Shop 'Til You Drop...or Freeze

One of my favorite things to do with my girlfriends is to go to Canton, TX to shop. If you've never been, you need to try it. Once a month, the Canton flea market opens for the weekend with all kinds of goodies to be found. Flea market really doesn't do it justice, because we find good stuff there, not just junk. Anyway, J agreed to give me a kid-free day yesterday, so my sweet friend Sharon & I bundled up as only true Canton loyalists do & headed east.
We absolutely froze our hineys off, but we had such a great time & it wasn't crowded at all. Shocker! Speaking of hineys, I was almost rolling on the floor laughing & had tears in my eyes when we happened upon this booth. Sharon had been telling me about seeing students wearing leggings that were made to look like jeans, but I had no idea what she was talking about. The reality was way better than anything I could have pictured, so I had to document it. If you currently own a pair of these, please don't take offense, but they're just not for me.
I didn't end up with any of the things I actually went in search of but still managed to find plenty of great stuff. Sharon went with no particular agenda & ended up with quite a load, but they were all such great deals!
Thanks, sweet friend, for a great day! There's no one I'd rather risk frostbite with!

Yummy to My Tummy: Sugar Cookies & Icing

Since I've made cookies for a lot of showers & events, I often get asked for the yummy recipe. I take absolutely no credit for how delicious they are since all of my recipes are obtained from other people, but I'm happy to share! This week, I decided to make some snowflake cookies in honor of the reappearance of winter weather here in DFW. These will probably be the only snowflakes we see at our house. Happy baking!
Favorite Sugar Cookies
(This recipe was given to me by my friend Renae at my recipe shower when we got married & is my favorite that I've ever tasted. The only thing I've modified is the amount of flour since 3 cups just left mine too crumbly.)

1 C butter, softened
1/2 C sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter & sugar; add egg & vanilla. Gradually add dry ingredients until well blended. Refrigerate one hour, then roll out & cut into shapes. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Royal Icing
(There are many variations of this icing out there, but I like this one that I found with a random Google search one time. To achieve the smooth surface shown for the snowflakes, thin the icing with small amounts of milk, then dip the cookies face down into the icing.)

3 egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 (16 oz) package powdered sugar
assorted food coloring

Beat egg whites & cream of tartar with an electric mixer at medium speed until foamy; gradually add sugar, mixing well. Beat 5-7 minutes. Tint with desired colors.

Anna's Icing
(This cake icing is my pick when I cover the cookies with a star tip design. It's also great for piping or spreading. My sweet friend Anna is the cookie queen & was generous enough to share this recipe & then teach me how to use it. Be sure to keep it cold so your stars will hold their form.)

2 lb bag powdered sugar
3/4 C shortening
2/3 C whole milk
1 tsp almond extract
2 tsp imitation butter flavoring
dash of salt
assorted food coloring

Mix all ingredients several minutes with an electric mixer. Tint with desired colors.

I'm in (laundry) heaven!

Right before J & I got married, we bought this washer & dryer. Nothing fancy, but they worked quite well for several years. Over the past year & a half, I think the burden of twin-generated laundry just got to them. Actually the dryer was fine, but the washer sounded as if it was preparing for lift-off into space every time it went through a spin cycle. For the last month or so, it even added a lovely high-pitched squeal. We didn't pay that much for them to begin with, so the cost of repairs seemed counter intuitive. Needless to say, it was time for an upgrade.
These babies are my new pride & joy! Okay, maybe that's a stretch. I still probably wouldn't pick doing laundry over lots of other fun things, but these do make the prospect way more appealing. They even play nice little songs for me when they're done instead of that annoying buzzer. What more could a girl want?

Everything's Better With a Backpack

Especially when that thing is skipping the last half of your nap to hang out with Mommy, like Mal did yesterday.
Such a stinker!

Bad Hair Day

Yesterday's ponytail
+
no bath last night because we had small group
+
one night of sleep
=
(zoom in if you can't see it - it's worth it)

Jake doesn't have near as much hair to mess up, although his does have some crazy, fuzzy curls in the back.
A funny Jake story: Last night, I was finishing up the dinner dishes with both kids hovering around my legs when I got a faint whiff of something unpleasant. J was working on something in the office, so I hollered over the kids' racket to ask if he could take care of the dirty diaper. He said he could, so I looked at the twins & said, "If you pooped your pants, go see your Daddy." Jake immediately took off running for Daddy & was indeed the poopy one. It's so funny how much they understand even though they can't always communicate back to us. J was very proud that he got him to say "poo poo" as they were walking upstairs to change it. Hmm...we may regret that one.