Claire in the Kitchen

I'm still playing catch-up with posting more recent updates from our life, but I do have several prepared posts that I thought y'all might like. I wrote this several months ago, so we've evolved even more since then (maybe I'll do an update sometime). Enjoy!

Claire loves to help in the kitchen. It's really adorable. And a lot of extra work. I want to encourage her enthusiasm for working in the kitchen, obviously, even though it makes everything take so much longer and is a little stressful for safety reasons. BUT. I'm making it a priority to let her help when she wants to (and if I'm not in a hurry). There are a few things that she always helps me with, and it's become a ritual of sorts because she's actually developed skills for it.

One of those things is making our instant oatmeal packets (not technically cooking but working in the kitchen, nonetheless). Claire really likes oatmeal, and I found this "recipe" (let's be real: it should really be called a "method," rather than a recipe) a while back. We've been making batches of it for about a year now, and she loves to help me measure and use the food processor and whatnot. We've gone over rules for when she can and cannot touch the food processor, so she's pretty reliably safe about it now.

Zoot zoot.

Honing her stirring skills. She doesn't flip it all out of the bowl anymore so YAY.

Getting ready to measure some more.

She's actually getting to the point of being helpful, which is kind of awesome. I've learned, as legions of mothers before me, that if I just take the time and effort (and frustration) to teach her how to do a few things properly and safely, she can actually contribute to the process. This is an awesome development. Sometimes that looks like handing me things, sometimes stirring things, sometimes kneading things or pouring things. We're working on all kinds of skills.

I let her help make playdoh using this recipe. That was a fun project until the playdoh started to thicken in the pot and needed lots of attention. Then we hit a bump in the road where she was super frustrated I wouldn't let her help, and I was trying to salvage our playdoh. Oi. 

Periodically, I also make freezer breakfast burritos for Brad (and myself, if we're being honest). We go to Costco and buy huge things of eggs, breakfast sausage, tortillas, and cheese and make a stash for us to pull out and heat up for a quick breakfast. Claire had never made these with me before these pictures were taken, so I wasn't entirely sure how it would go. She did great! She LOVED cracking the eggs and got so excited every time we broke one. She also loved helping me scramble all the burrito stuffing together, as well as wrap all of the completed burritos in plastic wrap (she loved that step- it's my least favorite part). I've definitely been letting her help since.

She took egg beating oh so seriously.

We make pizza every Friday night. I don't remember the last time we ate something other than homemade pizza on a Friday night when we were at home. Claire has been helping me make the pizzas for a few months now. It's been really nice to see her try out "new" ingredients. There are still things that she doesn't want to eat, but she's started eating buffalo sauce, pesto, and pepperoni (these things were NOT on the same pizza) because she was a part of the preparation process. All things she was previously skeptical of. She particularly enjoys helping with all parts of dough preparation and with covering the pizza with cheese. We've had to set boundaries for how much of the cheese she can eat along the way. Oi. She'd eat it all, if I let her. We use my KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook to do most of the mixing/kneading, although I make sure to let Claire do some hand kneading after it rises. Side note: I never would have registered for a KitchenAid mixer for our wedding, given that I am just not much of a baker. However, Brad's sweet Grandma decided that that was what she wanted to get us for our wedding. It stressed me out a little at first, because I worried that I'd get this extremely nice gift and never use it. That has certainly not been the case. I make two batches of pizza dough in it every week, I shred chicken in it, I make brownies and cookies in it about once a month. It's turned out to be SO useful. I'm glad she had the foresight that I didn't.

Watching our dough rise. She has a REALLY hard time leaving it covered while it rises. She wants to check on it every couple of minutes.

She is kind of becoming a pro at kneading and rolling. She can't do it entirely by herself, but she can make a decent dent in the process. The only problem is that she becomes rather proprietary of the rolling pin. Bless us. Oh! And that pizza stone was a wedding gift from my mom; actually, she thought ahead and got me two. At the time, I thought she really shouldn't have...but I make two pizzas every Friday, and it's awesome to have two stones! Thanks, Mom!

In addition to oatmeal, burritos, and pizza, She helps me regularly with chopping and peeling vegetables. I don't yet let her handle the knives, but I have her gather things up and put them in bowls/pans/bags. We've begun having conversations about knives and how to be safe with them. I'm still summoning up my courage to actually let her hold one. Maybe that will be on our bucket list for Year Four.

Until then, we'll wash her hands, put on her pint-sized apron (thanks, Amiee!), and haul out the step ladder for our regularly-scheduled favorites. 

Boswell Beach Babies

We wrapped up a week of Boswell family beach-ing a few weeks ago, and boy, was it fun! And when I say "Boswell family," I mean the four people that live in my house with me + Brad's family. We stayed in a fantastic beach house on Topsail Island (pronounced "top-sull" by the locals) for the second year in a row. I'm a fan of this house on Topsail for a few reasons, chief of which is because it's less than 3 hours from Durham. Yay! It makes for such an easy trip, and the beaches are pretty (note: being an Alabamian, I am partial to the gorgeous Gulf Coast. It has my heart and always will. However, Topsail is also lovely.). The house we've stayed at for the past two years is magnificent. Barbara and I can (and do) wax eloquent about the fabulously well-stocked kitchen and the plethora of bedrooms and bathrooms to accommodate everyone. Guys. It's a dream beach house.

