Category: family

Growing Young

Diana B.2 Comments

I’m feeling a little reflective this week. It started on Sunday when our pastor preached this sermon about heaven. It continued last night as a dear friend and I discussed how quickly our 30s are passing.  And then, just this afternoon, I read this post on Filling Time with Gratitude and Grace.

The article included yet another deep thought from Ann Voskamp:

I watch the hands move grace on the clock face. I’m growing older. These children growing up. But time is not running out. This day is not a sieve, losing time. With each passing minute, each passing year, there’s this deepening awareness that I am filling time, gaining time. We stand on the brink of eternity.” -Ann Voskamp

What a refreshing perspective on time! Especially when you have little ones about the house, time seems to pass so quickly. Not necessarily the days — filled with diaper changes and feedings and naps and such — but the years. The years pass quickly.

These past four or five years, I have grown comfortable and familiar with being a mom of a preschooler — first with Linnea and then again with Laurel. There are nearly three years between them, but somehow it seems there was no interruption in my era of being a mother of a preschooler.

As that era is now quickly drawing to a close, I present my own little poem about it.

A-Growing Up

My babies don’t look like babies anymore.

Though I swaddle them up, lie them down on the floor;

It’s ridiculous.

Oh, they simply are not babies anymore!

So back I look at pictures taken not long ago —

Back when the littlest one’s curls were tightly so;

Back when the oldest’s baby teeth had yet to go.

And I see these children a-growing up.

‘Tis a precious process I dare not disrupt.

But yes, my babies are a-growing up.

 

 

 

 

 

11 Questions on 1/11/11

Diana B.1 Comment

Last year I answered 10 random questions for 2010. I thought it’d be fun to go back and answer them again for this New Year. To change things up somewhat, I added a question and modified some of the original ones just a tad. And despite what WordPress’s clock might lead you to believe, I’m publishing this in the 11th hour of 1/11/11. 

1. A Verse (or three):
What are a few verses of Scripture that you are meditating on lately?

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29

“All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” 2 Timothy 3:16

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard so that you may also have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:3

2. A Voice:
What are two quotes that have inspired you lately?

“When we speak, it must be with the realization that God has given our words significance. He has ordained for them to be important… God has given words value. So we must do all we can to assign words the importances Scripture gives them.” -Paul Tripp

“Every conversation we have with another person carries this marvelous potential of passing on the grace of God.” -Carolyn Mahaney

3. A Laugh:
What are two things that have made you laugh lately?

Yesterday the girls were playing with homemade paper dolls. Linnea had made a mermaid outfit for one of the dolls. She kept referring to the top as a bra. “It’s a bikini top,” I cringed as I corrected her. A few hours later when the girls were again playing with the dolls, I overheard Linnea correcting Laurel. “It’s not a bra! It’s a zucchini top!”

Also, Dave Barry’s review of 2010 totally cracked me up earlier this month. 

4. A Food:
Link us up to a favorite online recipe!

Shortcut Stroganoff – We had this last week for the first time in quite a while. It’s so yummy!

5. A Flick (or three):
What movie(s) do you recommend renting?

Oh, I can’t list just one, which surprises me because I’m not a big movie-goer. Letters to Juliet and Ramona and Beezus were my two favorite movies of 2010. PluggedIn Online offers helpful reviews of both movies. I also really loved the HBO movie Temple Grandin with Claire Danes (also available on DVD). Temple is quite an amazing person. I helped edit some of the articles she wrote for BEEF magazine when I was on staff there. Plus, I was thrilled to see issues of BEEF magazine show up in the movie! Yay for BEEF and yay for Temple!

6. A Family:
What’s your best home-building tip?

Don’t reserve special meals just for times when company is coming to dinner. Treat your family to the extra-special stuff, too! Lighting candles, lowering the lights, using the fancier napkins and playing soft background music during dinner makes everyone feel especially loved.

7. A Chore:
What’s your best house-cleaning secret?

Pretending to be Cinderella’s step mother allows you to (A) amuse your children (B) get away with speaking in grouchy voice while ordering your children to do housework and (C) share the house-cleaning workload with those small people you love. (If only it worked with my husband, too!)

8. A Shop:
Sell us on one of your favorite online stores!

I am totally digging Two Peas in a Bucket — mostly for their digitial scrapbooking kits and fonts. Love them! (Thanks for the tip, Kate!)

