So my mom gets off my back :)

For the last two days my mom has been pestering me to post these pictures of our cookie decorating party this weekend. I have a lot of posts to catch up on, so posting this now isn't quite right chronologically, but I'm sure y'all will be able to figure things out.

So yes. Cookies.

It's a tradition in our family to bake an army of cookies around the holidays and invite people over to decorate. My parents recently uncovered a significant amount of video from Christmases past of all of us, plus many other family and friends, decorating oodles of cookies. I have many, many fond memories of cookie decoration parties. In fact, most of my Christmas memories are of cookie parties.

I have learned many things from my years participating in cookie parties.

1. Bake the cookies beforehand.
2. Wax paper the heck out of your decorating surface.
3. Keep sprinkles out of the reach of anyone under the age of 5.
4. Bake about a dozen cookie (or slightly less) per participant.

The reason you "only" bake a dozen cookies per participant is that the younger kids lose interest about 2 cookies in (and eat those anyway), the older kids decorate about 10 before losing interest, and the adults usually end up making a dozen "fancy" cookies before just slathering on some frosting and sprinkling it with whatever is handy. So a dozen per person means less 'grunt' work at the end of the party and you still get enough cookies for everyone to eat a few and take some home.

This year my parents were 3+ hours away and I considered not doing any cookies. It was the end of the semester, I was exhausted, Bryan was busy with work and school, and the parties can be a lot of work. But because I have such fond memories of cookie parties I decided to have one anyway and invite some of my coworkers.

And I am so, so, SO glad I did. We all had a wonderful time - the kids (well, Penelope) still talks about the cookie party, so I know that she's starting to form the same kind of memories I have about the holiday season. And I love that we're establishing traditions for our family. We don't have religious traditions (since we're Atheists) but we still feel that traditions are important, so the cookie parties give us an opportunity to create/maintain some secular holiday traditions that we can enjoy every year.

Also? We have Star Wars cookie cutters. So the party was extra awesome.

And now - finally - here are the pictures:


Star Wars batch


All the baked cookies


Griffin "decorating"


Two of Penelope's cookies and one of mine


With the Bubs


Sissy with her crown (which she got at the $1 bin at Target for being brave and peeing in the bathroom there - which, BTW, is loud and scary)


Apparently I have not learned rule #3 well enough


Heather, Andrew, & Chrissy - A&C teach English at SHS. H is a SPED Aid and is married to A. H&A have two girls (6 & 16 months).


All of us, sitting in the front are Patrice and her son Connor. C came because of the Star Wars cookies ;)


Some of Connor's "masterpieces"


More cookies!

As you can see, we had fun. So much fun that we forgot to take video. This will definitely be a yearly event so next year I promise video.

Making cookies

So Penelope is getting to the age where she really, really likes to help. And I've been encouraging this by allowing her to help me cook. Generally she just gets to stir but she occasionally gets to add in ingredients. She's always supervised, and I do let her stir things on the stove (while I hold her) always with the admonishment that the stove is hot and we have to be careful. She repeats "hot, be careful!" and gently stirs whatever is on the stove. It works for us - I don't think all kids this age could handle it, but Poe is something else :)

Last week she actually helped me make a cake (for my Dad's 50th birthday) and today while Griffin was napping she helped me make peanut butter cookies. I took a few pictures but the camera battery died so I'll upload them later. She had fun - although she tried multiple times to eat the batter even after being told that they're not ready yet. I did let her lick the spatula that I used to get the PB out of the measuring cup, so I bet that's where she got the idea that it's ok to eat what's on the spoon. Oh well, she only got a tiny uncooked batter and there was only one egg in it so I'm not worried.

Her favorite part was to squoosh the PB cookies after forming them into balls. She tried to help me with creating the balls, but she just ended up smooshing the batter in her hand. It was funny.

Cookies just came out of the oven so I'm looking forward to sharing with her.

Conversations with Penelope

Today while grocery shopping:

P: Mama, nanas? (nanas are food)
M: Ok, we'll get some food. Do you want salad?
P: Yes! Mmmm.
M: With tomatoes?
P: Yes, matoes. Salad yum.
M: Anything else on your salad?
P: (thinking) Um. Cookie! Yes! Cookies! Yum!
M: (laughing) Maybe you can have a cookie if you eat all your salad.
P: Yum cookies, mama, some cookie please. Clap for cookies! (she starts clapping)
M: Oh goodness child.

Later

P: Mama?
M: Yes my love?
P: Some cake?
M: (laughing) No, we're not going to have cake, we're shopping.
P: Cookies?
M: Well, you did eat your salad so I guess we can get a cookie.
P: Yea! Cookie! Penny some cookie! Mama, cookie!
M: Yes, yes, Mama will get you a cookie. Actually, you and mama will share a cookie.
P: Mama share. Share cookie. Some cookie! Clap for cookie! (she claps)

So apparently we're raising Cookie Monster Jr.

