The Flour Girls

Yesterday my mom, my sisters and I thought it would be fun to make Christmas cookies with my 2 year old niece, Trinity. What a blast we had and I think Trinity enjoyed herself the most. By the end of our time my mom was calling us the "Flour Girls". We all laughed so much. We started out by putting flour down on the cutting board and Trin sure thought this was fun. She was putting her hands in it, rubbing it around on the cutting board, sliding it around (on her and on the floor). We then helped her roll out some dough. She liked this. We then gave her a cookie cutter and showed her what she should do with it. She could not press down hard enough so we ended up pushing down on top of her hand. Most of the cookies had several cookie cutter presses down on them. Some cookies had an arm of a star cut off and 5 Christmas trees imprinted on one cut out tree. As we were putting the cut out cookies on the cookie sheet, Trin was taking a cookie cutter and putting it in the flour and pushing flour all over the place. When we got enough cookies on the tray we allowed Trin to put on the sprinkles and decorations. Jen handed her the green sprinkles and little did any of us know, but the shaker had big holes. In just a second, Trin had put an 1" of green sugar on the tree cookie and on the tray. We showed her how to sprinkle it and boy did she sprinkle it. Then we gave her little M&M's and she randomly put these around. Nana gave us some big M&M's. I carefully put them on the top of each Christmas, on each star, each wreath, and the 'gonger' of each bell. Trin did not like my placement and took all the big M&M's off leaving little finger imprints where she tried to take them off. We all had our amusement for the day and after 3 trays called it quits for the time being. TrinTrin was striped down to her underwear when she left the table. Before going out to lunch, I went in to use the restroom and I saw that the top of my head had a huge white spot of flour on it. Wonder how that got there. We finished up the dough when Trinity was taking her nap that afternoon. What a hoot!

I LOVE BEING AN AUNTIE!!!

Only 363 More

Only 363 more days left in my 30's (2008 is a leap year thus 363 more days). Can't believe how life has flown on by. I praise God for another birthday, each and every day is a gift from my God! It is another year closer to my eternity with my Savior.

Sure had a great birthday this year. The birthday stretched out for a few days. The actual day of my birth started with phone calls from all my immediate family. Love them so much. Arrived at work and my co-workers had an Americano and a pastry. Yummy. Around 4Th period, 40 6Th grade girls walked into my office each with a beautiful flower wishing me a "Happy Birthday". All the flowers made a beautiful huge bouquet from my dear sister Amy (she teaches 6Th grade at the same school that I teach at) which I proudly displayed on my desk. At lunch my wonderful co-workers had a little birthday celebration for me. Anne even cooked a home made angle food cake, my very favorite. After work, I went over to my parents house. Here I celebrated with them my 39Th anniversary of meeting the two most wonderful people ever in my life. My grandma cooked my favorite childhood meal, porcupine balls. Delicious. After dinner my sister Amy, my mom and I went to go and visit my dear cousin Julie who is on her last few days of life (another post, at another time when I have the strength to post about her terminal cancer). We all shared many tears together. She is my true life hero (if you have a chance, pray for her that God would give her the grace and strength to endure to the end, and for great comfort for her husband, 6 year old son, parents, sister and niece).

Friday, I celebrated with a few great friends. We had Baja Fresh and then came to my house and played Skip Bo. Many other out of town friends called to wish me a happy birthday. I praise God for dear friends that are in my life. Saturday my sister, brother 'n law and my sweet niece came into town. After going out to a nice lunch with my family we came back and opened presents. Trin Trin helped Auntie open gifts. Oh she was so cute and sweet. She must have said 30 times (I could take her saying this all year long), "Happy Bird-day Shel Shel (pronounced Shaw Shaw)" and when she said this she would come running up to me with big open arms and she would give me a hug. I was sitting in a chair so mostly she hugged my legs and leaned over onto my lap area. My heart melted every time. The sweetness of a child. I received some wonderful presents which I am very grateful for. I got a digital camera, so now I can post pictures that I have taken.

Another year of life, 363 days left in my 30's. I need to live each to the glory of my Savior. May God allow me to grow in Him, to know more of Christ, to be known by Him and to be thankful for each and every day.

I Love Cuties

I love cuties! Cuties from California are the best. I'm talking about Cuties California Clementines. They are easy to peel, have no seeds, full of juice and Vitamin C, can eat them in 2-4 bites. In the past week, have bought and gone through 3 boxes. Eating them at home, sharing them with my co-workers and students at work and we even devoured a box at a service project some of my friends from my church helped out with today. These cuties are a big hit where ever they go.