Making Memories With Cookies

Maybe it was the rainy weather or the fact that Easter Sunday is just a week away, but I felt the need to make some Easter cut out sugar cookies today after church.  One of my favorite Easter memories from when I was a little girl was making Easter bonnet cookies using a round sugar cookie and a marshmallow for the top part of the hat and then decorating the cookie and marshmallow with frosting bows.

The boys didn't seem much interested in making the cookies as I was whipping them together, but when they saw me roll the dough out and then retrieve the cookie cutters from the drawer, they were all in!  "Mom, can I cut out some cookies?"  "Mom, I want to help you!"  Apparently the fun shapes and colors of the cookie cutters got their attention!

We used some pretty special tools to make our cookies today, too.  The little circular board I rolled the dough out belonged to my Grandma Bell.  She used to make kolache and breads on this and my heart just swelled seeing the boys making creations on it just as my sister and I used to do when we were with Grandma.  One of the bunny cookie cutters belonged to Kris' Grandma Malphy and those type of cookie cutters aren't even made anymore.  I'm going to make the Easter bonnet cookies I talked about above later this week when we decorate our cookies and I used Grandma Malphy's round biscuit cutter to make the circular cut outs.

We had a very fun time making the cookies today.  This is something I enjoy doing and the boys really do, too.  We're looking forward to decorating our cookies later this week.  I'm hoping the boys will have wonderful memories of making cookies with me when they're my age.

Elephant Trunk Rock

This afternoon we were down to one son as our youngest was attending the birthday party of a friend and we had to do some grocery shopping anyway, so we headed to the Richland Center/Ithaca area.  Along our way, Brock spotted Elephant Trunk Rock and asked if we could stop on our way home, so we decided to do just that.

What is Elephant Trunk Rock, you ask?  It's a very neat formation that looks exactly like an elephant trunk hanging down in the form of a rock.  

While we were at the rock, we decided to take a look at the park that adjoins it.  There is a sign there encouraging people to enjoy the park including the picnic tables and fire pit even though it's private property. Kris said that he recalls a teepee being at the park, too,  and while that wasn't there today, we're hoping maybe once the nicer weather shows up again that it will be put up as the boys would love going in it!

After getting home from our little excursion, I decided to Google Elephant Trunk Rock and this is the video I found which includes the teepee.  We can't wait to have a little picnic here this summer! 

Boys + Water = Fun

Saturday was such a gorgeous Spring day, so we decided to take advantage of that by going for a walk. We many times ask the boys where they want to go as we want them to be able to choose our destination and what we might see along the way.  Today, they said that they wanted to go check out the Pine River and see if we could catch some crayfish, so Kris grabbed a bucket and away we went!

When we got down to the river, we all commented on how crystal clear the water was.  It was so pretty! Kris noticed right away that some sandhill cranes had been walking in the water as their prints were still in the sand on the bottom.  I was able to snap a picture of their prints.

Once we got to the water, all 5 of my boys were in and out of the water.  Kris said seeing the boys trying to explore in the water reminded him so much of his childhood where he was in the water looking for turtles and frogs.  They spotted a few crayfish, but none that they could catch from where they were located, so we went home empty handed, but they had so much fun.

Let's Go Fly A Kite

Ever since watching the movie Mary Poppins when I was little, I've loved the song entitled, "Let's Go Fly a Kite," which was part of the movie soundtrack.  To hear the song, just click on the video below.



Today, I had that song in my head again as it was a spectacular Spring day out with temperatures in the 50's, a light breeze and a beautiful blue sky.  As I was pitching a ball to Jake to hit, I said, "Hey, we should get your kites out and fly those!  It would be a perfect day for it!"

The boys were both in favor of that, so we got them out and I'll let their pictures say the rest.

Remembering Grandma...

Today started out as almost every Sunday does for us.  I was the first one up, enjoying the sights and sounds of early morning before everyone in our house, dogs included, is up and awake for the day.  Shortly after 7 a.m., my phone rang and when I saw it was my Dad on the phone, I figured this was probably the call that I'd been dreading to hear for some time and it was.  He informed me that my Grandma had passed away about 3:30 a.m. and while this was news that I didn't want to hear, I almost felt a sigh of relief escape my body after hanging up the phone.  Grandma was 97, had lived a very full life living on her own until just two months ago, and she was "ready to go."  Her hearing had been going for some time now, her eyesight was very poor and her body was just failing.  She had been waiting for the day that she could be reunited with Grandpa, the love of her life, and meet up her Maker for eternity in Heaven and she got that day today.

