Yummy Molasses Cookie Recipe

**there's been a change in case you already copied this recipe. Use 2 tsp soda, not 1. Sorry !**
Since lots of people liked the cookies I made the other day, I suppose I can share my secret recipe! (Actually, it's Margie Rose's recipe.) These are our favorite cookies.

Pre-heat oven to 350
3/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar (or a bit more if you want!)
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
Mix it up, then add:
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. ginger
Mix well, then:
2 cups flour, or slightly more if needed to make it able to be rolled into balls without getting your hands all sticky. Then roll balls in a sugar/cinnamon mixture, and place on baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes. When they just come out of the oven, sprinkle tops with a little more sugar mixture. Yummy Yummy!...I can't believe I just put a recipe on my blog! How domestic! I used to make fun of women gleefully exchanging recipes. Oh well, I'm old now.

Brilliant Kids

I just wanted to make a new post. I don't really have anything new to say, except for updates on our brilliant kids. Meadow can spell her name now (saying it, not writing of course). I write it for her in the bath with her bath crayons, so she knows what it looks like. She likes to pretend to talk on the phone. Lately she says, "Hello, this is Janet....OH HIII!"(Expressive Janet John style). One of her favorite things to do is ride her springy horse named Frank. In this picture of her she's making her froggys ride some animals. She's getting very imaginative in her play now. It's fun to watch her.

Logan is wearing daddy's soccer shirt. Each month I've taken a picture of him laying on it to show his growth, since he was about 2 months old. He'll be 10 months tomorrow. He still won't crawl, but his vocabulary is growing! He has learned the words gramma, cracker, and what's that? (his version is what-daa) as he points to things. He learned that one from Meadow. He also gives the worlds loudest kisses.."MMM-AAAA" as he bashes his wide open slobbery mouth into my cheek! It's very sweet. I suppose that's something only his mommy can appreciate!
And last but not least, Spud probably grew a little, and maybe sprouted some fingers and developed some organs....keeping busy in there! (This is not an actual picture of Spud, just a picture of a typical 6 week old fetus.) Isn't it cute? I found this picture on http://www.babycenter.com/ . It' s a very good website with lots of information and you can track your baby's development.

Oh Help!!!

Not sure what this is a picture of? You may need to enlarge it to see. Well, Matthew and I had the shock of our lives Sunday night. I've been feeling sickish lately, so I took a test just to "rule it out". Well.....I never thought I'd be joining the lineup of pregos this year! You guys are contagious!! I had just decided that 2 kids was plenty, and looking forward to moving out of the baby stage. Oh well. Now we will welcome little "Spud". We have no idea when Spuddy is due, but I'm guessing October because of how I've been feeling. I'm probably about 5 or 6 weeks along. I think I'm in for a lot of work! Meadow won't even be 3 yet! Logan will be about 18 months! Yikes!!

Little Loggy

This cute little guy can be so sweet...and so difficult! He just learned two new words, banana & uh-oh! (which is his favorite). He also can say mama, dada, and bye-bye as he waves. He just got over having Roseola virus, and he's teething, which probably add to his fussiness lately, but the other night was the worst ever! He went to bed just fine, but woke up around 1AM. He screamed and screamed if I laid him down, or if I even laid down while holding him. We tried everything to get him to sleep, but nothing worked! Finally around 2AM Matthew was getting desperate for sleep since he had to be up in 3 hours for a possible double shift, so I resorted to plan Z. I put him in his car seat and went driving! I drove to the ATM at Wells Fargo, and looked back at him thinking he'd surely be asleep, but he looked at me smiling and said, "Uh-Oh!" I told him, "Uh-oh is right! You should be sleeping!!" It actually was cute though. I ended up driving all the way down North Point Higgins and back home when he finally fell asleep! It was after 2:30 when I put him in his bed, and I went to sleep, only to be woken again at 4:00! Then 5 till 6, then 7:30, then 8, when I gave up sleeping and got up. Suddenly he was the happiest little boy playing with toys.
Oh well, he's still a sweetie.

Picture from the past

This was our group photo from our youth group mission trip to Foundation For His Ministries somewhere in Baja California, Mexico, in 1995. Wow, 12 years ago! There were several people that I had forgotten were on this trip. Nobody was married yet, Helen and Jasen were just beginning to "spark". Every one is very different now. (I sure hope so after 12 years!) Anyway, since I just found this photo, I thought it would be interesting and memorable for some people. Also, Happy Groundhog's day!