Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

My kitchen is HOPPING today!!   I spent a couple of hours at school this morning, making copies & doing random odd jobs to help out the teachers, and now I am baking my little heart out!  Tomorrow is fall festival at our church, and I volunteered to make cookies.  I love baking.  Cooking is ok, but I really enjoy baking.   Of course, it is also much more fattening....   oh well!   Today I am making about 12 dozen chocolate chip cookies for the church festival, and figured I might as well make a few extra for the boys' teachers.   Hey, when you are making 12 dozen, what's an extra 3 or 4 dozen???  You lose count in there somewhere.

Every time I take these cookies to an event they disappear so fast I can't believe it.  I have been asked for the recipe dozens of times!! They are always nice & fluffy, never flat & runny. They are soft and wonderful.  If you like a crunchy cookie, bake them a couple minutes longer.  So, here ya go.   My nearly-famous magically-disappearing Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.


ULTIMATE Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup butter flavor Crisco
1 1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips**
1 cup chopped pecans**

Combine Crisco  sugar, milk & vanilla in a large bowl.   Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended.  Beat egg into creamed mixture.  Combine flour, salt, & soda.  Mix into creamed mixture just until blended.  Stir in chocolate chips & nuts.  Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for 10 minutes for soft chewy cookies, or 11-13 minutes for crispy crunchy cookies.  Cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.  **If nuts are omitted, add another 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

The best.  By far.  Just ask my husband.  These cookies might be the whole reason he married me.

paper pockets

today i ripped your name off the board. all the little paper pockets with so many names.  gone.  all of them in the trash.  and it hurt.  it was one more reminder that today is not yesterday.  i have never been one for living in the past, but today i wanted to.  i wanted everyone and everything to go away and leave me alone.  alone in the past.  where i was comfortable.  where i knew where i stood.  where i knew you were there.  yesterday, where it felt safer, friendlier, more comfortable.  today is unknown.  i don't like unknown.   

as i peeled off all those little paper pockets, some of them came off easily.  fine.  some of them were stubborn, and left little bits behind.   i can handle stubborn.  but some of them tore, and ripped, and left most of their paper attached to the board....  and i cried.  it hurt, ripping them off.  forcing them to leave the home they were so firmly attached to.  and i asked myself why for the hundredth millionth time.  the pain was so fresh again.  i was reminded, yet again, that we are not together anymore. ripped apart, just like those little paper pockets.  again i felt angry, hurt, sad, frustrated, betrayed...  and i hated each and every new paper pocket that i put in those places.  more and more and more unfamiliar unknowns. replacing the ones from before.  it's not fair.  i don't like change.

i don't want to move on.  i don't want to pretend like what we had didn't exist.  i feel like that is what they want me to do... but i won't.  i can't.  it was too wonderful.  you can't just ignore wonderful. but they didn't care.  don't cry because it is over, they say.  be thankful because you had it, they say.  easy for them to say.  they didn't have it.  they don't know what i'm missing

 i move on.  i go forward.  i will not live in the past.   but it is hard.  and it still hurts.

A new adventure begins...

The first day of school is always a new adventure, but especially so this year.  The first day of  the new John Thomas School of Discovery - a new year, a new school, a new kindergartener.... so many first steps today!!   My husband used to have a friend's dad who would drop them off at school and say "Boys, today is the first day of the rest of your life."   How true that is....

Are YOU ready for a new adventure???

I LOVE IT!!

Well, we are finally ALMOST finished with the play room.   I thought I was done once, but I was wrong...    Two of my dear friends have moved out of state recently, and both of them had bookshelves they were getting rid of.   I can't pass up a good bookshelf.  And a free or cheap one from a friend is even that much better!!  So with a few coats of paint, and a little Pinterest inspiration, I turned three cast-off bookshelves into Play Room Perfection!!!

 

 First, we painted the three bookshelves a nice
"Lego Blue" color.  We brought them in the basement & got them positioned where we wanted, then screwed them together & used brackets to anchor them to the wall.   We wanted the two end shelves to stand up like traditional bookcases for storage, and the 3rd one we laid down to create a window-seat type sitting area, which AJ was more than happy to demonstrate.   Hunter insists that is not the only good sitting space....

Here it is after we got our stuff organized into bins & boxes, labeled, and put on the shelves.   We are putting some of the boys books here too, but keeping the majority of the books in their bedrooms.  The small wooden shelf is one my father in law made years ago that is perfect for those Lego storage boxes by Iris.  I am going to paint or cut letters on my Cricut for a quote I want over the shelf.  It will say "PLAY is the highest form of research. - Albert Einstein" 

Gotta love labels on boxes!  I printed labels off the computer with pictures of what is in each box and the words to help my learning-to-read 5 year old know where things go.  Eventually there will be a nice soft cushion on the bench part to make it a cozy spot to curl up with a good book or the latest Lego Club Magazine! We just have to go pick out the fabric.  Both boys want Lego fabric, but alas, I cannot find it

This corner has chalkboard paint on the wall, which the boys have really enjoyed.  They use that wide windowsill for displaying some of their favorite Lego builds, and store chalk and things on the Crayola shelf they got from Aunt Jenn.

This wall is where my Gramma and I have been painting Legos on the wall.   They aren't quite finished yet, but you can get the idea. 


It is definitely a Lego inspired room, but that is what my boys are really into!   We love the bright colors, without it being overwhelming. 


So, I think I will call this my Jane & Jill shelf, in honor of those friends who made this whole project possible!

