What's New? And Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

It's been way too long! I won't make excuses for not writing sooner but I also won't make blogging be a chore or another thing on my to-do list. So better late than never!

Things have been pretty busy. Work has been busy for both Tyler and me. I like being busy so I don't mind. The work week flies by for us both. Tyler and I have date night tomorrow. Something that we are trying to be better about. It's easy to get caught up in the routine of life and forget about how important it is to carve out time for each other. Not just watching TV at home but actually going out and doing something. We live in such a great town that has so much to offer. I think we sometimes take that for granted. Tomorrow we are going to Wine Maniacs for a drink and a bite. It's nice to get downtown. I miss the buzz of energy there.

I'm also really looking forward to the next few days. Karen will be in town which I always love. I really am so blessed to have such a great mother-in-law who is also a close friend. On Saturday, Great Granny and more of the family will be down for lunch to celebrate Great Granny's birthday and then Ava has a friend's birthday party in the afternoon. Who needs down time? Not us!

Ava is obsessing over Disney's latest movie "Frozen." It is an adorable movie. I took her to see it in the theater over Christmas break but since then Tyler was able to get it for her. She watched that move non-stop over the weekend. She even has the soundtrack downloaded in her iPhone so if she's not watching the movie, she is walking around the house listening to the music. You should have heard the three of us. We were all singing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" constantly. Most of you will be getting her birthday invites any day now and you won't be surprised by the theme she's chosen.

This weekend was another reminder of how big Ava is getting. One of my co-workers has a little girl who is not quite 2. She told me that her daughter was really into belly buttons lately. Ava has a belly button book that when you press the belly button the baby will giggle. I asked Ava if maybe Baby Carly could borrow this book. Ava perused through the pages quickly and responded
"Lex - Baby Carly can have this book. It's kind of a baby book and I'm almost 5 now."
Oh, my!

Ava is also asserting herself; more so with me than with Tyler. Like most kids Ava wonders "why?" about everything. Problem is, she thinks I'm never right! For example, she said
"Lex - is this way left and this way right?"
"No," I replied. "If you face the window, this way is left and this way is right."
"No it's not." She said confidently.
No matter what answer I give her, she is convinced that what I'm telling her is wrong. It's interesting the way that she doesn't really challenge what Tyler says but is ready to debate with me all day. She is a strong personality and I think that I was much like that when I was growing up too. My mom probably remembers :)

So that's the latest and greatest with us. As a little extra I wanted to share a recipe for Tyler's favorite cookies. I made them for the Packer's play off game. Like always, they were gobbled up in no time! These cookies are very light which can be dangerous because you don't realize how many you've eaten. They are a bit more tedious than some cookies but worth a little extra work. I've never met anyone who doesn't like these cookies. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 cup coconut (sweetened flakes)
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Directions

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Add flour, baking powder and baking soda. Mix in oatmeal and coconut with a wooden spoon. Roll into small balls (I use a melon-baller to make my cookies the same size) and roll in sugar.

I always line my cookie sheets with parchment paper to prevent the bottoms and edges from getting too dark. It also helps with clean-up!

Bake the cookies at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Yum!