My Boys

JillyBean LOVES playing with boys. I am not sure what it is - maybe they have cooler toys - but she really enjoys running around with boys. I guess for a girl that she can be a little rough. That's probably our fault for constantly spinning her around and "wrestling" with her from such an early age. She can be a bit of a dare devil. But she also very girlie and loves to play with her dolls and wear dresses. And pink jeans. I cannot tell you how many mornings we have to have the pink jeans discussion. She would wear them every other day if I let her, or if she had more than two pair.

I have joked that I am going to have to find an all-girls preschool for Bean to attend because I am not sure if she can focus on the teacher if she connects with a little boy in class. I was told that there is such a place here in Charlottesville, but I honestly don't think that we need to go to that extreme. At least I hope we don't.

One of her bestest buds, and the one she has known the longest, is an "older" man, he's 3, and she gets so excited when we get together with him. They play together really well. There is another little boy in our playgroup who Jilly adores as well. They get each other giggling and act so silly together that it borders on cute and annoying.

On Tuesday we got together with Matty and another little boy (who's even older at 4) to play at the park. It was funny to see the boys go between not wanting anything to do with Jilly to almost fighting over who got to play with her. In the end, though, they all got along together really well and had a fabulous time.

I is for Irrational Fear

Today was cookie painting day with a group from the mom's club. And remember my freak out the other day? Totally unwarranted. Everyone had so much fun and the kids actually painted the cookies. Imagine that. I had thought that the kids would run around while the moms decorated the cookies. But wow, once again they proved me, and probably the rest of the moms, wrong.

One of the best things that I did was bring up JillyBean's table and chairs up from the playroom/office. We had some kids at the kitchen table and others at the little table. The kids at the little table had a blast painting, mixing the frosting and even sampling a bit of the sweets.

We did change up the plans a bit. Instead of painting cookies then baking them, Beanie Dad and I baked the cookies last night and I made a frosting that the kids used to paint. It was the best thing because we would have lost them the other way. So, today was such a success that I think that we'll do it again for Christmas.

C is for Crazy

Do you ever have those moments where you think that you have a good idea but the more you think about it the worse it is but then it's too late? That's what I am faced with this week. Several weeks ago I thought it would be a great idea to host a small group of kids from the mom's group to paint Halloween cookies. The idea came after one of my good friends reminded me that her fabulous family cookbook that she gave me after I got married included a few little fun stuff to do with kids. One was to make paintbrush cookies.

If we were still in our nice house in Big City, Texas, I probably wouldn't be fretting about it. But we are in a town home, we just don't have the space that we used to have and I'm freaking out a bit. Heck, we're living on three levels and don't even have gates to block the stairs (JillyBean has been amazing and doesn't seem to want to go up or down without us. I'm wondering if the curiosity isn't there because she's not shut out). Anyway, I had set a limit on six kids, which seemed doable until I began to imagine how all of this would work out. Have I mentioned that I'm freaking out a bit about this?

I am sure that it will work out; at least that's what I have to keep telling myself. We do have an eat-in kitchen so we will be able to use the kitchen table and not the dining room table. I also thought that I would bring Bean's little table and chairs up from the study and put it in the kitchen. Hopefully I can contain the activity enough that it will work out fine and all of the stress will be for nothing...

Even if it doesn't work I'll be left with some yummy cookies. I'm using my sugar cookie recipe and my friend's painting recipe. Beanie Dad says that I should just buy the pre-made stuff to save the hassle but that wouldn't be any fun.

Here's the best sugar cookie recipe EVER. What makes it so good is the inclusion of cream cheese and almond extract.

1 cup butter, softened
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1/2 t almond extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder

In a large mixer bowl combine butter and cream cheese. Beat until well combined. Add sugar; beat until fluffy. add egg, vanilla, and almond extract and beat well.

In a medium bowl stir together flour and baking powder. Add flour mixture to cream cheese mixture; beat until well mixed. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill in the refrigerator about 1 1/2 hours or until dough is easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with desired cookie cutters. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until done. Remove to wire racks; cool.

*Since we'll be painting the cookies that will be done before baking them.
**Adapted from Treasury of Christmas Recipes, a recipe book that I 've had since college