My New Helper

So, Maggie no longer seems interested in helping as much in the kitchen, but Ella always wants to! So I either need to make a new blog or expand this one.

Today we made our favorite chocolate chip

cookie recipe. Actually, any cookie recipe is Ella's favorite, but I've been making this one because it uses melted butter. And it's just easier to melt it than get it that just-right-warm-not-cold-not-melted consistency. Also,

if you use salted butter, this recipe has almost a caramel-like flavor to it. I use a whole bag of Ghiradelli chips, minus 4 or 5 for the kiddos. Ella had a few and then saved the rest for Maggie, who was at school.

We packed some up to bring to the green and share with our friends, but our outing was short-lived. The past few days it's been cold enough to skate, but today it was decidedly NOT. The big kids decided to traverse the pond and Maggie almost made it. Three feet from the edge, she went through and lost her shoe! I think she was more upset about that than getting soaked and freezing! That set about a chain of events that ended in our friend's 4-year-old trying to get the shoe and getting stuck in the hole! The water was past her knees, and she could not and would not get out. So I trekked in, grabbed her AND the shoe and we were all out. Cold, wet, but safe. Did I mention it was about 50 degrees? No hardship. Oh, and we were each within minutes of our homes. So we went our separate ways, to warmth and baths, but no cookies! We will share them a different day. Maybe the green will be cold enough tomorrow! If only we can skate around the giant holes somebody made...