2.13.15 Valentine's

I love sugar cookies. They are a serious weakness. My friend is one of the best sugar cookie makers I know. Usually we just enjoy her craft at cub scout pack meetings, but her boys have moved on. Additionally it's valentine's week and the blog world is awash with grand cookie events. Not to be outdone I thought it would be "fun" to do a cookie activity with my children.

Royal frosting is fun and cheap to do. Not as delicious as buttercream. but the swirling was fun.

I got her recipe, bought a decorating kit, experimented with new frosting techniques and we accomplished making a sugar cookie for all the kids at the elementary school my 5 kids attend.

Learning to do sugar cookies. They did a good job once we stopped rolling paper and just gently rolled the dough.

There is a reason I say I hate Valentine's day is the 60 + valentines that are required to be part of the class.  This was one major benefit of switching to a dual grade school, several of my kids had the same class so we cut our requisite valentines in half!!! Nonetheless the making of those 60 valentines- while fun- was a lot of time and mess- not that making 60 frosted cookies was less. However, sugar cookies were different from our 'you're super' in cape form on a sucker. Sometimes I just need something different.

Frosting was an exciting challenging task. Addie of course mastered it and Livy was creative with her own cookie space

She was frosted front to back. Can you see it? She loves to sit and read books.. and taste all cooking projects.

Like all grand plans this one was good and bad and ugly and good and most important accomplished. We had moments of frustration like dumping the freshly baked cookies in the hot oven. The licking of fingers that were continuing to frost cookies we intended to give away. The coughing all over the unfrosted cookies. Frosting everywhere!! And the cool designs, the sharing moments with my kids, the accomplishment of learning how to roll and cut out cookies. Cracking the eggs... all skills.

He persisted in frosting cookies after everyone else had moved on. He did a great job with his psychedelic creations

I've learned in the raising of this family that it's important to count small successes and to give credit for endurance. Life is not so perfect as the blogs I viewed in preparation. My counters are always full of our life. Note the lunchbox lineup- we so "stupidly" refuse the free lunch of school and continue to send homelunch. We share water hence the empty jugs. But we have smiles and accomplishment and so with the bad is the good and it's a choice which we dwell on. I try to forget the bad- I have a bad memory so it's not too hard.  I keep thinking I can do that, or this, because deep down even though it is a tremendous fight to get all 10 kiddos going in one direction (and possibly a bigger fight to hold onto that vision in my mind) it is worth it to see them grow. And I have learned time and again I am blessed beyond my meager abilities to do much more than I should be able. I humbly acknowledge this Heavenly help and am so grateful for that Divine blessing in my crazy life.

John rolled the first batch then disappeared. Hence he got to wash dishes so we could enjoy his company. He's my most stalwart dishwasher. I guess practice makes perfect.

So Happy Valentine's Day! It has come to pass another year in the books and we are preparing now for the cub scout cake auction... big plans. With two cub scouts it should be fun.