Fall Sugar Cookie Recipe

Colorful fall leaves didn't happen in Nebraska very much this year. Were leaves all colorful where you live? It's like the leaves went to brown, fell off, and dried up. I do love the crunchy sound under my feet when I step on them.

As much as I would have loved to collect leaves for their colors, I didn't. Someday I'd love to go to a place that has an array of colors. I'll iron them, and put them flat in a book.

This cookie craft will show up on ParentSavvy's Website. Different pictures and writing of course.

Before Thanksgiving happened I made some Fall Sugar Cookies:

I only ate 3. The rest went to coworkers. Travis and I joke that the only reason he was hired at his current work place is because they missed my cookies. He worked at a place for years. His boss ran the company into the ground. Then he was hired on by a company in the same building. His boss asked almost as soon as he was hired, "Can you ask your wife to bring in some cookies?" Ha!

Fall Sugar Cookies by Anonymous Nh7KbE4hof on Scribd

Making them is really pretty easy! Whisk the softened butter, milk, sugar and eggs. I often use almond milk, and sometimes use Costco's Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. I only do that because I have a coworker that's prone to having Celiac Disease. Other times I make it how I want, and she just won't eat any.

Then start to add the rest of the ingredients.

Often times I just start making them. If I'm in a cookie mode, I don't want to stop. Other times I chill them.

I sprinkle flour all over a clean surface to begin rolling the dough out. Try and cut the cookies as close to one another as possible. I roll the dough to be as thin as I can. The more you work with the dough the harder it gets to roll. I have added a tiny bit of water just to make the dough rollable again if it gets difficult.

Sur La Table had the fall leaf and acorn cutters I'm using. I know they are pricy, but these cutters weren't so bad.

Lightly spray the pans with a cooking spray. The two I like to use for cookie are the butter spray and the flour spray. Any will do. The flour spray can be a pain on the nozzle of the spray. If you do use that one, plan to use it for lots of baking things. Then it won't have time to clog up.

I fill 2 pans full of cookies before I turn the oven on to 350 degrees. Then that way while those 2 pans are baking, I roll and cut more. I alternate pans. 4 min in the bottom for one, 4 min in the top for the other, and switch them.

Any broken ones that happen the boys get to eat. I caught Mica accidentally dropping one to eat it.

Decorating:

Let them cool all the way before frosting them. I mix up colors, and add coco powder to make them neutral.

I found Wilton Sprinkles - Turtle Crunch that's perfect for the tops of acorns.

I put some sprinkles in a small snack bowl for Isaak. I frosted them with a rubber baby spoon, and he dipped the tops of the acorns in the sprinkles.

I think the plates turned out nice! I have 3 plates: 1 for each of our works, and 1 for my 1st year students. While I'd love to make the red more vibrant, I hate adding a whole lot of red food coloring. It's the worst color health wise for you.

Did you make any fall recipes?

Making a Fall Leaf Bowl

I have a little secret to reveal. I've been writing posts for parentsavvy. I wanted to keep it hush hush until they posted my first post. Our focus is going to be crafts. I have a lot of ideas. A whole list of them actually. 

Don't worry I'll let you in on the crafts on here as well. As long as I use different pictures, and write it in a different way I can share! I took tons of pictures. If I've seemed more absent it's partly because I've been writing for parentsavvy.com, and partly a mess of other things that life has thrown at us.

The first craft we worked on is:

It's been back and forth weather here in Nebraska. Last week it rained most of the week, the week before that it was summer like weather, and now it's finally starting to feel like fall.

Nebraska does have 4 true seasons. The leaves do turn colors, but there's a lot of brown crunchy ones on the ground as well.

Since Isaak and I started this project a few weeks ago, there wasn't a lot of variety on the ground for leaf colors yet.

I've always struggled with what to do with Isaak. He's a needy child in the fact that he loves doing things with people. Mica on the other hand is fine as long as he has books to read or Legos to play with. Isaak has always enjoyed both arts and crafts. Let's face it, the selection for boys is slim! I think making up crafts to do with him will both stimulate his creativity and fill that need to do things with someone.

