Christmas Cookies

Every year at Christmas time I try to do something to evoke memories with my daughters. In years past we have done things like, make cinnamon rolls or goodie bags to deliver to our few neighbors. This year we did not deliver any goodies, but instead made them and ate them.

It being the Christmas Holiday I was able to watch Martha Stewart at 10:00 am. Usually I am at school and not able to watch. So, girlie's be gone, Martha is on. I am watching. One of her segments was on decorating Christmas cookies. Idea! I can do this with the girls. It would be fun and maybe they will remember us working together around the table decorating cookies. And to top it all off I have the issue with the recipes and pictures to go by. Okay off to Wal-Mart for supplies.

To make our Christmas cookies you'll need.

cookie cutters
sugar cookie dough
1 1lb box powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
your choice of sprinkles, m&m's, non paraels, sanding sugar
a squeeze bottle
tooth picks
paper plates

Cut, bake and cool your cookies. I found in the Martha Stewart article that she baked her cookies long and slow. 325 degrees for 20 minutes. This made the cookies less brittle.

J made Christmas trees
E made snowmen.

I cut out candy canes and stars..


Mix icing:
Mix together powdered sugar, 1/2 of the milk, and vanilla. Mix slowly or you'll have white counters. You want the consistency to be smooth, not thick and not runny, somewhere in between. If you need to add milk do so, just a little at a time until it looks good. Pour into your squeeze bottle. I found this to be an amazing tool.

Now to decorate:
On a paper plate. Take one cookies. Using the squeeze bottle filled with icing, outline the shape of where you want a single color to be. For the candy canes I used all the same color, so I outlined the whole cookie. Then zig zag a line of icing in between the outline. Using your toothpick, smooth the icing together until it is solid. Now pour on the sprinkles. Pour off the excess and go to the next cookie. The paper plate make it so easy to pour the excess back into you sprinkle container when you are done. Now move to the next color and repeat.

The girls loved it. I found it hard to believe that my 4 year old was so much better at following directions than my 9 year old. I think it may have something to do with attitude. Hmmm... who would have ever thought that.

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Food for thought....

I am married to a mailman. To be more specific my husbands day job is to deliver mail in a small rural city. He's really a confounded country boy that chooses to work outside the home.

Do you make goodies for your mailman? Every year my husband comes home with loads and loads of goodies he finds in mailboxes or receives from the little ladies just waiting and watching for him. I sometimes wonder if delivering the mail is all he does....

He ask me with several days notices this year if I had made something for Linda our mail-carrier. Well, I know Linda has recently went on a health diet and has lost a lot of weigt so with a guilty conscience I chose not to make her any food. But next year I am going to make her something realy good. I just could not bring myself to help her get off course. I wish I had more of her discipline.

But candy....I actually make these every year. These are infact so very easy to make.

Make them for you mailmain next year.

Peanut Clusters

1 3lb container of salted dry roasted peanuts
1 package of chocolate almond bark

Open the package of almond bark. Break into pieces. Place in a glass mircowavable bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir. Repeat until consistency is smooth.

Pour peanuts into melted almond bark. Stir until peanuts are coated well.

Dollop out by spoonful onto alumnum foi. Let set until cooled and hardened. Package in container or pretty bag.

Merry after Christmas!

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Cold and frosty morning

This morning proved to be beautiful. I had to stop and record the scene.





Here are the fatten' babies having a drink after their breakfast.




What a beautiful old goat barn. I love the sunshine reflecting off the frosted roof.



Fresh. The sun hasn't touched the backside of the hill yet.



The stark black and white makes this feel so cold. But, I seem drawn to the black and whites everytime.

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A decade

Today is a my anniversary. Ten whole years. A decade.

I have spent this time with him

















the love of my life.





















Seriously, it was love at first sight

We have followed the usual course of the typical married life, trials, tribulations, success, happiness, blessings.....

Thank you Lord for the time you have allowed me to spend with this man.

Happy Anniversary, babe, I love you!

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little cowgirl

I am the mother of two beautiful little girls that are growing up way to fast. I can remember as a teenager that my elders would always say "Time flies the older you get." Well, I didn't really comprehend this until I had children.



My eldest daughter: how should I describe her? Persistant, highly motivated, never quits, never slows down, sensitive, and so very very intuitive. She does the sweetest things, like cook me scrambled eggs for breakfast. I love her to pieces.

She is also a huge and I mean huge animal lover.

She has been known to crawl in the dog box, smell of the rankest odors, and cry and cry and cry over the loss of her precious friends. Her most favorite pet today is Sanbur. He is her red roan horse, who at one time was her fathers best roping horse. She and this horse have an unbelievable relationship. He follows her around like a puppy. She rubs and kisses on him like he is a one pound pet, not a one thousand pound pet.

Her aspirations today are to be a vet, go figure. I am thankful that at this point in life I feel she has the ability to do it, the question will be can I afford to get her there?

I am so blessed. Thank you squirt for blessing me each day. I love you!

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My sisters' family

This weekend I got to put my new camera to use. My sister has been on me about doing a family photo for her. Do you know how hard it is to schedule time like this? Before I had a family I never had problems fitting everything into my schedule... Well, I checked out the weather and it said that the weather on Saturday would be over cast and 60 degrees. Perfect! I called sister and set the plan.

Then, a couple of her friends saw the pics of my girls and next thing you know a couple of other families were added to the day.

Okay, are you getting nervous. I was totally freaking out by the time I made it to the location. Do you know why? It was raining and still 40 degrees outside. But all in all the day went well. Here are some of there pics. Hope you enjoy looking at them.







The Sunkist Home

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The family photo that never was...

Click here to view these pictures larger

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The first...

This is my second attempt at a blog. The first time I did not think that I had anything to say that others would like to read. You know our little life here in Sunkist is not all that exciting. So I deleted everything I started and went on about my business.

Then I got a new camera. I am so loving my new camera. Then the computer guy at school introduced me to some really cool software. Now I have something to share.

I opened a shutterfly site. This way my mom and sister could see the neat pics of my girls. Then I tried the journal entry. Well, if I am going to do pics and journal entries isn't that what a blog really is?

Well, here I go. Maybe I am just talking to the computer, maybe not. Here is my plan: I want to post pics, receipes, and thoughts. I have a few more ideas but my template can't handle that. I have to talk to Todd my go to guru on the computer. But until next time...




THE SUNKIST HOME

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