Fun Friday

The day is only halfway over, but we've been very busy today. This morning at Mom's Day Out, they had a special breakfast with mom set up. Everyone else's child was sitting at the table with them, eating their muffin and sipping their Capri Sun. Where was Aidan? Running laps, playing in the water fountain, shrieking to hear his voice echo, etc. I hope no one was trying to have a peaceful, meaningful time with their children.

Next up, Neely's portraits. These were originally scheduled back at the end of March, but we got rained out. Then we went on vacation. Then the photographer went on vacation. I procrastinated setting up another date, so here we are, six weeks later, finally getting it done. I'm glad we waited, though. Neely is much better at sitting alone now than she would've been for the original date. Tiffany did a great job, I'm sure of it. I can't wait to share her pictures with you once I have them. By the time we finished, little Neely girl was so sleepy and hungry, and the fact that she cut her second tooth just yesterday didn't help, either. She passed out in the car on the way home.



We then went to lunch with John. Nothing fancy, just Taco Bell, since John was running short on time. But when I got home, this was on my porch. It's a kit to put Mentos in Diet Coke! I've never done that before, so I'm super-excited. I'll have to shoot a video of that one...and of the kids' reactions!



Neely is napping again now, so I'm catching up on internet time. I may do some crafting, or I may take a nap. Both sound appealing. Although, with the Blue Angels practicing for the air show outside, the crafting may be more realistic.

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. When I saw this blog post online, I thought to myself, “What better way to show a teacher you appreciate them than to give them a cookie the size of their face?” I set out to make these gigantic goodies.

Here’s what you need:
1 c. unsalted butter
1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. white sugar
1 tbsp. Vanilla
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. chopped semi-sweet chocolate bar(s)
1 1/4 c. M&M’s (original recipe calls for minis, but I couldn’t find any)
jumbo stand mixer (if yours is like mine and hasn’t seen the light of day since Christmas, don’t forget to dust it off)
a big cup of Crystal Light (I had to take a gulp whenever I was tempted to stick my finger in the cookie dough)
hand-scribbled recipe (My printer’s out of ink, okay?)
adorable apron (if you’re messy like me)

Now, you’re ready to start. Preheat that oven to 350*F. Stack two baking sheets, and line the top sheet with parchment paper (or waxed paper if, like me, your grocery store doesn’t carry parchment paper).

Cream butter with brown and white sugar. And remember, one cup of butter is two sticks. I’d tossed a third in there before I decided to double-check how much a stick of butter really is. Oops! I salvaged the wrapper.

Next, add the vanilla, eggs, and egg yolks to the butter and sugar mixture. Combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. I like to use a whisk. I think it’s more like sifting, but it may not actually be.

Fold the dry mixture into the butter mixture. The batter will be very thick. You’ll wish you did a few extra bicep curls at the gym last week. I did.

Fold all the chocolatey goodness into the cookie dough. I nearly went into a diabetic coma just looking at this. Sensory overload. Anyway, fold and fold and fold and fold until everything is really well mixed.

(I didn’t have to do this, but the recipe recommends adding two to four tablespoons of flour to your batter if it is too soft and greasy.)

Scoop one cup of dough onto your cookie sheet. Only two cookies will fit at a time. They’re going to be huge, so don’t crowd them.

Bake for 20 to 24 minutes. Use a toothpick to make sure the center is done before removing them from the oven.

Once you’ve removed the cookies from the oven, let them cool on a baking sheet for 15 to 20 minutes.

Voila! Stephie’s Monster Cookies! One recipe makes only six cookies! I don’t know Stephie, but I sure love her cookies. I hope she doesn’t mind my sharing them. And I hope Aidan’s Mom’s Day Out teachers like them. We enjoyed scarfing down the spares after dinner tonight. Although, I’m feeling a little woozy from the sugar letdown now.

