Whirlwind of a Wonderful Weekend

I have literally taken HUNDREDS of pictures this weekend! (Aren't digital cameras great?)

Thursday was Buttercup's graduation from high school. We are so thrilled for her!! What a great time in her life. We are encouraging her to look forward and embrace the new life that is unfolding in front of her. She's very excited about it. I took too many pictures to put on a blog post, soooo... if you have time, take a gander at the slide show....

This digital slideshow created with Smilebox

Warm Fuzzies

Today was a super-dee-dooper day! Buttercup graduated from Seminary!!

Yippee!!!

It was a very nice program. In Florin, Seminary graduation is held by each individual stake. Our stake had 50 graduates this year. Buttercup's class has just over 300 students in it, and I think we have 5 or 6 stakes in town -- so it adds up.

Grammy and Papa came to this graduation ceremony since Buttercup's cousin is also graduating this year. He lives in Corn Country -- a 3 day drive from here. We thought it was a great way for both cousins to have them for a special day! Buttercup's other set of grandparents will be here for High School Graduation on Thursday.

Grammy is a WONDERFUL quilter and gave Buttercup a beautiful, handmade, heirloom quilt as a graduation gift.

(My point and shoot camera is taking terrible pictures today! I'm so sad!)

(And yes, I'll blame the camera, not the photographer!)

After graduation (which only lasted about an hour!! Yay for a short church meetings!) we came home and had chocolate applesauce cake and icecream. (Seriously, when I have more time, I will post the recipe for this cake. It is SOOOO good!!)

The day was practically perfect up to this point, but then it just got better. We invited Maddle Faddle and her sister, Andy and Andy's cute little family over to share the cake. It was such a blast visiting with them! I love Maddle Faddle just like she's my own kid and Andy is one of my former Beehives, whom I adore, now all grown up with a perfect little cherub of her own.

Just as they were getting ready to leave, there was a knock on my door and there stood Buck!! Buck just happens to be ANOTHER former Beehive from many, many years ago when we lived on the Coast. The remainder of the cake was dished up for her and the friends she brought along. An hour long visit filled with a ton of laughter, some tender stories shared, even a testimony born completed our night.

After things settled down and I was contemplating my day, I realized how very blessed I am. I have served in many Young Women presidencies. I honestly can't tell you how many different presidents I have served under. I have had dozens of girls go through my classes. (I was Buttercup's leader in one capacity or another for most of her YW career too!) I feel so lucky that I remain in contact with a large portion of these girls. And here were two, in one night, standing on my doorstep! Two Beehives from two different classes and two different states.

Can you believe I didn't take a picture? I'm kicking myself!! (Inigo had the camera and was running around taking crazy photos of everyone. These are two that he captured of Andy and Buck.)

Of course, they're darling girls and are so much fun.

I'd like to give a shout-out to two more of "My Beehives" that are regular readers of this blog... Hi Kribistibi and Gelly. Missed seeing you tonight!! (Kribistibi is from Buck's class and Gelly is from Andy's.)

Love my life. Love my family. Love my friends.

Guilted By a 7 Year Old

Last week was Stake Conference. It was one of those that is broadcast from SLC.

I'll be honest. I didn't want to go. The last broadcast meeting was HORRIBLE!! The Stake Center was packed and we were sitting far back in the cultural hall/gym. The noise level from all the children was OFF THE SCALE. Kids were running back and forth from one end to the other, talking loudly, playing dollies with kids from another family.

I got nothing from the meeting.

When we heard that this was another broadcast meeting I immediately started thinking of other things we could do.

• Let's go on a trip and visit Red.
• Let's just stay home and watch a couple sessions of General Conference that are saved on the DVR.
• Let's go to National Park.

The final idea was the idea that we settled on. We ran the idea past the children. Buttercup, who hates nature and trees and wildlife and anything that's not in the mall grumbled and hated the idea.

Inigo, who is our moral conscience, said, "Well, we wouldn't be keeping the Sabbath Day holy if we go!"

Mom started feeling a little uncomfortable at that point.

