A Little Cooking

Today I awoke to a sweet gal who had one eye stuck shut. A brief moment of panic ensued until I returned with a wet wash rag. We got the gunk all cleaned out only to discover that her eye is indeed tinted with an all to familiar pinkish red color. And upon my midlittle stumbling into the bathroom for his usual morning potty session I noticed his eyes looked about the same, red and icky. So our only clear eyed little made his way onto the bus for school, while we spent a very mellow day here around the homestead.


A day that involved good spirits even if eyes were pink.

 

And resting those pink little eyes too.
  

Tonight my boys made their first ever meatloaf. Meatloaf because well, lets face it, you can basically add any amount of anything and it's going to turn out. And I wanted to leave it mostly up to them. After an afternoon of reading umteenmillion books, creating play dough cookie after play dough cookie, and making valentine hearts with arrows through them that turned into swords, umteenmillion swords to be exact I was feeling like being hands off. And my littles very much enjoyed being hands on, in, and gooed up while preparing their dinner. So we flowed.

I got out the ingredients they would need for the process and they got right down to business. It was so nice to see them so eager to create a dinner for our family. I watched as they carefully cracked each egg. Smiles stretching widely across their faces when they felt the sweet victory of having the complete shell in their hands, rather than bits and pieces in the bowl. They measured, they mixed and they packed the loaf into the pan. And while they waited for it to bake they helped me to make cornbread muffins. And to my surprise they were very skilled little batter pourers.


Tongues are for concentrating.

Papa Bear arrived home to one Delicious smelling house and two boys very eager to share their dinner creation. We gathered around our small table for our feast prepared by our two biggest littles and I couldn't help but smile.. Surely moments like this-a family of five gathered around a too small table, eating a meal prepared with love by two small littles-are what life is all about.


And right before we headed up to rest our heads upon our pillows for the night I snapped this picture. And it's just so telling..



Our biggest little with reading material in hand.
Our midlittle always rowdy and on the move.
Our smallest little with her big blue eyes planted on her big brothers.
And one mama filled with love while watching them from a distance.
Each one unique and each one mine.
Love. Love. Love.