A yummy summertime treat. I cannot wait to try this recipe.
Archive for Renee Spindle
Aggression Cookies
This recipe makes the yummiest little oatmeal cookies. I had forgotten how much I like them, and how fun they are to make. I got this recipe from my Mom many moons ago, and I’m not sure what the original origin of the cookies is. I’m sure my Mom can help me out with that information. For my baking session today, I had my helper with me from Camp Grandma. My grandson, Evan of course. These cookies are made to be mixed by hand. You mix by hand to get rid of your stress and take out all of your “aggressions” on the cookies! Here we go with the recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1c. brown sugar
- 2 sticks margarine, softened
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2c. quick oatmeal
- 1c. flour
Directions:
That’s all of the ingredients, just a 5 item recipe. This is my kind of cookie. Now, measure and place all ingredients in a large bowl. Get ready, get set, go and mix up all of the ingredients with your hands. Take out your aggressions, and stress, until formed into a big glob of dough, with all of the dry ingredients mixed in.
Spoon dough by teaspoonfuls or with your favorite cookie dough scoop onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees on ungreased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes. These cookies bake fairly quickly so watch them carefully while they are in the oven. Cool and enjoy with a chilled glass of cold milk. This recipe makes 2-3 dozen cookies.
This is a wonderful recipe for a beginning baker. A great recipe to get your kids into the kitchen for the first time. As you can see by the pictures Evan had lots of fun mixing and mushing the ingredients together. And the bonus was when he was done mixing there was no spoon to lick off, just his hands. Of course I had to take over getting the dough onto the cookie sheets to bake while Evan “cleaned” his hands off. A wonderful afternoon of learning and making messes here in the kitchen at Camp Grandma.
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Angels Baseball with the Boys
Travel Man and I squeezed in some time on Tuesday night to see and Angels game. Yay!! With his crazy travel schedule we have had to learn not to plan our outings too far ahead, as his travel plans can change in a moments notice. So we are learning to be more spontaneous than we normally would. But it’s working. We took our oldest son, Bryan to the game, and grandson, Evan.
The Angels were playing an interleague game with the San Francisco Giants, with CJ Wilson pitching. We love baseball, so it’s always a treat to get to see a game live. And Evan is getting into baseball more and more each year. First inning, Albert Pujols hits a three-run homer. A great at bat, and Evan is on cloud nine because he got to see Pujols hit a homer while he was at the game. He knows who most of the position players are, and gets lots of questions about the game answered by his Uncle Bryan. He’s like a sponge this year soaking in all of the baseball details.
Before the game Evan got a mini bat for a souvenir. He told the employee at the counter that he could only spend $10, because that was Grandma’s budget. When Evan gets back to his seat he tells me, “Grandma, we only spent $5, so we’re in your budget!” Just too funny for me. I was laughing for 5 minutes along with some “Grandma’s” sitting a few rows behind us.
Evan got lots of treats; churros, red vines ( I tried to call these red licorice, but got corrected), peanuts, a soda, a soft pretzel. Not the usual Grandma meals, but hey we were at the ballpark. Funny thing is he told his mother last night that we never fed him dinner!
The first inning was so exciting, 4 runs scored, and 4 runs scored in the 4th inning, more excitement! Right after the seventh inning stretch we get on the jumbotron!! Evan had the funniest delayed reaction. Bryan and I are pointing to the jumbotron telling Evan to look, and he was just in awe. Then he got excited and started jumping up and down. Just too funny because Evan had been dancing all night when they had the “dance cams” going in the stadium trying to get on the jumbotron, and then he did. The 8th inning we score 3 more runs. The Angels won this game 12-5. Lots of offense, and fun times with Evan too.
Evan’s getting lots of lessons in reading the baseball stats from all of us. Bryan is teaching him to read the stats in the newspaper. Great way to teach a little reading, and the numbers and percentages. If you have a sponge like Evan who likes sports this is a wonderful way to soak up some knowledge.
It’s always a treat when we get to spend time with any of the kids and with Evan along too. Bryan is a baseball aficionado, and so knowledgeable about the game it’s always a treat to get to watch a game with him and learn something new.
Travel Man will be back on the road today to South America, so I’m thankful we got to have a trip to the baseball park while he was home. It’s always a treat.
What’s your favorite summertime adventure?
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Camp Grandma – Week Two
Week two of Camp Grandma encompassed a very busy Thursday. We had lots and lot of fun painting, using tempura paints. I have a roll of art paper that we use for this type of painting. It comes in so handy for painting or coloring. We had paint brushes, a small painting roller, and some cut up sponges to paint with. Evan learned how to mix primary colors, and what colors they made.