He continued with, "DO YOU WANT TO BE DESTROYED?!?!"

We went to Stake Conference.

(And we're really glad we did because President Monson was there and spoke to us!!)

(Plus, we were able to get a set close to the overflow area which cut back on the noise levels. It was a GREAT meeting!)

The First Born of Our Wilderness (The Final Chapter... So far)

This is the final post in the stories about my beautiful daughter. The clock keeps ticking closer and closer to graduation and I'm afraid there isn't a snooze button that will give me just 10 more minutes of her childhood....

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Buttercup went back to public school in 8th grade. Things seemed to be going very smoothly. She was doing well academically and continued working with the speech therapist. She met a new girl who quickly became her best friend -- they were like two peas in a pod. Combine that with the other friends she had and she had a good group of kids to hang out with.

I think 8th grade was a great year for Buttercup.

Then came 9th... And oh boy did it hit HARD!!

Buttercup has the desire to be good, to make the right choices and to hang out with people that can build her up and help her stay on the "straight and narrow." She found out during this school year that one of the girls in her "group" wasn't the kind of person she should be hanging out with. The girl uses terrible language, disrespects people behind their backs and had broken the law -- she committed a felony by stealing $10,000 cash out of a bureau drawer -- but the victims didn't press charges so she got off with a 'slap on the wrist'. Buttercup and I talked about this. I didn't forbid her to hang out with her, but we talked about influence and how easily people take you down to their level. We talked about "guilt by association." Buttercup had a difficult decision to make.

Towards the end of the year, she knew what she should do.

She decided that she needed to break off the friendship with this girl. Unfortunately, the girl didn't take it well. Buttercup became her new target and she did everything she could to make her life miserable and she pulled lots of people along with her. Buttercup's social circle became divided, mostly in the bully's favor.

We taught a lot of lessons about "turning the other cheek" during this time. We felt that if Buttercup ignored the verbal jabs and the dirty looks, the bully would get tired and leave her alone. We were wrong.

During this year, Buttercup's grades started suffering again. We offered, as incentive, a cell phone if she would keep her GPA to a pre-determined level. The first grading period after the "bribe" ended, she was .03 points away from what our agreement was. THAT WAS SO HARD!!! Max, held firm though, and didn't give in. Buttercup didn't get her phone. For the record, I'm a softie and I was on my way to the phone store when he said no. But Max is much wiser than I am. That was the last time her GPA was below the mark. From then, and until today, she has kept it .2 and even .5 points higher than our requirement! It has required a LOT of effort, a LOT of staying after school and talking to teachers, a LOT of extra credit work...

NLD has made things hard -- sometimes they seem impossible-- but Buttercup has proven that with elbow grease and perseverance and a firm determination that it won't derail her life. On particularly bad days, she sometimes cries and says, "Why me? Why can't I learn like everyone else? Why does everything have to be so hard?" And I just have to cry with her. I don't know why she has this trial, but I know that she can face just about anything that is thrown at her because of it! And she is learning this too. One of her gifts in life is the ability to look at fear straight in the face and conquer it.

9th grade ended and moved into 10th. As much as we wanted and hoped the bullying would end, it didn't. She suffered many quiet attacks: garbage stuffed into her locker; the lock on her locker turned around so the dial faced inward making it extremely difficult to undo; her friends had the locks stolen off their lockers and were told they could only have them back if they'd stop being friends with Buttercup; mean texts sent from friend's stolen phones saying they hated her and that she was ugly; on and on. Her best friend, the pea-in-the-pod friend, went to the other side. Thank heaven's Buttercup was on the school dance team so she had a large group of friends who were on her side!!

I was a bad mom. I kept hoping that bully (she doesn't deserve a capital "B") would get tired of harassing my daughter. I kept hoping that Pea-in-the-pod friend would wake up and see what they were doing to Buttercup. It didn't stop. It lasted all of 10th grade and into 11th.

I was a bad mom. I didn't stop it. :'(

Finally, on a particularly bad day in 11th grade, Buttercup was storming around the house. (Of course she was.) I was at my wits ends as well, so I said, "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO!?!?" She broke down and sobbed and said, "I just want the bullying to end." That was a slap to my face. Why hadn't I taken care of it sooner?!?!?

