In our family...

In our family....we do second chances...we do grace...we do real...we do mistakes...we do I'm sorry (and I forgive you)...we do loud really well...we do hugs...we do family...we do love.















Sunday, January 23, 2011

Our Messy Kitchen

A sweet angel blessed the little’s this past Christmas with their own kitchen tools, cook book, apron and chef hat.

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If you’ve been reading here long then you know that the little’s love cooking and baking, so they were beyond thrilled about these gifts.

Just in case you didn’t know…Little man pretends he is Emeril. Little lady pretends she is Rachel Ray.

Cooking shows are some of their favorite shows to watch. How many 4 & 5 year olds do you know that ask to watch Emeril, Rachel Ray or Guy Fieri?

We want them to have a love for creating  healthy(for the most part) food that tastes good. We make most of what we eat from scratch which means we spend a lot of time making messes together in the kitchen.

Sometimes when we are working in the kitchen together, we pretend we are a cooking show on TV. We call our cooking show“Our messy kitchen”.

 

Getting more props for our show was just the thing to inspire us to get creating more messes.

After receiving the recipe book 011 ,

 

they went through it page by page, over and over again, trying to decide what they wanted to make first. 

They choose…

                          CIMG0022 I convinced them that it was too cold to make these even though it feels like we are Eskimo’s with our sub zero temperatures.

 

Little Emeril decided that he would make…010 for us.

 

Little Emeril worked hard in the kitchen preparing breakfast for us.

 

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The pancakes tasted delicious. 012

 

Little Rachel Ray decided to make 040 & 041 for us one morning.

She worked hard in the kitchen…

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and had fun making a beautiful mess. I did not notice the bottle of wine on the counter until I put the picture on this post. No worries, little lady was not adding wine to the pizza, nor drinking it.

 

The breakfast pizza..028 was wonderful!

 

The strawberry banana smoothies were delicious.030

 

My grandson A-man loves to help grandma in the kitchen too. On Tuesday morning, while the little’s were gone to school, he got a chance to be a “cooker” too. He made monster cookies for our pet monster Franklin.  Who, by the way is still living with us and is responsible for most of the noise, messes and chaos at this zoo. Darn monsters.

We also now have a pet ghost named Felicia that lives with us and the little’s tell me that Franklin and Felicia might get married. Make that 2 weddings in our family this year.

 

Little A-man worked happily in the kitchen. Making messes is his middle name.

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Of course he couldn’t resist sampling the cookie dough.

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They tasted so delicious that the monsters have them almost all gone.013

We are having so much fun with our new kitchen tools that every day there is talk about what we should make.

We are going to be making these next.

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Some day when I have a video camera I will tape one of our shows so that you can see our fun in action. The little’s talk about having a real cooking show some day. I have no doubt that this could happen.

This post is dedicated to the angel that blessed us with these gifts. You know who you are.

From all the cooks of “Our Messy Kitchen”

Little A-man…004 

 

& Little Emeril…007

& Little Rachel Ray…031 & the head cooks too…

…thank you for giving to us and for helping us to create memories and lots of messes in our kitchen. Look at the smiles you have put on their faces and you will know how much you have touched our hearts. Thank you!

Until next time, hugs & love, Lori

 

36 comments:

Joyce Gray said...

What a wonderful post to read on a Sunday morning. Thanks for sharing the little ones with us.

Linda at To Behold The Beauty said...

Oh, Lori. How blessed are the Littles and A-man to have you in their lives. I believe you are exactly where God wants you to be and doing exactly what He wants you to do. You have experienced some difficult things in your life, but it seems that they've worked together to make a mighty fine woman out of you.

Laura said...

we used to do this too, when my girls were little, we'd play cooking show! Now they are responsible for meals on the weekends because they have more time than week nights...and they have become pretty comfortable in the kitchen...we are still working on the "clean up the WHOLE kitchen" after you are done part.

Your littles look so happy...what a gift to allow them to create meals, enjoy the fruits of their labor and learn valuable lessons about following directions, measuring, and basic skills that will last a life time in the process.

LPC said...

Lori, this is so wonderful! And my mother, who taught science to schoolkids, would say this is the best kind of learning, reading, measuring, estimating, following steps by steps. I am dying to see the videos. How wonderful.

Busy Bee Suz said...

I LOVE that they LOVE cooking shows and creating food for the family too.
I laughed at the Monster and ghost wedding, they have the best imaginations!!!
Thanks for sharing this with us Lori.
xoxoxo
Suz

Deborah said...

I love that you call your sweethearts "the littles". That is hysterical! And I think you are on to something with your idea for a cooking show with your littles!! I would watch that show!!

Brian Miller said...

nice. my boys love to cook...and come up with new concoctions....def need to video!

Anonymous said...

Ah - there is nothing more delightful than eating what you have created when you are a child!

My daughter insists on cooking things she invents - and not using a cook book at all - so that leads to some interesting dishes! ;-)

Just Be Real said...

Lori, I love how you take the time and share your adventures with wonderful pictures. I was more or less a tom boy and really do not recall playing with any cook and bake toys. Blessings.

