Thankful Thursday, Friday Cookies, Weekend Wrap Up & My Chandler Would Be 11

So on Thursday, instead of writing my normal Thankful Thursday post, I decided to take a break.

Mark took the kids to Waco to go visit his family and when I came home from work, I had the evening all to myself. I washed, dried and put away a load of laundry. I swept and mopped the kitchen and foyer floor. Then I took a shower, washed and dried my hair, repainted my toe nails and plucked by eyebrows. You know, the things you really need to do but are usually in a hurry and it just goes by the wayside. Then I made myself a sandwich and sat down and was able to watch the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love. Very cute movie.

I was very thankful for a weeknight completely to myself. And yes, I enjoy the laundry and the sweeping and mopping when I am completely alone.

Here are my Friday cookies I made for the local bank.

 These are soft zucchini spice cookies. They turned out really good.

When I came home from work on Friday, I walked in the door and there were a total of 4 kids in my kitchen, standing around and eating popsicles. Now, Mark and I tease each other all the time about going to the Ukraine and adopting more children. So, I asked Mark if he had made a quick trip to the Ukraine while I was at work. Turned out, it was one of Ethan's friend's little brother and sister. Ethan's friend and his mom went to the store to get last minute items for his birthday party and Mark volunteered to watch the little ones. But once I got home, Mark said he had a bad headache and wanted to go lay down. So, my Thursday evening was nice and quite and my Friday was, well, loud.

Ethan had a great time at the party on Saturday. While he was at the party, I took Emily to go see Brave. The movie we in 3D. Did you know you need 3D glassed to watch a 3D movie? I thought you could watch the movie without the glasses, but to get the 3D effect, you need the glasses. Not true. Once the movie came on and everything was blurry, I quickly realized that I needed the glasses. I was wondering why the lady passing out those glasses looked at me funny when I told her "No thanks, I don't need them.". I had to climb down the stairs in the dark and get a pair. Live and learn.

This afternoon, about 24 of us from church went out to eat lunch. Mark's ex-step dad (who raised him a majority of his childhood, but his mom is no longer married to) and his wife, Brenda came down for a visit from Missouri. Mark considers Bob his dad and we were thrilled for Ethan and Emily to spend time with another set of grandparents.

Emily, Bob,  Brenda & Ethan

One last thing. Monday the 25th would have been Chandler's 11th birthday.

I miss this boy so much. I allowed myself a good cry on the way to work, but I asked God for strength for the rest of the day, which He so wonderfully granted. So, happy 11th birthday, sweet boy. I miss you more than words can say. I'm crying as I write this, but I know you are with Jesus and I will see you once again. That is so very comforting. I love you.

Thankful Thursday

I'm back in the swing of things at work after our vacation. Just one week ago we were in Branson. Our vacation absolutely flew by.

Well, I did find a few things I'm thankful for to help me through my first week back at work.

Added a few of these babies to my ice cream.

My new favorite gum.

I found this the other day! Heaven...

Thin Mint Nestle Crunch!!

So, since I'm on this chocolate mint kick, the only logical cookies I could make for cookie Friday are these...

Chocolate Mint Cookies!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a picture of Emily's Popsicle she wanted to show you...

Anyway, I'm thankful for a good week back at work. I'm thankful for the job I have, (even though I'd drop it in a minute to be a SAH mom, if I could!!), and that I found all these wonderful things in chocolate mint.

Oh yeah, I'm sharing my recipe for these wonderful cookies. I hope you like chocolate mint and enjoy!

Chocolate Mint Cookies
Adapted from allrecipes.com

I was able to get about 4 dozen cookies.

6 tbl butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbl water
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup mint chocolate chips (I used Andes baking mints)
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp peppermint extract
More Andes baking mint chips for melting on top of cookies


1. Heat the butter, sugar and water in a small pot over medium heat; stir occasionally until melted. Remove from heat and pour in both semisweet & mint chips. Stir until melted. Set the mixture aside to cool for 10 minutes.

2. Pour the chocolate into a mixing bowl and beat in the egg. In separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir into the chocolate mixture. Add the extract and stir again. Put the dough into the fridge for 1 hour to chill.