Step One: Buy or get a flexible plastic bowl. Usually the cheaper the better. You want it to be really flimsy. We reused a bowl from a craft kit: Craft-tastic Paper Bowl Kit by Ann Williams. You don't need to have this kit to do this fun project. If you get the kit it's $16.99 at Target. You can reuse and reuse the bowls that come with the set.

Here's a bowl Isaak made from the set:  

The bowls were cute, but they had a lot of girly patterns and colors. We took the process, but added our own twist to it. Here's the bowl from the kit. It's really flimsy. The cheaper the bowl the better!

Step Two: Since there wasn't a lot of fall leaves here just yet, we used fabric leaves. I've had them for a long time. My sister gave them to me from Oriental Trading Company.

If you have lots of  fall leaves there's no need to buy anything. Get outside, and get some leaves.

Step Three: I helped Isaak combine some glue with water. You can use either Elmer's Glue or Modge Podge You just want it thin enough to paint on bowl with a brush or foam brush. We even used our fingers to slather the glue on.

Step Four: Just dip the leaves in the glue, and put it on the bowl. Try and keep the leaves fairly flat, and overlap them.

Keep overlapping the leaves. We did a few layers. I liked the variety of colors, but one single color could be cool as well.

Step Five: Isaak loves glitter, so I mentioned that he could add glitter glue to the bowl. He was so happy to add glitter. You could add acrylic colors to it, or leave it. I could see doing the whole bowl in red leaves, and painting gold paint on it as well. *Note if acrylics won't stick to the leaves, you can add just a drop of dish or hand soap to the paint. That helps it to stick.

We painted a 2 layers of glue over the fabric leaves just to make sure the bowl would be sturdy, and not floppy.

Step Six: Give it plenty of time to dry! We just let it be for a day. It may be ready to peel up before then. But why rush a good thing? Don't peel the bowl up if the glue is still wet.

Step Seven: When the bowl is dry, peel the leaves up around edges. This is where it's vital to have a flexible bowl. You could have a hard plastic bowl, but it may have to stay a part of the design. I'm not so sure you could peel the leaves off of it.

Like I said the cheap bowls can be reused. Isaak's already talking about making a paper bowl for his teacher for Christmas.

We were both so happy with how it turned out!

Can you see the glitter?

Isaak opted to put acorns and pinecones in his fall leaf bowl. What would you put in it?

I like that this craft can be done by boys or girls. It's fun for adults or kids. It's really great for anyone!

Random Act of Kindness

Some of our garden sites love acidic soil, so my husband asked if we could take up oak leaves from a house that is oh so kind to Trick or Treaters.
 
This elderly lady met them at her door with curlers in her hair, and with a bottle of foundation makeup. She wasn't sure if she should answer the door because she, "didn't have her face on."

She offered to pay them and Travis told her it would be their pleasure to take her leaves. They didn't rake up all of them. Only 3 gigantic lawn bags full were raked up.

Mica was a great help, and Isaak's kind of moved into that stage where he's realized that helping isn't as fun as it used to be. It cracked Travis up that Mica wears his sweat band and wrist guards when doing any yard work.

 
While they raked up 3 gigantic lawn bags full of oak leaves, I sucked up more Maple leaves in our driveway, leaves in our backyard, processed them to lay under the bushes. 

I started sucking up part of the neighbor's leaves considering the fact that they'll blow right into our yard anyhow. They don't do anything with their leaves until they are all off the trees back there. 

I throw leaves down in replace of mulch and with compost in the fall. Travis is using the Oak leaves to lay over the strawberry bushes in the winter. We'll save more leaves for the spring. 

Do you refer to this season as fall or autumn?

Processing Leaves

Processing leaving is something I do every year. We don't have big trees, but our neighbors do.

The easiest way to take care of leaves is to mow them up, and mow them up again until they turn into dust. You don't even need to bag the mower. If you like to have good mulch, than bag the leaves. That's what this post is about.

Why take care of them? 

In the city leaves don't just blow away. They get caught in the gutters, and smother the grass. If you live in the country, you may not need to take care of leaves at all. They naturally just blow away.

Processing Leaves in the Fall:

First I rake them into big piles. Remove any sticks you find. I attempted to get some helpers this year. Isaak was so not interested. He did rake up a tiny pile. Then he had a temper tantrum when I sucked up his pile.

