A Little Afternoon Fun

It was lightly snowing for the majority of the day yesterday, so I took Tyler out in the backyard to try and "catch" snowflakes.

Let me tell you, if he caught any snowflakes in those little fists of his....I don't think they're going anywhere, anytime soon!

These are the cookies I was making yesterday, the Cran-Orange Icebox Cookies...they are in the Country Woman Christmas 2008 Annual Cookbook. Cranberry isn't the first thought that comes to mind when trying to come up with a good Valentine dessert, but I thought they looked kind of festive, being pink and all.

Here is how they turned out...not bad, huh? The whole time I was making these I was remembering the last time I made butter cookies that came out of the oven like thin crispy wafers...not a good thing. I don't know if it was the weather, random luck, or maybe the fact that I used my kitchenaid mixer, but these cookies came out like a dream. And they taste great too. The recipe makes 4 dozen cookies, so I sent a couple dozen with to work with Rick. If he comes back tonight with an empty dish, I'll know they went over well.

Three New Pages

Here are the latest scrapbook pages I've been working on...

I found the idea for this layout in a Creating Keepsakes magazine. I wasn't too sure about it as I was working on it, but I think it came out nice. I like the idea of using seasonal photos...it's almost like a mini year in review.

Here is my Halloween layout...I didn't get that many great photos of the big event, so that's why there's only one photo on the page.

And finally, my Thanksgiving page. I used some gold rub-on "stitching", but I really wish I had just pulled out the sewing machine and stitched for real....it probably would have looked a little better.

It's snowing outside right now, not that heavy, it's more of a wet snow. I couldn't have planned it more perfectly for tonight's dinner, though. With a temperature of 33 degrees outside, it's perfect weather for a nice hot bowl of soup. Mmmm, I'm making Ham and Bean soup tonight....it's going to be good!

Then after dinner Tyler and I'll be making some cookies. They are Cran-Orange Icebox Cookies and the dough is getting nice and hard in the fridge as we speak. The butter content is fairly high, so I'll be crossing my fingers with these cookies. Usually buttery cookies end up nice and flat, like crepes, when I'm baking them...so we'll see how they turn out this time.

Just the Highlights

Yesterday was the first Saturday of the month, so I took Tyler over to Ace Hardware to do the craft project. This time the craft was Valentine Key Chains. The kids chose which color cord and which charm they wanted to use. Then they simply threaded as many beads on the cord as possible and then tied the charm on at the very end.

Tyler finished his craft in a flash, and since we were in the neighborhood, I had to stop and take a look in Joann's. They have a few new DCWV paper stacks in stock and I was looking at the border punches that were on sale....I almost made it out of there with nothing, but then I saw the stamps! Some new Inkadinkado $1 stamps....I couldn't resist, so I brought a few home.

When Tyler and I got home from our trip to Ace and Joann's, the mailman had already been by and dropped off a few packages. Rick thinks I need some new furnishings in my scrapbooking room that will help me organize my supplies a little bit better. To start things off, he surprised me with a Clip it Up. It's a two tiered table top unit with rotating arms that you can hang supplies on. Tyler did a great job helping with the set up, hanging up all those little clips.

Then in the afternoon we took Tyler to the Roller Skating Rink for the first time. It didn't go over all that well. He was really emotional...one minute he was happy and excited, the next minute he was upset and crying and wanted to go home. The wheels on the small skates don't really spin at all, so instead of being able to glide on the floor, Tyler just had to take a bunch of really fast, small steps.

There was a small rectangular shaped area that was separate from the main rink that smaller kids could use to practice on. Tyler tried using that for a bit, but he never would let go of the wall. Rick and I also took him around the main rink several times, each of us holding onto one of his hands, but that was kind of slow going and he wanted to stop after each circle around the rink. We decided that maybe we should wait until he gets a little older before going back again.

Go Red

Today is the National Wear Red day, a day to spread awareness that Heart Disease is the Number 1 killer of women. So of course, to show my support, I pulled out, what happens to be, my one and only red shirt.

We took this picture in our front yard, before we headed to the bowling alley. There was some pretty thick fog today on this side of town, so that's why the background of the picture is so "white".

Following today's theme of keeping the heart healthy, I was so excited to receive my latest Cathe workouts from the UPS man. I've had this on preorder for several months now, but I've finally got it in my hot little hands. It's a 36 disc, 3 month program that focuses on increasing strength and muscle. It requires some pretty serious weights, which I have yet to obtain, but hopefully soon I'll be able to find some at a reasonable price. Rick went to Costco to try and buy some Bowflex weights, but you know how our Costco is, they were all sold out. Figures. Oh well, I have plenty of other Cathe workouts that I can do in the meantime.

I made this new recipe last night from an insert in the newspaper a few weeks ago...USA Weekend or Parade, it was in one of those. It's a Turkey Tamale Pie with ground turkey, chili powder, a can of beans, olives and cilantro. On the top is a cornmeal mush, seasoned with chili powder and salt. Cheese and cilantro is sprinkled on top of that and then it goes under the broiler just to melt the cheese. I thought it tasted great, but Tyler complained that it was too spicy. Next time we'll have to cut back slightly on the chili powder.

A Trip To The Park and Some Cupcakes Too

Yesterday Tyler was bouncing off the walls like a wild monkey, so I took him to the park to try and tire him out a little bit. It was a warm 47 degrees outside, but there weren't any other kids on the playground. That kind of bummed him out because he doesn't like playing by himself that much. He ended up playing for only about 15 minutes, we spent the rest of our time walking and watching the ducks.

The duck pond is still completely frozen over, although it is starting to get slushy around the edges. The level of the ice/water is much lower than it normally is....I guess we really didn't get much rain or snow this winter.

The ducks were up on the grass enjoying a buffet of food. Some guy came along and tossed out several boxes of cereal (Fruit Loops and Corn Flakes) and threw bread by the slice. I never thought of it before, but I guess that's one way to feed a large crowd of ducks!

This afternoon, Tyler and I were hard at work in the kitchen making some Valentine cupcakes. I kept things simple and used a box of strawberry cake mix and plain white frosting. Tyler's big job (as always) was to cover the tops with red and pink sugar sprinkles. He said that they looked good enough to eat and I think I agree!

Photo Booth Photos

I set up the tripod and used the timer on the camera to try and take some at home "Photo Booth" pictures. We took these in front of a plain wall in our dining room and sat on an ottoman so that we would both be at the same level. These are a few of the better shots....



....and that's one way to pass a little time with a preschooler who never naps!

Morning Muffins

This morning I made new muffin recipe that I found in the new Taste of Home 2009 annual, it's called Morning Muffins. They have shredded carrot, coconut, nut, and raisins. I used unsweetened coconut and after I realized my raisins were as hard as rocks, I replaced them with chopped dates.

I thought they came out super yummy, but I should ask the muffin bandit who swiped one before they were even cool, what he thought.

Yesterday we took Tyler over to Michaels for the free craft, they were making Valentine Cards. We got there towards the end of the event and they had already ran out of kits, so they just gave us an array of paper, stickers, and foam shapes to work with instead. We didn't mind though, and we still came away with several cute cards.

So what do you think? The one on the left was a family effort. Rick tore the cardstock, Tyler adhered the foam hearts and I tied on the pink ribbon.

Rick had to go into work today, making sure everything runs smoothly for the Super Bowl. Don't want to disappoint those football loving DirecTV customers. Tyler and I already got the grocery shopping done today, so now we're just lounging around without much to do. I don't plan on watching the game, so maybe I'll start reading a new book...I finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle last night. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the stack of books I received for Christmas, and this time I think I'll pick something a little more lighthearted.