Handsome little devils

Here are my handsome little guys all dressed up and ready for church. They look so innocent at the beginning of the day....

Sharing the Love

Every Valentines' Day, for as long as I can remember, I have had a real problem with sharing. Every year, my mom always made these awesome cookies. They are so good, and we only have them at Valentines Day.

What made them even better was every time my mom made them, she would put some on a plate, put them on our front doorstep, ring the doorbell, and run around the to back door and sneak back in so that we thought they we left by a secret admirer. She never fooled us, but she never gave up trying. I remember her doing it even when I was in high school! It was a fun, and I keep waiting for her to come leave some on my doorstep now!

So, after we got the cookies back into the house, we would all dig in. This is where the problem begins...we never seemed to have enough of the cookies! I remember my mom counting them up and saying, "Okay, everyone can have 3 and 1/3 cookies!" (Yes, she even had to cut some of them into thirds to make sure it was fair, because we all wanted them). The sharing problem was an issue when I was little, but you think I would have grown out of it. Nope.

Since I moved out of Mom's house, I have had to carry on the tradition, and make the cookies every year. I made them when I lived with my roommates in college. I did share some of them, but I know I ate more than any of my roommates did. It was just so hard! Now, it becomes a real issue as I make the cookies for my family (who am I kidding, I don't really make the for my family). I actually plan out when I can eat one without being noticed so I won't have to share with my kids! Although Zak is permitted to eat some (maybe one or two), he knows I have this issue with sharing. He likes to offer the cookies to other people whenever he gets the chance just to see my reaction!

So, like I said, I have had these cookies for as long as I can remember, but because I am so stingy with them, even those of you who have known me for a long time may not have ever tried them. (For those of you who have, consider yourselves very lucky!) I decided, while I may still have a hard time sharing the actual cookies, I am at least willing to share the directions for making them, so that everyone can enjoy my guilty pleasure!

There are just three ingredients: Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers, Heavy Whipping Cream, and Maraschino cherries. The Chocolate Wafers are hard to find; they don't have them at every grocery store. I always get them at Fry's. They are in the cookie aisle, usually on the very top shelf, by the gourmet cookies. Here is a picture of what you are looking for:

Beat the whipping cream at high speed, adding sugar to taste, until stiff peaks form. I like to make mine pretty sweet, so I use about 2 Tablespoons sugar per cup of cream. You can also add 1 tsp. vanilla. Once your cream is whipped, start building. Place one wafer on a tray, add a spoonful of whipped cream, stack another wafer on top, than more whipped cream, one more wafer, and the final dollop of whipped cream. Top it with a cherry. One box of wafers should make 16 finished cookies, but there always seem to be some broken ones in the box so I usually end up with 14 or 15. Chill the cookies in the refrigerator overnight so the wafers become cake-like. Then enjoy!

Variation: My Nana always adds the juice from the cherries to the whipped cream. Then it is cherry flavored and pink--perfect for valentines. Either way, they are delicious!

Letterboxing

Last Saturday, we did some letterboxing with the Seegmillers. It was such a nice day! It was great to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather! We went to Honeybee Park up in Oro Valley and took picnic lunches to eat before we set out to find the hidden "treasure". The kids had fun with it. Colby and Ethan both got a little scratched up walking through the desert. See Colby's forehead?

Blog Book

Here is our blog book that I ordered through Blurb. I love it! I will be doing this every year from now on.

Our "New" House

I posted awhile ago about our "new" house (as Ethan calls it), and said I would post some pictures once we got everything back on the walls, so here they are. (And thanks to some very stratigic photography, you can't even see all the mess. There is unfolded laundry on the couch, a whole lot of toys on the floor, and a messy kitchen, but you can't see any of it, and I look like a good housekeeper! Fooled you!)

We choose a pretty neutral paint color, so there is nothing so dramatic, but it still seemed to be a big change.

The new curtains. You can't really see them in the picture, but they are brown with a cool texture.

My latest stitchery project. Love this scripture--these are all qualities I want to have!