Thursday, February 10, 2011

For The Love Of A Cookie

Sometimes you just have to let lose and be like a kid again. Dance in the rain, watch old cartoons in your jammies on Saturday morning, tell corny jokes and laugh at every one of them. Yep hubby and I still do these things every so often… ok fine the corny jokes are like a daily occurrence in this house. But hey that’s just what happens when you are so stinkin’ hilarious. {crickets chirping, awkward silence}



Anyhow, we try to be silly and goofy as often as possible ‘cause this life is too short to take it too seriously all the time. And that means fulfilling childhood dreams now as adults… like the dream my hubby had of making one giant cookie. Doesn’t sound too hard, right? Well here’s the catch: he wanted to make it our of layers of cookie dough so that it would be all big ‘n fat, chewy and crunchy all at the same time and most of all to see if he could use a whole batch of cookie dough on one continuous cookie without it breaking apart or going up into flames from overcooking the first layers.


So last week on a particularly long and rough work day I pulled out a $1.50 bag of Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookie mix and we set out to make a giant layered cookie.


And just too properly chronicle the fun, here’s a little video for you enjoy.






My challenge for you today: be a kid. Dance in the rain {or snow if that’s all you got!}, watch cartoons with the kiddos and make a giant cookie just for kicks… remember to be a good little girl and share the cookie with hubby and the kiddos!


All photos taken by yours truly.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Progressive Dinner


Last Sunday I had the privilege of participating in a progressive dinner for the women’s discipleship group I am a part of. The reason for celebrating – reading through the Bible together in one year. It was the first time we had done it together, and for some it was their first time ever to read the Bible through. What fun to do it as a group and then celebrate together with our Church family at a special Bible Day service. More than 30 people shared verses they had learned in various discipleship classes – even the children got in on the fun. We all danced, sang and celebrated not just the accomplishment but also in thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father for his letter of love to us.




Once the service was over, we all piled into cars decked out with balloons, ribbon and words of celebration…. Things like “You made it! Hooray! Proud of you!” and my personal favorite, “Woo hoo!”

Our first stop on the progressive dinner menu was my parent’s house. There we feasted on a gorgeous veggie tray, homemade dip, butter wafers, and blueberry-grape juice. After that came fresh baked cheesy bread and cafĂ© con leche, a Colombian staple of coffee and milk.


It was wonderful! And the anticipation of what came next had us all on pins and needles. Although I knew the final destination, I had no idea of all the fun in between.



Well the appetizers were scrumptious and the fellowship was rich. Yet before we knew it the time had come to head out to our second destination: the home of a dear family from the church. This stop was to toast our year together as a group, how much everyone had grown in the Word, and to thank our leader.


Each person received a colorful page with Psalm 148 written on it and a color coordinated toasting glass. How fun is that! With sparkling cider in hand we raised our glasses in celebration. We took turns reading verses from the page in joyous tones and concluded with our hostess sharing her favorite verse and the host reading this verse: 

Psalms 119:103

“How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!”



We then each had a small piece of baklava that was filled with gooey honey. As we bit into it the honey oozed out and delighted our taste buds. We were told to think of how sweet God’s word is to our lives. It was a moving moment of reflection.



From there we headed out to the final destination – out home. And I must say that I had such a wonderful time preparing the house for such a special group.


All weekend I worked on the little details like labels for the water pitchers and dessert tray, place cards, personalized chocolate bars and even a little pennant banner for the death by chocolate trifle {which I forgot to take a picture of! Can you believe it?!?}


It was so much fun! Hubby was a sweetheart and got a wonderful sound system all set up in the front room that played continuous soft dinner music. Just before we all arrived he went around the house and lit all the candles, turned off all the overhead lights and turned on all the little lamps around the house so that it looked, smelled and sounded heavenly.


The dinner menu was spectacular and our conversation meaningful. No one wanted the evening to end.



This year we began a new tradition and made memories that will last a lifetime.

What special moment or accomplishment could you celebrate with a meaningful and adventurous progressive dinner?

All photos taken by yours truly.