Spice Ornaments

When the girls were small I was always worried about them eating glass ball ornaments on the Christmas Tree. This year with Braeden toddling around it's no different. For some reason toddlers like to put things in their mouths. Because of this I decided to make my own ornaments. Years ago, with the help of my mom, we found this spice dough recipe. They are so easy to make and it won't harm the little ones, the taste is not enjoyable.

These make your home smell so yummy. Here's the recipe. . .

1 cup cinnamon

1 TBSP ground nutmeg

1 TBSP ground cloves

3/4 cup applesauce

2 TBSP Tacky Glue

Mix together all ingredients. If mixture is too dry add applesauce, if it's too wet add cinnamon.

Roll dough 3/4 inches thick on cinnamon sprinkled board or counter. Cut shapes with desired cookie cutters. Bake @ 200 degrees, turning ornaments over every 20 minutes.

The baking process can take quite a while depending on how hard you want your ornaments.

After the first 20 minutes I use a straw to poke a hole in the ornament so that I can string with ribbon later on.

The finished product.

A Visit to the Dentist

This morning the kiddies had their 6 month dental check-up.

Logenn waiting patiently for her turn.

Logenn was 5 when she got her first and only cavity, so far (knock on wood). When she went to get it filled, because it was a baby tooth, she had the option to pick a colored filling. She picked a pretty periwinkle color. When we came to Texas, her new hygienist and dentist commented on her cool filling. And now remember her as, "oh yeah, your the girl with the blue filling, I remember you."

Well, today she didn't have her regular hygienist. After what I thought was a long cleaning, the hygienist turned to me and asked, "is this blue thing a filling in her tooth?"

My reply, "YES."

Then she said, " No wonder I couldn't get it clean, I thought it was a piece of candy stuck in her tooth."

Umm, obviously she didn't look at the x-rays first. And, HELLO, do you really think I would bring my kids to the dentist with dirty teeth? I think not. ;)

SMILE! Hadley did great. She just has to go back next month to get sealants put on her new molars.

Say AHH! Braeden did great saying ahh when we practiced, but when it came to the dentist actually looking in his mouth he got a little ticked off. Luckily a sticker and a toothbrush cheered him up.

Everyone walked away with no cavities, YEAH!

Extremely Exhausted

Around 10 weeks ago Mike started PC I & II (Practice Court). His days start early and his nights end in the early hours of the next morning. There have been days where he has only had 2 to 3 hours of sleep in 24 hours. (I know what he is going through isn't easy, I know I could never do it, but I have to say - being the "widow of a law student" certainly isn't easy either). From being assigned ridiculously large amounts of reading, to different types of mock trial exercises, who wouldn't be extremely exhausted?

Here is a glimpse of the reading material for the 10 week term, there are two other binders that are not pictured. The top binder holds his review materials (class outlines) so he can prepare for finals. This next week he has three finals, the first being tomorrow. Best of luck, Mike. Next Friday finals will be over (until January anyway). I'm sure he looks forward to catching up on some sleep. And as for the kids and I, we can't wait to have our dad and hunny back in our lives. Even if is just for 3 days. Then it's back to the books and PC III. We've heard it's not as grueling, we can only hope.