Winding down

Today was my day off.

By "off" I mean that the kids and I didn't have anywhere to go, anything to do or anybody coming over. And, ironically, today was probably the busiest day of the week.

Since the weather has been chilly and fall-like, (a high of 56F, it's 45F right now.) I've been in a serious baking/cooking mood. I think I talked about this a couple posts ago.

Anyway, the kids recently tried apple butter for the first time and love, love it. Since it's typically about $5 for a small jar of the stuff, I decided to make my own. I pulled out the crock pot and started slicing apples.

Now, I have to say, while I love cooking with the kids, the whole process can be a bit stressful. I mean, they're two. They like to grab things, taste things, stir, crack eggs, you name it and don't always have the gross motor skills to do it w/out making a massive mess or ruining the entire thing. (Like dropping an egg when the recipe calls for one egg...and we only had ONE egg.)
And, normally they do a pretty good job. But, sometimes they don't really understand what we're doing.

So, when I ask them, "Please don't eat the apples. They go in here."

And they don't listen,

And I say, again, "Guys, don't eat the apples, please. Otherwise we won't have any apple butter to eat."

And 5 minutes later, they take another bite out of an apple slice,

I eventually start to get stressed and say, "Ok!!! Hands OFF the apples!! Here, eat the peels."

We also made pumpkin bread.
They couldn't decide if we should make muffins or bread. Connor wanted muffins. Sasha wanted bread.

I was the tie breaker and decided to make bread. Mainly because muffins are easier to pop in my mouth and eat. To have the bread, I have to unwrap it and slice it. Too much work when you're busy.

Then, we colored, played and had a great lunch.

Before I knew it, it was naptime. We hadn't even turned the television on. I was so happy!

I love days like this!