Safe

Jennifer

Day 2 

Nicholas ran down the stairs the next morning with his pajamas still on and his puppy slippers , ready to have His morning cereal, looked in the cupboard for a bowl, and got the cereal out the cabinet, slamming the cabinet. 

Jennifer woke up to the bang of the cabinet next to her ear. She got out of bed and brushed her teeth and washed her face and came down the flight of stairs to make coffee. Nicholas was just opening the fridge to get the milk when He grabbed it and it poured all over the floor, good thing he caught it in time to save the last amount for his cereal. Oh darn he said, I got it mom, I will clean it up Nicholas said. I promise! He reached over the counter for paper towels and started mopping it up with his hands. After he was done he proceeded to pour the last of the Cereal and milk in his bowl. Just as His sisters came down to eat. Annie and Brit got bowls and cereal and then they opened the fridge. Nicholas said sorry I accidentally spilt the rest of the milk on the floor.  The girls rolled there eyes and said man! They grabbed the pop tarts and put them into the toaster and waited.  Mom, what time are we doing the cookies today? Brit said. About 11 am, what time is it now? Jennifer said. Jen looked at the stove and said 9:30 am. Have your breakfast and get dressed and we will start the Cookies at 11 am. Jen got dressed and put on her apron and got all the ingredients for the 1st batch of cookies. They were making gingerbread men. 

Gingerbread Men Cookies

"These Gingerbread Men Cookies are as cute as can be. If desired, decorate with raisins, currants or cinnamon red hot candies for eyes and buttons. Ingredients 4 h 30 m On Sale What's on sale near you.Hmm. It looks like these ingredients aren't on sale today.3 cups flour2 teaspoons  Ginger, Ground 1 teaspoon  Cinnamon, Ground1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon  Nutmeg, Ground 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup butter, softened 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/2 cup molasses 1 egg ,1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract Add all ingredients to list Directions

Prep 20 minutes

Cook 10 minutes 

Mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in large bowl. Set aside. Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg and vanilla;mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Press dough into a thick flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on lightly floured work surface. Cut into gingerbread men shapes with 5-inch cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies are set and just begin to brown. Cool on baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Decorate cooled cookies as desired. Store cookies in airtight container up to5 days.FootnotesGingerbread Cookie Variations:White Chocolate Kissed Gingerbread Cookies: Prepare and refrigerate dough as directed. Shape into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in preheated 350°F oven 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies just begin to brown. Immediately press a white and milk chocolate swirled kiss-shaped candy into center of each cookie. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Makes 5 dozen.Gingerbread Whoopie Pies with Lemon Creme: Prepare and refrigerate dough as directed. Shape into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in preheated 350°F oven 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies just begin to brown. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. For the Lemon Creme, mix 1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow cream, 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened, 4 ounces cream cheese, softened, and 1 teaspoon McCormick(R) Pure Lemon Extract in medium bowl until well blended. To assemble whoopie pies, place about 1 tablespoon filling on the flat side of 1 cookie. Top with a second cookie, pressing gently to spread the filling. Roll edge of whoopie pie in 1 cup crushed peppermint candy. Repeat with remaining cookies, filling and candy. Store whoopie pies between layers of wax paper in airtight container in refrigerator up to 5 days. Makes 2 1/2 dozen.Caramel Pecan Gingerbread Thumbprints: Prepare and refrigerate dough as directed. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven8 to10 minutes or until edges of cookies just begin to brown. Immediately press a pecan half into center of each cookie. Top each with 1/4 teaspoon of caramel topping. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Drizzle cookies with 2 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted. Let stand until chocolate is set. Makes 5 dozen.Almond Gingerbread Cookies: Prepare and refrigerate dough as directed. Shape into 1-inch balls. Roll in 1 1/3 cups sliced almonds, pressing almonds into dough. Place 2 inches apart on un greased baking sheets. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies just begin to brown. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Makes 5 dozen.

She got out all the ingredients and set them on the counter and called the kids down and she took another sip of her coffee. She was still tired from the night before , all that shopping and going to Nina's Cafe. She looked out the front of the house, She could hear the Neighborhood kids out front. They were laughing and giggling and playing outside in the snow. A snowball hit the window and then there was a thud. Children saying: that's not fair!!! you can't do that ,some more children saying weeeeeee!!!!! as they went down the hill on there sleds. There neighborhood had the biggest hill for sledding, so big that half the county came to sled there instead of all the other counties. The kids went to the window and they told there mom that they wanted to go outside. Jen said, what about the cookies? I took out all the stuff for it. Mom Please can we do cookies later ? all the kids are outside now. I guess ,Jen said. Jennifer watched as the kids put on there snow clothes and ran out the door.

Jennifer  pondered on what this would of looked like James was here to see the kids playing together and laughing at falling off the sled at the end of the long hill. Her face had an expression of pain just thinking of how much he was choosing to miss, just because of his anger.

James and Jennifer had been separated for almost a year now due to his anger issues, He had become distant after 15 years of marriage, They had one day started to argue about everything, started to pull away fro each other. He started to get physical, started to grab her arm when she was doing things he didn't like and that made her scared to be close not knowing how he would react. She started to turn to just fixing her meals and taking care of the kids. She would call him and ask him if he needed anything and he would always say no. He started to stay at work more or late as he said. She knew there was someone else because she could smell the perfume on him. Eventually he moved out and the last draw was him coming in the house one day when the kids were at school and him accusing her of having an affair with a guy from town, which was false but he had to accuse her of something so he could leave with reason in his mind. She remembers How Nicholas the next day asked her how she got a bruise on her arm and how she got a black eye? She had told him that she had fell. Not wanting to alarm him of how his dad had hurt her. She had to start lying to the kids about where James was until He flew into a rage one day when he came to pick up some papers from the house. Nicholas happened to walk in the door to see his dad hit his mom and her fly across the room and hit the glass table and break it. James seen Nicholas and immediately left. Nicholas had to call 911 and the ambulance and police came and that is when she was talked to about witness protection and moved to Jordan a small town in Wisconsin. That is after she recovered from all the damage that he had done to her. She had a broken arm, glass imbedded into her leg that she had to have surgery on and her face was all cut up too. The girls were not happy the day they came home to see this , they were worried and anxious not knowing what to expect and unhappy at the fact that they would have to move and start over. They had to move away from all they knew and loved and gave quite an attitude to not being able to talk to there dad. The police asked a lot of questions and found there dad and put him in Jail but of course because Jennifer's husband was wealthy and worked for a great company that had lots of money James posted bail quickly and got a lawyer too. Eventually between all the phone calls of threatening her, She had to change her phone number { which she was told that would happen} and they had a cop patrol each night because of the threats. Jennifer eventually dropped it all and just moved quickly, with witness protections help. They moved all her stuff making sure that James wasn't there to see where they brought all the stuff moving it all to a secure storage unit and a year after moving it to them. They finally felt safe with the girls occasionally asking when they could see there dad. Jennifer always told them "soon".