Quilted Memories

Change, albeit unstoppable, is my nemesis.  This last week of school has been a very difficult week.  For the last three years I have submerged myself in the friendships, the love, the magic that has been John Thomas Elementary.   And Friday, all of that came to an end.  I was thinking about all that has happened over the last three years, and how many wonderful friendships and memories have been made.  Some of those memories I tried to preserve in quilts.  The Lawsonland quilt and the Thomas T-Shirt quilt, both of which turned out to be wonderful treasures. 

I started thinking about how many memories there are in quilts.  Almost everyone has a special memory attached to that special quilt Great-Grandma-so-and-so made.  A quilt they received as a wedding gift.  A quilt they remember sleeping under as a child.   What is is about that warm and snuggly fabric that attaches so strongly to our memories?  Some quilts are worn and ragged from years of love and use.  Some quilts are old, yet pristine, specially preserved over the years.  But no matter the condition, they hold memories.  Hundreds of moments captured in time.

It reminded me of a quilt I made in 2007, just a few months after Hunter was born.  I wanted to capture a bit of time (a year, actually) into fabric.  12 blocks, 1 for every month of the year.

It ended up being a much larger project than I anticipated, because I ended up making 4 of these.  One for each Grandma, one for Aunt Jenn, and one for Great-Grandma.  And then I decided they had to be done in time to give all 4 of them as Christmas gifts.  Each block represents a month with hand prints or foot prints, and is embellished.  Yes, I am that crazy.  No, I will not ever do that again!!!
 

 

 I ended up not having time to have all the actual quilting done, so I gave them quilt tops, the backing and binding, and let the family quilt them or have them quilted as they desired.  One day the boys will inherit these, and when they do, I hope they will give their families the opportunity attach loving memories to their own childhood hand prints.

Mission Completion!

I remember hearing those words when the kids were in their "Little Einsteins" phase...  at the end of the episode, once the job had been finished, Leo would always shout "Mission completion!"   That was how I felt when I finished the quilt I have been working on for my son's teacher.   

Much more than a teacher, she is an encourager, a true educator, a lover of books and words, a photographer, a ruby red birthday kisser, a very passionate woman who pours countless hours of love and hard work into my child and 19 others for 8 hours a day every day.   I have spent many hours in her classroom this school year, and I have seen the hand of God in her room.  I have watched the transformation of those kids as they mature through the year.  I have seen the light of joy in their eyes as they finally "get it" after struggling with a difficult concept.  I have seen her tediously, meticulously, and lovingly go over and over and over something until they grasp that concept. I have seen the explosion of excitement as kids achieve the next level of rocket math.  (Literally, it is an explosion I tell you.  Jumping, screaming, the whole bit!)  I have witnessed her patiently listen and mediate those difficult moments between kids that often come in second grade.  I have seen her comfort a hurting child, and I have seen her be Jesus with skin on.  I have seen her call a kid's bluff, and make them own up to it.  I have watched as she draws the budding scientist  out of 20 seven and eight year olds.  I have watched her dance around the room singing silly songs at the top of her lungs, and teach spelling words like a high school cheerleader (complete with megaphone and pom-poms). When it is time to have fun, she is loud, she is crazy, and she knows how to have big time fun.  When it is time to work, she is an incredibly hard worker, and expects her kids to do the same.  But even more than all of that, she is a friend. She is my friend.  And I am blessed.

 


I wanted to do something extra special for her.  Something as special as she is.  A "teacher appreciation week" gift, "end of the year" gift, "thank you for being you" kind of gift. 






I know she loves photography and quilts, and I know she loves her students, and I know she loves her color scheme in her classroom. So I combined the things I know she loves, and made her a quilt.  This quilt:

She loved it, the kids loved it, I loved it.
I loved seeing her enjoy it, watching all
 the kids as they pointed out photos of
themselves, and yelled
"OH, I remember when we...."  


over 850 individual quilt pieces
    175 days of school
    42 photos
    20 kids
+ 1 awesome teacher
------------------------------------
Lawsonland 2011-2012...  priceless.

Oh the places we'll go....

Moving Day is almost here!  8 days. (That's how long our house was on the market too... 8 days!) That's all the time we have left to pack, clean, pack some more, use up the food in the freezer, and keep packing!  :)  We are so excited about the new home we feel God has blessed us with.  I am really looking forward to life in the new house, to hosting Bible Studies with friends and youth, hosting Disciple Now weekends, providing a safe haven where our kids and their friends can hang out and know that there will always be a warm hug, a listening ear, and a good snack.  A crafty place where we can create and make memories, and a comfortable place where we can relax and catch up.  A playful place where can be loud and crazy and dance around to our favorite music.

We had the boys make up lists of what they wanted in a new house when we were house hunting.  It was very helpful because it gave us a window into what they valued as important, and what kind of spaces they would need.   It also gave us a pretty good laugh on a couple of things, especially on Hunter's list.

AJ's List:                                                          Hunter's List:            
Separate Bedrooms                                           Playroom
Shed or Workshop for Dad & AJ                     Craft Room (this was on Momma's list too!)
Flat Driveway                                                   New Refrigerator
Basketball Goal                                                New TV
Place to Ride Bikes                                          Swingset
Place for Archery Practice
Climbing Tree

We did not get the new TV on Hunter's List, and we are pretty sure we won't be able to do the swing set either.  The Archery Range on AJ's list is pretty much a big fat NO, and there is not a tree big enough to climb... yet.   But other than that, we did pretty good!   The Lord has really blessed us, and we are so very grateful.  

If you'd like to see the "Before" photos of the new house, they are pinned on my Pinterest Board. I will try to post "After" photos after we actually get moved in.  :)