Cookies and the Constitution?

These past couple of weeks, Emily's social studies class has been studying the Constitution. Her teacher explained that, like a recipe for cookies, all of the essential ingredients need to be present in order for the cookies to come out right, for the recipe to work. The Constitution also needs certain essentials in order for it to work.

Her teacher, Mr. Fox, broke the class into 8 groups for the unit. For one of their projects, each group was to bring in a batch of homemade cookies to share with the rest of the class. They got points for taste, look, and creativity. Emily volunteered to be the cookie maker for her group. She asked my mom (Mimi) to come over and help her make them. (My mom blogged about it here.) Em said they got the highest points in the class for her hot dog cookies.







Hot Dog Cookies

1 recipe Butter Cookie Dough (see below)
liquid food colors
red and yellow frosting
green coarse granulated sugar

1. Prepare dough. Use 1/3 of dough to make "hot dogs." Refrigerate remaining 2/3 dough. Mix food colors in small bowl to get reddish-brown color following chart on back of food color box. Add reserved 1/3 dough. Mix color throughout dough using wooden spoon. Refrigerate 4 hours.
2. Divide colored dough into 18 equal sections. Roll each section into thin long shape. Round edges. Set aside.
3. To make "buns" divide remaining dough into 18 equal sections. Roll sections into thick logs. Make a very deep indentation the length of log in centers; smooth edges to create buns. Place two inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Place hot dogs inside buns.
4. Freeze 20 minutes. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven. Bake 15-17 minutes or until bun edges are light golden brown. Cool completely on cookie sheets.
5. Top hot dogs with piped red and yellow frosting to look like ketchup and mustard. Sprinkle with green sugar.

Makes 18 cookies.

Butter Cookie Dough
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

Combine butter, both sugars and egg yolk in medium bowl. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Cover; refrigerate about 4 hours or until firm.

Work Day

Most Saturdays we get up and do some kind of work around the house. This morning we got up to wash the cars and do some yard work. We started off pretty well. Chad, Megan and I washed his truck. Abbey put out windmills and played with the dog. (Don't tell me she doesn't know how to work hard!! haha!) Dennis enjoyed his first work day by wandering around the yard sniffing and being carried around by two very willing girls!

Meet Dennis...

Meet Dennis... the newest member of the family! The girls are THRILLED to have him!

My Young Rembrandt

Abbey has been taking an art class after school one day a week. She is really enjoying herself. We thought we'd share some of her projects with you all.

Prop 8

I don't like to get political. I try to avoid it as much as possible, but this video really affected me. Just thought I'd share...

A father goes to jail to protect his son

Maturity

Recently, Abbey and I have had a few conversations about maturity. We've talked about how that now that she is eight years old, it's time for her be a little more responsible. She needs to pick up after herself a little more. She needs to help a little more around the house. She doesn't need someone to help her clean her room or sort her laundry or load her dishes into the dishwasher. She needs to make her bed and brush her teeth without being asked and without complaining about it.

Well, this morning I got up at the usual 7:00am to wake up the girls for school and get the day going. I always start with Megan and work my way around to Abbey then Emily. So, I woke Megan (always a little difficult as she is such a deep sleeper) and moved on to Abbey. I walked into her room and this is what I found. My heart skipped a beat before I realized that she must already be up. I checked the bathroom, but no, she wasn't there.



I went to check downstairs and this is what I found...



Up. Dressed. Made bed. Brushed hair and teeth. Eating breakfast.
READING THE PAPER??????????





I wanted her to grow up a little...not turn THIRTY!!



Tonight as I was tucking her in to bed, I asked her if there was anything she'd like me to pray for tomorrow at Moms-In-Touch. She said "Could you pray that I would keep my green card everyday at school (that's for good behavior), that I would be kind to others, and...um...that I would do more things without being asked."

What more could a mom ask for?

I guess she was listening.....(HALLELUJAH!)

Running...For Fun?

Many of you know that Chad has taken up running half marathons this year. If not, you can read about his hobby here.

Well, somehow I thought it would be fun if the girls and I ran a race too. We found a race in Long Beach and Chad signed up for another half marathon. Emily and I signed up to run the 5K and we registered Megan and Abbey for the Kids One Mile Fun Run.

We went up to Long Beach on Saturday so we could pick up our running packets at the Health and Fitness Expo. We also decided that spending the night in Long Beach made more sense than driving up so early in the morning. We brought my mom and Em's best friend with us. Mom helped get the girls to their race on time and Emily's friend was an excellent cheer leader.


The morning of the race was COLD. Abbey did not appreciate having to get up early in order to freeze...

Chad ended up running his personal best time:

Finish Time: 1:43:22
Pace: 7:54
Overall: 477 of 7410
Men: 389 of 2997
M35-39: 79 of 495




And Emily...who knew she was such a runner?

5K
Finish Time: 28:41
Pace 9:14
Overall: 358 of 1565
Women: 119 of 980
F 1-15: 14 of 54

Wow Em! I am SO proud of you!

Megan and Abbey did really well too! They didn't get official times but they both said that they had fun and that a mile was a lot shorter than they thought!



I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, but the girls helped me run the home stretch.

We are already looking forward to doing this again. Abbey even told me she wants to do the 5K next time!