9. A Prayer:
What’s one thing that you’d like blog-readers to pray about today?

Pray that we would fix our small eyes on Jesus, that we would allow Him to transform us, and that we would look for the beauty of enormous things in 2011.

10. A Product:
What’s one great product that you’d like to tell the world about?

For Christmas I got a Savvycents wallet, and I LOVE it! Its super-nifty tab dividers make me feel so organized! Dave Ramsey may or may not agree that it’s fashionably frugal, but I’m willing to bet his wife would agree! (Thanks for the tip, Alice and Chris!)

11. A Song:

“What Love Really Means” by J.J. Heller inspires me to love my loved ones simply for who they are.

May God go with you in 2011!

A Charlie Brown Moment

Diana B.1 Comment

Growing up, one of my favorite characters was Charlie Brown. I didn’t read the comic strip, but I loved the specials on TV. Truth be told, I lived vicariously through Charlie Brown.

The complicated social struggles Charlie Brown was having with Lucy and Snoopy and all his friends weren’t really what entertained me. I didn’t understand most of that. What entertained me was the idea of hunting for the great pumpkin in a pumpkin patch, the idea of buying a Christmas tree in the snow, and the idea of kids casually ice skating outside on a pond as snow falls softly and piano music plays peacefully in the background. It all just seemed right to me. 

Without Charlie Brown, I would have thought all pumpkins came from the grocery store and that ice skates were only used indoors by under-dressed children with a white-knuckle grip on the half wall that surrounded the rink. But Charlie Brown enlightened me, and I am thankful.  

Not long after we moved to Minnesota, I found out that Charles Schultz, creator of Charlie Brown, was from St. Paul, Minn. I also discovered most of the reasons I am enamoured with Minnesota trace back to something that happened in a Charlie Brown TV special. Or Grumpy Old Men. But mostly Charlie Brown.

All this to say: I had a Charlie Brown moment yesterday. Not an exasperated, I-am-fed-up-with-Lucy kind of moment, but a magical, joyful moment enjoying something quite simple.

Yesterday, I went ice skating for the first time on a pond and for the first time in about 15 or 20 years. Our family went to Centennial Lakes in Edina for a friend’s birthday. It was 11 degrees and brutally windy outside, but the frozen ponds where we skated were tucked behind a shopping area, which blocked the wind. Plus the sun was shining brightly, and that kept us warm. While we skated, music played quietly from the deluxe warming house nearby. It was simply a magical experience. Or maybe the magical part was that I, by the grace of God, managed not to fall on the ice! Either way, I am inspired to do some more ice skating soon!

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Words I Can’t Edit

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Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
   sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

– Proverbs 16:24 NIV

As a writer and a former editor, I am very much a lover of words. I am enamoured with books, fonts, thesauruses, logos, notebooks, pens, libraries, storytellers and book stores all because of words.

Earlier this week I blogged about writing God’s words on the wall, and typically I post my own words on my Facebook “wall” once or twice a week. Those and the words I put down on paper are all thoughtfully and carefully shared. Chalk, pencil and keyboard make controlling these words rather simple. Erasers, back space keys and delete buttons serve me well.

The words that depart from my mouth, on the contrary, are much harder to edit and revise. Once they are said, no eraser can remove them. Perhaps that’s why I struggle with them. I can’t bully them into being eloquent. I can’t make them behave. I can’t make them sound right. Afterwards, I can only stew over them, fret about what else I should have said, or play editorial games with myself — like how I would have worded something differently if I could go back in time.

Especially with those people I love the most, I’ve been struggling with my spoken words lately. 

Deep down I want all my words to be sweet to the soul and healing to the bones, especially those spoken to my children and my husband. That’s a God-given desire I am sure.

But more often than I like, my feelings of frustration or annoyance or irritation season my words with bitterness instead of sweetness. I hear them and almost don’t recognize my own grumpy voice. As they echo in my head, I wonder, “Did I really just say that, like that? What’s wrong with me?” 

Operating in my own strength, I certainly can’t control my words and attitude. But the fruit of Spirit includes self-control. What’s more, I can ask God for specific help.

“Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.” -Psalm 141:3

As He promises in 1 Corinthians 10:13, God always provides “a way out” when I am tempted to speak unkind or harsh words. It’s my responsibility to act on that exit strategy, of course!