SciFi Dad said...

Those look like great recipes. We have the "grown-up" edition of that cookbook (and love it). I think we'll have to grab the children's one now.

Also, I think it's great that you encourage your children to cook with/for you. It's a skill they will benefit from tremendously (said the man whose father in law can't even make himself an egg).

Jeannie said...

Totally awesome! It's funny - I used to love watching the Galloping Gourmet when I was little. So maybe it's not that unusual.

Buckeroomama said...

Your Little's are so lucky to have you... and bless you for letting them be messy. :)

Elizabeth Grimes said...

Oh my goodness. That is the sweetest post. They are precious. Congrats on such wonderful Littles.

Hilary said...

Oh those happy little faces just make my day. My older son used to LOVE concocting things in the kitchen. He made the biggest messes but he also put some yummy meals together. Your little sweeties remind me of that. Oh and by the ways, said son is an excellent chef now so your Little might have their show yet!

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

So with all your wonderful chefs when does the restaurant open and what channel is the show on???

I just loved this post and the pictures are incredible!!! Cute!

God bless and have a most beautiful day sweetie!!!

wolfie185 said...

How very cool!! Thanks for sharing.

Hugs

Together We Save said...

Wonderful pictures!! Your "chefs" are very cute!

Sandra said...

The pancakes looked good, and it doesn't look like the mess was unbearable! All in all a successful endeavour, I'd say!

Ash said...

lori - how are you? i've missed you. been busy with uni work so hadn't been able to update ash's blog (or read others' blogs). sorry about that!

love your little chefs *mwaaaah*

~ash's mum

mommytoalot said...

This is a post that totally made my morning. I'm smiling from ear to ear. Lovely littles cooking..it's awesome. My little ones also enjoy baking...they would love those aprons and hats. Do you know where they were from?
...
The pancakes and breakfast pizza and cookies all look so yummy.
Great job A-Man
Little Emeril
and Little Rachael Ray
xxoo

Jacquelyn Stager said...

love this! and love it again! please invite me to the next party! you are giving them a wonderful life!

Kathy M. said...

Hi Lori,

I absolutely love this post. Thank you for treating me to your cooking show. What a blessing you are to these kids. What a blessing they will be to their families. What is more loving than feeding someone? Bless you.

Zella said...

Mmmm, I'm craving pancakes now - I think I will have to make some on the weekend.

Delightful post, so full of life.

Just Be Real said...

Lori, thank you so much for your most recent prayers for me. Blessings.

ain't for city gals said...

What a great gift! and that breakfast pizza looks yummy...going to try that this weekend

CiCi said...

Really great photos. You could show pictures of them like this in a cookbook of their own.

365 Attempts (At Life) said...

This made me want to kids just so I can cook with them. What a beautiful idea, and what patience to let them try their hand at something normally only reserved for adults. Kudos to you, you're a special brand of lady!

Angie said...

SOOO Cute!!

Much love,
Future Mama
http://expectingablessing.blogspot.com/

Unspoken said...

I wish I liked cooking as mu7ch as them :).

ethelmaepotter! said...

Precious!!!!!

When my children were...5 and 6?...6 and 7?...I bought (the older) version of that same cookbook and together, we picked out fabric and made our own aprons. Ariel's was a dark blue and pink calico with eyelet lace caps on the shoulder straps, and Charming's was a simple straight style with blue and yellow dinosaurs. We still have that apron, but I don't know whatever happened to Ariel's. We cooked together, and when they got a little older, they each had one night a week (in the summer) that was their night to prepare dinner. They made the menu, went shopping with me, and only asked for my help when they absolutely needed it. And you know what? They both LOVE to cook now, and are quite inventive.

I think your Littles are on the same track.

By the way, they are three of the most adorable Littles I've ever seen, and those matching aprons and hats are just the cutest things ever!

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness Lori. They are just precious. And I can feel the excitement as I watch them cook : ) So enthusiastic. I love that age. And I love that the shows they most enjoy are cooking shows.

Little blessings for certain!

Can I please have an invitation to the wedding? : )

Shrinky said...

What a beautiful, heart-warming post. Your littles are growing up in such a love-filled, exciting, and beautiful environment, Lori - something no amount of money can ever buy. These pictures say it all, just look at the joy on those faces. Dear, sweet Lori, I know the hard work, sweat, toil and tears you've invested in being the wonderful role-model you are to these precious angels.. you are simply amazing, and I have no doubt that they think so too.

Anonymous said...

So very, very sweet to read, and someday this will be a treasured post by these little ones who have grown up and will then appreciate what a WONDERFUL GRANDMA they have in you. ♥

Joanna Jenkins said...

You've got me smiling ear-to-ear! What a happy post Lori.

The kids look great in their chef outfits and the cooking lessons will last them their entire life. Hats off to you for cleaning up the "mess" and hats of your the gift giver. It a fantastic gift.

xoxo jj

Nessa said...

They look like they had so much fun and the food looks yummy.

Unknown said...

fabulous.

we all do a lot of cooking and mess making here.

You are so good to do this.