I immediately went to the phone and placed a call to the school. I explained what was happening and without question, without any doubts, and with total understanding they promised that it would end immediately. The next day, bright and early in the morning, bully and her boyfriend were called to the office. They were told, in no uncertain terms, that if they even looked at Buttercup with a cross look they would be expelled.

It was that quick. It was that easy. Why didn't I do it sooner? That will haunt me for the rest of forever.

Things have been better. Pea-in-the-pod eventually realized exactly how evil and vile bully is (I am struggling with forgiveness on this one!) and apologized to Buttercup. Until a couple weeks ago they have been the best of friends again. (I think Pea Pod is dealing with some very personal issues that have made her pull away.)

Buttercup is happier than I've seen her in the last 3 years. She admits that she's happy. She's so much fun to have in the home. I've watched her bloom into a wonderful young woman. I've watched her gain a delightful sense of humor (people with NLD take things very literally, so understanding jokes is hard). She is extremely loving and nurturing toward Inigo. SHE IS MY FRIEND!!!

Last weekend, we sang in our final vocal recital. We always sing a fun duet (Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better and Step Sister's Lament from Cinderella) but this year we decided we'd sing a song that means something to us. We chose For Good from Wicked. It was such an honor singing that song with her.

"I've heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason,

Bringing something we must learn....

I know I'm who I am today

Because I knew you....

I have been changed for good."

Those are just a couple lines from the song. Needless to say, we didn't make it through it without crying.

I am proud to Call Buttercup my daughter. I am proud to call her my friend. I am proud of the person she is and the wonderful woman she is becoming.

I look forward to the new phase of her life that is coming her way. She is enrolled in cosmetology school in the fall. It's a local school and -- even with all the weeping and wailing I'm doing -- she'll still be living at home for the next year. But after that it's off to points unknown... college somewhere and beginning a life on her own.

And Buttercup, (I know you're reading this) if you can't tell by now:

I LOVE YOU!!!

(These are the two announcements we made. We did the black one first and had them all printed and in envelopes in the mailbox waiting to be taken away. But I was unhappy with them. So I made up the lighter, wheatfield one. We liked it so much better that I yelled at Buttercup, "GO GET THOSE ENVELOPES OUT OF THE MAILBOX!!" We carefully slit them open and put the new ones in.)

THE END

The First Born in Our Wilderness (The School Years)

Buttercup was happy as a little girl. She was born a pure blood princess and with that distinction came the ups and downs of royal life.

We lived in Portland for the first three years of her life and then moved to the Oregon Coast for the next three. She lived in dresses and altered prom dresses that I found at garage sales. She had multiple crowns and several pairs of dress-up high heels. She would rarely be seen wearing a pair of pants... only at my insistence when we were spending a bitterly cold day on the beach (which, on the Oregon Coast, happens frequently).

She met her handsome prince -- the man I still have hopes that she will marry in about 5 years (not before) .

We even had their engagement photo taken!

When Buttercup was 6 Max got a job in Florin and we moved just in time for her to start first grade.

Things started to change a little bit when she started school. She refused to try to read. She couldn't put a puzzle together. I just thought it was her personality. These were activities like that seemed to be beneath the princess' notice. With the help of a very patient teacher, she finally started reading in first grade but when it was time to move from picture story books to chapter books, she dug her heels in and fought me tooth and nail. She couldn't ride a bike without training wheels (she finally conqured that in 2nd grade). When she figured math problems they were twisty curvy all over the page instead of in columns.

I was working at her elementary school and discussed these issues with her teachers, but since I was employed there, these teachers were my friends... they gave her lots of extra attention and helped her muddle through. Her grades indicated that she was a top student.

