The Monuments Men and the BEST Soft Sugar Cookies!

Happy Friday!

We have a lot of fun things planned for this weekend because it’s my BIRTHDAY weekend.  Yippee!

Yes, I definitely milk my birthdays….a lot.

We’re taking the kids out tonight to celebrate and I plan to go out with Kev tomorrow night.  So fun.

I usually like to go shopping for my birthday and get some new things, but it’s not really fun to shop while pregnant.  Blah.  Soooo, I’m not quite sure what we’ll do.  We’ll see….

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Kev and I went to a private screening of the new movie, The Monuments Men on Wednesday night.  It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the movie!

I was really excited to see this movie because of the all-star cast: Matt Damon, George Clooney, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett and many others.

I also thought the plot sounded really interesting.  It’s based on a true story, which I always love.  Here’s a basic synopsis…

Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on seven over-the-hill, out-of-shape museum directors, artists, architects, curators, and art historians who went to the front lines of WWII to rescue the world’s artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their rightful owners. With the art hidden behind enemy lines, how could these guys hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind’s greatest achievements.

I really enjoyed the storyline and I had no idea the Nazis had stolen so many priceless works of art during World War Two.  It was fascinating!  I loved the history and all the beautiful artwork in the movie.  It made me want to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I love that place so much!

I absolutely loved seeing Bill Murray in a movie again because I haven’t seen him in a long time.  He was awesome, but I especially loved John Goodman.  He was my fav.

I also thought it was pretty dang cool that George Clooney starred in and directed the film along with helping to produce the movie and write the screenplay too.  Wow!

It really was a great movie worth seeing, but it was a little slow moving at times.  It was still very interesting though and I really enjoyed it.

The Monuments Men is officially in theaters starting today; Friday, February 7th.

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I have to tell you guys something freaky that happened to us though.

When we went to the screening of the movie, we weren’t allowed to take our cell phones in with us for fear we would record parts of the movie.  Soooo, sadly I wasn’t able to take any pictures of us at the actual event, dang it.

But, when we got out of the movie, we picked up our cell phones and I turned mine on.  I quickly looked to see if the kids had tried to call or text us and I found the following text message….

“This is the Unified Police.  Your son has had an accident and I need you to call me.”  It was accompanied by a phone number to call.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT MESSAGE!!???  I was freaking out so much.  And to make matters worse, we had to leave a message at the number they left us and I couldn’t get anyone to answer at our home or on my daughter’s cell phone!

I cannot begin to describe to you the panic that swept through me.  In fact, it still freaks me out just talking about it.  Anyway, Kev and I got out of there as fast as we could and headed home.  I was finally able to get someone to answer the home phone, but it was a police officer!!!

Auuughhh.  It’s never a good thing when a police officer answers your phone.

Thankfully, everything was fine.  My three year old had fallen and hit his head and it was bleeding quite a bit.  My sweet five year old had called 911 because he was so worried about his brother, but then he hung up the phone.  Of course 911 called back and talked to my daughter.  She told them he was bleeding quite a bit, but it probably wasn’t a big deal.  They of course wanted to come out and check it out anyway.

Sooooo, I guess 8 cops, medics and a fire truck showed up at our house!!  They also called my sister-in-law who doesn’t live too far away to come over.  Crazy!

Needless to say, my baby is just fine and didn’t even need stitches.  It was SUCH a freaky experience for us though.  I really wish the officer would have said “minor” accident in his original text message.  Geesh.  I can’t tell you the thoughts that ran through my head.

After everything calmed down, I took some time to explain basic First Aid to my kids along with things like the Heimlich maneuver and CPR.  I may even sign them up for a First Aid course.  I really don’t ever want something terrible to happen to my sweet kiddos.

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On a brighter note, I made some yummy Valentine Sugar Cookies with my babies yesterday!  I must say they are NOT healthy at all, but they are the best sugar cookies I’ve ever tried.

Several years ago, I went on a quest to find the best sugar cookie recipe ever.  I was tired of making cookies that turned out crunchy, flat, tasteless or crumbly.

I’m happy to say this recipe tastes wonderful and the cookies turn out so soft and yummy!  The dough is also extremely easy to work with and doesn’t even need to be refrigerated!

Sadly, I found this recipe several years ago and I have NO IDEA where I found it.  Soooo, I’m not sure who to give credit to, darn it.

The Best Soft Sugar Cookies

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla.
4. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.

   

5. Roll out the dough to 1/4″-1/2″ thickness and cut into desired shapes.  You can also roll the dough into golf ball size pieces and gently press them down to 1/4″-1/2″ thickness too.

   

6. Bake 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden.

   

7. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

**I like my cookies really soft, so I usually roll them to 1/2″ thickness and cook them about 8 minutes.

I also have a very good frosting recipe that I love to use.  Again, I have no idea where I got it though. 🙁

Sugar Cookie Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. almond extract (you can also sub vanilla extract if you prefer)

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan bring butter and milk to a boil. Remove from heat.
2. Add powdered sugar and almond (or vanilla) extract. Beat until smooth.
3. Frost the cookies!

I hope y’all enjoy this recipe!  My boys really loved “helping” me make these.  Oh, and I must say I intended to just make heart cookies, but the boys wanted to make Christmas Trees too, so we did!

Too funny.

I’m sorry this post isn’t particularly healthy, dang it.  But, it IS Friday and ya gotta live it up a little, right??  It’s also my birthday month weekend too!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

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