2 Days before Christmas

Or is it 2 days before Christmas Eve? I guess it really doesn't matter since the festivities begin on Thursday and last through the weekend. It's almost Nimrod's birthday, can't you feel the excitement in the air?

I'd post the link about the pagan origins of x-mas but I'm too lazy to look for it again and I already posted it on Facebook. Although for those who don't know, Nimrod is an ancient god whose birthday is Dec 25th and it is from him that we get things like the Christmas tree, so my above statement wasn't meant as some sort of dig on Jesus. Jesus wasn't born on Dec 25th. Heck, even the Pope has acknowledged that the date is inaccurate. Most believers I know also acknowledge this, although I do know some who still cling to the mistaken belief that December 25th is the actual birth date of their god (none of whom read this blog). But whatever, people can believe whatever they want or chose to celebrate their deity's birthday on any day they choose. I choose not to believe at all.

That doesn't mean I can't enjoy the cookies though. Christmas cookies are the best.

And that's what we did today (among other things) - Mom & I made two giant batches of cookies and decorated them all. I should have taken pictures of some of my more creative creations... the Santas turned out pretty well, the Liberty Bell was pretty funny, the toy horse was awesome, and the red eyed Teddy Bear was a little creepy. I'm usually the one who makes the "fancier" cookies while my mom & brother slap on some frosting and sprinkles. If it weren't for their production line, however, decorating would take DAYS. So it works out pretty perfectly, I made about a dozen "masterpieces" (I use the term very, very loosely) and mom & Nic turn out 3 dozen or so standard cookies. They all taste the same! (Which, by the way, is delicious).

Penny wasn't quite old enough to help, although she did eat some sprinkles after she saw my brother pick them up and eat them - so thanks Nic. She got bored with the cookie making and spent most of the evening forcing either Bryan or my Dad to either read to her or walk her around the house. She's gotten quite demanding lately, I wonder where she gets that from?

We were going to take her to see Santa, but my sinus infection has only gotten worse and I felt pretty horrible until the new medicine I'm taking started to kick in around 2pm. I'm taking natural remedies and I hope they work b/c my options are pretty limited when it comes to antibiotics. I'm hesitant to take much of anything when I'm pregnant other than an occasional Tylenol, I'm probably being overly cautious... although if I don't feel better by tomorrow afternoon I may go into the clinic and see what they say. Might as well use our health insurance while we still have it!

Which brings me to some good news, Penelope qualifies for Healthy Families! I have to send them some paperwork, but she should be on a new health insurance program in a few weeks so at least this lay-off won't affect her health care coverage. That's a huge relief for both Bryan and I... now we just need to find something we can afford for me. Not as easy, especially since I'm pregnant. But I can't really go without at this point. So we'll see.

I also got an e-mail today that my application for a 30 Day Emergency Teaching Credential has been approved. Hooray! I need to start applying at local districts, but hopefully I'll be able to start substitute teaching once schools are back in session. That's still a week or two away so we'll still have a gap to worry about - but at least sub teaching will be in my field. Jobs are pretty competitive right now so we'll see what I can find, but I'm trying to stay optimistic. I also applied to Kaplan, which is one of those tutoring places, so if I can sub a couple days a week at tutor the other days then that would be wonderful. We'll see what happens, but I'm hopeful.

Oh! Penelope's sleep! It's still suck-tastic but I'm 99% sure it's because I can feel 3 teeth coming in - her two top molars and a top canine tooth. Poor baby :( The top teeth always seem to be worse than the bottom ones. I hope they come in quickly. While her gums aren't swollen (like they were for the bottom teeth) I can feel the bumps and see little white areas on her gums where the teeth are starting to make an appearance. I find the difference between the entrance of her top & bottom molars to be interesting (and frustrating when she's kicking me in the face at 2am). Teething just sucks and I'm not looking forward to doing this all over again this time next year with New Baby.

Speaking of New Baby, I'll be 24 weeks pregnant on Christmas, which is (if I remember correctly) one of the earliest possible ages for viability. This means that if something were to go wrong and I had to deliver, New Baby would have a pretty good chance of survival. Not exactly something I want to dwell on since it would be pretty awful if I did have to deliver this early, but at least I know that should the worst happen then our possible outcomes improve daily. I have no desire to deliver early, however. I'm content to wait for the magic time of "full term" which is between 37 & 40 weeks. And if New Baby is anything like his/her sister, then he/she will come *exactly* on their due date.

Ok, time for bed.