Bri & Aly

Briana & Alyssa spent Labor Day at our house while their Mom & Dad had to work. Chelsee and I entertained them with making homemade play dough, cut out sugar cookies (with LOTS of sprinkles on them), swinging on the tire swing, inside tent made with blankets over a card table, and a nice long walk. What a day, they kept us busy! But a fun day with those sweet "great nieces". They were pretty proud of the cookies they made and they also took some home to share with Dad & Mom.

Old Fashioned Roll Out Sugar Cookies

2/3 cup butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

1 Egg

2 Tablespoons Milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt.

Cream butter; add sugar gradually. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla extract. Measure dry ingredients together, and blend into egg mixture gradually. Chill for at least 1 hour. Roll out to 1/4" thickness on lightly floured counter or table and cut out with cookie cutters. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 - 7 minutes . Yield about 3 dozen.

This is not my traditional cut out cookie recipe that I use at Holiday time, but this one makes a smaller recipe, and rolls out very nice.

Play Dough

This is a play dough recipe that I have used since my girls were little. We made it a lot. It is fun to play with, and works well with some of the "PlayDoh" toys. I got the recipe from a friend, Jeanne Miller, who had children in the same country school as my girls. They played together a lot.

3 cups flour

1 1/2 cups salt

6 teaspoons cream of tartar

3 cups cool water

3 Tablespoons oil

Food Coloring

Do not add the food coloring until after play dough is made. Mix all ingredients (except food coloring) in a large pan until smooth. Cook until no wet sticky spots are left. Let cool a little, then knead until smooth (the warm dough feels really good on hands). After smooth, I divide into 4 equal halves, then add food coloring of the color you choose. Smooth dough out, then place food coloring in center, fold dough over and start to knead food coloring in. I store in Hefty ziploc type bags in the refrigerator. This will keep for a very long time. Enjoy, you will love playing with it as much as the kids...great to make and play with any kids!

Wedding

" With all that I am, I will Honor you all the days of my life." What a great Bible verse April & Brandon chose for their wedding. I know I don't have the exact wording, but close. The minister gave a great homily about marriage, and honoring each other. It was very inspirational. Congratulations and good luck to April & Brandon"

Niece April & Brandon's Wedding

April dancing with her Dad to Brown Eyed Girl. Special song for them, he used to sing it to her when she was a little girl.

I wonder what Chelsee said to make Briana look at her this way! I love this picture, so funny

The head table enjoyed being served their meal!

We made 5 different kinds of mints for the wedding: Traditional Mint flavor, Rum, Almond, Raspberry, and Root Beer. The recipe is simple, and it is tradition in our family to use this recipe for special occasions. The recipe is my Mom's.
Mints
2 lb bag powdered sugar
8 oz. package cream cheese at room temperature
1 1/2 capfuls Mint Extract (or whatever flavor you choose)
Food coloring
Mix together, cover and chill in refrigerator
Dip mint molds into granulated sugar, press small amount of mint mixture into mold and push out of mold. Arrange in single layers on was paper until "dry set". Then freeze until day of wedding. I made a decorated card listing the different flavors of mints. We did one color of food coloring per flavor. We even did some "marbled" looking mints, which were very pretty.

Cupcake Tier and Eggless Chocolate Cake Top (Brandon is allergic to eggs) and Lily Flower Topper I made for April's Wedding. There were 3 different flavors of cupcakes, White (plain white frosting), Carrot (Pink Spray on top of frosting) and Chocolate (pink glassy looking sprinkles on top). I made a card listing all the flavors color coded by the color of frosting or decoration on the top of cupcake. It all turned out pretty good. April and Brandon really liked it, and that's what counts.

(For a closer view, just click on the picture and it will appear larger)

Black & Decker

Well, we found a new use for our Black & Decker drill! The mixer was not handy, and Chelsee needed to mix some Jello with Cool Whip to make "fluff". So Lonnie put one of the mixer beaters into the new Black & Decker he got for Christmas. Wha la' ! It worked great. What a fun way to "construct" something edible!

Fascination with Dragonfly

On days when I have time, I eat my lunch by the lake at our city park. It is so nice to go there and eat a relaxing , quiet lunch. I usually take my camera and on this day I was lucky enough to get close to a dragonfly by the waters edge. I sat on the rocks and stayed very still and was able to get quite a few shots of this one. It kept coming back to the same branch in the water. I have been fascinated with dragonflies since I was a little girl. They remind me of helicopters.

Que Sera Sera

I remember having this picture taken. I was almost 7 years old. I loved the dress, which I think came from my Great Aunt Elizabeth. I had black velvet hair bows that held my hair back. And my favorite shoes, black patent leather, and anklet socks with a little trim on them.

Sometimes life's lessons can be a little thorny!

Remember, you may not be able to control what life puts in your path,

but you can control who you are and who you will become.

Pure Sweetness

Aren't these little guys adorable! In My World I would love to have a Basset Hound again someday. They definitely have an interesting character and loving-ness. I need to make a refrigerator magnet or bookmark with this picture of them. Does anyone have a really great phrase or saying that could go with this picture?

My new Containers - OXO GOOD GRIPS POP CONTAINER

Someday I hope to be this organized. Wish me Luck and time to do it!

I finally found containers for using in my kitchen, or anywhere. They are exactly what I have been looking for. I also found these at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. They are OXO GOOD GRIPS POP CONTAINER. They are stackable, The lid is flat, but has a round button in the center. When you push the lid down, it pops up, and becomes the handle. The button also engages the sealing mechanism. They are awesome. I also found some at Target. This is what I have so far, but plan on getting more.

My New Boots

I have been looking for some "fun" boots to wear outside when the grass is wet etc. Kristin & I were shopping together recently and she found these for me. I love them! Aren't they just fun!

I'm sure I will have to fight for them with Lonnie, can't you picture him wearing these...hahahaha!