Sugar Cookies

This morning was day 2 of our Valentine's Day countdown ... in the boy's mailbags were these notes and number cookie cutters ...

I was so happy to see that Braydon saw his mailbag today and was excited to get his note!

It was upside down, but we are getting there!

While Cole was checking his mailbag out, Braydon became distracted by the trash truck ... it is a very exciting thing when you are a 2 year old boy!

Today we were going to count all the ways we love the special people in our lives.  To get us started we thought it would be fun to make number sugar cookies to help us count our ways.

The recipe that I used for the sugar cookies is pretty easy if you are planning to involve your kids ... you mix everything in one bowl!

Mix 3 c flour, 1 c sugar, 2/3 c powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/4 tsp salt and 1 egg in the bowl.  Melt 1 1/4 c of butter ...

and then pour in with the other ingredients.  Make sure to blend all together until the dough forms.

Braydon got an early start on the mixing and then headed upstairs for a nap.  Braydon was up EARLY this morning ... the joys of him not sleeping with his binky- so he went down for an early nap today and slept a long time too- which meant Cole, Mommy and Daddy celebrated our day ... perhaps tomorrow will be a fun day for Braydon!!  

Cole picked up where Braydon left off and mixed everything really well.  

We then floured our bread board and rolled the dough into a ball.

We wrapped it in saran wrap and left it in the refrigerator for 2 hours to chill.

Considering Braydon was napping and we had 2 hours to wait, we found a quiet activity to do ... we cut out 15 hearts and wrote the names of special people in Cole's life on the hearts.  I asked Cole what he loved about each person and we wrote it down on the corresponding hearts.  It was a great opportunity for Cole to share the simple, yet loved memories and activities of those he loves -and also what he wishes he could do with those that aren't close by.  Cole picked the people he wanted to make a heart for along with what he loved, so it was completely unguided.  We COUNTED THE WAYS HE LOVED HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS, we numbered them and then hung them in his playroom on his chalkboard wall.

Cole was so proud of his work!  When we finished we read All the Ways I Love You.  This book is special to the boys- with each turn of the page, the story is read aloud by my Mom ... it is such a great way for the boys to sit quietly and be read to by someone close to their heart when they aren't near to hear it read in person.  Cole was missing my Mom, so this was a perfect time to bring out the book!

The sound quality is not the greatest and it has a buzzing sound that is a mystery to me, but here is video of Cole listening to the story being read ...

He is beginning to memorize certain pages and reads the book aloud- it is such a neat book!

By this time, the dough has chilled enough so we got back to making our number sugar cookies.  We rolled out our dough onto a floured surface and began to cut our numbers out and place them onto our cookies sheets- we preheated the oven to 375 degrees.

Our numbers all ready to be baked!  Depending upon how thick you rolled out your dough, bake the cookies about 10 minutes and a little longer if they are thicker.

Mmm, our first batch was done before Daddy had to head to work for the night.  Cole gave Daddy some cuddles, packed his lunch up for him and grabbed a few cookies for the road.  As usual, when Daddy leaves for work, Cole sets up barricades for him to not get passed- blocking the door to the garage, in the hopes that he will HAVE to stay home.  It is so sad to see the tears run down his sweet face, but he tried to be strong for Daddy as he stood in the garage and whimpered, I love you, I miss you!!  Moments like these, I ache for Jeremy knowing it must be so hard for him to drive away, but it makes me so grateful that he works so hard for our family so that I get to stay home with our boys.  Today I too counted all the ways I love my boys, but also my husband!