When she started 4th grade, we moved from our rental into a home we purchased and she started attending a new school. I was still working at the old elementary school and didn't have a relationship with her new teacher. The new teacher seemed to despise both of us. Buttercup's grades and self esteem plummeted. My sweet princess was now getting in trouble for behavioral problems... throwing pencils at her friends in anger, yelling at kids, frequent bouts of crying spells. The teacher didn't help. Her dislike of Buttercup and her unwillingness to talk to me made me feel like this was the root of our problems. Hopefully, 5th grade (Middle School in Florin) would be better.

The beginning of 5th grade was life changing for Buttercup. She had been an only child for 10 long, lonely years. She had prayed for a sibling and had asked Santa Clause for a sibling for years. The week before school started, she finally had her new baby brother, Inigo. So... she started a new grade; a new school; a new type of school; and had a new brother. That's a lot to take in. And that's what we thought was the problem when she started doing badly in school again.

This teacher seemed more concerned and more willing to help. But there were no answers. It always came back to the thought that her problems were behavioral due to the changes in her life.


Finally, in 6th grade, I had had enough. I knew that she wasn't lazy. I knew she wasn't mean. I knew that she was SMART!!! I knew that there was something else at the root of the problem. So I took the matters into my own hands, and took her to see a child psychologist.


And there we found our answer!!!!


My beautiful daughter has a learning disability called Non-Verbal Learning Disability (NLD). I won't go into the details of the disorder here, but you can read a short synopsis of it here. Now that we finally had a diagnosis we were able to start looking for the correct kind of help. We got a speech therapist that worked with the spacial issues that kids with NLD have. We went to the school and got her on a 504 plan. She didn't qualify for an IEP because our wonderful (sarcasm) state doesn't recognize NLD as a true learning disability. (Don't get me started on THAT!)


In 7th grade, we pulled her out of public school. She had gone undiagnosed for so long that she was several grades behind in her abilities. She was doing math on a 3rd grade level, reading and social studies were only slightly higher. If we wanted our daughter to succeed and find happiness in life, we had to take immediate action.


That was a tough year for her. She wanted to be at school with her friends, but we knew that she would never catch up without extra help that the school/state wouldn't offer, so we insisted that she do a year of home school -- more if she needed it. We made a compromise.... she would ride the bus to school every day for her orchestra class; then I would come pick her up and she could come home and do school work; THEN I would drive her back to the school so she could eat lunch with her friends; THEN I would come back and pick her up so she could do more school at home. That was a lot of driving, but we felt like it was worth it. Kids with NLD suffer socially just as much as they do academically and she needed that interaction just as much as she needed to improve her math skills.

Academically that year was exactly what Buttercup needed!!! When she started 8th grade (now in Jr. High) she was right on with the rest of her classmates, and had even passed them in some areas. We allowed her to go back to public school.



(Yea for you if you have stuck with me in telling Buttercup's story. It's longer than I thought it would be, but I'm so proud of her and all that she's overcome that I want to make sure I tell her story the right way. My next post will be my final entry of this story.)

The First Born in Our Wilderness (Part B)

(.....cont'd from previous post)

Once I knew that it was labor that was making my stomach hurt, of course the pain multiplied by 10!!

I took a quick shower, got dressed and started walking around the outside of my parent's house. Walking and walking and walking. Hurting and hurting and hurting.

Max isn't there. I'm going to have a baby and Max, my husband, isn't there. Cell phones weren't invented, or weren't used by the general public anyway, so he didn't even know that I was in labor. He was on the interstate, somewhere between our two states, happily driving, hopefully staying awake, planning on holding my hand and helping me, supporting me while we had our baby tomorrow.

My parents and I decided around 9:00 that evening that it was time to take me to the hospital. I have a very low threshold for pain and was hurting pretty bad. I was admitted to a labor room, checked out and it was verified that yes, indeed I was in labor. I had dilated to a "1", was very little effaced and screaming for my epidural. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but we don't usually give epidurals this early in labor, it could slow you down."

WHAT!?!??!

I don't think so. I want it NOW!!!

So they gave me an IV with some pain killer but it did nothing for me. Finally, I think they took pity on me. My husband wasn't there and I was hurting, so they called the anesthetist and gave me the epidural. I was probably dilated to a 3 by then.