Here’s Evan in action painting a blue elephant. It was fun to watch him keep adding things to the painting; birds, clouds, trees. He had a lot of fun making a mess outside.
These are the pictures Evan wanted you all to see of how messy his hands got with this project. He kept going over to the hose to spray them off!
Here is the collection of the finished paintings. He was a very busy camper on this day.
These are the pictures of the circles Evan made from mixing the primary colors. He got very excited when he mixed blue and red because this made my favorite color-purple of course.
Mixing the primary colors.
On Friday of our second week, we had a special guest for the day, Uncle Bryan. Uncle Bryan took Evan to see Madagascar 3, and then we had a great swim after Evan got back. We also went for a Golden Spoon, frozen yogurt. Yum, Yum.
Camp Grandma is keeping me busy on the days Evan is here with me. He will keep on going like a little Energizer bunny, as long as I have plenty of activities for him to get involved in. This week we’ll be trying some tie-dyeing, and hopefully some cookie baking. I think Evan wants to go to the beach. We’ll keep you all posted on our activities later this week. Remember Wednesday is officially the first day of summer!
What’s your favorite summertime activity?
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The Dad’s in our Family.
Today is Father’s Day, a day we pay homage to the Dad’s in our lives. Our family has some amazing Dad’s, and I just wanted to let you know how special each of them are.
My grandpa, Harry, lives in Illinois with my beloved Grandma. They will be celebrating 49 years of wedded bliss later this week. My fondest memories with my Grandpa growing up in Illinois are the times when I got to dance with him while standing on his toes. And his never-ending teasing of my dislike for mayo. He is a devoted, loving, kind family man. The kind of man you want your sons to be like. It can be hard to be so far away from them some times, but we try to visit as often as we can.
My Dad, Jim, is my hero. I remember growing up I felt like my Dad was almost untouchable, because I had the utmost respect for him. Of course I still have that sense of respect for my Dad, but it’s matured. He’s such a smart man, and his love for his family knows no bounds. In good times and bad I have always, always known that I can call my Dad anytime for advice or support. And now he is a Warrior, battling lung cancer, and showing all of us that you should never, never, never give up.
My brother, also a Jim, is a rock solid, smart, funny, loving man. He’s our family Uncle, Unc, and in the kids younger years they called him Oinkle. Such a funny nickname. He’s so much like my Dad. He has always been, and still is the calm in the storm. I have relied on my brother more times than I can count when I needed some advice or something fixed around the house. When Zach was so sick with leukemia my brothers loving support carried me through the tough times. He and my Dad have been the greatest role models to my sons. I don’t know if they realize how much the boys look up to them.
Then, I have to tell you about Tom, aka Travel Man. Almost 10 years ago when Tom and I got married this man walked into an entirely new world. Marrying a single mom with four kids and one of his own. What was he thinking. I used to ask myself that. He must be crazy! He was crazy, crazy in love with me. We knew at that time what we were getting ourselves into. Tom’s goal when we first got married was to have fun. Show the kids they could have fun with him. We took little weekend trips a lot, and the boys had their own guy trips with Tom. We were able to take a few vacations together to Disney World, Chicago, Monterey, and made some great memories. The kids know now they can depend on Tom for anything. In the early years they would question his methods, and craziness a lot. But Tom stayed strong, has gone the distance, and has forged his relationship with each one of the kids. I am forever grateful for this man in my life. My Rock of Gibraltar, my calm in the storm, and my soul mate.
Our family Dad team would not be complete without my son-in-law, Brad. Brad is steadfastly devoted to our daughter Naomi, and such a great Dad to Evan. Brad and Naomi have a crazy work/ life schedule, but they make it work. Brad’s work schedule doesn’t always allow him to get to the Party House for every event. But he always make a point to get here after work, and say hi to everyone. When he walks in the house on a Party Day we all yell, “Brad!” in unison. We’re so crazy.
On this Dad’s day my brother will not be with us as he had to be out-of-town for work. So we’re sending him long distance hugs today. As we celebrate this Fathers Day, remember all the wonderful, meaningful things the Dads in our lives have done for us. Take a minute to reflect on the warm and loving memories, and hold them near and dear to your heart. My cup runneth over with thankfulness for the Dads in our family. Each of them special and unique in their own wonderful way.
Photo credits for this post go to Elaine, Naomi, and my Mom.
