Our weekend

Our weekend started at a Hoe-Down.

The music was AWESOME!

See that beautiful girl next to Ryan?

Once upon a time, long ago, I babysat Amanda, Desiree and their siblings. (Photo taken 1993-1994)

A few years later, Amanda and her brother sang (beautifully) at our wedding. (Photo taken August 8, 1998). She's 17 now and graduating from high school. Yep...I feel old!

I worked on my card kit for tonight's card night.

Sewing has taken up so much of my time that it's been a couple of months since I made cards. It's was nice to sit down with a small project and see the results so quickly.

I love this gift card idea. I got the idea from the scrapbook store...they

had made a smaller version as a gift tag. I enlarged it and it's just the perfect size for a

gift card.

Pull up on the flowers and attach a gift card!

We had our first letter-writing hour.
I was surprised by how excited the kids were for this.
Emma, of course, wrote a letter to Ember.
Ryan wrote to his best friend in Portland.
I wrote my dear friend in Portland and also wrote
a few thank you cards.
This is going to be a new weekly thing for us.
The kids will be so excited to (hopefully) start getting replies back in the mail.


A small-scale war broke out on our bed.
Ryan? Nope. It was Emma borrowing her brother's airplane collection.

I've started my lists for the holiday season.
They are the only thing the keep me sane!


And we did some baking for card night.
These are butterscotch bars...yummy!

And White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies.

These are so good that I had to include the recipe.

1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup vanilla or white chips


In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars until crumbly. Beat in egg and vanilla.
Combine the flour, salt and baking soda in another bowl. Gradually add to the
butter mixture and mix well. Stir in cranberries and chips.


Drop by heaping tablespoons 2 in. apart onto baking sheet coated with
cooking spray. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool for one minute before removing to wire racks.


And I started the week with peppermint tea and oatmeal with
bananas and dried cranberries for breakfast. Delicious!
I can't exercise for a few more weeks, so I decided I'd
better start eating healthy again!