Red Velvet Cake

My Mom has been on a cake baking fix lately.  So when they came to visit, someone had to have a cake.

If he was this excited over the batter, imagine how he inhaled the cake.

Wordless Wednesday - Who wants pie?

I love the imagination at this age.

 
 For more Wordless Wednesday posts, check out 5 minutes for mom, Go Graham Go, Two of a Kind, Working on a Full house and Parenting by Dummies!  

Stay Home Day

It's almost always interesting in our house.

Cooper and I had a "stay home day" as he calls it.  We started the morning out with him telling me to rock the baby.  He then told me to not hold the baby so tight.  Then we had to feed the baby.

Obviously, the baby likes cheerios and craisins and is wearing his Thanksgiving hat.

While I was starting the Thanksgiving cooking, I heard some commotion down the street that Cooper would enjoy.

When I was making dressing, I noticed it was terribly quiet in the house.  And I found this ...

It's already been a long day, and it's not even noon.  After he got this straightened out, I went up in our attic to hunt for some baby items for my little sis.  When I came down, I found this ....

Yes, that is a giant wad of fur on the floor.  Poor Ben, because Cooper tried to vacuum him next.  When will I learn to not leave unsupervised at all times? He eventually took a nap so I was able to accomplish a couple of things.

A dressed turkey, screwed-up mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce made, and another trip to the grocery store for more potatoes later, we both survived the day.

Well, one of us did.  Here's wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving Day tomorrow.

Pizza Love

Cooper and I had a homemade pizza adventure.  I let him pitch in after I tossed the dough.  He had a great time piling the toppings on high.

Someone is a definite cheese hound.

I never know what I am going to find next.

 At least he is super cute.  And the pizza was great.

Thanksgiving Planning

So I haven't cooked Thanksgiving dinner by myself since 2004.  It hit me yesterday that I don't have the first thing planned.  Today, I finally unpacked the box that contained the cookbook with my turkey recipe, and I was finally able to find it online once I knew the correct name of the recipe.  Yes, the box was from our move in 2007. 

Here's the menu so far:
Oregano-Coriander-Rubbed Turkey 
My Mom's Sausage Dressing (unless she overnights me some ... hint, hint)
Cranberry Sauce with Apple Cider
Mashed Potatoes
Cinnamon Glazed Carrots (because Cooper loves them)
Something green, maybe a broccoli or asparagus dish
Pumpkin Pie

What does you Turkey Day menu look like?

What traditions does your family have at Thanksgiving?

I need a Spiderman Strength Coffee

When only Spidey strength coffee will do, make a call for Spiderman to make your coffee.

And he even waits patiently while it "brews."  As you might have guessed, we got a new coffee maker, so Cooper spent some pretend time with our old one.  Love my new Keurig.

Spatula Time

Cooper's favorite part of Valentine's Day preparation was licking the spatula. 

Because, "it's chockie Mommy!"  The kid loves his "chockie."  But then, so do I.

Cherry Snack Cake

Some one said lots of yums while eating cherry snack cake.  Lucky for me the recipe is super easy, and only four ingredients.  It got rave reviews all the way around here.

Breakfast for dinner

Cooper is going through this phase right now where he tells me, "I don't like dinner."  Well, terrific.  Since it was just the two of us tonight, and I had to find another option than what he requested.  A candy cane.  I threw out the idea of pancakes.  That actually got a "yeah Mommy" response from him.

He helped me mix the batter, and only got a little on the floor, counter, stove top, coffee maker.  The joys of cooking with a 3 year old, but we did have fun.

As you can tell from the last series, the silly phase has started.

Wordless Wednesday - Haircut Smirk?

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, check out 5 minutes for mom, Go Graham Go, Two of a Kind, Working on a Full house and Parenting by Dummies!

Cooper's Night Out

Cooper spent Friday night at his daycare for a Chef's Night.  The teachers had planned cooking activities for the kids, and then the finished up with a sleepover.  Which meant that J & I were actually able to go out on a date. We had a wonderful, quiet dinner at a very nice restaurant, and then a nice quiet evening. Notice I said nice and quiet twice.  Not saying that having a toddler isn't nice, but it is rarely quiet.  He is even loud when he sleeps.

Cooper made lots of treats, and seemed like he had a great time.

Just call him Chef Cooper.