FEBRUARY SWEETNESS FOR YOUR GRANDCHILDREN

Hi Everyone,

It’s the Cookie Grandma here, and I have been baking cookies galore and sending to my grandson who is serving in the military, and sharing with some other grandchildren close to home. My suggestions are chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, and my very favorite is the Peanut Butter Kisses Cookie. I do not know where the recipe originated from so I can’t give credit, but here is the recipe:

            1 cup peanut butter                                          3 ½ cup flour

            1 cup of shortening                                          2 tsp. sale

            1 cup of light brown sugar                              1/3 cup sugar (for rolling cookies)

            1 cup of white sugar                                        1 tsp soda

            ¼ cup milk                                                      11 oz. pkg. chocolate kisses

            2 tsp. vanilla

            2 eggs

Combine peanut butter, shortening and sugars. Stir in milk, vanilla, and eggs. Add combined flour, soda, and salt. Mix thoroughly, using your hands if necessary. Shape dough into 1 inch balls; roll in 1/3 cup of sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheets, bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and press a milk chocolate kiss (unwrapped) on the center of each cookie. Return to the oven and bake another 3 minutes. Remove to racks and cool. Set oven at 350. Makes 4 ½ dozen cookies. This recipe is for cookie bakers and cookie tasters. It’s wonderful and guaranteed to make you feel loved.

Here we are in February, and as grandparents near or far, you may be wondering what to do 

to keep in touch with those little ones. First off is Valentine’s Day. Take a stroll down the aisle of any grocery mart or pharmacy and you’ll spy lots of different ideas. Your choices will make it either expensive or inexpensive. But as a former first grade teacher, Valentine’s Day is big for the little ones. They will sit beaming over Valentine cards from their friends more than they ever did over a gift at the Christmas party. Who can figure, except the Valentine cards spell friendship. So--I assure you they’ll love the inexpensive card more than a big stuffed animal.

  Storybooks are great and I’ll venture to make a few suggestions. Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse by Laura Numeroff; The Invisible String by Patricia Karst; illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff; and The Biggest Valentine Ever by Steven Kroll are just a few. You’ll probably want to make a trip to the bookstore or order online where you can have them shipped directly if you’re long distance. It saves a bundle of postage.

There are also ways to connect spiritually. If you’re long distance, send a round-robin letter or e-mail among family members asking them to share their favorite Bible verse on love. If you’re a near-by grandparent, grab your Bible and gather the grandkids around. Then, look up those verses on love.

 Checkout my Long Distance Grandma on Amazon for even better ideas. Happy February. Enjoy those little ones and big ones. It’s great to be a grandparent!