This week God has also led me to three excellent resources on the power of words and significance of using them wisely.

The first is Watching Our Words from the mother-daughter team of Carolyn Mahaney and Nicole Whitacre at GirlTalk.

Secondly, in today’s broadcast over at Focus on the Family, speaker Florence Littauer shares the power of encouraging words. I listened and was encouraged!

And last, Steve Murphy at HOMESCHOOLING TODAY magazine chimed in with this article, World-Building by Words.

May these words encourage you also!

Our Twinkling Little Piano Star

Diana B.1 Comment

Above is Laurel, age 5, twinkling at the piano, sometime in December. “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” is the first song she has learned to play since her “pre-reading” piano lessons began one wonderful week in late October with Miss Amanda.

Miss Amanda actually only taught her the first half of the song. Laurel learned the second half from Linnea’s piano teacher the day before our homeschool Christmas program, at which she performed the song before a live audience. It followed quite nicely after Linnea’s performance of “We Three Kings.” You know, “Star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright…”

In typical Laurel fashion, she played the entire song with complete confidence and generously added a few extra notes whenever she pleased. It made for quite an entertaining version of the song.

10 People Who Inspired Me in 2010

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 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” – Hebrews 10:24 NIV

About a year ago, I shared in this post how friends of ours had spurred me on toward love and good deeds. As I reflect on 2010 and continue to thank God for their friendship and encouragement, I thought it’d be fun to share some other sources of encouragement and inspiration that might just inspire and encourage you, too.

1. My husband, Michael, always inspires me, and for so many reasons. In August I blogged about 15 reasons why I love Michael. I should also note that in the first three months of 2010 Michael lost 65 lbs., and he has kept them off! Yay! But of more significance than his weight loss are his spiritual gains in 2010. He has clearly grown closer to the Lord  — through prayer, Bible study, and Scripture memory — and that truly inspires me! What a blessing to have a strong spiritual leader in our household.

2. Our pastor, Steve Anderson, is a wonderful, encouraging pastor, as well as leader of the small group in which my husband and I participate. In November while he was serving as a short-term missionary in Nicaragua, I blogged here about how thankful I am for Pastor Steve and his lovely wife Sharon. They are truly wonderful people who bless us each week. When he returned from Nicaragua, Pastor Steve told us an amazing story about handing out baseballs and Beanie Babies to the children there. God performed a miracle that day! You can listen to him tell the story if you click here. It starts at 19 minutes into his sermon “Whose Stuff is All This Anyway?” By the way, you can find out more about short-term missions and adopt-a-pastor opportunities in Nicaragua by visiting Repairers of Broken Walls.

3. Andreas Custer is the Student Ministries Director at our church. He’s a great guy, and while our family doesn’t yet have any students in his ministry, his contagious passion for the Lord and inspiring manner spills over and touches our family regularly. After visiting Gettysburg and other Civil War battlefields this fall, Pastor Andi preached this really dynamite sermon about fixing our eyes on Jesus in the same way soldiers fix their eyes on their battle flag. The key Scripture passage he used was Philippians 3:7-21, and he explains that those who have their eyes set on earthly things, in contrast, are enemies of the cross.

4. Karen Wistrom at Family from Afar is a working mom with four children, two biological and two adopted, and is a child sponsorship coordinator for Children’s HopeChest. Besides raising money for all sorts of orphan-care projects, she traveled to Ethiopia this fall — for the third year in a row — to minister to orphans at Kind Hearts, where our sweet Dawit is. Thanks to Karen, we were able to put together this little care package for Dawit in August, and then a couple of months later Karen sent us pictures of Dawit receiving it. Yay, Karen! 

5. Samantha at Little Goody 2 Shoes is an 11-year-old who is selling bottle cap necklaces to raise money to buy shoes for orphans in Ethiopia. We bought a few of them that say Kind Hearts, and they are so adorable! To date, Samantha sold 314 necklaces and raised enough money to buy 103 pairs of new, custom-made shoes for orphans at Kind Hearts and two other orphanages in Ethiopia. Way to go, Samantha!

6. My own daughter, Linnea, at the ripe old age of 7, decided to donate 11 inches of her hair to Locks of Love in February. She was so brave and so passionate about giving to a little girl in need. That was a lot of hair!  

