The heat is here. Now you’ll hear me complain about the heat until the first crisp day of Fall. But this year, instead of mooching off of friends, I actually splurged on pool passes for myself, Maeve and Violet. I even bought a baby swim thing that essentially amounts to 15 feet of mesh material I’m supposed to know how to wrap around me to hold Violet so I can handle two kids in the pool. I don’t know how 15 feet of mesh is supposed to be comfortable in 95 degree weather, but the lady on the package looks happy.

As Memorial Day approaches, I’ve rounded up some Summer treats from my archives. You can find everything for this time of year up there in the Seasonal button, too. And if you need more Memorial Day ideas, check out this roundup of 22 food and party ideas over at my other blog.

Summer classics as cookies:

watermelon cookies, lemonade cookies, popsicle cookies, cookie ice cream cones.

Frozen stuff:

frozen yogurt pops, ice cream sandwich pops.

S’mores!

S’mores on a stick, s’mores pops, self-reflective s’mores.

Beach creatures:

Starfish cookies, crab and fish cupcake toppers, turtle cookies.

Get outside:

Baseball cookie pops, camping cookies, mini tennis cookies.

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I whipped up these little tie-dye (tie-dye-esque?) cookie bites to bring to a party from leftover cookie dough and icing. I used the cutest little square cutter from this set I found at Ikea ages ago. The best thing about leftover cookie dough and icing bags you already have is that you can do whatever you want and you don’t have to worry about messing up. Plus, I find that people love cookies and are easily impressed.

To make these, I cut out little squares of cookie dough, baked and let cool according to the recipe. I used my royal icing, thinned just a bit, tinted with Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Bright White, Electric Pink, Orange and Egg Yellow, but use any colors you like), and filled disposable decorating bags that were fitted with couplers and size “3″ or “4″ decorating tips. (For tips on finding supplies, click HERE.) I then outlined each square with white and let set a bit. Working with a few cookies at a time, I piped three stripes of color, then I swirled a toothpick through the icing. For Basic Cookie Decorating how-tos, click HERE. Let the cookies dry for several hours or overnight before handling.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

So I have a kindergartener. She goes to a public charter school here in Washington, DC. I’ll spare you all the charter school talk, since I’ve waxed on about it before. (To read more about the charter school system in Washington DC, click HERE and HERE.) These pencil cookies are for all the superfantabulous teachers and staff at her school, Inspired Teaching.

If you don’t have a kindergartener yourself, or if you don’t know any, I’ll tell you a little bit about what it means to be in kindergarten. It means you talk all the time. You talk all the time because you know everything. Often, having this expansive knowledge means you must correct the grown-ups around you an awful lot. You also think the world revolves around you, so you must be heard the second a thought enters your brain, no matter what is occurring around you. If the grown up you are interrupting asks you to be patient, you explain, loudly, that you can’t because the thought actually WILL leave your brain if you don’t get it out right then. As a kindergartener, you can do much more for yourself, and you know the general rules of life, but sometimes these rules are hard to follow and your toddler past still sneaks up on you in the form of whines, tantrums and arguments. In fact, arguments are relatively common for a kindergartener, be it with other kindergarteners or with siblings, friends or any grown-up. And as a kindergartener, your logic is outstanding, if only to you, so this gives you much ammunition for arguing. As a kindergartener, you also must move frequently throughout the day. This can mean jumping, running, somersaults, dancing or any similar physical activity. Often, this must be done on busy city sidewalks or during quiet time, but safety and appropriateness cause very little inner conflict for the kindergartener.

Imagine spending seven hours a day with 20 kindergarteners.

This is why we have a week of teacher appreciation. Because teachers are spending thirty-five some hours a week with our children. And they are stunningly patient and deft at handling their little (I mean big) egos. And all while teaching them stuff.

Teachers are awesome.

They deserve more than a few pencil cookies, but this is what I cooked up for the staff at my daughter’s school this week.

to make pencil cookie favors…

you will need:*

cookie dough

royal icing

pencil or crayon cookie cutter

food coloring

disposable decorating bags

couplers

decorating tips, sizes 3, 4 and 5

rubber bands

*Find the decorating bags, couplers and tips at the craft store. For food coloring, I suggest Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Egg Yellow, Chocolate Brown, Super Black and Electric Pink used here), found in specialty stores or online. For tips on finding cookie cutters, click HERE. This is the cutter I used.

step one: bake your cookies. Prepare cookie dough, chill, roll out, cut out the pencils, bake according to the recipe and let cool completely.

step two: prepare your icing. Prepare royal icing according to the recipe. Divide and tint your colors, yellow, pink, gray, black, and tan. You’ll need the most of yellow. Prepare decorating bags with couplers and tips, fill with each color and close tightly with rubber bands.

step three: decorate your cookies. For general cookie decorating instructions, click HERE.Use a 3 tip to pipe the black point. Then use a 3 tip to pipe the tan part of the pencil. Pipe and fill the eraser with a 4 tip. Pipe lines of gray with a size 4 tip. And pipe lines back and forth in yellow using a size 4 or 5 tip. Let the cookies dry overnight before packaging.

