I am not as good as I would like to be about getting the boys in the kitchen and helping out. Don’t get me wrong - I absolutely want to, but it seems like most nights I am doing everything I can to get the baby fed and in bed while simultaneously making dinner for everyone else. Anything that slows that process down will spell disaster!
The weekends are a little less stressful and I try to let them help out anytime they show interest. Which is sporadic most of the time… But this weekend they both wanted to help! And wear their aprons to be official!
Plus it was a pretty low key meal they were making - layered yogurt parfaits! Not much there for me to have to watch too closely except the strawberry cutting part. And I probably should have watched Henry a little closer, but cleaning yogurt off the counter isn’t that difficult… ;)
But why were they so excited about being little chefs this morning, you say??
Because Grannie sent them this awesome new cookbook! I love all things from America’s Test Kitchen and they just published a cookbook for kids! Eeek! (Grannie also made them these awesome aprons awhile ago and I love when they remember to wear them. I am the worst at remembering aprons and that probably explains why I get so many random stains on my work clothes while making dinner….)
You can see my picky eater clearly approved of his own creation since he wolfed it down while Thomas was still making them for us.
After breakfast, we all decided to have some play time on the floor. Natalie got herself up on all fours! It’s a new skill and we were all so excited for her!
I finally remembered we had this awesome tiny table toy downstairs and brought it up for her to play with. She seems to like it, though she isn’t terribly sure she should be standing up without the support of her bouncer…!
Her older brothers clearly wanted to join in on the fun. Thomas buckled himself in to this chair and then couldn’t get himself out, he was walking around with it still attached. He looked like a very bizarre turtle. =D
We’ve been working really hard at trying to get her to beat on her new drum toy from the therapists. She picks the “sticks” up on her own, but she seems to look at them like “these are my chew toys, why do they want me to hit the drum with them??”
Oh well! She does like playing with the drum either way. She’ll get there!
I almost forgot that the boys wanted to make the overnight waffles the next morning, so we ended up going to bed a little late so they could get the batter ready for in the morning.
Thankfully they were so excited that I let them stay up to be chefs, they were very cooperative about mixing the ingredients. Usually it’s a battle to make sure they both get to do a little but of everything!
But they didn’t just want waffles in the morning - they also wanted to make smoothies! These boys love smoothies and we hadn’t made any in a long time. (Life is a bit hectic these days…)
Henry isn’t quite sure he trusts his brother to measure everything correctly and is keeping a close eye on him…!
Finally it was time to blend! I love our Vitamix so much, but it is a loud machine and they used to run away from it with their hands over their ears whenever I would use it. Thankfully, they managed to be strong and tough it out this morning. Though you can see Thomas is giving the blender a pretty stern look!
Henry was a little skeptical about pushing the buttons at all, but he was brave enough to do it once Thomas held the lid down for him. These two are so silly sometimes!
This was definitely something new! I am super nervous about letting them use heat sources and lectured Thomas about being super cautious. He was doing pretty awesome until he went to pull a cooked waffle out and managed to just touch the iron with the back of his hand. An ice pack soothed the injury, but he wasn’t too sure about trying again. We compromised on him filling the waffle iron and me taking them out.
What a delicious looking breakfast, huh??
Thanks Grannie for the awesome cookbook and the hope that someday breakfast will be waiting for me whan I come downstairs! And as usual, ignore Henry’s expression, he was just as excited as the rest of us about the chef time! :)