7. Author Ann Voskamp at A Holy Experience is a farmer’s wife, homeschool mother of six, and an amazingly gifted writer. She faithfully uses her gift for God’s glory. I am so eager to read her latest book, 1,000 Gifts, which will be released Jan. 25.

8. Writer Holley Gerth at Heart to Heart with Holley is another writer whose words transcend into the spiritually inspiring realm. She also faithfully uses this gift to point others toward God.

9. My beautiful and sunshiny friend Alice, who recently moved to our little town, totally inspires me to be a better mom and to more intentionally play with my kids, especially while they are still willing to play with me! Alice is outgoing, full of life, and truly a fantastic cook and baker. All those traits come in handy as a stay-at-home mom to three handsome and energetic boys, all under the age of 5! While the girls and I were over for a visit last week, Alice gave us all flashlights, turned off the lights, and asked us to hunt for stuffed animals that had been hidden around her kitchen and living room. This “jungle-safari” version of hide-and-seek was great fun! Thanks for being so wonderful, Alice!

10. And last, but certainly not least, is Jodi, another beautiful friend of mine who inspires me to be a better mom and not neglect my creative side.  Jodi is a tea-drinking homeschool mom of five children, ranging in age from 1 to 13. She also teaches art, jazz, and tap dance lessons. My daughter is in one of Jodi’s art classes and adores every moment of it. If I were to write a biography about Jodi, I’d entitle it Everybody Loves Jodi. She is creative, encouraging, sweeter than pie, and everybody loves her! Last I checked she wasn’t sporting a red cape, but she is truly a super woman, empowered by God. 

Now I’m shutting my laptop and heading off to play Little People with my 5-year-old, so it’s your turn to share.

Who has inspired you in 2010? Do tell!

21 Entertaining Things Said (or Done) in 2010

Diana B.2 Comments

I just reviewed my Facebook status collection for 2010 and compiled this list of entertaining things said (or done) by my children in 2010. Hope it makes you chuckle, too!

1. Laurel, age 4, laments that it is just “too deep to play outside.” Never mind that the windchill is 4 degrees.

2. Laurel got up from her afternoon nap sniffling and said, “Mommy, my nose is all stuck up.”

3. Setting the table at dinner time, Laurel carefully covers each fork with a napkin. Then she announces, “Ssssh! The forks are sleeping.”

4. Laurel at the Arboretum: “Stop, Mommy, I think I have a piece of nature in my shoe.”

5. Here’s a new, summery way to mop the kitchen floor: Shut only the screen door while your 7-year-old waters the flowers on the patio. She’s never been a wild child, but give her a garden hose with a spray nozzle and WATCH OUT!

6. Linnea, age 7, was folding laundry and saw me set up the ironing board. Looking utterly shocked, she said: “Mommy, there are CLOTHES you have to iron?” I guess she thought we only had an ironing board to accommodate her fuse bead craft projects!

7. While we were babysitting 5-month-old John at our house yesterday evening, Laurel asked, “Do we have to give him back?”

8. Shortly after I put gel in my hair this morning, Laurel comes in and exclaims: “Mommy! You smell good. You smell like Benadryl!” Yep, that was so the fragrance I was going for today.

9. Laurel’s table manners must have drowned in the pool this afternoon. At supper after swimming lessons, she kept wiping the jelly on her fingers on her clothes, in her hair, and seemingly everywhere else but her napkin. Ick! “Don’t wipe it on your dress!” Michael yelled. Big sister Linnea chimes in, on Laurel’s behalf, “It’s actually a skirt, Daddy.”

10. I tried to be discreet when I tossed the decapitated potty-training baby doll into the trash can. But as the garbage man drove off this morning, Laurel came running inside, sobbing uncontrollably. “The broken baby doll is going to get all burned up at the dump!” Thank you, Toy Story 3. Sigh.

11. Laurel, while eating goldfish crackers for an afternoon snack, says: “Mommy! I need some water to drink so my fishes can go swimming!” So the chocolate shake and the iced tea I had already given her didn’t do the trick?

12. Michael just came home with half a dozen ears of fresh sweet corn, and now the girls are begging to help him “shuffle” it.

13. After quiet time yesterday afternoon I found Laurel in her bed, obviously just waking up, and I asked how her nap was. She replied: “I didn’t take a nap. I was too busy resting.”

