As we start a new week of school with Cara, I have made it a point to do more activities at home with Sam. Cara has her days full of crafts, stories and learning, I figured it's only fair I do the same with Sam. Each week at school, Cara's class has a theme. It started with All About Me where they practiced writing their names and talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up. (side note: Cara said she wanted to be a Doctor and her favorite food was tacos. I'm okay with both of those things!) Last week was My Family, to which Cara revealed she had 3 people in her family (wonder who got the boot) and made a family tree with all of our pictures. This week is Community Service. I'm loving the theme of this week, so much that Sam and I are going to have a nice little community service Monday.
We entitled today "Acts of Kindness Monday". We decided to make home made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and give them out to Cara's new teachers and Chris' work. What's a better way to show kindness than with chocolate. I cataloged the entire baking session with pictures and will add the recipe for memory's sake because these bad boys were delicious. Enjoy!
We started by organizing all of our ingredients and materials on the counter. And of course got super cute with a chic apron. The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 cup softened butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 3/4 cups of old fashioned rolled oats, and LOTS of chocolate chips. Okay, the recipe said 1 1/4 cups, but we made a slight modification and added some more.
First step was to mix up the flour, baking soda and cinnamon. Sam had her own mini whisk to help with this step.
Then we creamed the butter and sugars together with a mixer. Sam wasn't too big a fan of the mixer so she waited until I blended in the egg and vanilla to help me dump in the flour mixture. After the flour was mixed evenly in the buttery sugary goodness, we folded in the oatmeal and chocolate chips.
We put the mixture in the fridge to cool while we let the oven preheat and snapped a little photo of ourselves baking together.
The oven was hot and the dough was ready to be spooned onto the prepared pans.
They baked at 350 F for approximately 11 minutes and voila! We have yummy, lightly browned homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
We couldn't possibly consider posting this recipe on our blog until we officially tested and approved the cookie...
Once I had the "Sam of approval", we wrapped them up in bags and they are ready to be delivered!
...I have pre assembled, ironed and styled (with bows and headbands) five outfits for Cara's second week of school, to save time and argument over the dreaded "can I wear a dress today?" question. Again, this will probably only happen once.
And of course, Sammy wanted the same treatment.
Summer is ending, and I welcome Fall with open arms in anticipation for cooler weather! This summer has been particularly challenging with the impending arrival of Cara's first year of school. I have spent almost 4 years at home with Cara; our days filled with whatever we wanted to do, no where to really be, and lot of time spent in our pj's. The idea of her being gone each day has left me feeling a little gloomy. Being a parent and rearing children, we want them to grow and have new and wonderful experiences, and I knew it was inevitable. I've been told from the minute I had babies "enjoy them, because they grow up too fast". When I first heard that, Cara was a mere month in age and sleeping was a luxury, so the word "fast" wasn't something I was familiar with. But as I watched her sit down at a big kid desk for her first day of Pre K, I had the urge to pass that advice on. Here my little one month old baby was starting school, and with the memories of infancy fresh, I can agree that she grew up too fast.
The weekend before school started, we headed to Cincinnati for a wonderful family reunion and wedding of my second cousin. It took place at my Great Aunt Carol's house and was beautiful. My Grandma and her siblings are located on the perfect plot of land! So much green everywhere. The kids loved running around and Megan captured a pretty classic picture of all the great grand babies for my Grandma.
Megan also got a generation photo that I love:
It was a great trip, jam packed with all my favorite Sammons'!
We came back Sunday and Monday was Cara's first day. Chris was out of town for work, so I was dreading doing the drop off alone. We tested the waters last year with a once a week drop off of four hours, to which Cara cried most every time so I kind of assumed this drop off was going to go similar, but with myself crying as well. We started the morning at McDonald's for a healthy breakfast. I had this plan to make a big french toast casserole, but didn't see the point for just the girls and me. I knew Cara would love McDonald's, so wanted to keep the morale high.
We had a very welcomed surprise of my Mom, Val, Cali and Lucas joining us for breakfast. They came to cheer up Cara and get her pumped about school. Their presence cheered us all up! After breakfast, I drove Cara over. I tried to snap a few last pictures before I knew her smile might be a frown. She wore a sweet little dress I had made and appeared calm and collected. I was so proud of her bravery.
The drop off went pretty much as I planned. We looked around. We hugged. She got a little teary eyed, we calmed her down. And then I went outside and boo who'd my brains out! I've always heard people talk about the first day of school and how they cried, and I envisioned myself jumping up and down, waving goodbye, yelling "woo hoo, freadom!", but in reality, I was sad. She grew up too fast.
With all that said, she had a great first week. Made new friends. Got a new haircut. Did her first show and tell. Touched her first snake. It was exciting. And honestly, this new chapter has become very exciting. I get to watch my child grow and learn and become apart of the world, in her own little way. Plus, I still get two more years to wears pj's with Sammy ;)
