friday night cooking class

unintentionally, i have started a routine where the kids help me make some portion of dinner on fridays.  this week we made peanut butter and jelly cookie bars for after dinner.  the kids don't get to eat many sweets so this was an extra treat and really got them excited about eating their dinner so that they could try our cookies afterwards.

they were pretty cute pushing in the cookie dough and then sprinkling on the peanut butter chips (which madelyn kept calling "chocolate chips").  while they did wash their hands before food prep, there was a lot of sampling during the 'chip' portion.

for dinner i made a cheesy tortilla chicken soup - a new recipe.  the kids have never had soup before so i wasn't sure how it would go over (hence the pb & j cookies as an incentive).  to my delight we all really loved it and even madelyn ate, and enjoyed, the chicken (she rarely eats meat).

mason was so careful with his soup and spoon - really.  he would bring it very carefully to his mouth - and then flip it over on the way in.  we have a neat sheet under his chair to protect the carpet so we were able to just watch and laugh.  my philosophy is that learning can be messy and he won't learn if he doesn't try.  towards the end of the meal he realized that he could just stick his hand in the soup bowl and pull out the chicken pieces.  i couldn't resist his triumphant smile while he was wiping himself off when he was all done.  we striped all of his clothes off before he left the table.  love.