Africa Adoption Cookies

In my "teacher" days (which hopefully aren't officially over) I had the pleasure of working with and for the MOST wonderful families you could think of. I know every teacher says this about their students and their parents, but they still hold a very special place in my heart. When I go to bed at night I sometimes dream about being a teacher again and seeing all my students. I miss so many of them, and even many of their parents. It can be a stressful job, but now that I'm not doing it anymore I understand what they say when teachers express the "fulfillment" they get out of it. Considering my new military "wifey" lifestyle, I don't know if teaching is a reasonable goal for me anymore. Only time will tell.

But this is what I am really getting at... two of my students have absolutely wonderful families that are so full of love, they are spreading the love worldwide. They are each in the process of adopting from Africa. I have made cookies for their fundraiser to help raise money for the very pricey process. If you would like to donate please go to the blogs below. One is for the Veach family and one is for the Kiley family. Knowing them personally and being around each of their little boys daily for two years... I can say without a doubt that their new family members are going to be so blessed.

 

kileyfamilyadoption.blogspot.com

myloveinuganda.blogspot.com

Golden Girls Cookies

February 24th is my very good friend, Lauren's, birthday. Lauren and Marin have been my friends since the 8th grade.... about 14 years and counting. These ladies know everything about me and at times know me better than I think I know myself. Because of this they belong to a small, elite group of those who I consider to be the most important and influential people in my life. I had the time the time this month to get creative and I though.."perfect opportunity to do something for Lauren's birthday!" so I put my thinking cap on and thought... and thought... and thought. It took me a couple of days of trying to find inspiration and brainstorming what would represent her the most. Then, it hit me.

THE GOLDEN GIRLS.

Lauren and I share a rare but deep love for the show The Golden Girls. We used to sit in my bed and eat junk food, gossip, and laugh hysterically at those old birds.  We even came to the conclusion that if any of the girls represented us then she would be Sophia and I would be.... Dorothy. I wasn't exactly thrilled at that conclusion. We also decided Marin would be Blanche.

I fired up my PC and started searching for Golden Girls images. I finally stumbled upon a real gem of a caricature of the four ladies. With a little imagination and a little help of my copy kake projector.. this is what emerged....

 

The lady is obviously Sophia (Lauren's alter ego) and the purse represents the little woven purse she ALWAYS carries around on the show. The palm tree to represent Florida where they live and "Stay Golden" because no matter how many birthdays Lauren has... she will always be golden in my eyes... and there you have it. 

I already have ideas for Marin's birthday, but I don't think I can wait until November to make them, so she may be getting 1/2 birthday cookies :)

Calvin and Hobbes Cookies (Well Just Calvin)

My older brother, Jason, is a huge Calvin and Hobbes fan. He is not one to collect things, so I guess my mom and I have taken it upon ourselves to start collections for him. He's also not in to decorating... or buying his own clothes. Deb and I take care of that stuff for him. Because of this over the past couple years he has accumulated a few Calvin and Hobbes items because we know it's something he is sure to like. For Christmas mom made him a great display with a snowman swimming away from sharks. If you are in to Calvin and Hobbes you already know that their "thing" is building grotesque snowmen. I knew once I was inspired on Pinterest by some Calvin and Hobbes themed cookies that I had to make them for him. He's not really in to cookies.. sugar cookies anyway.. so I figured he could just use them as a means to get more popular at work.

Valentine Conversational Heart Cookies

I couldn't wait to make some fancy Valentine cookies this year. However, when it came down to work and orders I decided to keep it simple. CUTE and simple, of course. So I decided to mass produce conversational heart cookies for Valentine's day. I ended up making 6 dozen. For those of you who aren't math wizards, that's 72 cookies! These cookies went to Iowa, Florida, D.C., and Virginia. My cookies get around..... :) I had done these cookies once before as a trial but I hated them because my lettering wasn't centered or sized correctly... not to mention it was a little crooked. *sigh* I love my KopyKake Projector. I made 6 colors for hearts and piped them all with red icing using a #2 tip.

Magic Mike Cookies

Now, I really wish.. to the bottom of my little cookie heart... that I could take credit for this cookie idea. Unfortunately, I cannot. The idea AND wonderful tutorial for these cookies came from http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/blog/2013/01/chippendale-cookies/. This lady is the one who taught me everything I know about cookies. I couldn't resist making these when I saw them. Tonight I'm looking forward to a "ladies" night with some of the wives/girlfriends (well I guess I'm the only Air Force girlfriend) where we are going to watch some Magic Mike and have a few cocktails. These cookies fit in with our theme perfectly.

My cookies aren't quite as bronzed as Sugarbelle's but I ran out of brown, what's a girl to do? I think the 6 pack abs distract from the lack of tan ;)

Keira's Birthday Cookies

The ONE little girl I didn't get to see when I came home was little Miss Keira. Boy... I miss her. She is spunky, smart, and so kind. She was having a blast at Disney when I made my surprise visit to Iowa, so I think she was in the right place having a better time! Even though I didn't get to see Keira when I came home, I got to think about her plenty because I had the pleasure of creating her birthday cookies! Now, when it came to her cookies I had to think of what would personalize these for her the best. When I think of Keira I think of ruffles, beautiful and wild hair, smiles, animal prints, pink, and glitter. Oh yeah.... she's a girly girl. It didn't take long for me to decide how to create the perfect design for her cupcake cookie.

UPS Cookies

I was lucky enough to be able to come back to Iowa last week for my dad's retirement party. He has retired from UPS after 41 years. My brother flew me back on his frequent flyer miles for only $35 and no baggage fees. I also go to visit my students (now 2nd graders) at recess and lunch. I got so many hugs and I was scolded several times for wearing moccasins outside with no socks (and I loved every minute of it.) Of course, while I was home I planned on making special cookies for my dad's retirement party... how could a girl resist? This time I had the help of my mom to finish the cookies from start to finish the Friday before his party. Here's how they turned out.

My dad now refuses to wear brown shirts since he spent most of his life covered from head to toe in brown at work.

On top of getting to celebrate with my dad and visit my old stomping grounds at school, I jam packed a lot of quality time in with my lovely friend, Lauren, and my family. Although my stay at home was only for 4 days, it was all filled with quality time.