Sadly, it didn't work. I still felt every contraction with alarming clarity. They tried adjusting the dosage levels, but nothing worked. It may have taken the edge off, but not by much.

My dad was a horrible distraction too. I don't think he was present at any of my siblings or my birth, so he was a newbie at this labor thing. His joy (and fun) was watching the contraction monitor. Any time a contraction would hit, he'd grab the paper and show me the graph and say, "Hey Valerie. That was a big one! Did you feel that?"

Yes, I swore at him. (Sorry Dad! I love you!)

Finally, he had had enough and I was getting nervous for him to be in the room for the actual delivery, so he went home. This left just mom and me. Mom, who had given birth 4 times before, knew exactly what I was feeling. Mom, who looked me in the eye and with tears in her own said, "If I could do this for you and take the pain away, I would." Mom, who was my rock. Mom, who helped me and supported me and loved me and cried with me. Mom, who worried with me when I was pushing at 3 in the morning and there was no doctor there to catch my baby. Mom, who rejoiced and cried some more with me when -after the doctor finally got there- and three more pushes welcomed my sweet baby into the world at the same time I did. Mom, who did the happy dance when they announced we had a beautiful baby girl (we didn't know beforehand what we were having but suspected it was a boy). Mom, who got a hug and kiss of congratulations from the doctor right before I did.

MOM, I COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!

(Buttercup was born on June 19, 1992 at 3:30 a.m. She was 11 days overdue.)

After all was said and done, and I was resting in the recovery room with my baby in the nursery, Max finally arrived. It was June 19, 1992. He missed his first born child's birth by 6 lousy hours. His first stop upon arriving in Guilder was at my mom's house. Remember, he had no idea that any of this had happened. My family was great. All they told him was that I was in the hospital and had had the baby. They didn't tell him anything else, so when he got to my room he didn't know if he had a son or a daughter. Right at that moment they brought Buttercup in and we looked on her for the first time as parents.



Everything was perfect. My baby was perfect, my husband was there and life was good.

For the first 12 hours anyway....

After the pediatrician came and performed Buttercup's first check-up he came with bad news. She had hip dysplasia. It was explained to me like this: Buttercups hip joints were supposed to be "U" shaped and the bones of her thighs were supposed to be a round ball. That ball was supposed to fit perfectly into the "U" shape of her hip bones. Unfortunately, her hips weren't formed at all and the balls of her thigh bones -or femur- didn't have anything to fit into. So my baby was going to have to be in a leg harness for weeks or months until her hip bones finished forming. (She ended up wearing it for only 6 weeks! What a blessing!)





That was a little unnerving and made me sad, but considering the myriad of things that could have gone wrong, this was an easy fix with very few lasting effects.

Max and I had already planned that Buttercup and I would stay in Guilder at my parent's house for the first month, so I could have the help that is so necessary with brand new babies. He stayed that weekend and left to go back to his job in Portland. Buttercup and I got into a routine and I learned the many important skills needed to take care of an infant.



On July 20, Max returned and we loaded up our U-haul. After saying a tearful goodbye to family and friends, headed off to our brand new life.




(Later.... if you can stand even more, we'll flash forward several years to today... and how Buttercup has grown up and what a remarkable young woman she has become!)

The First Born in Our Wilderness (Part A)

In a mere 15 days, Buttercup, my baby girl is graduating from High School.




I can't believe this is happening!

Buttercup is the first miracle of my life. Max and I had been married for (exactly) 4 1/2 years before she came to our family. Almost three of those years were spent "trying" to have her. I had all but given up on having a child of our own. Things just weren't working for us. And back in "those days," if you wanted to use LDS Family Services for adoption, you needed a bishop's interview. Well, we did the interview, got the little slip of paper signed that said we were worthy to adopt from LDS and I was just waiting for the monthly visitor to come before I made the appointment to talk to a social worker.

I waited and waited.

The monthly visitor never came!!

I remember the day I found out I was pregnant. I had no idea that I even could be. I went to the doctor because I felt pretty terrible. He asked me some questions and then said he wanted to do a blood test to see if I was pregnant. He said a blood test was mostly fail-proof and that it would tell us without a shadow of a doubt, if I had a little tadpole inside me germinating. He felt like it was better than a urine test.