3. Preheat oven to 350. Grease the cookie sheets.

4. Roll the dough into 1-inch sized balls and place the cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do no overbake.

5. When cookies are removed from the oven, sprinkle some of the baking mint chips on each cookies. Let the chips melt slightly and spread the chocolate with a knife or back of spoon to cover the top of the cookies. Cool completely and enjoy!

Thankful Thursday!

We've had a busy week. I'm trying to catch up with everything at work by Friday since we'll be leaving for Branson next week. We are so excited!!!!

But, here is this weeks thankful list.

#1. Remember my post about our microwave dying? Well, the microwave fairy (AKA, husband) came and I now have an over the stove microwave! Do you hear the angels singing. I'm pretty sure I did!

#2. Mark took the kids to Waco earlier this week so the kids could visit his family and Emily got to play with her beloved cousin, Angelina. Mark said both girls cried when it was time to go. I was glad they got to spend time with family that lives a few hours away. Also, I got to a few hours of alone time before they came home. Angels singing? I believe so!

#3. I had a special order for some Longhorn sugar cookies. They turned out fabulous! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of them. :(

But, this weeks Friday cookies I make for a local bank are these; no bake cookies.

Chocolate, PB & Oatmeal! Yes! The angels are definitely singing.

Thankful Thursday!

This week I'm thankful for quite a few things.

#1. I have this medical issue that started in October. I was really sick on Halloween and this issue keeps coming back. I've been to the doctor twice with this issue already. Well, I started to have the same issue again. Fortunately, I work for the county sheriff's office and employees can go see the jail doctor on the days she comes in. I was able to go see her and she confirmed what the last two doctor visits have told me. She gave me a script for some meds and some names of doctors to refer me to. The visit to see her was free, I just had to pay for my prescription. I'm feeling better today than I have in a week. And believe me, I'm very thankful for that. Please pray for me. This issue is severely painful and it seems the only relief is surgery. I really don't want to go down that path, but I also am tired of being in pain.

#2. Today was the last day of school! Woo Hoo!!!! Here is the first day of school this year.

Here is the last day. Oh yeah, we also got a new couch.

Besides being our pastor, my husband also works for our school district, so he's out for the summer. He will be home with both kids all summer. I think he looks forward to sleeping in, but I'm not sure he's excited about spending his days with two fighting kids.

#3. I successfully made meringue.

My hubby loves chocolate meringue pie. So, I thought I'd take a crack at it. I was super excited how this turned out. I give you the recipe later, right now I need to get to bed.

I hope everyone has a blessed week!

Jennifer

Thankful Thursday on Friday & My Baby Graduates!

Sorry I didn't get to my Thankful Thursday. Honestly, not a whole lot has been going on this week. On top of that, I came home from sick from work yesterday afternoon. After I came home, I changed clothes, wrapped myself in a blanket and crashed on the couch for a couple hours. It's what I really needed, and I totally forgot about updating my blog.

Well, last summer our AC went out. A couple months ago it was our water heater. This week, it's been this...

Our microwave. Don't hate because it's still sitting on a 1970's wallpapered shelf that the lady who lived in our house before us wallpapered. She put wallpaper on every wall in the house, even on the kitchen ceiling. Yes, there is wallpaper on our kitchen ceiling. True story. Anyway, I figure one day, I'm gonna get one of the over the stove microwaves. This microwave started to heat only 5 seconds at a time!

In the mean time, did you know the oven heats things, not just bakes them? Who knew? It's only taking it 5x longer to heat leftovers than my microwave, but whateves!

The big and "I'm thankful" news is this...

My baby graduated from Kindergarten today!

This picture makes me so happy. I love them both so much!

Me and my baby girl.

And, if you remember my little rant I did on parents who have no social training, (if not, you can read it here) it happened again. Here is my view of all the kindergarten classes singing.

Sheesh!!!!

Praying everyone has a wonderful week!

Love, Jennifer

Thankful Thursday!

Happy Thursday! I hope everyone is having a good week.