Mica on the other hand didn't work too hard at first, but once he got it he worked hard. So hard that he got hot and took off his shirt. Mica's 8, so I guess they can start helping around this age.

I admit this looks silly, but buying a respirator, and goggles that cover yourself is good. It doesn't matter if you have allergies, or not. Breathing in things that we're not supposed to isn't a good idea. You can get one at many hardware, or painting stores. Those white medical masks are only good for 15 minutes.

You can use a mower, or a leaf blower/sucker. I use a leaf blower/sucker just because most of the leaves fall in our driveway. Our neighbor's tree hangs over our driveway; then our neighbor across the street has a big tree as well.

Suck them up until you fill the bag. Then start alternating water and chopped up leaves in a bucket, or empty trash can. This is an important step because if you don't wet the leaves down they will just blow away. They won't stay down if you lay them down, and water them afterwards.

Then I start to lay them around plants, bushes, and trees. Leave a space at the base of the plants, bushes, and trees, so water/snow gets to their roots.

Leaves under the Service Berry is accomplished. Now I have found that the new leaves that fall can be raked, and sucked out. The processed leaves stay put.

Other bushes are done.

I've laid leaves in other ares, but you get the picture. I feel like this is better than going out, and buying more compost, or putting bags and bags of leaves at the curb. I think my neighbors have 12 bags sitting there waiting for the garbage man.

If I run out of spots to put the leaf slop (that's what I call it), I start laying it down on the top layer of the compost pile.

Sucking Up Some Leaves

I look crazy ridiculous when I go outside to suck up leaves. I'm an allergy queen, so sucking up leaves has got to be one of the worst things for me. On goes the respirator, and any goggles I can find laying around. Right after it's shower time. I have to get those fine leaf particles out of my hair.

Our neighbor's big tree hangs right over our driveway. Outside I go to suck up the leaves after a windy day, or just when a bunch have fallen.

Then I take finely chopped leaves, put them in a bucket of water and use it as compost. The trees, bushes, and plants love it. My pocket book loves it because it's free compost.

Don't Tell the Mayor!

Last year Mica kept tearing old paint off of sign poles when we were in Chicago. Daddy told him that he was going to tell the Chicago mayor. Mica could care less. Things like that do not phase him.

Isaak has been pulling leaves off of trees. Yesterday he pulled green berries off of something and lied about having them in his hands. We've told him not to do it. Tonight we caught him red handed yanking leaves off of trees downtown. Daddy told Isaak sternly that he is going to have to call the mayor and tell her if he does it again.

This happened:

He looked like a pug dog to me. Ok so his wrinkles droop the opposite direction. Isaak's eyes squint more in this photo, but they are usually as wide as a pug dog.

Source

He was pretty worked up that Daddy was going to call the mayor on him!

Naturally I had to catch this moment on video. I'm still laughing about it! We assured him that we were not going to call the mayor, and that he really just needs to stop picking leaves off trees, flowers off the ground, and berries off bushes.

What We Did on Saturday

On Saturday it was in the upper 70s and on Sunday in the low 40s. The cold front has hit Nebraska for sure.

On Saturday I took all our beds apart and washed everything. It took pretty much all day, with the errands we ran. I know it's time to do that when Isaak has kicked his covers all over the place. He's a wild sleeper. Maybe it has more to do with him wanting to hide in his covers.

Isaak loves to hide from us. He's a typical little boy. He hides in the same spots: Behind his bedroom door, in his covers, or behind the calk board. He gets really mad when Mica points out where he is. When I find him he says, "How did you know I was hiding here?" I sort of shrug my shoulders and say, "It was pretty hard to find you."

Off went their bedding to be washed. Under the covers, on the ground the boys hid.

I made a big breakfast on Saturday. French toast, almonds, fresh pomegranate and apple juice, and coffee for the adults. Pomegranates are fairly new to us. I've bought premade pomegranate juice, but only a handful of times have I actually juiced them. If you've never had them, don't eat the white stuff! I made that mistake the first time. YUCK! It won't kill you, but it isn't good - very bitter. You eat the red seeds. It's pretty fast to cut them in 1/2 and de-seed them in a bowl of water. They are good! Isaak begs for some of the seeds to eat on their own. The boys are pretty much pigs for breakfast on the weekends. Maybe it's because we eat later then the weekdays. Mica wanted 3 pieces of French toast. I had to stop him at 2 and give him another protein to eat.