My blood was drawn. With a promise to call me as soon as the results were in, I was sent back to my place of employment. I was a teller in a local bank.

I honestly can't tell you how long I waited. Did I get the results that afternoon? Or did I have to wait a day or two? I'm pretty sure I found out later that afternoon. But here's the interesting thing. I don't remember being on pins and needles while waiting. I really didn't think I could be pregnant, so there was nothing earth shattering to wait for. When the phone on the teller-line rang, I don't remember running for it or anxiously waiting for someone to call my name and hand me the phone.

What I do remember is a voice on the other end of the line confirming that my dreams were coming true. That I really was going to be a mommy!

And I remember I screamed! Right there in the bank with my co-workers and customers looking at me in confusion. After I hung up the phone, I ran to the basement (thankfully the stairs were two steps away) and started bawling!

When I was a little girl, all I ever wanted to be was a mommy. I never aspired to any great powerful careers like a doctor, an astronaut, a teacher. All I ever wanted was children of my own to love and be a mommy to. Now that dream was coming true.

Max was in the final year of his accounting degree at the university. With a baby on the way, the pressure to find a job and a career intensified. We had visited Portland, Oregon earlier that spring and fell in love with the area, so we concentrated all our efforts on looking for a job there.

I had a very easy pregnancy. I threw up only once, on accident, as I brushed my teeth one morning. Oh, I was nauseous and ate a lot of saltine crackers, but it was very manageable. I was so excited to be pregnant that I went out immediately and bought a bunch of maternity clothes and when I was 12 weeks pregnant, started wearing them... whether I needed them or not. People had warned me that complete strangers would walk up to me in the grocery store and rub my belly and I was looking forward to that. I wanted the big pregnant belly with the poked out belly button. I wanted to feel as big as a house. I wanted there to be NO DOUBT that my dreams were coming true.

Of course it didn't happen. I only gained about 20 pounds and only got a little thicker around the middle. Of course, my feet grew from a normal width to very w i d e and a little bit longer (they never reverted back to normal) but my belly never expanded. No one rubbed my belly but me and Max. No one asked "when is that baby due?" The stranger walking down the street couldn't tell I was pregnant!

As graduation loomed, Max found a job in Portland as an accountant at a company that owned nursing homes throughout Oregon. He graduated from college in May 1992 and was scheduled to start his job on June 8.... my due date. We felt so blessed to have a job, that we sent him to Portland. I stayed behind in Guilder, at my parent's house, with the promise that I would call him the minute I felt any twinge. His employer knew he had a pregnant wife back in Guilder and promised him that he could come when I called. I continued working my job at the bank and we waited.






And waited....

And worked....

And waited.....

And worked....

(Inducing labor wasn't as widely practiced back then either!)

Finally, when I was 9 days overdue, I told my boss that I was done working. I had reached the end of my rope when a customer came in and whispered to another teller, "Is Valerie pregnant?" I WAS 9 DAYS OVERDUE AND YOU CAN'T TELL IF I'M PREGNANT?!?!

I spent overdue day # 10 at my mom's house. I had gone to the doctor and he finally made an induction appointment for me the next morning at the local hospital. Max had been called and he was leaving late that afternoon for the 12 hour drive home.

On the evening of June 18, 1992, I remember sitting out on my parent's deck eating dinner. Nothing was agreeing with me. And I had a terrible stomach ache. "Mom. Why does my stomach hurt? Am I getting sick? I can't get sick! I'm supposed to have a baby in the morning."

Mom looks at me and smiles. "Why don't you go take a shower and then walk around the house?"

"But Mom, I DON'T FEEL GOOD! I just want to go lie down."

Again that smile.... it's that mother's all-knowing-smile.

"No, I think it's just best that you go walk for a bit. I think you might be having a baby sooner than you think."

WHAT THE.....?

I was in labor?

(To be continued.......)

Your Epidermis is Showing!!

