Three

In the spirit of the holidays and in celebration of the dramatic winter weather, I made snow flake sugar cookies with royal frosting. Last year I bought a combination spriz maker/decorating set. I only cared about having the right tool to make what I consider the classic Baughn family Christmas cookie, the spritz. This week though I’ve been itching to use the decorating tips and turn out beautiful cookies. I used the sugar cookie recipe from Alton Brown and Nigella Lawson’s frosting.

Recommendations: use a Silpat or parchment paper on the cookie sheets, the cookie is very delicate; add a flavoring to the frosting so you don’t get that weird powder sugar aftertaste; the frosting works best, as in dries hard quickly, the second day so pop it in the refrigerator overnight then beat it with a hand mixer for a minute or two when ready to use.

I’m pretty sure I’m done decorating cookies for the season! Back to the sewing machine now to wrap up my gift making.

During one of the most crazy times in life, moving from one home to another, we took a wonderful mini vacation to Cannon Beach, OR to spend Thanksgiving with the family. Now that the move is done and we are feeling more settled, we have had time to reflect on the fall and look back at our pictures from the ocean.

I’ve also promised several friends that I will post a list of some of our favorite children’s library books. On the topic of the ocean I will introduce Snowden’s all time favorite book: Hello Ocean by Pam Munoz Ryan, illustrated by Mark Astrella. This is a summer book for sure but we have a copy in the house right now and still read it multiple times a day. The illustrations are photo realistic pictures of a family playing on the beach, in the surf and experiencing the ocean with all of their senses:

“…squishy, sandy, soggy ground, slippery seaweed that wraps around, sudden breezes that make me squeal–I love the way the ocean feels.”

“The sun dips down; it’s time to go. But I’ll be back to see your show, hear the stories you have to spin, taste your flavors once again, take deep sniffs of briny air, and feel the treasures you have to share. Goodbye, ocean, my old best friend. . . .”

Sean and I made bird masks for Halloween. I’m not usually interested in making costumes for some reason. It may have something to do with the pressure to have a good costume for school when I was younger, dreaming up some big plan and then, half way through the day, realizing that my costume was not measuring up to my expectations. This year I put a little bit of thought into the holiday since no doubt Snowden will, in a few years, want to participate costume and all. It would be great to have some family traditions that can reflect our values and tie into the bigger picture of harvest and the changing season. I thought mask making would be something we could all do together; an activity that would steer us clear of store bought Disney costumes and focus on art traditions. After going to the educators’ opening of the Salish Art Exhibit (go to this link and open the “Click-it” screen for a beautiful preview), Wednesday, at the Seattle Art Museum, I felt much more inspired to take an interperative approach to the masks and also embrace Sean’s idea of foraging our materials. We bought nothing for these masks. The beaks for Snowden and my mask are made of fabric scraps, as is the foundation of Snowden’s and Sean’s mask. The other materials consist of a pine cone, grasses, a feather, dry corn cob papers, some glitter thread and sequins. And wow, I forgot how much I like to play with a hot glue gun. So, here’s to the season! Cheers!