To package the cookies…

You will need:*

cellophane favor bags

ribbon

this label printable

these circle labels or white, letter-size photo paper or cardstock

Print this printable onto the circle labels or just print onto paper and cut out tags. Place the cookies in a cello bag, close with ribbon and either stick the label on the bag or use a hole punch to attach the tag to the ribbon.

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Followers may notice my recent obsession with these portrait cookies. I started with this gift for my niece. The next year I made these favors for her art-themed birthday party. And now, portrait cookies for my mom for Mother’s Day.

This is my mom.

This is my brother and his family.

This is my sister and her family.

And this is me and my family.

Seriously, the likenesses are, ahem, uncanny. No really. It’s as if I studied the fine art of portraiture.

Gift-buying in my family is never easy. We all have way too much clutter and need very few things. That’s why I always turn to cookies. They can be personalized and they never leave clutter. Only crumbs (hahahaha…. groan).

Here are some favorites of Mother’s Day past:

all about mom Mother’s Day cookies

preppy cookies

over-the-rim cookies for mom’s tea

And of course, there are plenty of flower-themed ideas. Felt flower cupcake toppers, gerbera daisy cookie pops, carnation cookie pops, bite-size daisy cookies, how to make a flower cookie arrangement, springtime marshmallows.

 to make Mother’s Day family portrait cookies… I cut out rectangle cookies with my cookie dough. Bake and let cool completely. Then I prepared my royal icing and tinted it white and gold with Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Bright White and Egg Yellow). I prepared a disposable decorating bag with coupler and tip, size “4″. I filled the bag with the gold icing and closed with a rubber band. I piped rectangles on the cookies, leaving a border. Then, I switched the tip to size “3″ and piped the frame part. After the gold set a bit, I thinned the white icing to flooding consistency, filled an empty decorating bag, snipped the tip and piped to fill the frames. Let the cookies dry super duper well, overnight.  And then I drew with the portraits with edible writers.  For basic cookie decorating how-tos click HERE. For tips on buying and using edible writers, click HERE.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

Nope, this is not another dangers-of-facebook post. This is a why-I-love-facebook post. I, like many, visit facebook a lot. It’s one of my go-to spots to hit all day. Email, other email, other email, facebook. Linger too long, back to email. Maybe Pinterest. I do, very much, understand why many are wary about the dangers of social media consuming us, of our computers swallowing us whole, leaving only our feet sticking out of the screen. I know we risk spending our lives in virtual relationships and forgetting the grass and trees and sky and books and people. But there is something else facebook gives us that I think is, if not wonderful, at minimum, fascinating.

Facebook lets us constantly, daily, sometimes hourly, write our lives. Facebook forces us to investigate, interpret and present ourselves to others. Concisely and efficiently. We become introspective. What do we post? We must evaluate our lives to determine what is worthy of a post. If we even do that much thinking before the fingers fly over the keyboard. Is it reality? No, probably not. We are the masters of our story. We represent ourselves how we see fit. We may try to display the flaws in our lives. Find humor in them. Seek sympathy for them. Or hide the flaws and paint a more perfect picture. We may display gilded versions of our successes, our cute children, our clever crafts. No matter. We are at a moment in history when we can create ourselves in a few sentences every day. Maybe several times a day. We are all writers, and we are all writing memoir.

I, for one, love it. Not just to write my own story, but to read those of others. I love having glimpses into so many of the lives I’ve encountered in my forty years. Elementary school friends, past high school pals, college friends all over the world, co-workers, acquaintances, extended family, my husband’s family… I see pictures of kids and vacations and marathons. I read quips, anecdotes, gripes and dramas. I startle at ultraconservative rants, snicker at funny-kid quotes and snort at stories of bad customer service. I know that a long-ago friend didn’t wear matching socks today. Another lost her dear grandmother. I’m frustrated right there with you when you miss the Little House marathon or when your kid is home sick and you had SO much to do today. I feel connected to so many from my past, I learn things from those I might have never had a relationship with otherwise, like they are also struggling with fertility or they have picky eaters, too. And that is enough for me.

