Old Fashioned Cookies!

I probably sound like a broken record, 

but I absolutely LOVE having little kids in the house. 

I love all of their ZEST and excitement for life 

and their willingness to try new things!

This sweet little boy 

 came home last weekend from a Primary activity (local church congregation children's activity). It was all about the Easter Story and they also had a fun scripture cookie sheet  for us to look up scriptures as a family and fill in the blanks to find out the ingredients to make the cookies.  

Ethan gave our Family Home Evening last week and we enjoyed these yummy cookies after our lesson. 

They are a VERY hearty cookie and SO delicious. 

I bet these would also make great cookies to take hiking!

Under the photo of the cookies shown below are the scripture verses
and if you highlight them (including the helpful tips), 

click "file" and then "print" and then "selection"and then "OK"

you can print this out and enjoy doing the activity and then making the cookies.  

 SO much fun for kids! 

SO good and definitely a favorite that we made a second batch and will definitely be making again in the future!
  These remind me of cookies that a grandma would make and they make A LOT of cookies (about 3 dozen).  

Old Fashioned Cookies
(aka Scripture Cookies) 

* 3/4 cup    “The words of his mouth were smoother than __________” 

(Psalms 55:21)
* 1/3 cup    “Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy _________and honey”  

(2 Nephi 26:25)
* 1-1/2 cups    “To what purpose cometh there to me….the __________   __________ from a far country?”  (Jeremiah 6:20)
* 2    “As one gathereth ___________  that are left, I have gathered all the earth".

(Isaiah 10:14)
* 2 cups    “And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine ___________”  (1 Kings 4:22)
* 1 tsp.    “Take thou also unto thee principal spices…and of sweet _________ half so much”  (Exodus 30:23)
* 1 tsp.   “Ye are the _________ of the earth” (Matthew 5:13)
* 1/2 tsp.  “The kingdom of heaven is like unto __________”
(Matthew 13:33)
* 3 cups     “Nevertheless…__________for the horse” (D&C 89:17)
* 1 cup    “And they gave him….two clusters of __________” 
(1 Samuel 30:12)

Beat first four ingredients together. 

Mix in remaining ingredients. 

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. 

Bake 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

HELPFUL TIP...I also added in Vanilla, 

I used 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup white sugar

the "leaven" is "baking soda" 

and I added in 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup raisins 

and also some chopped walnuts. 

Enjoy having a little family FUN 

and also baking up a 

yummy treat together as well!

A 1000 times of fun!

A 1000 times of fun!!
Those were the words that I heard over and over after Ethan's birthday party!!

My sons love to gather around
when I am reading peoples Blogs and last year my sweet friend Cherie showed an awesome party that she did for her 9 year old son. Ethan has been begging me since he saw those photos last year that he wanted to have a MAD Scientist party for his birthday this year.

It's sad that this is the first "Friend" birthday party I have ever done for Ethan, but up until this year he hasn't ever asked for a party.

Birthdays at our house mean you don't have to do your chores that day, mom fixes your favorite dinner and you get special treatment all day, so getting a special party is pretty cherished!

I had SO much fun planning this and what a FUN day we all had!

I am a creative person,
but I am NOT artistic at all.
I had delusions of grandeur that we would have the coolest pinata for Ethan's party that was a mad scientist complete with crazy hair and goggles.
I spent five days putting paper mache on the balloon and letting it dry in between. I painted it a nice flesh color and was hoping that Tracy could just work his magic and paint a face on the pinata and then I would add batting all glued and made into crazy hair.
HOWEVER, Tracy informed me real quick that there was no possible way to make this into a 3D pinata and so we made do and drew an 8 on the pinata and painted it to look nice...added some curly and sparkles to the top and there you have it...my first attempt at making a homemade pinata!

I LOVED these boys...
it was SO much fun!!
However, I learned real quick that it is ALOT of work throwing a party with eight FULL OF ENERGY 8 and 9 year old boys and trying to snap photos while trying to do the games and activities was not as easy as I had planned.
SO, my photos were not the best and didn't include everything we did, but they show the FUN that we had.

I LOVED this lime green paper I found and had SO much fun making the invitations and helping Ethan deliver them.

Name badges with
the lime green paper were made as well.

After we gave the boys their lab coats,
put on their name badges,
gelled their hair crazy
and passed out goggles,
Ethan's grandpa (Tracy's dad)
started off the party with a funny song and some MAGIC tricks.
The boys were in awe and intrigued!

This photo shows
just how into the Magic Tricks the kids were.
Clair had their undivided attention.

(from left to right)
Woodrow, Braxton, Karsen, Bryson,
Lincoln, Logan, Ethan and Ty

No Mad Scientist Party
would be complete without
exploding Diet Coke with Mentos!
We weren't sure how this was going to work out with getting sprayed by Diet Coke everywhere and so Tracy put on his trusty hiking parka to make sure the boys didn't get sprayed too bad.

We had four bottles of Diet Coke
and so we split the boys into groups of two and had two pieces of string hooked to a note card and a test tube with seven Mentos inside. On the count of three the boys pulled on their strings and pulled out the note card and the Mentos dropped into the pop and then...
EXPLOSION!!!

Woodrow and Ty's explosion!

Next came Braxton and Karsen...

and then Bryson and Lincoln

and last Ethan and Logan!

Fake Snow!
I had more comments from the boys how cool the Fake Snow was.
You put a teaspoon into warm water and it instantly puffs up into fake snow.

