Spring Sugar Cookies

I love making sugar cookies with the girls (and eating them- hee hee). So after school we broke out all of the stuff and tested out our new kitchen island. It's great for cookie making!

Getting started with the dough.



Amelia putting the final touches on the dough. Notice how many cookie cutters I have? I'm on cookie cutter and wrapping paper probation. As in- not allowed to buy ANY for about 10 years!



Working the dough. And no- we don't make dough from scratch. I find this bag mix from BC to be WAY better than any of my attempts.



Emery with a lite dusting of flour- guess she thought we'd be rolling cookies out on her cheek!



First tray in the oven- yummy.



Just getting started on our creations. Bet you can't guess which ones are Emery's vs. Amelia's ;)



As we got set to make the cookies Amelia suggested we take some over to my friend Connie. We've taken Connie and her family dinner a few times in this past month because she had surgery and can't be on her feet too much. It would have been so much easier to deliver dinner by myself after Ian came home, but I knew Connie would enjoy seeing the girls so I loaded EVERYTHING in the car for dinner delivery.

I didn't realize how much this simple act impacted Amelia. Right away she wanted to give some cookies to Connie. "She can't make any herself, and her family would really like some." We try so hard to teach her to be generous and think of others. And most of the time I see opportunities of generosity for her that she misses and I get frustrated.

But here is God reminding me that values are caught more than they are taught. A little inconvenience for me + extra generosity towards Connie = a chance for my daughter to understand what it means to think of others and serve them first.

Chipmunking

No it's not a word, at least not an official word anyway. But Ian and I have been chipmunking various things throughout our marriage.

It started when we were first married and traveling a lot for work. In our first three years of marriage we spent one year of it apart because of work related travel (that's too much by the way). So when we were together we would steal an extra kiss or hug with the excuse, "I'm just chipmunking for later." Meaning storing up love for when we would be apart.

Over the years we've used the term for lots of things, still including hugs and kisses, but also adding things like stockpiling particular items we really like. For example: really really big straws!



I'm a crazy water drinker. And I love big straws. You can drink a lot more water in a day with a big straw- trust me. So a few years ago Ian found these Thai Tea straws at our favorite Asian market. Of course he bought me a pack. Yes I have an amazing husband who sees random things in random places, thinks of me, and buys them because he knows it will add a little sparkle to my day!

So I rationed the straws, wanting them to last as long as possible. No, I did not go so far as to put them in the dishwasher, but I did re-use and re-use them! And then the day came... I used my last straw for the last time. "No big deal," Ian said, "I'll get you more!" Of course he will. BUT the market didn't have any. AHHHHHHHH And try asking someone in an Asian market "where are the Thai Tea straws," when you don't speak anything but English.

So I resorted to re-using my QT and McDonald's straws whenever possible. Oh, and just drinking straight out of a glass- the horror. Then we had friends over for sushi the other night. Which meant a trip to the market.... which meant MORE STRAWS!!!! Four huge, awesome, ginormous packs of huge, awesome, ginormous straws. (and each pack is a different color!)

And what did my husband say? "Just chipmunking some straws for you babe." Now that's a good man!

What we've been up to...

Goodness- where has the time gone? We've been having fun in our little corner of the world.

Amelia started ice skating lessons. She keeps telling me she wants to be an ice skating instructor when she grows up. She'd skated once at this point! So when my friend Leanne signed up her kiddos I signed up mine. And she LOVES it. She's gliding, beginning to spin, and falling very gracefully! She looks so grown up in her skates, I think it's because they make her taller.



Hanging onto the wall at 1st.



Now we're going somewhere!



And we are attempting to garden. In pots that is- not in the ground, yeah right! So I cheated and bought a huge tomato plant at Costco. But, it looks really sick, even though we've taken really good care of it. We also planted basil and cilantro. I really hope I can get those to go, I strongly dislike buying herbs at the store. Too much $$$$$. Love these shots that Ian took of the girls helping me fill pots with dirt!



Monkey see.... monkey do :)

The "Joys" of owning a new/used home

Before I start- we are truly grateful for our new house, I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining!

Before we moved into our short sale we spent a lot of time cleaning it. By a lot I mean 3 hours on the kitchen cupboards... not the whole kitchen- just the cupboards... both of us. Yeah, it was pretty dirty. But, I felt like we did a pretty good job getting it clean and move-in ready.

Then we moved in...

and noticed an air return filter in our bedroom that we hadn't replaced. The other filters were dirty, but not awful so we just now (4 weeks later) got around to changing it. GROSS...



