I love my husband!

This has been a rough week, health wise. I guess there's something going around... just about everyone you talk to has at least one sick person in their family. It's not much fun. The bug finally caught up with me on Tuesday, and I've been pretty much wiped out ever since. Wedensdays and Thursdays are my husband's days off, and this week he spent his days off taking care of me and the girls. He has done everything - cooking, washing dishes, cleaning up the apartment, playing with our youngest (who seems to have somehow avoided this bug), making sure me and our oldest daughter were comfortable... My husband has been absolutely wonderful! Unfortunatly, late Friday night / early Saturday morning, it hit him. He's missed the past two days of work, and the three of us have remained sick. He's feeling better today, and is hoping to get back to work tonight. I just wanted to tell everyone how wonderful he's been! I love you, Darling! :-)

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good kitty

My girls have this bug that seems to be hitting everyone right now. My youngest is doing pretty well today, but my oldest is pretty miserable. She's been sleeping on the couch most of the day. She's got a fever, but is also cold, so I've covered her with a light blanket. I just walked by a few minutes ago, and she's sleeping on the couch, and curled up next to her is our kitty, Autumn. What a precious site... a sleeping child, and an empathetic kitty sleeping next to her, keeping her warm. It's amazing to me how animals always seem to know when we are sick or in need of comfort. That's definately got to be a God thing. I wonder what it would have been like before the fall? I assume there would not have been sickness, but at the same time, if a person was in need of comfort, can you imagine a lion curling up next to you, purring in your ear, giving you warmth and comfort? What a beautiful world God created for us!

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Sugar Cookies

I realize we're two months past Christmas, and I never posted my recipe for sugar cookies. So here I am, a couple months late! Which pretty much describes almost every aspect of my life. :-) (Actually, I would have posted these much sooner, but for some reason I wasn't able to access the folder on the computer with these pictures. My hubby finally figured it out for me today, so I could post the pictures.)

This recipe comes from a Sesame Street book my parents bought when I was in Preschool, and the recipe is called Cookie Monster's Sugar Cookies. I remember my Mom making these cookies as I was growing up, and I loved them! This year I made them for my family, and they were a hit! But as it turns out, I realized I don't follow the original recipe. I didn't mean to improvise, but apparently I did. So I'll post my modified recipe, since that's what I've been making.

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 & 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Blend butter and sugar with fork. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder and salt, then add to the bowl. Knead (this is the kids' favorite part!), then chill at least one hour, or overnight. Roll out and cut into shapes on a floured board. Bake at 400, 6-8 minutes.

And here's the finished product. These are the nativity cookie cutters my parents gave us for Christmas. See if you can make out all the shapes...
I apologize the picture is a big blurry. I took this picture Christmas Eve, and I guess I didn't bother checking until now to see if the picture was in focus. :-) In any case, I'm sure you can recognize the heart, star, angel, camel, king, Joseph, Baby Jesus and manger, Mary, shepherd and sheep. But can you guess what that odd looking shape is under Mary? Actually, it's in the picture upside down. It's supposed to be a donkey, but when I first pulled the cookie cutter out of the container I couldn't figure out what that animal was supposed to be. I turned it upside down and thought it looked like a slug. My husband says this is the NorthWest version of the nativity, as we get a lot of slugs in our neck of the woods. :-) So for our family, the final critter, rather than being a donkey, is a slug.

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potty mouth

Thursday I went to the dentist for my anual cleaning. My girls were interested to see what was going on with Mommy, so the hygenist invited them into the room. She is a very kind and grandmotherly lady, and on her days off work she visits schools to teach the children about dental hygene. While she was cleaning my teeth, the hygenist was telling the girls about plaque. She told my girls the story she tells the children in schools; "Everyone has teeny tiny bugs in their mouth called bacteria. These bugs eat the same things you eat, but they especially love when you eat sugar. And after they eat, the bugs do the same thing you do after you eat; they have to go potty. And that's where plaque comes from. So you see why it's so important to brush your teeth very well every day?" She had a hard time finding any plaque in my mouth, but was able to come up with just a little to show the girls. My youngest daughter's eyes got real wide as she thought about what these teeny tiny bugs were doing in people's mouths and she said, "Is that why you were gloves?"

Out of the mouths of babes!

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