Terrible/Awesome Meatloaf

So, the past few days I've been doing quite a bit of cooking and baking, and having a fun time with my kids helping me out. Alex loves to help me, sometimes reading out the recipe, cracking the eggs, stirring and sifting. Bella is really getting good at helping out too! Sofy, not so much! LOL. Although, she's becoming quite a helper in cleanup time! She helps me unload the dishwasher and puts the silverware away in the drawer! She's getting so big!!

On Saturday night, I was in the mood for perogies, and decided to make them from scratch I found a good recipe and decided to try to make them. I had only instant mashed potatoes to use for the filling, which turned out to be not only easier, but also quicker! They turned out actually being alot easier to make than I would have thought, and Bella did an awesome job helping me fill them with the potatoes!! I made extra and had them for Sunday's dinner too.

On Monday, I thought I would try to make homemade ravioli and that ended up being a much longer job than the perogies!!! I started making them at 3:00 and we had dinner about 6:45, but they were pretty good!! I made extra of those too and that's what Alex really wanted for lunch yesterday!

Yesterday, I made a meatloaf for dinner and just after having it all gone in one sitting, Alex said, "Alot of people say that meatloaf is terrible!!!!". I said, "Well, was the one you just ate terrible?". He said, "No, yours was Awesome!!" I said, "well your Mom knows how to make a good meatloaf!" He then asked me how I make it so good, and I said it's probably the sauce I put on top. I told him that most people just use ketchup for the topping, but I add other ingredients to make a sauce.

We've also made a couple batches of cookies, made cupcakes (From a box mix), and doing things to do together while cooped up in the house!
So, It's been fun trying out these new culinary creations and having so much fun having my kids help me!

I remember my Dad telling me once that his favorite times and best memories he has of his Mom were when he would be in the kitchen helping her cook and bake. She was an awesome cook and spent practically all day, every day there. Practically every meal, they had a whole meal, including a dessert. She also made fun treats for holidays and such. Like, for Halloween (When you could make homemade treats for the kids), she would give out caramel apples, popcorn balls, and homemade candy! I wish that she was still here to teach me her favorite recipes and that I could have had those memories with her, too!
It's also a big reason why my Dad loves to cook and bake! All growing up, he was mostly the cook for the family, and my Mom loved it! Really, she's had to do the turn around and cook more since he started working out of state the past 6 years. She knows how to cook, but he always wanted to and that's how it was. It's quite funny, if I have ever needed a cooking or baking question, I knew I could always ask Dad, and he'd know!!

My New Necklace

I have to add this today. I never want to forget it!!!!!

We've been having a fun weekend, and now on Monday, at my Mom and Dad's house and the kids are having so much fun here! They love to come to Grammi and Papa's house, be able to play outside in their backyard (We have a nice backyard, but not any toys for them to play with, so they don't go outside much), and hanging out with Annie and Skyler. Bella ended her Summer session of preschool on Thursday, so it's been nice to just stay as long we want and not have a time limit to be home!
Anyways, today Annie got out a jewelry making kit she has and Alex and Bella have had such a ball making some! Bella made a bracelet and necklace that are so cute, and it's great for her fine motor skills to keep developing. She's actually have had pretty good fine motor skills, but this is a nice activity to enhance that!
Alex made me a necklace for me that I will treasure always! It has a few beads, then the letters for "Alex", a heart bead, then Letters for "Mom" then a heart again, and then the letters "BFF"!! He said that I'm his very best friend!!! That just melted my heart! I love it when my kids show such loving affection for me. Some of these affectionate moments can be few and far between for ny kids, and Alex for the most part is a big Mama's Boy and can be loving to me, but like I said, they don't happen often!!

Also today, Alex and I picked some blackberries that grow wild behind my parents' house and alot of them that poke through the fence! He wants me to make a blackberry pie, so we'll see how that goes. I've never made one before, so it will be a fun culinary adventure!!!!!