Chocolate Cookie Train

This is not a review of this Chocolate Cookie Train Kit, per se, just a bit about our cookie decorating night which included said train.

We had talked to Beepa of the Forest (my mother-in-law) about her redneck gingerbread house when they visited last week.

So on a trip to Walmart, I saw the cookie train and knew my guys would love that.  I also knew Malachi would no-way-no-how-not-in-a-million-years eat those chocolate cookies.  I made a batch of sugar cookie trains for him, as well as some bells, stars, and trees.

Now, this is not my first cookie decorating rodeo with these guys.  I expected frustration, messiness, and grabbiness.  I was not disappointed.  They all came to the party.  *This time,* I was mentally prepared and I really didn't care.  I wasn't prepared for this whole fiasco, though.  I couldn't find food coloring or my sprinkles.  So, the white frosting I made remained white.  The cookie train came with frosting, too.  It was green.  And white...  Gumdrops, candy beads, and fondant were also included.  I scrounged up purple sugar and white decorating sugar and rainbow jimmies.

Also, it turns out, the train is supposed to be glued together the day before you decorate it. HA!  This thing wasn't actually going to sit around uneaten for days!  So, I finally had everything together and the boys started frosting train parts and eating the cookies I had baked.  I gave Merrick a bowl of frosting with a knife, Xav had the white frosting bag and Mal had the green frosting in a bag.  Merrick's frosting (which I had made) didn't stick to the cookie when he tried to spread it on. Xav blew out the decorator tip within seconds of starting, so he was squeezing giant blobs of frosting everywhere.  Mal did really well making nice lines of frosting and putting all the candy balls on his train.  ALL The Candy Balls.  Sigh...  By the time I sat down to decorate some cookies so Daddy would actually have a few frosted cookies, the candy balls and gumdrops were gone.  I may have stolen a few candy beads from Malachi's engine, since we weren't going to eat it anyway.

The boys were curious about the use of the "brick" cookies, as Merrick called them.  I showed them how we could have used them to hold the trains upright.  "Why would you do that?" they asked.  "Well," I said, "people put them together, decorate them, and leave them out to look at."  They were shocked.  Who doesn't eat cookies?

I got it into my head to try a chocolate cookie.  Good grief!  What was I thinking?!  Horrible!  Terrible!  F!  I realize that many people who buy a cookie kit, will display and never eat the cookie train, but seriously!  I can't possibly be the only mom with kids who would rather eat it.

Next time, we'll just do our usual bake, frost, decorate, and eat cookies.  Everyone will be so much happier.  I'll definitely look for more fun candy toppings than just sugar and sprinkles, though.

PS.  The train kit also included detailed instructions and a Wilton Cake Decorating class on Craftsy.

A Hike and a Drive ~ Field Trip Friday

This was actually a Tuesday field trip.  I'll just post it on a Friday.  'Cause it's my blog, I can do that. 

Over "The Notch".



This is a gorgeous narrow, curvy road that goes over the mountain.  It's seasonal and also is actually closed frequently even in the summer because tractor trailer drivers regularly miss the very large signs telling them not to proceed.  Sigh.  This is actually a pretty small sign.  There are several on each side.  One is *huge*.

 

We have lovely hiking there, though I have only been about halfway. There are a lot of stone steps in the beginning that are tough on my knees. I figure it's OK, it is a “difficult” level hike, after all. Micah always claims it's a nice *family* hike...

Once I've gone far enough, I head back to the car to read and people watch while the boys move on with dad. The people watching part is also good fun.

Merrick Loves "School"

I remember, back in the olden days, when a child of mine would go through an "I love school" phase.
It's been a few years since anyone here has loved school.  Including me. *sob*  But Merrick thinks he needs school all day, every day.  If I give him a stack of schoolish papers and projects to do, he would sit and work through it until it was done or time to eat again.

Just yesterday, he grabbed a piece of paper from a stack of math review sheets and asked me, "How many does plus times eight equal?"

Hey There, Delilah

There's nothing sweeter than a boy and his dad, singing a duet.



Xav made Merrick a "guitar" to play while he accompanied his dad.  Micah had a rough time keeping a straight face.

Funny Find - Snickers

I think the folks at Mars were inspired by a few members of my family when they labeled these Snickers bars.

Recipe - Creamy Banana Bread

The ripe bananas have been sitting on the counter calling to me for a few days.  I finally got around to making banana bread and we've all been scarfing down this amazing bread all afternoon.  We can't seem to stop eating it!  Merrick was my assistant cook.  He "reads" the recipe to me as well as any three year old can and he dumps the food I measure into the mixing bowl.

I used my usual plain old banana bread recipe, but I decided a few spices would be fun.  I added a bit of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and a tiny shake of ground clove.  Of course, I didn't measure any, but it really was just a taste of each.  That's just how I cook, if no one has an exact recipe.  I also add chocolate chunks because I don't love nuts in baked goods.  Then the party started.  I found this recipe and made the cream cheese filling for it.  The egg in the cream cheese kind of threw me off.  To me, cream cheese is mostly for bagels.  Who mixes it with raw eggs and bakes it?  Very smart people, let me tell you!

First, I used the small and medium Pampered Chef scoop thingies to make muffins.  One medium scoop of batter, one small scoop of filling, topped off with about half of a medium scoop of batter.  Then I still had plenty for a large loaf of bread.  I did the same thing in the loaf pan; batter, filling, batter.

Four out of five loved it.  Malachi refused to even try it.  His loss and the more there is for us!  Now I think I've eaten too much to exercise tonight!

My CFS chapel 2015

I can't believe we are on our *seventh* year at Christian Friday School.  Time flies.  Each year, all the kiddos are assigned a week to present on a topic of their choice or play an instrument.  Moms get to come up with a chapel presentation.  Some moms invite a guest to do their chapel.  I admit, every year I am sorely tempted to do the same thing.  I haven't yet, but I do half-heartedly attempt to get Micah to do it for me. He won't present, but he does sometimes help me prepare.  

My chapel presentation at Friday School this year was a mixture of Micah's idea last spring and some thoughts I had as I started to try to put it together. Every year, I think of some great chapel ideas. I never write them down. So when Micah suggested a topic along the lines of “Don't believe the lies you're told, you have value.” and mentioned someone trying to sell a rare comic book and being told it was worthless by the nefarious comic book store owner, I wrote it down. I've read it a few times since then and I've mulled over how to make it my own, keeping the great message.

What I ended up doing, was a game show. I invited three of our co-op drama kids to help me out as well as one mom. Each of the girls were given the assignment of finding some crazy object around the house and making up a silly story about it's origin, uses, and value. Then I (the crooked talk show host) would try to take advantage of them.

Two of my helpers were very quick to “sell” their items to me. One, in exchange for a “genuine” chicken egg (a pink, plastic egg) and one for a candle with the wick removed (so it could never be lit, natch!). The third girl flat out refused my offers of pocket lint, fame, fortune, etc. It was quite frustrating, actually. But our co-op mom stood behind her and kept telling her encouraging words about her value as a child of God. 

At the end of the show, I asked her how she was able to resist the wonders I offered. She had a Bible. And darn it all, she *read* it!

Then I spoke about the enemy's lies. The egg represented the false things we believe are true, how something can be nearly right, but deceives us. The candle without a wick could never be lit. The darkness can never overcome light, but without that wick, this particular candle can't shine.

The real “secret” is to hide God's Word in our hearts. Memorizing verses can seem tedious. Maybe we think we've forgotten all the verses we've memorized. But when the time comes and we really need a verse, it's still there. We find it when we need comfort, protection, and guidance.

What are some lies you've been told?  Do you know your true value?