a yummy match for them and are easy to make.

Next I baked was the gingerbread cookies. The kids always look forward to decorating these each year. I found a yummy recipe on the Internet this year. The one I have been using wasn't a soft enough type of cookie. Too crisp. My family enjoys the softer variety. Sorry, can't hang these on the tree. They would probably just fall off.

Next up, was the peanut butter blossom cookies. The perfect blending of peanut butter and chocolate. The quick and easy recipe for this one is on the back of the Hershey kiss bag. I have been baking these for a few years now. One of my favorite cookies are peanut butter. And to combine peanut butter and chocolate it's like eating a Reese's peanut butter cup. Yum Yum!!

This year I added another new one to my bag of cookie tricks. Over the years of baking cookies and candies I rotate and add new ones from year to year. I love to experiment and to display a large variety of different tasty sweets. This one is called Yuletide Linzer Bars. They are very rich and buttery, similar to eating shortbread but inside is a layer of raspberry. Very good. For the next batch, later this week I will add a little more raspberry. I love the tartness of raspberry and I would like to experiment with that more.

My all time Christmas favorite and most requested cookie by far is Russian Tea balls. Other recipe books have referred to them as Mexican Wedding cakes or snowballs. Very similar to a shortbread variety. Lots of butter, flour, powdered sugar and nuts. Family members love to have their own personal stash year after year. I may be making more of these later this week if time permits.

The last one is my hubby's personal favorite, lemon bars. I have been making these even before we were married or dating. People look forward to these especially my hubby.

Well, as for the rest of the weekend. On Saturday evening our daughter, Coco was in the Nutcracker for her ballet class that she is taking. It was not the full length Nutcracker but musical excerpts.This is her first year with this particular ballet class and her first in the Nutcracker. It was very a real treat to see her perform and I just love the music from the Nutcracker especially at Christmas time. She performed in three dances, party scene, flower dance and the Chinese Tea dance. She did a great job.

Well, that's our weekend in a quick review. I am exhausted. My house looks like a bomb went off in it and there powdered sugar every where I turn. Yikes!! Tomorrow the kids and I wake up early to run over to the church and help with the long task of tearing down the set of Walk Thru Bethlehem. It should be quite a job.

I sure hope your Christmas season slows down a bit too. Enjoy some Christmas cookies, drink some hot cocoa and enjoy the fire and reflect on the miracle of the season. God 's Blessings to you all!

Please feel free to request the recipes to the yummy cookies you have read about on this blog.

Merry December!!!

Sunday December 2, 2007

December is now here and Christmas is just around the corner. Please let us not forget the real reason for the season. It is so easy for us to lose our focus during this busy time of the year. Merry Christmas and yes, Jesus did come into the world to save us. Yes, you. Anyone can receive the free gift of eternal life if they just admit that they are a sinner, believe that Jesus came into this world for them and confess of their sins. And if you were the only one in this world He would have done it just for you!

God Bless you this holiday season!!!

States & Regions: Washington State

Sunday December 2, 2007


This week our family learned about the Emerald state Washington. There just was so many fun things and ideas to do with this one. On Monday, the kids learned about airplanes. Boeing is a large company in Washington. After we learned about how airplanes are able to stay up in the air we made paper airplanes. Luckily, Chip had a book to show us step by step ways to make some great airplanes. My daughter Coco's plane flew the furthest.

On Tuesday we learned about the fascinating life of a Pacific salmon. Did you know that they can survive in both fresh and salt water? During their growing up years as a small fry they travel from the fresh water to the ocean. After a few years they return to the same very fresh water spot to lay their eggs. To imagine their journey against the rough current of the Pacific ocean is remarkable in itself.


I had the kids make a mini folding book of the Pacific salmon life cycle. We also used the inexpensive fish here to identify body parts and for a stamp art activity. It was a smelly project but if you ever get the opportunity give it a try. The stamp prints we got of the fish scales were great.
















Baba, my youngest boy, it was too difficult for him to decide he loved them all. Coco loved pink lady. Chip liked granny smith and Fuji.

Thursday, we had fun with our co-op friends learning about volcanoes in our home. The cascade range runs through the state of Washington and it extends through Oregon and northern California. Mount St. Helen is found on this range in Washington. There are three basic types of volcanoes shield, cone and composite. Mount St. Helen is a composite volcano. It produces explosive eruptions. We learned about the 1980 eruption and how a volcano. The younger kids got to make a large clay volcano while the older ones learned about how volcanoes work. After lunch all of us had fun watching our volcano erupt.

Here are the books that we read this week:

-E is for Evergreen A Washington Alphabet by Marie & Roland Smith

-Volcanoes! Mountains of fire by Eric Arnold

-Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens by Patricia Lauber

-The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall

-Why Can Airplanes Fly? by Marian B. Jacobs

-Washington in Words and Pictures by Dennis Fradin

-See How it Works: Planes by Tony Potter

-Welcome to the U.S.A. Washington by Ann Heinrichs

-Applesauce by Shirley Kurtz

-Apples & How they Grow by Laura Priscoll

-Salmon by Elma Schemenauer

Next week, we are learning about Oregon.