Happy Birthday Tom!

Today we celebrated Tom's birthday. Tom insisted he didn't want any fuss, and instead of having a cake, he wanted chocolate chip cookies. To me, birthdays aren't birthdays without cake and a little bit of fuss, but he did really want those cookies...so we improvised. We? Yes, "we." Anyone who cooks will tell you it's important to get your kids in the kitchen as often as possible, from your top-notch TV celebrity chef right down to your average everyday cook. So, while we honored Tom's request for chocolate chip cookies, we decided to up the ante a bit and make something a bit more festive out of them. It was a work in progress, we just sort of made it up as we went along. And every step of the way, I had "help." Liesl stirred, poured, mixed, measured, chopped and provided her standard brand of running commentary during the entire process. Cooking with a "helpful" toddler can be a little bit stressful, but it is also a lot of fun. It may take 3 times as long to prepare the food (and 10 times as long to clean it up), but isn't this the point of being a full-time mom?

At Tom's request, we had a nice dinner of steaks on the grill, baked potatoes, veggies, and garlic bread. And then Tom's cookie "cake." Daddy just loved his dessert surprise, but I think he loves the little hands that helped to make it even more.

Happy birthday to my husband, my best friend, my red-hot stack of man waffles. I love you to pieces. Even though we have our difficult times, I can't imagine life without you, and I love our life and the little family we've built together.

*smooch*

The birthday treat



The commentary of the chef-in-training

Gravity works...

She really did a great job helping

Kids in the kitchen
(The photo doesn't do justice to the mess...but
the memories are precious, and messes are easily cleaned.)

Enjoying the sugars fruits of our labor

Two of the loves of my life
This photo was actually taken (by me) last Thursday on my birthday
We went to Olga's Kitchen...my favorite restaraunt :-)