Broccoli and Cookies- What a tasty Saturday!

Today has been a just-right kind of Saturday, straddling the line between fun and productive perfectly.


Most of the day was spent cleaning and organizing some areas of the house that have been neglected for too long. Joel and I cleaned out some kitchen cupboards, caught up on laundry, scrubbed the bathroom down, boxed up the fits-no-more kids clothes and brought out some next-size-up kids clothes... and even had time to listen to some Nickel Creek while drinking mid-morning coffee.


The remainder of the day was quality time spent with the girls.


I got a kick out of putting Afton's hair in pigtails for the first time. They were more like pig-stubs or pig-spikes, but cute nonetheless. She is getting so smart and developing such a unique little personality- I love it. We have some broccoli planted in our garden, and she goes right for the florets, picks 'em off the plant and puts them directly into her mouth- it cracks me up... a kid that little, liking raw broccoli so much... good girl! 

Picking broccoli in the garden

She does so many funny little things these days, so much fun just to hang out with her. She likes to back up to things and sit down. Now, that sounds dumb, because everybody backs up to things to sit down on them. But it's the way she does it that is so funny. She turns around quite a ways from where she plans to sit, and then kind of waddles backward carefully until she's just in the right position... and then, plop! It might be her little step-stool, or someone's lap, or just a particular spot on the floor or against a wall.... but the funniest is when she sits on the floor vent. Because the floor vents (where the cold air is coming out, since it's summer) are not a whole lot larger than her little bottom, she seems to take extra care in making sure the plop! is as accurately on spot as possible, and the look of satisfaction on her face when she sits squarely on the middle of the vent is just priceless!


After Afton went to bed, Gillian and I made cookies. I do not bake often, and Gillian usually doesn't get to stay up much past Afton's bedtime, so this was a special treat for both of us. Gillian is such a good little helper, and so eager to do things by herself, or on her own. She measured all the ingredients, and cracked eggs without getting any shells in the dough. She even took the pans out of the oven with the big oven mitts, which she seemed particularly excited about- as if that was a REAL grown up kind of task, and she felt really privileged to be considered big enough to do that part. :o)

The most entertaining portion of the cookie-bake was when Gillian told me to jiggle my belly before I tried one of the finished cookies. She explained that, "Everything you eat goes straight to the baby, but if the baby is sleeping, so are its taste-buds, and the baby won't even know how yummy they are!... So, you should jiggle your belly to wake the baby up before you try one." Agh! Sometimes she just makes me giggle- the way she thinks and the way she DESCRIBES the way she thinks... so funny.


So now, my belly is filled with cookie dough (and one actual cookie), and my head is filled with sleepiness, because my day was filled with simple joy. :o)