Here's a glimpse into our Sunday evening. We had played a card game of Golf and we started teasing Inigo that his epidermis was showing. I grabbed the camera when he started guessing what it was.



(Buttercup belched right as I began videoing. Thankfully it didn't record. But you hear her trying to explain it away...)

Grandma Goodies

Last week I had planned on making another batch of cookies, but got slammed to the ground by a pretty terrible cold. I had the perfectly cold, blustery day available too! Aren't wintry days perfect for baking cookies-- even if it was almost May? The heat from the oven, the warm smells that emanate while the cookies are baking bring a homey feel throughout the house that make you forget about the howling wind, your cold feet and your discontent with being stuck in the house for yet another day....

I wish I could say that I just stayed in bed recuperating, but I can't. I will admit that some of the day was spent in a hazy stupor .... clogged sinus glands, irritated bronchil tubes and a pounding headache kept me praying for an early death.

Wait.

That sounded a little dramatic.

It wasn't that bad. But I was pretty miserable.

Unfortunately, rather than wallow in my own mucus feeling sorry for myself, I had some pretty important tasks to fulfill:

• I was asked to decorate a door for Teacher Appreciation Week again, and I needed to get all the dye cuts and paper ready for that. (Below is the finished door. I decorated the Library this year. I don't know if you can see, but all the "flowers" are covers of popular children's books.) (Max came and helped ((THANK YOU!!)) can you tell what he glued on the door?)

• Inigo had an "art show" at school that I needed to attend.
• I had a meeting scheduled (which I ended up cancelling).

That was all I could handle for the day, so sadly, no cookies were baked.

Flash forward to Saturday.

I'm climbing out of the pit. I am not feeling 100%, but during the daytime I'm pretty good at 90%, and my fever is gone. I think that I can satisfy that craving I get to bake. (Nights are always worse when you're sick, aren't they?) Plus, one of my primary children got baptized on Saturday and I thought it would be fun to take some cookies to class to celebrate. (I realized very late into the process that Sunday was Fast Sunday which meant NO TREATS!! Darn!)

The cookies I chose to bake is an old family recipe. We got this recipe from my Gramma Millie. I don't even know what their proper name is. We just call them Burnt Butter Frosting cookies. (If there is someone out there who knows what these cookies are really called, I would LOVE to know!!)

Sadly these don't look as great as they normally do. But, their flavor was FANTASTIC... or, to quote my children, "Mom, these are AHHH-MAZING!" Proof that you can't judge a book by its cover... or a cookie by its flatness.

Burnt Butter Frosting Cookies

Mix together:

1/2 c shortening
1 c brown sugar

1/2 c granulated sugar

(you can see that it's pretty dry...)

Add:

2 eggs

(You can see that it's a LOT creamier now!)

Add:

1 c evaporated milk

1 tsp vanilla
(now it's very liquid-y)

Sift in:

2 3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp soda

1 tsp salt

(Now you can see it's much thicker, but the dough still has a pretty runny consistency)

Cover and chill for about an hour.

Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 375* for 10 mins.

(Here's is where I started manipulating the recipe: I think the cookies will spread less if you add a little more flour and I didn't add enough. Also, I cooked the first pan at 375 and I didn't like the results. Instead of having cookies, I ended up with pancakes.

I turned the oven down to 350 and extended the baking time 2-3 minutes. You can see these are slightly better. I have made these cookies many times before and had them turn out perfectly. Maybe they're camera shy. )

Now onto the frosting. This is what makes these cookies so delicious!

Heat:

2 Tbsp butter or margarine til golden brown

(watch it! You don't want it burned!)

Blend in 2 c powdered sugar

1/4 c evaporated milk

Frost while warm.
(I didn't 'frost while warm' and it was okay.)

Let's just say that my family wasn't disappointed that I couldn't take these to Primary. They have eaten most of the batch today. The brown sugar taste of the cookie blends so well with the warm buttery flavor in the frosting. It's kind of a maple-y / caramel-y flavor that will leave you wanting more!


(And I have really struggled with pictures on this post, so if it looks terrible, please excuse me.)