Source

Daddy mowed for the last time, which took awhile. We haven't bagged any of our leaves. Our backyard is big for a city yard. I processed leaves by putting them them in buckets of water and layed them down under a baby Dwarf Magnolia Tree. The other crunched up leaves went into a compost pile, which will be where our potatoes will be planted next year. Our compost pile is always on the move.

After the many dishes and mowing the leaves up, we went to pick out a new screen/glass door. Ours is all out of shape. We liked things about one door, but not something else. They didn't have what we wanted in stock. It was a pain trying to find what we wanted. In the end we got one from Home Depot. The best brand was an Anderson door (Daddy researched). We'll have to wait 7 to 10 days to get it, but that's better than the 5 week wait at the other place. To pay someone to put one on was much more expensive and the door they wanted to put in wasn't the best quality. We have the worst luck with people not shutting our door and the wind taking it. Cross your fingers that this one works out. Otherwises I think we should build walls around the doors.

Today I Processed Leaves

A lot of leaves!!! I sucked them up with a leaf sucker, poured them in a trash can, put water in buckets and added the leaves.

It was a sloppy mess! Well worth it.

Now I have a wonderful ground cover for our bushes, trees and plants in the front yard. Grandpa Spiehs taught me this technique. He's an excellent gardener!

I had to stop every 10 min. because one little guy found a bat he was swinging around Mica, then it was a stick and then he decided to eat a leaf! I told him if he ate another leaf we may end up in the hospital. **This may be true. I can't breathe for 1/2 a week after I suck up a bunch of leaves. I even wear a ridiculous looking face mask.

Of course Mica was oh so bored. Isaak has always been able to entertain himself, while Mica is always like, "I'm bored!," "What can I do now?," "I'm hungry!" and "Can I watch a movie?"

It was really windy!!! I'm sure next week I'll have another driveway and yard full of leaves. At least I've got a start.

Do You Laugh When You Get Hurt?

It started out like this: 

I went to suck up some leaves in our driveway. Our neighbor's tree hangs over our driveway. I'm the lucky one that gets to suck them up. Part of me is being sarcastic, another part of me is serious. I actually love my toy, the leaf sucker upper. It's like a vacuum for outside. It was my birthday present years ago. I asked for it. I also love having mulch to put down under trees, bushes and such. I hate the time part of it! The fact that it's not our tree makes the task not as much as well. Then it stirs up my allergies even when I wear a mask. I've even worn a respirator, but somehow I still breathe the crap in. 

Then there's the cord struggle! The same way parents used to fight over the heat and air; Daddy and I fight over the stupid utility cord. I somehow don't wind it up right. It gets twisted. I don't know; I wrap it around my arm in a circle. It looks packaged up to me. Daddy hates that I twist the cord up; I hate that he's so picky about a cord. I've even offered to get us two different cords. He can have his the way he likes it, and I can have mine the way I like it. It's an every year fight.

Daddy called me in for dinner. I was wrapping up the cord as fast as possible, fully aware that I might be messing up his precious orange cord. I ran in to take a quick shower. Chopped up leaves and my allergies don't mix. I have to get it out of my hair. I was rushing around like a crazy woman!

I get in the shower and slip on this:

It's a dinosaur bath play mat that Isaak loves! Well they no longer make this mat. Probably because more people like me have stepped on it and slipped in the tub!

I scraped my whole lower calf on the metal base of the shower sliding door. I mean it scraped! My whole lower calf is bruised. I screamed. I somehow got myself in the most awkward, naked position I could possibly be in!!!! Daddy came running in and said, "What is wrong! Did you break something." I started cracking up. He said, "What are you laughing at?" I said, "I really do not know how to get up!" Somehow I managed to get my naked butt up and shower. All yesterday evening I hurt with both walking and sitting. Today is better. I thought it would be black and blue. It's not yet. But you can see a wide area of where this accident happened. My skin is a pale green/blue.

I think I even laughed when I broke my foot a few years ago. I laughed after I screamed. I had to. Mica came in and said innocently, "Mommy we can leave you like that until Daddy gets home." He wasn't going to come home for a few hours. :)