Whether or not these relationships would be the same without the computer between us doesn’t matter. Whether or not they are fancied up versions, whether or not it’s selective information full of gaps, I don’t care. It’s enough for me to get these pieces, because it’s just enough for me to get a sense of who they are in life. What they choose to post, no matter how flippant or casual or serious or emotionally wrenching, true or masking truth, gives me something about them.

How do you choose what to share? What do you post? I admit I’m persnickety about it. I think about what to post, and I choose carefully. I complain about my lack of sleep, I demonstrate angst veiled with attempts at humor. I post cute stuff my kids do, but I usually deprecate them so as to not be one of those posters who post cute stuff their kids do. I share what I think are insights into the world but probably aren’t anything new.

I went through a few of my posts from the past few months. Not those from my Decorated Cookie facebook page, but my personal page. I thought I’d share and give you some possible interpretations as to what lies beneath.

My thought of the day, which I thought was smart. On the bonus of having babies at age 40: Yes, it means you won’t be done and free til your 60s or 70s. But I’d rather have been free in my 20s and 30s when I had the energy to enjoy it. Dancing salsa, concerts at clubs, shooting pool, late night diners. I’m totally fine spending my twilight years going on old people group trips and drinking wine while sitting somewhere quietly. Interpretation: I’m a little anxious about being 40 with a baby.

Does anybody else take the bag of wine out of the box and squeeze it to get every drop out? No? Oh, me neither. Interpretation: I like wine. I need it to cope. This is charming, not a problem. Right?

The good thing about being up at 1, 3, 4 and 5 is that you get work done. Just learned a whole new level of photoshop. Interpretation: I’m tired. Feel sorry for me.

Aw, Maeve is so SO considerate. This morning she came into my bedroom where I slept peacefully, put my glasses on my face, pulled off my covers and shouted “Get up! Get up! Get up!” because she was worried I was “cold.” SO considerate. Interpretation: I’m tired. Feel sorry for me.

The human species is so lame. Can’t horses walk right after they are born? Two months in and she can’t even sit without falling over. (Picture of Violet face down on couch.) Interpretation: I’m taking a casual approach to parenting. Also, look at my cute baby.

Yep. Expensive bean bag chair santa got maeve for Christmas worth every penny, sigh. (picture of cats sitting on bean bag chair) Interpretation: Look at my cute cats.

What it’s like to drive home with a 5 year old in the car: “I know what communicating means. Communicating! That’s an ‘ing’ word! So communicating is talking to each other. Bears communicate. Birds communicate. When they have stuff to tell each other. Did you know mountain lions communicate with each other? Mountain lions communicate with each other. So did you wish for snow? On that star, you wish for things. I don’t tell my wishes or they won’t come true. Tomorrow is that animal, what is it? A beaver. Yeah, a beaver. I think.” “Groundhog?” “Yeah, groundhog, if a groundhog sees his shadow we have 6 days of winter, if not it’s an early spring. Do you want him to see his shadow? We voted at school, and I voted for early spring, and guess who won? Early spring, and Anna voted for, I forget what she voted for, and look at that tree. Did you see that tree? I just ate the tail off of my goldfish cracker, you know what it looks like now? Hmmm, a hot air balloon. Which hand is it in. Left or right? Which is left again? We have to collect ten things again. The 100th day of school is in ten days. I might collect coins. When are Mom Mom and Pap Pap getting here? I think they will be there when we get home. Violet’s eyes are open…. ” Interpretation: I’m not being cryptic here. My daughter talks incessantly. It gets annoying.

I think Maeve’s self esteem is developing juuuuuust fine. Today I saw her reaction in the mirror as she noticed a pimple/scratch/something on her cheek. She looked like she was disappointed at first, and I mentally rushed to have the necessary response ready about how not to buy into the arbitrary pressure girls face to appear perfect and… her expression changed all on its own. “It’s a beauty mark! It means I have a lot of beauty. I hope it stays forever.” Phew. Girl crisis averted. Wish I had some of what she has. Interpretation: My kid is awesome.

Listening to Greg in the other room teaching Maeve about 911 and pretending to be a 911 operator… I think he missed his calling. Interpretation: Please note what a good father my husband is. Also, he’s a good 911 operator.

Quick update! To-be-named baby arrived early on friday. Exciting to watch a team of many panic and debate a plan of action for surgery. All is well tho i’m still in much discomfort (so not answering calls, emails or visitors). But the docs gave my voice a lot of weight which was smart all around. Will respond more when I’m well!! Thank you all!! Interpretation: I’m in the hospital. I just had surgery. The baby came early, which could have been very dangerous for me, but I’m alive.

What kind of facebook poster are you?  Do you put thought into your posts? Do you paint pictures or try and display even the worst sides of things? Or, do you avoid facebook altogether?

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!