Cookie Making Marathon: Day 1

Every year at Christmas I make iced sugar cookies. It's a tradition. Many years ago, I decided to have a cookie making party with all of my favorite kids. I turn them loose and they create their own. Then they take all the cookies home with them. It's crazy, chaotic, and messy but lots of fun. The kids love it. As soon as the Christmas trees go up they start asking "When are we making cookies?" Peyton (my best friend's daughter) always joins us. Even though she's twelve now, she still wouldn't miss it. Here is Tatum and I modeling our new aprons. Not sure why she has her mouth hanging open.

The aprons were made by my friend, Kim. (Who just got home with Alex on Thursday. She thanks you for all of your prayers and well wishes. They're doing well with the transition so far. More on that later.) This is actually Mia's apron made to match mine. But somehow I left my sister out of the apron order so we had to juggle around who wore which one. Luckily I have fabric left over so we'll make another one for Mia and this will be Tate's. This is before the chaos. And yes, we use cheater pre-made rolls of cookie dough. These kids do not have attention spans long enough to go through the whole made from scratch process. And Mommy and Aunt Krista don't have the stamina either.
Let the games begin! My sister has to stand guard over the toddler mayhem. Oh.. don't mind that large butcher knife you see on the table. It was only there for a few minutes while we cut the toddler's roll of dough in half. ( Don't worry CCAA..... you can trust me with a kid. I promise I won't let Mia play with knives. LOL!)




I told you they didn't have good attention spans. This one didn't even make it to the icing phase.
The cookies have been baked and cooled. We're moving on to the icing and decorating.


I don't think you can tell from this pic but I even have penguin cookie cutters. Tanner has just finished icing a penguin.
Had to stick this in here to show how so much of this project is about the eating.
"No I didn't eat any cookies yet. Why do you ask?"
Caught ya Peyton!
Tatum is trying to stick the sprinkles back into the jar through the little hole and yes.. I believe that is yellow frosting evidence on her cheek!
"Eat a cookie? Who me?"
After we were done, we ordered pizza and hung out watching the Polar Express. This is my newest favorite Christmas movie. If you haven't seen it, you must get it! Unfortunately, in my exhausted state, I managed to forget to take a pic of the finished products. You'll just have to take my word on it that they were beautiful. Next year, I hope to add a baby to the mix to make it even more crazy and fun.

And as promised, here's a pic of Chilly Willy all lit up.