The last weekend of March was full of cookies, Curious George, grilled cheese and lots of laughs. We were able to babysit our friend’s kids while they celebrated a 30th birthday in the big city of Minneapolis.
I had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time, and it was definitely as great as I thought it would be. Micah is five, Ruthie Roo is three, and Alaina (more commonly referred to by me as simply “Baby”) is a year and a half.
Around Christmas, we had all made sugar cookies together. This happened to be a big hit (It has been the topic of most of my conversations with Ruthie since Christmas), and it was a hot ticket item on the weekend’s agenda. I whipped up the sugar cookie batter while at home…it was incredibly simple and the cookies were delicious and had a great consistency for rolling and cutting. They can be found here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/the-best-rolled-sugar-cookies/
We rolled and cut our cookies, and after they baked, the real fun began! We had quite vibrant dye colors (I cheated and bought frosting instead of being a good chef and making it myself). Ruthie laid claim to the pink frosting, but soon she was excited about all of them.
I had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time, and it was definitely as great as I thought it would be. Micah is five, Ruthie Roo is three, and Alaina (more commonly referred to by me as simply “Baby”) is a year and a half.
Around Christmas, we had all made sugar cookies together. This happened to be a big hit (It has been the topic of most of my conversations with Ruthie since Christmas), and it was a hot ticket item on the weekend’s agenda. I whipped up the sugar cookie batter while at home…it was incredibly simple and the cookies were delicious and had a great consistency for rolling and cutting. They can be found here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/the-best-rolled-sugar-cookies/
We rolled and cut our cookies, and after they baked, the real fun began! We had quite vibrant dye colors (I cheated and bought frosting instead of being a good chef and making it myself). Ruthie laid claim to the pink frosting, but soon she was excited about all of them.
Micah was quite the whiz with the dough -- he quickly realized the advantages of cutting the cookies closer to the edge of the dough in order to utilize as much as possible :)
Alaina was quite content to watch the rest of us and we took advantage of the time to practice saying her favorite word..."Ari"! She says it perfectly :)She enlisted Tomm's help to frost her cookie.
Our beautiful product! We had Christmas cookie cutters with Easter-colored dye--but we just referred to them as our "trees", "little men", and "socks" :) After the cookie adventures were done, the great movie debate began! National Velvet, or Curious George? We decided on National Velvet, a wonderful old movie I had not seen for years! It's a combination of wild horses and the English seaside. Doesn't get better than that! It is heartwarming and wholesome.
The best part of all was the snuggles!
On Saturday, we woke up at a reasonable hour, ate a hearty breakfast, and then, because it was such a beautiful day (for April in Minnesota!), we played outside! Somehow, Ruth lost her boot in the snow, and I had to dig it out with a shovel! Don't ask me how it happened, I don't even think Ruth knew!Later, we headed to my house and attempted to clean but got distracted by movies and new and different toys, so we decided it was time for a trip to Applebee's! Ruthie had been to Applebee's with me before, and when I told them in the van, "We're going to Applebee's!", Ruthie gasped and said with elation, "I LOVE Bumblebees!" Then, the following conversation ensued:
Micah: 'I want Chinese at Bumblebee's'
Ruth: 'Oh Micah, you can't have Chinese at Bumblebee's! It isn't on the menu.'
Micah: 'But I want it!'
Ruth: 'Okay, if it's on the menu, you can have it!'
Needless to say, we ended up with grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, and mozzarella sticks. Can you say: 'a lot of cheese?'
Micah: 'I want Chinese at Bumblebee's'
Ruth: 'Oh Micah, you can't have Chinese at Bumblebee's! It isn't on the menu.'
Micah: 'But I want it!'
Ruth: 'Okay, if it's on the menu, you can have it!'
Needless to say, we ended up with grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, and mozzarella sticks. Can you say: 'a lot of cheese?'
Alaina, of course, was just hanging out in her booster seat, enthralled with the plastic kids cup and the accompanying straw. The most amusing aspect for her was when she spilled on herself and then was intent on cleaning it up :)After lunch, naps! I felt like quite the parent at nap time...all I did was sit around from exhaustion! We finished up the day with some Curious George. Did you know the very first Curious George book was published in 1941? I didn't! It was followed by Curious George Takes a Job in 1949. Apparently, The Man In the Yellow Hat (aka "Ted") was modeled after presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson: 31st governor of Illinois, 5th US Ambassador to the UN, and presidential candidate who ran against Eisenhower. Curious, huh?
It was a lovely weekend, and I think their parent's enjoyed time away, but were happy to be back with the three little amigos :)
"He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."
Matthew 18:2-5