A Little Lovin in the Oven

On the day before Valentine's Day, the kids and I participated in our third annual Valentine's Day cookie decorating extravaganza. But before we started rolling out the dough, Miss Bryn insisted on checking the quality of the flour. After making sufficient designs and doodles, she gave it her stamp of approval and the cookie making process began.

If there is one thing Brynlee loves, it would be helping me stir stuff. She loves to help out in the kitchen especially if the "helping" involves sampling. It doesn't really matter what it is, she always asks me if she can "have a taste" even if I tell her that she won't like it. Seriously, who wants to lick a stick of butter? However, being the little independent soul she is, I always follow up my admonitions with a, "if you insist." As it would turn out, Bryn isn't a fan of baking soda. Crazy, huh?

Always looking for those teachable moments, I have turned our baking sessions into impromptu shape discussions and math problems. She is great at counting and particularly enjoys arranging her hearts into descending order from biggest to smallest. 

After we have rolled and cut our cookies out, there is always extra dough leftover, which I typically allow Bryn to eat. Normally, there isn't very much, but today, Bryn had hid some dough about the size of her fist and asked if she could eat it all. I told her no and then she busted this little pout out of nowhere. I was taken off guard, and couldn't help but laugh and cave in to her demands. I have a sneaky suspicion her and her father have been working on this when I am not around.

Hudson, on the other hand, doesn't need to pout for extra treats. Those squishy cheeks beg for food and I am more than happy to oblige.