14. Praying at lunchtime, Laurel says: “…And thank You, God, for creating the animals so that we can have animal crackers to eat…”

15. Laurel read her first sentence today: “See me eat.” She was so proud of herself she sprung off the couch and bolted into the next room to tell Linnea the exciting news.

16. How clever is Laurel? At the drug store this morning, she stops in the candy aisle and says very seriously, “Oh! We HAVE to get some raspberry chocolate candy for Sassy.” Sassy is her teddy bear.

17. Our breakfast conversation this morning — Laurel: “I just don’t like cannonballs.” Me: “Huh? What do you mean? Jawbreakers?” Laurel: “No, you know, cannonballs — people who eat other people. Why DO they do that?”

18. This morning as Michael was scrambling eggs and pulling the tortillas out of the refrigerator, Linnea asks, “Daddy, are you fixing a breakfast pinata?”

19. While I was helping Linnea fix her hair this morning, she sniffed and said, “Mommy, you smell good. Like jellybeans!” I guess that’s an improvement over Laurel’s thinking I smelled like Benadryl a few months ago…

20. Thinking about Advent at the dinner table this evening, Linnea says, “So, tomorrow is…” And Laurel quickly chimes in, “the last day of not getting any presents!”

21. In the middle of a Costco shopping trip this afternoon, Linnea wonders, “Mommy, what is ‘scratch?'” After I reply with a bewildered, “Huh?” she clarifies, “You know, scratch. You always say that you make pies and things from scratch. What is it?”

A Quiet, Simple Christmas Eve

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It’s Christmas Eve and I have time to blog because we have no family visiting this Christmas, and no relatives nearby expecting us for dinner.

Of course family isn’t really what we celebrate at Christmas anyway, as much as we dearly love all those grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins who have decided against braving a frightfully White Christmas in Minnesota.

No, Christmas is about Jesus, celebrating Him and worshiping Him. Sometimes it’s easier to remember that when Christmas is simpler, quieter, and settled comfortably in a picturesque, snowy white background.

Every year our little family of four worships at our church’s 4 p.m. Christmas Eve candlelight service. The girls love getting all dressed up for the evening. Most years my husband participates in the worship band, playing guitar and sometimes singing. This year he also played the mandolin. The music was beautiful. Reverently the service closed, as is tradition, with everyone singing “Silent Night” by candlelight. Seeing my children’s hopeful faces glowing in the candlelight, that’s my favorite gift.

Back at home, with the pot roast still simmering in the slow cooker, the girls endure posing for a few photos.

 And then they ask — for the 100th time today — if they can open presents. They typically exchange gifts with each other on Christmas Eve. Perhaps someday when they are grown and have families of their own, this tradition will continue.

At dinner we light all five of the Advent candles, and the girls eagerly lead our discussion the story of Jesus’s birth. Linnea wonders about all the many details the Bible doesn’t tell us in this ancient story. A deep thought for an 8-year-old.

Once the dinner dishes are cleared, I mix up some bread dough and tuck it under a towel, letting it rise. The girls like to think of the dough as sleeping when it is rising, so they tell it “goodnight” and blow it kisses. I tell the girls it’s almost time for me to tuck them into bed, too. Already sporting their matching striped pink pajamas, they beg for a story. Of course, I was already planning to read one. 

Tonight we read Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck. Written in 1956, the book was a gift given to us last year by my dear friend Kate. And what a lovely story it is about a son who gives his father, a dairy farmer, a gift they both treasure for years to come. Be sure to read this heartwarming tale!

Next my husband reads the story of Jesus’s birth from Luke 2 and Matthew 1. We talk about favorite Christmas memories and the best gifts ever given or received. Then we ponder together what it would have been like to see Jesus as a baby. My husband decides he’d want to see the angels that appeared to the shepherds and the glory of the Lord that shone around them. Five-year-old Laurel is still pretty sure she doesn’t want to have anything to do with angels. (Click here to read about her recent angel trauma.) Will we ever convince her that real angels help protect her?

After prayers comes bedtime for little girls, and then comes stocking stuffing, cinnamon roll rolling and gift arranging for us grown-ups. As the evening closes, the tree boasts way too many gifts beneath its boughs, and all through the house the smell of cinnamon rolls lingers. 

This is our quiet, simple Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas!