Uniform

For the last five years, I have been totally and utterly intimidated by John’s uniforms. When we first got married, he was wearing his blues and BDU’s all the time. I didn’t touch them, unless it was to take them to the dry cleaners. All the other wives I knew would commiserate about washing and ironing their husbands’ uniforms, but I did no such thing. If my husband wanted his uniform pressed, I handed him the iron.

When we graduated to flight suits, things got much better. They can be thrown in the washing machine, they don’t have to be ironed (hooray!), but every once in a while, the hubby will bring home new ones that need all kinds of crazy Velcro sewed on and rank sewed to the shoulders. In all honesty, John knows better than to bring them to me. When he gets new ones, he takes them straight to whomever it is that we pay to do all that nonsense, somebody that knows what they’re doing. Once out of desperation, he asked me to sew new rank to the shoulders. Luckily, his mother was in town visiting, so I was off the hook!

Yesterday, after hearing about this, a friend asked me to fix up her husband’s new flight suits for him. Something possessed me to say “yes.” I was terrified. Last night, I set to work cutting all the Velcro pieces to be sewn on. I started to attach one, but I got scared and stopped. This daunting project loomed over my head all morning, and when the kids laid down for their naps, I knew I had to take the plunge. It took me about an hour, but I did it! I have conquered the flight suit!

No matter what, though, I still refuse to iron anything.

FYI

I've opened up an Etsy shop to "peddle my wares." I've only got a few things in there so far, but I will hopefully be able to add more in the near future. I've added a link there on the right side of the page under my new and improved bio. Please visit my shop and direct your friends there, too! Thanks!

AAAAH!

It's a horrible picture, but here is my new baby! I had to drive an hour away to get her, and John is already calculating how much I "owe" him for his birthday present this year, but I don't care. It's like there's an aura around her and the angels are singing. I'm so excited. Now, I just have to learn how to USE her.

Weekend Update

I feel like we've packed a lot of action into this weekend. Saturday felt especially long, because I woke up early to be at a 5K by 8:00am. Don't anybody get too excited about that. I only did it because Ashley needed a walking buddy. We did pretty well, though. Our goal was to be finished in 45 minutes, and our actual finish time was 41 minutes and some change. We walked the first mile, and then for the last two, we'd jog to one light pole, walk to the next, jog to the next, etc. I'm pretty proud of myself for not finishing last. No pictures of that, though. I can tell you what I looked like - sweaty and purple. And the humidity was something like 80% yesterday. Yuck.

It was also garage sale day on base. Not a lot of people participated, but I did find this sweet pair of roller skates for Aidan. He was super excited. He did surprisingly well for his first attempt at roller skating. I guess he's got good balance. He only fell two or three times, and even then, he was smart enough to lean into a sit and land on his lil' booty. Most of his falling happened when John came outside to watch as we were making our way back to our house, and Aidan started showing off. Boys.

The final thing I wanted to share is that I've taught myself how to do appliques! I'm proud of myself. John keeps teasing me over how excited I am. I put this cute little "N" on a tank top for Neely. I have a couple more of the shirts, so I'm going to keep practicing.

The gift that keeps on giving.

What is this wonderful box of fun? According to the packing slip, it was a birthday gift for Aidan (6 weeks ago) from his Uncle Mike and Auntie Jamie that I have never seen. I was straightening up all my crafty stuff that's threatening to take over our guest room yesterday, when I saw this box stashed under that antique bassinet that I need to take apart and send along to my cousin Alisa before her new little one arrives. Anyway, I saw this box and thought to myself, "Hmm...I wonder what that is?" It had been opened and shoved under the little bed, with all these fun goodies inside. I don't remember receiving the box. John doesn't remember opening and putting it there either, but he thinks he may have done it anyway. So Aidan gets to celebrate his birthday some more! Lucky duck.

Thanks, Mike and Jamie! And here I thought you'd just sent him the biggest coloring book known to man (or child). You also sent the biggest collection of Playdoh!