Gram played a very important role in my life.  She and my Grandpa became second parents to my sister and me when our parents were going through their divorce.  We lived with Gram and Grandpa during this time and after our Dad remarried, we spent almost every Sunday with Gram and Grandpa doing such fun things as going to church, fishing, teaching us how to drive and taking us for our road tests, going for rides, playing cards and lots and lots of music.

Gram hailed from Mount Tabor, WI, which is very near where I live now.  She used to tell my sister and me that we should really find a boy from Hillsboro to marry as those Bohemians are great people!  (Hillsboro prides itself on being the Czech Capital of Wisconsin and is full of Bohemians and I'm proud to say that I'm one of them!)  I did heed Gram's advice and found a Hillsboro boy in 1992 and even though it took him 4 years to get up the courage to ask me to marry him, he did 18 years ago tomorrow and we were married just a few months later.  He may not have been Bohemian, but he was Irish and Gram approved of him. 

Gram could cook like no other.  Her kolache was the absolute best!  I remember when I was little and Gram would make that and all the cousins would come running once word got out that she had made kolache.  She made poppyseed, prune, apricot and apple and we all had our favorites.  Mine was prune.  On Christmas Eves, the entire Bell Family could be found at Grandma and Grandpa's after chores, waiting to eat that kolache she had made.  Many have tried to replicate her recipe and my sister-in-law, Lisa, has come the closest.  Her kolaches are just like Gram's!

I'm very lucky that our boys got to know Gram, too.  They loved going to visit her and see the cows across the road from her house.  She always had candy in her candy dish and that's something the boys never forgot: the candy and where she kept her little cans of pop.

Gram's funeral will be later this week and I know that's going to be an incredibly difficult day for me, but I need to remember the bigger picture.  She's in Heaven now and I will see her again.  She has taught me so much about how I should live my life and I could never thank her enough for all she has done for me.  

Love you, Gram! <3

Banding with the Boys

The boys used some of their Christmas money to purchase looms in January from Jo-Ann's Fabric and Craft Store.  They had been seeing rubber band bracelets that their friends had been making and they wanted to give it a shot.  We figured we'd start out small with some bags of bands and see where that took them.  If they didn't care much for it, we wouldn't be out much.

Well, this simple loom has literally provided hours and hours if not days of fun for the boys.  From bracelets to necklaces and now charms, our house has been taken over by rubber band jewelry!  Their work started out with the simple bracelets and they've now ventured off into making charms and animals.  The boys have scoped patterns online and used countless YouTube videos to assist them in their creations.

In addition to keeping them entertained, the looms have also provided the boys with some very important lessons.

• If at first you don't succeed, try again ~ Not every pattern or creation that they've attempted has turned out.  This is where they need to start over and give it another shot.  This has been easier for Brock to grasp than Jake, but we're working on it.

• Find a passion and pursue it ~ Some may say that making rubber band jewelry is a "girl thing" but we have never told the boys that.  We've always encouraged them to find something they enjoy doing and stick with it.  They've shared their creations with friends at school and have gotten such pride from sharing what they've made all by themselves.

It has been so much fun watching the boys enjoy these looms and see what they decide to create with them. We're looking forward to many more creations!

Baking with Brock

At one of the former school districts I worked in, I had a little boy who was always checking out cookbooks so that he could take them home and make some of the recipes with his mom.  I always thought that was so sweet and wondered if I had a son if this would be something he'd do.

Well, Brock isn't checking out cookbooks at school...yet, but he is scoping Pinterest with me at times looking for neat things he can make.  He is a boy who really likes to bake and he has had a hand in making almost all of his Leader Day treats this year.

This past Tuesday night, we were busy here in our kitchen whipping up cupcakes with Peep bunnies on them.  Brock saw the bunnies at the grocery store and loved all their vibrant colors and thought his classmates would, too.  Brock helped mix the cake batter and then he was the Peep/sprinkles boy as he said he preferred to put the bunnies and sprinkles on.

The perfectionist in me wanted to "doctor up" some of the sprinkles he chose and how heavily they were put on, but I needed to take a step back and say, "This is Brock's baking and his way to express himself and I need to let it be."  I needed to remember that this is how he is going to learn and I treasure every minute that he wants to be with me baking because I don't know how long he'll still want to do this, but I'm hoping it's something he continues right into adulthood.  Who knows?  Maybe a cupcake will be the way to some special young lady's heart many years down the road!