day-after-Valentines Cookies

Nothing says Valentines Day like sugar cookies, agreed? Well we at least got ours made the day after Valentines Day - good enough, right? What a fun thing for James though - he helped so much and loved it! I think that holidays are such great times for family traditions, and this is such a fun one :) Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day with lots of LOVE.

"I made cookies, Mommy!!"

wafflelibraryfriday.

wafflelibraryfriday: noun. A day (usually a Friday) in which our family eats a yummy waffle breakfast together, then goes on a trip to the library. It's also kind of a fun word to say. Try it.

We actually haven't been able to do this as much lately with Daddy's work schedule, but we still love going to the library together (even if it's not on a Friday)! This has become a fun family tradition. James especially loves it. He not only loves reading books there (his current favorite is the Clifford the Big Red Dog series) but loves to play on the toys there in the children's section.

Mommy and Daddy also love checking out books, but have found that with a toddler who just wants to play in one section of the library, it is much easier to reserve the books online and then pick them all up in the same place.

And we love waffles! I didn't used to make them so often because they always seemed like too much work for a sleepy mama who really isn't a morning person. But then I came up with a great solution. I make multiple recipes of the dry ingredients and then dump them all in a canister to make my own waffle mix! Then all I have to do is measure out how much I need, then add the milk, oil, and eggs...it is so much faster!

Here's my recipe:

Favorite Waffle Mix

1 and 3/4 cup flour (I use a combination of white & wheat)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Make as many recipes of this as you need to fill your canister or container. Make sure all the ingredients are mixed together well.

And when you're ready to whip up some quick, yummy waffles:

Favorite Waffles

Separate yolks/whites of 2 eggs.
Put yolks in a large bowl.
Beat the whites in a separate bowl with a hand mixer until fluffy; set aside.

To egg yolks add:

1 and 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup oil
1 and 3/4 cup Favorite Waffle Mix

Beat with hand mixer until smooth. Fold in egg whites.

This recipe makes quite a bit and feeds our little family of 3 for a couple of meals. I either make half a recipe or I save the remaining batter in the fridge for the next morning.

Enjoy!

we don't usually eat on the floor...but sometimes it's fun :)

white elephant

Nana decided that since the whole family was home, we should do our traditional Christmas Eve white elephant gift exchange! You never know what you'll get at this crazy party...


The gifts...


Rebecca got an awesome outfit from Jeff - isn't it cute?


Benjaminor and his t-ball set


I think Daniel really loved his pink mirror I gave him...:)


And then there was the highly-coveted cocoa-motion. It probably got stolen about 20 times - especially once someone figured out that if someone stole it from you, all you had to do was steal your spouse's gift and then have your spouse steal the cocoa-motion back for you (you can't steal something right back that was just stolen from you...) Here is Sierra, after stealing it from someone...


And Kathleen takes it...


Joseph has it...


Nanna takes it...


And Kathleen is the lucky winner!