A Glorious Peace!

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Merry Christmas!

The remarkably polished Minnesota Orchestra was performing “Evening Prayer” from Hansel and Gretel when some questionable subjects slowly crept into sight. The first one appeared on stage and then two more, and then another two began slinking mysteriously down each aisle of Orchestra Hall.

Only a moment earlier the conductor had cheerfully announced that we were in for a fantastic treat: puppets from In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre in Minneapolis.

These larger-than-life puppets – some towering near 12-feet tall – masqueraded as angels. However, two of these so-called angels had deer heads, and two had squirrel heads. In their dream pantomime, they quietly kept watch over Hansel and Gretel as the children peacefully slept all alone, deep in the dangerous forest.

For our very sensitive 5-year-old Laurel, seeing these enormous puppet angels dwelling among us was certainly no fantastic treat. Rather than peace, they brought trouble. At first sight of them, Laurel shrieked in utter terror, hid under her coat, and then sobbed uncontrollably for the rest of the performance. Her daddy sat beside her, attempting to quiet and comfort her, but feeling trapped and helpless.

Fear Not!

The puppet angels truly terrified Laurel. And they did look exceptionally sinister.  They not only broke the rules by having animal heads and sneaking in unexpectedly from the back of the hall, but also they failed to announce what all Biblical angels know is the first order of business when appearing to humans. You already know the line: “Do not be afraid!” or “Fear not!”

Real-live angels must be quite terrifying, too. Remember the shepherds – those burly tough guys who weren’t afraid to take on any lions or bears that threatened their sheep? Even they were terrified by the angel that appeared to them and by the glory of the Lord shining around them that night when our Savior arrived.

The first angel the shepherds saw had a mission of utmost significance: to proclaim good news of great joy. Peace on earth! The Savior of the world had just been born!

One must be calm to be able to listen to such a meaningful message. That’s why the angel had to calm the shepherds with his words, “Do not be afraid.”

The spoken word is such a powerful thing – and even more so when it’s the Word of God. Clearly these words calmed the shepherds, as they soon heard the angel’s message of peace and then found the baby Jesus.

Imagine the rush of wings as a whole crowd of angels then came into sight, all praising God together and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” (Luke 2:14)

Find Peace

That said, Christmastime should be peaceful, right? Yet isn’t it hard to find peace when so many distractions masquerade as necessary to our Christmas celebration? Like giant puppets, distractions can trouble us and sometimes even make us want to hide under our coats.

But we have an ever-present heavenly Father – One who is always able to quiet us and comfort us in times of trouble. He is mighty to save!

We genuinely find peace when we, like the shepherds, fix our eyes on Jesus, gaze upon His divine excellence, and behold the glory of the Lord. His glory is shining all around us, too, when we look for it and let it transform us.

In the song “Everything Glorious,” David Crowder sings, “My eyes are small but they have seen the beauty of enormous things… From glory to glory, You [Jesus] are glorious. You make everything glorious, and I am Yours. What does that make me?”

We pray you embrace true peace this Christmas and throughout the new year, and we pray you join us in fixing our eyes upon Jesus and allowing Him to transform us. May our small eyes see the beauty of enormous things in 2011!

From glory to glory, He is glorious!

More Piles of White Stuff

Diana B.2 Comments

As the snow continues to pile up in frightfully large amounts outside — they say it’s the snowiest December on record here in Minnesota — the girls and I are making some additional piles of white stuff in the kitchen. You know, piles of flour and powdered sugar and sparkling sugar sprinkles…

Ahh, sugar cookies. Michael and I had mixed up the dough last night, so it was nice and chilled this morning. The girls and I started rolling out the dough mid-morning, and I don’t think we stopped until nearly 3 p.m.! Whew! 

It’s been nearly two years since we’ve made sugar cookies, and my children’s decorating skills seem to have progressed noticeably. The funniest thing about today was the red hot cinnamon candies because Laurel kept referring to them as “hot rods.”  Linnea decided that was easier and more fun to say, so all day long it was “hot rod” this and that…

After shoveling in countless cookies topped with buttercream frosting, I put my “sugar rush” to good use by shoveling the entire the driveway. Sadly, the snow was coming down at a rate of one inch per hour, so the driveway was completely white again when Michael drove in from work. At least I still had some sugar cookies left to show for our efforts!