We had four kids in five years! In the beginning, I’m not gonna lie, it was really challenging. Every single one of them needed so. much. attention! I knew there would come a day though, when them being close together in age would work in our favor and they’d all be best friends who loved each other and kept each other company. Well my friends, those magical years have begun. My kids really are all best friends and they see the world with wonder and endless possibilities. It’s a pretty neat thing to experience a house full of dreamers who haven’t been told to act a certain way by the world. They express themselves however they want and it’s pretty awesome!
Today I want to share one of our favorite Sunday activities we do together as a family + the yummiest Sugar Cookie recipe you’ll ever make!
So let’s back it up a bit and chat about Sunday’s. It’s done a fas 360 on me and has become my favorite day of the week! Brian and I make a conscious effort to turn off all electronics and spend quality time with the kids. Brian kicks the morning off by making his famous pancakes while the rest of us get ready for church. And while we’re here, I just have to give Gymboree a huge shout out. They’ve literally got THE cutest new spring styles right now. My kids are extremely opinionated when it comes to what they’ll wear. Savy and Boston need clothes that are soft and comfortable to play in and the twins will only wear shirts that have something they like on them. I saw these dinosaur button ups and just about died! Cue close up shot:
Gymboree makes it easy though for the kids to express themselves with their fresh new styles! Savy picked out her little white dress, I let her buy her first pair of wedges (she’s obsessed) and then she added in a bracelet, headband, and her most favorite bunny purse haha!!! Inside she keeps her lip gloss, hair ties (because “just in case mom”), and a pen and paper in case she needs to add something to her “to-do” list!!!!
Their Spring collection is so bright and fun and it really enables my kids to express themselves however they want! After we get dressed, we eat breakfast and then head to church.
Savy: White Eyelet Dress | Pink Espadrilles | Floral Bracelet | Pink Headband Pink Headband | Sparkle Bunny Purse || Boston: Linen Shirt |Twill Shorts | Plaid Tie | Wingtip Shoes || Twins: Dino Shirts | Twill Shorts | Wingtip Shoes
I of course am compelled to throw in our weekly Sunday picture where I torture the kids to give me their best smiles. My plan is to compile all these photos one day in a big book to show them the giant effort we made every single week to take them to church so they could learn about God!
And then it’s home for an afternoon filled with crafts, dancing to music, cooking, painting – the list goes on and on and on. We’re usually outside doing side walk chalk or strolling through the neighborhood on bikes or we’re inside baking cookies for the neighbors. And I’m painting this really pretty picture for you in these clearly staged photos! If you have little kids, you know these pictures are not quite reality. Tantrums, messes, fighting, hurt feelings. It’s just part of life!! The good, the bad, the intense emotions, noise and tornado messes. That’s part of the joy for me in having kids. They force me out of my narrow minded thinking and help create more spontaneity and fun!!! Savy wanted to make sugar cookies today and we had time before church to get them in the oven. I’ll share the recipe below!!
We made the frosting, I set the kids up on their little table and just let them at it! I usually have a couple different colors of frosting but we ran out of powdered sugar so pink had to do. And then I’ll let them use sprinkles and whatever else they can find in my baking bucket. The music is up and Savy has a blast bossing her brothers around and giving them specific instructions on how to properly frost and decorate a sugar cookie! I’m always so inspired by my kids. How creative they are, always wanting to stand out and put their personal little flair on things!
After we’re done, a few lucky neighbors get a surprise plate full of the most beautifully decorated cookies this world has ever seen haha!!!! And if they’re not impressed by the frosting and sprinkles, they’ll honestly be impressed with how delicious the cookies are. I’ve never in my entire life, had a better sugar cookie!
Here’s the recipe for you!
- 2 cups softened butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 T vanilla extract
- 1/2 T almond extract
- 2 eggs
- 5 cups flour
- 3/4 T baking soda
- 3/4 T cream of tarter
- Preheat oven to 325
- Cream butter, sugar, extract and eggs until fluffy
- Add dry ingredients, blend thoroughly
- Roll into balls and bake on greased cookie sheet for 10 minutes
- These cookies work best if rolled into balls! They spread in the oven so it's best to use a different recipe if you want cookies that work with cookie cutters.
- 1/4 cup softened butter
- 3-4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Combine butter and powdered sugar, pour in milk until it's the consistency you want. Then add almond extract and vanilla extract + food coloring of choice.
Savy: White Eyelet Dress | Pink Espadrilles | Floral Bracelet | Pink Headband Pink Headband | Sparkle Bunny Purse || Boston: Linen Shirt |Twill Shorts | Plaid Tie | Wingtip Shoes || Twins: Dino Shirts | Twill Shorts | Wingtip Shoes
I hope you guys enjoyed this post! Thank you Gymboree for collaborating with me and encouraging my kids to show their self-expression and creativity #followyourart!
Hurray!!! I made these cookies for a Christmas dinner with family and several of my husband’s cousins ate 5 our 6 cookies each. Haha! And I made them for a church dinner and so many people raved about them. My sister had a baby so I made a batch, cooked half of the dough and froze the other half for her so she could whip them out when she needed a treat! I’m telling you, these are crack! Haha ?
Can you link to your dress? It’s beautiful too!