We had lots of fun in the sand and sun (with the exception of two rainy afternoons), and Claire was head of the pack in pursuing all of the fun. In fact, about a week leading up to the trip, I got so weary with answering questions about when we would be going to the beach that Claire and I made a countdown paper chain as our "craft" one afternoon. That way, whenever she asked about the beach, I'd just point to the chain. It kind of worked, too.

Ta da! (what she actually said here) We're at the beach! Claire usually wakes up at 7, but she backed it up to 6 everyday at the beach. I took the first morning and had quite the task of trying to keep her marginally quiet so as not to wake up the neighborhood.

This is how Lily spent her days. Such a rough life.

Tim brought Spike Ball, which he, Brad, and Rachael played off and on. Claire wanted in on the action occasionally. My favorite part is that she wore her visor backwards like Daddy was wearing his hat.

And sometimes you just need a little lie-down.

Diggin' a hole with Takia.

Our smiley girl. And, no, I didn't get her a swimsuit for this trip. Perhaps that was a bad call, but really, she basically slept full-time on the beach. Cute onesies did the trick.

See?

But, of course, she did some of this, too.

One afternoon was perfect kite-flying weather, and Claire took it seriously (for about 3 minutes...but seriously, nonetheless).

And I got this cute shot.

Then she gave me a thumbs-up. Photo bomb by Tim.

Gran and Claire had quite a few seaside chats like this.

And Grandpa and Lily had quite a few moments like this.

Hole digging. There wasn't much actual castle-building, as Claire is also known as The Destroyer.

Except for when the neighbors sculpt really impressive sand creations each day. She knows not to mess with those. Not pictured (but should have been): the Death Star, Millennium Falcon, and pod racers. 

Hard at work

Tim raced Claire in this little endeavor. His goal was to set up the sand piles faster than she could knock them down. It was hilarious. Claire kept calling the sand piles "fire," which none of us understood at first. I kept asking her questions to figure it out, and finally, I got it: there's a part in Tangled where Rapunzel is lighting a line of candles (fire) and Mother Gothel is following her and putting the candles out one by one. That's what Claire fancied herself doing.

Hiding with Grandpa behind the sand pile.

Lily being cute.

Sporting her dress that Gran and Grandpa brought her from the Caribbean.

Breanne, I thought you might appreciate this: after we finished a game of Blokus one evening, Tim and Brad (but mostly Tim) set out to make all of the pieces fit together in a perfect square. He almost did it; there's just one tiny square missing. And don't you know that drove him crazy.

Ready for a day of fun!

Lily is such a joy. Y'all. This face is her personality.

Quality time.

Enjoying a "puddle."

Commandeering Gran's water bottle. DON'T DRINK IT, BARBARA! I guarantee it's 68% sand.

Queen of the Mountain.

One morning, Brad and I went for a walk, and I found a shell that I thought Claire would like. I carried it for the better part of a mile so that I could give it to her. When I showed up with my offering, she informed me that Takia had caught a crab in her bucket. My shell = not even a little bit exciting. 

Just prior to crab release. The best part of the release was watching Claire walk like crab alongside the real crab. It was great.

Her beloved turtle suit. The bottoms are too big. We have to be careful that they don't slide off. Which they do when wet or full of sand. So basically all the time.

Any Harry Potter fans out there? If so, I know you get this onesie.

Posing on her beach towel.

Matching with Ray Ray.

And one with Lily's eyes open.

Claire got up to the top level of her behavior chart, and we all got ice cream! She got her first ever Rocky Road, and she loooooooved it.

As evidenced by her very serious double-spooning method.

Outtake from a photo shoot with Gran. Please note Lily's face.

This one is much better.

With Takia. We don't get to see him very often, so we have to capitalize on picture-taking opportunities.

This trip was his first time meeting Lily. She's clearly thrilled.

With Ray Ray.

A good one with Gran.

In the spirit of their earlier game of "fire," Tim created a sprawling field of "fires" for Claire, spelling out her name. She had a blast!

"Thank you for my fires, Takia!"

And now I smash.

Taking in her surroundings with Grandpa.

Chilling on the porch to escape the rain.

She got ice cream again! And, she still doesn't know that these things will move if you put quarters in them. Be cool, guys. Don't tell.

Hanging with Ray Ray.

I adore my darling Lily, but I have to confess: she's not very photogenic. It's REALLY difficult to get a good picture of how cute she is. I don't know why. So, you should know that it was QUITE THE ORDEAL to get this shot. And, it does Lily very little justice. Brad took video of Barbara and me trying to get Lily to smile. We looked ridiculous.

One last shot with Takia before he left for Minnesota.

We had a really wonderful time. The weather was great, the food was fantastic, and spending time with the whole family for a full week was a rarity that we thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you, Bill and Barbara, for making it happen!