Then we moved in...

and noticed a urine smell in our master bathroom "toilet room" as I call it. It's a little closet with just the toilet in it- not sure why they do that here in AZ. Anyway, it smelled like urine. And you better believe I cleaned that thing again and again and again. Bleached the toilet (I hate bleach), bleached the tile and grout, scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and finally gave up. Guess we would just smell urine from here until eternity.

Then this weekend when I was cleaning the toilet room I noticed something.... you know when you see an ant? And then you look and see 3 and then 100! Well that happened to me, but not with ants. I noticed a weird spot on the wall and then 3 and then 100. Spots of urine that is. SICK. There was urine all over the walls- on both sides of the toilet. And this was not ours people- I know it wasn't because we have never experienced this before. So I freaked out and scrubbed the walls as hard as I could and tried not to throw up in our newly cleaned toilet. Ian offered to do it, but I was already in the thick of it so why gross us both out right? Guess what? No more urine smell!!

So, just a little lesson from me to you... inheriting other people's dirt is gross AND if your toilet room smells like urine check the walls.

Dads and Daughters

I am so thankful that my girls get to enjoy me as a mother and Ian as a father. He's an amazing father! I'm reminded in so many ways how moms and dads think, act, behave and play totally differently. It's very important to our family that the girls get playtime with their dad. For lots of reasons:



1. He has different perspective on playing....
For example, one time I found Ian and Amelia playing with Barbies. Intrigued, I asked what they were doing. The answer, "playing Barbie Boot Camp." As Amelia informed me, they had just finished sit-ups and jumping jacks and were getting ready for push-ups. Awesome and hilarious!

2. He has a different approach to creativity...
One night playing with pop beads I made a matching necklace, bracelet, and ring set. I know... big shocker. Ian made a man and his dog- out of pop beads! It was so cool and Amelia and I both enjoyed playing with it.

3. He shows them how valuable they are to him and to God...
Ian recently told me about a statistic he heard: Girls that grow up without a father in their life are much more likely to divorce than girls growing up with a father. Having a dad is so important in shaping girl's views of men. I am truly grateful for a partner in this whole parenting thing and life wouldn't be nearly as fun without him! He recently took the girls to our church's Dad & Daughter Dance. It's a night they look forward to ALL year. And- this year my dad and Ian's dad joined them. What an amazing way to show "I love you."



So, thanks to my dad for loving me unconditionally today and always.

And thanks to Ian for loving our girls unconditionally today and always.

I love you.

Three simple words. So much meaning. Several years ago I was reminded of how important those words are. Not because someone died and I hadn't said it enough. Not because I don't hear it enough. But because someone shared with me how important those three words were to her.

It was one of my high school girls. I adored her. She was and is smart, beautiful, talented, and on fire for God. She had a great family. Not one that supported her in the church, but loved her- lots. It was not a broken home at all.

Every time I saw her I told her I loved her. Because I did and still do. I don't say this lightly, but when I tell people I love them I look them in the eye, smile, and make sure my heart is really feeling God's love for them.

One night after Bible study I told her I loved her as she left. She stopped, looked at me and said, "Do you know that you are the only person that tells me that?"

WOW.

Here was a girl loved by many, but not told. It's so important for us to hear "I love you." Not because we are supposed to say it, but because we choose to love each other and need to remind each other of that fact.

Don't forget to tell people you love them- out loud and with meaning. It may be the only "I love you" they'll hear.

He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " Luke 10:27

Addiction??

Well, let's hope it doesn't turn into that. BUT Emery loves espresso. Not coffee, but straight up espresso. She loves to "share" her dad's double shot each AM. Just to help you feel a little better, it's only half caffeinated. Well, it helps me feel a little better anyway....

Trying to communicate....

Do you ever feel like you are explaining yourself relatively well and the other person just isn't getting it? This happens to me ALL the time. So I have determined it's me, it can't be the other person every time. It just can't. So I'm thinking about enrolling in a communication class, or taking English lessons again, or maybe just crawling in a hole and not talking to people anymore. I know, maybe I should move to Mexico and learn how to communicate in Spanish- yeah that'll solve all my problems. AHHHHH- off to beat my head against the wall.


PS- if anyone can explain to me why I had no extra money in my APS equalizer account even though it's February you can leave me a note. Evidently I don't know how to do math or understand how an equalizer account works. I can't talk or do math, this is bad news people.