A few things I'm thankful for this week:

#1. So glad it's getting near the end of the school year. It's been a hard year for Ethan in 3rd grade and Ethan + Homework = 1 really frustrated momma! He told me that he will not be having anymore homework for the rest of the year. Can I get an Amen?! I don't even want to think about homework in 4th grade!

#2. Mark has started to get our agenda going for our trip to Branson. He already reserved our hotel room and bought tickets to Silver Dollar City and to Joseph The Musical.

I excited about seeing this play. I'm so excited for the kids to see this Bible story acted out in real life, to make it a little more real for them. This is going to be a great Bible lesson in front of their eyes.
They say that real animals walk down the aisles and Mark booked our seats on the floor where the animals will walk pass us.

If anyone has any suggestions on something we have to see or do while in Branson, feel free to let me know.

#3. Did I tell you I have my first paying cookie gig? A local bank orders 4 dozen homemade cookies every Friday.

First I made these...

Chocolate Chip Pecan

Next I made these...

Orange Vanilla Cream

This week, it's...

Oatmeal Chocolate Covered Raisin

I'm officially is cookie Heaven! Have a great rest of the week!

Thankful Thursday!

So the other night after supper, Emily went to play outside. Ethan then said he was going to ride his bike around the block. Ethan has a little more freedom than Emily. He can ride his bike around our neighborhood as long as he tells us where he's going, we agree on it, and he follows the rules.

So, I'm cleaning the kitchen, Emily's outside playing and Ethan says he's going bike riding. A little bit later, I get a phone call from my dad, who tells me that not only Ethan is at their house, but Emily's there too. My parents live three houses down from us, however we're in a subdivision out in the county, so they may be three houses down, but they're 1/2 a mile away.

I tell my dad that Emily is not supposed to be down there and he should send both kids back home. Now, Mark waits outside for them. When they come home, I can hear Mark, not yelling, but being very stern with Emily, telling her she knows she is not to leave the yard and explaining why. Next, I hear Emily crying.

Emily has a very tender heart. She's very sensitive. The other day she received a "yellow" on her behavior folder for talking too much (she's really like her dad, no kidding!) and cried when she showed it to me. Well, needless to say, she knew she had done wrong. She knows she's  not to leave the yard. So, she cried off and on all night. After getting her out of the bathtub and drying her off, she started to cry again. I reiterated to her we were not mad at her, we are supposed to protect her and we do that by not allowing her leave the yard by herself until she's older.

Now's the time I tell you that I have been reading "The Help"

So, while I was drying my baby off and she started to cry again, I just wrapped the towl around her, told her she was a good girl and how much we love her, then this book came to my mind. So as I held her, I said this...

This book is very good by the way. I have yet to see the movie.

So, I'm thankful for such a tender-hearted baby girl. I pray she will carry that sweet, gentle spirit with her all the days of her life.

Lastly, after I got home this afternoon, Ethan asked me if he could call his dad. I said sure. He dials, then realizes he misdialed and hangs up. The phone rings again and Ethan picks it up. He's talking to someone, so I assume it was Mark. Then, Ethan hands the phone to me and tells me they need to speak with me.

Me:  "Hello?"

Them: "Hi. This is Bastrop County Sheriff's Office. Your son just dialed 911 and I'm making sure everything's alright."

Me: "This is who?"

Yep, we had our first 911 misdial. I explain everything's fine, my son misdialed trying to call his dad.

I'm thankful for what happened next. Ethan started crying, because he didn't mean to call 911. He knows that is for emergencies only. But Ethan's not one to cry. When he does something wrong he is usually stone, blanked faced. He get's defensive. We're not sure if that's due to the ACC, or that's his make-up genetically or what. ACC kids sometimes don't know how to react in certain social situations, they get confused or they just don't understand severity of certain situations. They sometimes don't get sarcasm and have a hard time reading facial expressions.

But he actually showed true, real emotion to this lesson. I explained it's ok, I wasn't mad, he just needs to be more careful next time while dialing. He said alright, then proceeded to call his dad, correctly this time. But I was actually impressed with this!

