Trip to Rockford

Over Fall Break, we drove up to visit Mom and Stan in Rockford. It wasn't too bad of a drive (especially since we took a pit-stop in Bloomington on the way there).
Some of the highlights from our trip?
* hanging out with Grandma's pets, Maggie and Sophie
* visiting with Calvin and Aunt Heidi
* playing games (Scrabble and Sorry)
* going to the apple orchard
* searching for pumpkins in the fields
One of the biggest helps on this trip was the fact that Jonathan was able to do some of the driving. Even though I still ahd to be awake and alert, at least I could shift position and be more comfortable...

Baking Challenges

Sandwich cookies are one of my all-time favorites. I consider them to be "Christmas cookies" because I only bake them at Christmas-time. They also happen to be Tracey's favorite cookies that I make. So, when when we decided to stay at her house for a couple days over fall break, Tracey asked if I would be wiling to teach her to make these yummy cookies.

Of course, I agreed...
They turned out delicious, as always. I made the dough and baked the cookies while Tracey wrote down the recipe and all of my little baking tricks. When it was time to assemble the cookies, Tracey decided to help out. Her first attempts were pretty hilarious! Take a look...

In case you wondered, hers is the broken one loaded with too much chocolate!

Eventually she got the hang of dipping the cookies into the melted chocolate and sprinkles. Now she can recreate these cookies whenever she wants - in theory.