Sugar Cookies on Sick Days

One of the hardest parts of Motherhood is having to take care of your children even when you are so sick that you can barely get out of bed.  Even worse is when one of your children (or both!) are sick as well.  Sigh.  That sums up my week in 100 words or less.

Today is only Wednesday.  I still have 2.5 more days to go before the weekend.  I am officially running out of ways to keep the kids occupied while I "try" to lay around.  We don't have cable and there are only so many DVD's that I can rotate for them before they start a revolt.

It was time to bring out the big guns today.  My Theory:  Have them help me with a super easy sugar cookie recipe and then they can pig out all they want afterwards.  It has worked so far, but now I am a tad worried about the sugar rush and then the subsequent sugar crash.  Hmmm.  I don't think I thought this all the way through.

Cookies, decorated by the kids

gather all ingredients, as shown by the instructions below

roll into a ball on floured surface

roll out dough

let kids choose design of cookies

on ungreased baking sheet

Bake as directed until golden brown around edges

Let kids pig out, just don't share cookies with anyone else because Ainsley will lick each one and then put them back into the pile.

First time Ethan has smiled all day!

Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.