It had neat properties that made it get quite cold to touch after it was added to the water.
The boys were SO excited
to get to take home their container of wonderful snow stuff.

The CRAZY nut
who planned and threw this party!

SLIME...
My very favorite part of the party.
Who would have thunk that Cornstarch and water could make such a COOL substance, (and it cleans up with water).
The kids had more fun with this that they BEGGED to take their slime home with them!
***************************

RECIPE FOR SLIME
2 cups cornstarch
1 cup water
(few drops green food coloring)
Heat water on the stove until it is warm but NOT boiling.
Add in green food coloring
and then slowly add in cornstarch to the colored water.
Mix the starch in water thoroughly, using your fingers. Blend it well, until it becomes a thick and smooth paste.
The final cornstarch mixture should neither be too watery, nor too dry. It should be wet enough to drip through your fingers, but dry to touch.
Store in a resealable bag or container with a lid.

***************************
This provides HOURS of fun
for kids AND adults too.
I kept on picking it up and letting it OOZE through my fingers.
Looking forward to doing FUN projects in the summer with my kids and making slime again will definitely be something we will do for sure.

The looks on the boys faces
were priceless!

Lincoln was SO funny...
he was sure that the yellow Jello and gummy worms would not taste good and it took him forever to finally try it, but he finally did.
The boys LOVED
being able to be pigs and slurp and eat their Jello without spoons.

PINATA TIME...

The kids had SO much fun
breaking the Pinata!
My sad pinata that I was afraid would be broke the first few swings, took a licking and it took each boy a few times through the line to finally break it.

Tracy's hard hit FINALLY made the pinata break.
LOTS of excitement came as the boys scurried to get treats and prizes that were waiting inside the pinata!

Our brew of Homemade Rootbeer.
Cup after cup of this was drank!

Birthday cake!
I decided to do a cupcake tower and had eight cup cakes on the top with eight candles for Ethan to blow out.
The rest of the cupcakes were decorated with sprinkles and Neon Gummy Worms.

Our handsome and awesome birthday boy
Ethan Kip!

Time to sing
"Happy Birthday"
and blow out the candles and eat cupcakes.
Lincoln kept on trying to blow the candles out while we sang.
He is such a cute and funny little boy!

Lots of excitement as gifts were opened!
I have never seen SO many fun things for boys to play and have fun with then the gifts his friends gave to him.

Party Favors...
white lunch sacks filled with:
...Mentos Geyser test tube experiment
...Pop Rocks
...Bubblegum
...Punching ball
...goggles and fake snow
...AND treats from the pinata

Ethan's awesome and silly cousins
Bryson on the left
and Ty on the right

I have never seen a more FUN gift than this...
A Blow Blaster
Ethan played with this non-stop for over two days..sucking and blowing the foam darts. My TV and sliding glass door had lots of little dots all over them that showed I have an eight year old son that is having fun.
After the fun...
a little glass cleaner and paper towels shined the TV screen and glass window to as good as new!

And the party came to an end,
but not without one last magic trick from Grandpa.
WOW!
He really amazed the kids with his magic tricks!

"Experimentation is an active science".

-- Claude Bernard

The Joy of Creativity!

I have always LOVED packaging things with lots of ribbon or curly ribbon. To me the way a gift or goodie is wrapped is just as important to me as the gift or goodie inside. I drive Tracy crazy with this little quirk of mine. He is always commenting when people bring over a plate of cookies on a paper plate with Saran Wrap and a stick on Christmas tag, how NICE that looks and YES, that does look nice.

I just have this little weirdness about me that I have to give a cellophane bag of cookies, or a cute little box with treats in it, tied with ribbon and always with a cute little tag. I can't just bring cookies or a treat on a plate. Whatever I give I like it to look like a little present.

I remember being 12 and buying my best friend a gift and I bought a 10 pack of gum, opened it up and put lots of curly ribbon tied around each pack of gum to accessorize the gift. I know, sometimes I go a little overboard. Tracy has even said that I could wrap up a piece of "crap" (didn't use that word) and people would love it just because of the way it was wrapped up!

So, I have a box of ribbons in every color imaginable, curling ribbon, plain and designer cellophane bags and some plain boxes that anytime I make a treat and take it to someone it gets delivered in a nice little package of some kind.

I also love to take giant Hershey candy bars and take off the printed wrapper (leaving the foil wrapper) and put a wrapper of some cute craft paper wrapped around it instead and then tie some ribbon around it with a cute little tag so it is a little mini present to give someone.

Here is a fun idea
to do for something out of the ordinary for little kids you know, OR, for a package topper, OR, for kids to make to give to a teacher.
These are great for Christmas, OR, for anyone who has a birthday in Winter Time
Snowman wrappers for an ordinary candy bar.

The BODY is either a 3 Musketeers, Milky Way or Snickers candy bar
The HAT is made by cutting the fingers of Stretchy gloves. You can make 5 hats out of 1 glove. (tie the top of the hat with Jute)

The WRAPPER is a piece of typing paper cut in half and then wrapped around and taped with clear tape on the back
The SCARF is a piece of scrap fabric ripped and tied around the neck.
The NOSE is just a piece of orange foam cut into a triangle shape
The BUTTONS are just black beads
and the EYES and MOUTH are just black dots drawn with a Sharpie marker.

Put them all together
and you end up with these darling little guys!!

Happy Gift Wrapping!