So, today I'm thankful for little ones who may have shed some tears this week, but learned some important  lessons. And I'm thankful that I was there to hug them, tell them how much I loved them and explain to them that even though mistakes were made, they are loved, they are cherished, and they are still kind, smart and important.

Thankful Thursday

This has kinda been a hard week with Ethan and his behavior. It seems that it has been constant disciplining. I'm just worn out. But, I'm going to praise my Lord anyway. So, here goes this weeks Thankful Thursday.

#1. Holy Smokes! Have you tried these? If you've read my blog for any length of time, you would see I love all things chocolate mint. These are really good. I want to lick the tubs when I'm done. I may or may not have done that behind my office door. I'm truly thankful I found these babies!!!

#2. When Ethan was in kindergarten, at the beginning of the year his teacher asked the parents of each student to send $5 so she could purchase snacks for the class for the whole year. This year, Emily's kindergarten teacher does it differently. She sends home the "Snack Bag". If your child comes home with the "Snack Bag", you have to fill it up with snacks and send it the next day with your child.

I have gotten the beloved bag twice and I was giddy and excited each time to make something extra special to send for snacks. However, I didn't notice that I was pretty lucky to get the bags on a Friday, so I had the whole weekend to come up with a snack.

Tuesday night, around 6:30, I opened Emily's back pack and look what I found.

Here's me with said bag. Smiling of all things.

So I rummaged around and remembered that I bought ingredients to try a new recipe I found for Applesauce Muffins. I had to double the recipe and luckily I had everything. They turned out wonderful. I even got a note home from the teacher thanking me for the yummy muffins. I did manage to keep one and have it the next day for a snack at work. They were pretty good if I say so myself.

You can find the recipe here.

#3. My Hubby picked up his new tailored suits he bought a couple of weeks ago. It was such a blessing to me to see him happy and confident in a new suite.

#4. Last but not least, we have decided to take a family vacation this year! A real, let's pack up the car and drive the family somewhere that's not around here, vacation. Yeah! First time, since, well before we had kids. So excited. We're thinking Branson!


Hope everyone has a blessed week! Love, Jennifer

Thankful Thursday

Thank you to everyone who said a prayer for Ethan this week. He took the state mandated STAAR test on Tuesday and Wednesday. One of his teachers email us and told us that he was much more focused on Tuesday than Wednesday. She said on Wednesday he couldn't hardly sit still in his seat. I know that's because we took him off of his current ADHD meds because he was developing tics. Once off of that particular med, his tics went away. So, now he needs a non-stimulant that will work on the ADHD but not give him tics. Yeesh!!!

Anyway, this week I'm thankful for several things.

#1. There's this restaurant in the town we live in and we discovered that on Tuesday's kids eat free. On top of that, if you get there for the early bird special, you get buy one entree, get the second half off! Yes!

This is a nice, sit down restaurant, not fast food. All four of us walked out of there for $14 bucks. Sweet!!

Bad phone pic!

Emily loves her some corndogs!

#2. This Wednesday was Administrative Professionals Day. And my boss totally remembered!!! He brought me flowers and gave me a really sweet card. It was so nice to be remembered!

My flowers!

#3.  We will be celebrating my sweet daddy's 59th birthday tomorrow. I'm so blessed to have a wonderful Christian father who has been a significant Christian influence on me and my family. Happy Birthday, Daddy!

My Dad & Max

I say this all the time, but I don't think my words can express it enough! I am so blessed! Thank you sweet Jesus for being with my family and I this week. And thank you that I am able to have my dad with me and that we're able to celebrate another year of his life!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful today for many things.

I'm thankful for these boxes.

Our water heater had a slow leak and for about a week we had to take very quick showers if we didn't want to bathe in ice cold water.

The hub not only replaced the water heater, but he bought a new lawn mower. I'm thankful for the money to replace the two big items and for a hubby who replaced the water heater and then went and mowed the lawn.

I'm thankful for a little boy who is still willing to help his daddy with the yard.

I'm thankful that I was able to give birth to a healthy little girl, who now loves to climb, tumble and flip.

I'm so grateful for my family. I have been very blessed.

Every Thursday I'm going to try and post what I'm thankful for that week. Hope you enjoy.