Chinese Moon Cookies

With the Chinese New Year officially just one week away, I decided to try out my recipe for Chinese Moon Cookies. These are a traditional favorite during the Harvest Festival and Chinese New Year (CNY). I am told that these cookies often have a filling inside as well, but I thought it best to crawl before I tried to run. Hence, I made just the basic cookie.

I purchased two traditional wooden molds to use on our cookies. I followed the recipe carefully and lovingly tapped out my batch of Chinese Moon Cookies (with Daddy's help). They were brushed with egg white and sprinkled with colored sugar and baked at the directed temperature and for the directed time.

Since I have never tasted the authentic product, I will assume that they have turned out correctly. They are a different type of cookie than we are use to but that really doesn't matter. All that matters is that Mikayla knows her culture is one to be honored and observed.

Oh, and by the way, the boys have discovered they taste great with some icing on the top!

Okay, so Chinese Moon Cookies with American Icing....we could be on to something!

Gators 41, OSU 14! Gators Win! Dual Championships Reside at UF!

January 8, 2007: Tostitos BCS National Championship Game, Glendale, AZ

After 37 days of listening to all the "experts" lament that Florida did not deserve to be in the championship game and Ohio State was going to pummel the Gators, the time had finally come to settle it on the field. No longer subject to Herbstreit's pathetic, biased opinions on Ohio State nor Kornheiser's ridiculous accusation that Urban Meyer whined the Gators into consideration, the Gators could show the nation that the SEC is the superior conference. And show the nation they did. The Ohio State romp predicted did occur, it just started 16 seconds later than everyone (else) thought--and oh yeah--Ohio State was the one taken to the woodshed for the good, ole fashioned, southern whipping.

For those of us down this way, we knew the Gators had the talent, the team, the coach, and most importantly, the heart to win the National Championship. Afterall, our basketball team (rated 37th in the country at the start of last year's season) had done the very same thing just 9 months earlier.

So, for the first time in collegiate history, the same university holds both the NCAA Basketball Championship and the National Championship in Football in the same season. That university is none other than the University of Florida, our alma mater!

Thank you to all our Gator athletes. We know the majority of you are scholar athletes, and we appreciate how you showcase our academic and athletic superiority. We are so proud of you and for you! We are proud to be part of The Gator Nation!

New Year's Eve & New Year's Day

Happy New Year! 2007!

We went to church on Sunday, New Year's Eve. Mikayla, in particular, was dazzling in her beautiful new dress...thank you, Grandma!

New Year's Day was spent rather quietly. We just started on one of our resolutions for the year...clear out some clutter. So, Mommy & Daddy's closets and drawers look much better. Spencer & Connor's closets and drawers look better as well. After those tasks, we became couch potatoes and watched football.

We are enjoying the bowl games. However, we cannot wait until January 8th! The Gators face the Buckeyes (yucko) in the Tostitos Championship Bowl. Go Gators! It would be so GREAT for our football team and our basketball team to be National Champions in the same year!

Christmas, 2006

"Finally!"

That was Connor's greeting on Christmas morning. He was so very happy to see that Christmas had finally arrived! More importantly, Santa Claus had visited our home over night! (And yes, a PSP was left under the tree for Mr. Connor....that is the photo of him with shear joy and the package a blur as he ripped open the paper).

Spencer was inundated with Xbox games. He had originally wanted a Nintendo Wii, but once it was recalled, he decided to accessorize his Xbox. Whew!


Mikayla was a little hesitant at first, but she got on a roll. She loved her Hokey Pokey Elmo (thank you, Spencer), her Bitty Baby (thank you, Santa), her cash "Register" (thank you, Grandma) and her Ariel bicycle with training wheels (thank you, Mrs. Carrie & Mr. Charlie).

Mommy received beautiful earrings from Connor and a very cool Star Trek game for my Nintendo DS from Spencer. This year, the boys bought each of their gifts with their own money. I know they enjoyed the giving part of the holiday much more because of their efforts. I know Mommy spent much of the morning tearing up watching everyone's joy in receiving their specially chosen gifts.

We had a wonderful, wonderful holiday! How blessed we are to have one another and to be together as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. His gift was, is, and continues to be the most precious ever given. We hope your holiday was as blessed....

Grandma's Visit

Life around the Register household has been very, very, busy! Grandma Sherouse arrived on December 15th for 13 days over Christmas. We started her visit by staying 3 days at Disney World. We enjoyed EPCOT for a day, and then Huey took our 3 wonderful kiddos to MGM the next day. Grandma and I visited the Mall at Millenia in Orlando for some Christmas shopping. We had a blast! We got to peek at how the other half lives as we window shopped at Louis Vitton, Neiman Marcus, Tiffany's, Coach, and Gucci.

I saw a little 4 carat bauble that was only 275K! Hmmm, buy a house....buy a ring......tough decision. :) I also left my fingerprints on a Prada handbag on sale for only $1500. Needless to say, we did not buy anything at these places. But, it was fun to look.

Here is what the rest of the gang was doing while we were window dreaming at the mall. Funny, but I wouldn't trade these guys for any of those things in the window.

Family Portraits

Mikayla would not smile for the family picture, but fortunately, Daddy (behind the photographer) coaxed a precious smile from Missy Mikayla. It is hard to believe but Spencer & Connor are turning into such handsome young men. It was just yesterday that each of them were 2 years old. Time flies when you are having a great time! We are truly blessed to have 3 amazing, healthy, beautiful children. God has been most gracious to us!

Thanksgiving: Food, Family, & Fun!!!

Here is our favorite shot from our Thanksgiving celebration with family in Live Oak, Florida. This is almost all the kids. From L to R: Lee, Caleb, Leah, Victoria, Philllip, Spencer, Mikayla, Connor, & Andrew. What a great looking group of kiddos!




Connor having a blast on the hay bales. Mimi & Joe have a HUGE open air barn full of hay bales. The kids loved playing on, in, around, and on top of all of them. Huey & I even got in on the fun.


Mikayla wasn't too sure about Uncle Charles initially (Uncle Charles is really a third cousin, but we call him Uncle). She warmed up though and had a lot of fun entertaining Uncle Charles.

With Mikayla's long fingers and love of music, it did not take Mimi long to get her on the piano. Mimi is playing Jingle Bells and Mikayla is trying to sing with her--on key no less!

Miss Cindy & Mimi were thrilled that Mikayla would allow them to hold her! Mikayla thought bouncing on Miss Cindy's legs was lots of fun!