Story of the World Volume 1 Resources - Updated

Have I mentioned how glad I am we started Story of the World in January? So far (just six chapters into the book) we are loving the stories and format of the activity guide. You can see what we are doing on my SOTW page here.

Today my little guy was sold on the comics of Joseph's story: Lost and Found. He loves comics and this caught his attention. What I love is that SOTW is capturing both of my children's attention, making planning and teaching easier for me!

Getting in the Valentine Spirit with our Favorite Cookies

We've started getting into the Valentine spirit already - if you've been clipping coupons from the Sunday paper you've seen a lot of M&M coupons. We love M&Ms, and they were just begging to be eaten.

I used my favorite basic cookie recipe and just added M&Ms.... I love this recipe because it uses Crisco shortening instead of butter. The cookies are just more crispy - and we prefer them that way!

We made the basic dough (full recipe below) and used our cookie scoop to put the cookies on our baking sheets. It was a great day to bake, because my youngest is being introduced to units of measurement in his math book.

My daughter put extra candy pieces on top of the cookies (and I think she ate a few in the process!)

In the end we wound up with 2 pans of a dozen cookies each, and another pan of 9 cookies... a grand total of 33 cookies.

Our guests loved them, and the looked so festive on our dining room table. I love Valentine's Day!

Here's the recipe - it's a keeper in our house - great with chocolate chips, too.

Ingredients

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups candy-coated milk chocolate pieces

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix sugar, eggs, shortening, and vanilla thoroughly. Add flour, salt, and baking soda to creamed mixture. Blend well. Add 3/4 cup of M&M candies.
2. Drop dough by teaspoonful onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Slightly push a few candies on top of each dough ball with remaining candies. Make sure to eat some candies while you're at it.
   
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 9 to 11 minutes, to your liking.

*If you'd like more Valentine ideas, head over to Mom's Mustard Seeds today - she has a Valentine linky for everyone to share their ideas. Thank you, Rebecca!