Move Over Martha....

Good ol' Martha Stewart may have a little competition...with my 3 year old! Yes, Eva looooooves to cook and bake. She often helps out in the kitchen, and honestly enjoys watching cooking shows (she will actually ask to watch one). She has a kitchen set in her room and it is one of her favorite toys. I've often noticed that as she is cooking with her kitchen set she will be talking about what she is doing like they do on the cooking shows. For example, she will say, "Now I'm going to cut the green pepper" or "Just put this in the oven for 15 minutes".

We have a few sets of friends that are all experiencing some tough times right now and I thought they would each enjoy having a meal brought to them. This was a perfect situation for Eva to learn (yet again) the importance of helping others out, and she was thrilled at the thought of spending the day in the kitchen with mommy!! Together we made three large batches of baked spaghetti, 6 dozen cookies, and a large container of hummingbird nectar for some very happy hummingbirds in our backyard. The cool thing about this experience was that often Eva will cook with me and we'll eat what we cooked that night for dinner. This was different because Eva was with me as we delivered the meals to our various sets of friends. She was able to see the appreciation on their faces and I really felt like the idea of helping others sank in just a little bit more...it's such an imporant value to teach our little ones! So...move over Martha...next we may see Everyday Living with Eva!!

Mixing up a batch of our favorite chocolate chip cookies!

Getting the green peppers ready for the baked spaghetti.
Ohhh...just eying those yummy cookies....yes, mommy let her have one!
And then there is Jaden. Yes, Jaden loves to help in the kitchen too....the only difference is he enjoys helping himself!! He got in the cabinet, got out the cheerios, dumped them on the floor, and yes - he was eating them right off the floor. Does he look concerned?? Of course not. The part that made me smile was the look of accomplishment on his face! After taking the picture I explained to him that we are not to help ourselves to what we find the cabinet and I had him help me pick up the cheerios...needless to say he wasn't too happy about it.

"Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them."
--Lady Bird Johnson