Cooking lessons…

On Thursday, my eight year old granddaughter came over to spend the day and enjoy her very first “sleepover” at Grandmom’s apartment. We had such fun! First of all, she learned to bake a chocolate chess pie – with her doing most of it! (We enjoyed a couple of slices of it and took the remainder of it home the next day for her to share with everyone).

She came bearing all sorts of toys for us to enjoy – especially her little Polly dolls. We used my decorator boxes for their homes and let our imaginations create a story for them.

It was Valentine’s Day, so she wanted to surprise my neighbors (even a few I don’t know ;-)) with special Valentines we created! She brings joy to her world that’s for sure and the Valentines were a hit.

We popped popcorn and watched the movie Sarah, Plain and Tall (which is actually based on a children’s book) starring Glenn Close. When it was her bedtime, she was so tired I think she was asleep a minute after her head hit the pillow in the big guestroom bed!

The next morning, we watched part of Anne of Green Gables and then we got ready to return her home for her morning school work!

On Saturday, my daughter, my thirteen-year-old granddaughter and my two grandsons came over. (My eight-year-old granddaughter and her dad had driven to Iowa City for the long day of a USA swim meet in her age group). While my oldest grandson stayed at my apartment to study, the rest of us headed out for a couple hours of “shopping”. First, it was to Michael’s for a few art supplies and soft, wonderful yarn for a new baby blanket.

Then my granddaughter and I headed to the pet store a few stores down the walkway. After enjoying a visit with the pets in the Animal Rescue League section of the store (my granddaughter wants to be a vet when she grows up), we joined my daughter and little grandson in the department store next to Michael’s.

After lunch, my daughter and two grandsons returned home while my granddaughter stayed to spend the day with me and enjoy her cooking lesson! With very little help from me, she made a cherry latticed pie. We snacked on a couple of slices that afternoon then took the rest home with her to share. It was delicious!

She is very artistic and we enjoyed drawing together. We used her new watercolor pencils and turned our drawings into a watercolor with just a few strokes of water…that was fun! All too soon, it was time to return her home and I stayed for a delicious dinner of lasagna, french bread and cherry pie!

I will look forward to more cooking lessons in the future. Maybe next time, we will try some Southern homemade fried apple and peach pies…

Later this week, my eight and thirteen-year-old granddaughters will be coming here for a fun day and sleepover. Each of them wants to learn the art of pie making, so I will be giving a “cooking class”. My eight year old granddaughter will bake a chocolate chess pie and my thirteen year old granddaughter wants to make a fruit pie with a lattice top. Needless to say, that will be a lot of fun! We will also watch a movie, eat popcorn, maybe have time for some art and just relax together. They love coming over, exploring my apartment, my art books and hanging out with Grandmom.

I wanted to be sure that my four-year old grandson did not feel “left out”, so yesterday I brought him home with me for a couple of hours. I teasingly asked him if he wanted to go home with me and “help me clean my apartment, maybe dust mop”. He was so excited! His eight year old sister packed him a backpack filled with books and all of the CARS characters – you know, like Lightning McQueen! He sat down to put his shoes on and the heavy backpack almost pulled him backwards! His Mom and I had a good laugh and then I carried his backpack for him.

We were about two miles down the road, almost to University Street, when he quietly said “I miss Mom”. That lasted about a second and then he was on to another topic of conversation thankfully.

I had left the apartment basically in a “mess” with sewing stuff and knitting stuff all over the living room but I knew he wouldn’t care. When we arrived, I opened the apartment door and he rushed inside. He looked around the living room and up at me. He flashed that dimpled smile at me and said, “oh, you’ve decorated”! I laughed and laughed.

The next two hours were busy ones. We played CARS on the hardwood floors in my living room. He’s very creative and can come up with cute themes for our playtime – like it’s Lightning’s birthday and all the cars bring cake and ice cream. I’m getting really good at making car sounds and definitely have Mater’s Southern accent down pat. The only problem is my back can’t handle sitting on the hard floor for very long!

Then it was time for his first cooking lesson! He had such fun making “chocolate no-bakes” with Grandmom! He stood in front of the stove on my stepladder and carefully added all the ingredients as I handed them to him. He stirred and stirred. I took the last stir and spooned the finished cookies onto foil. When they were cool, I gave him a small one and a glass of milk for his afternoon snack. We took the rest home with him later for him to share with everyone.

When it was time to take him home, he exclaimed “but I haven’t helped you dust mop, Grandmom!” I found the dust mop and gave it to him. He actually had fun for a few minutes dusting the hardwood floors!

Then it was time to leave. I buckled him carefully in his car seat and we headed back to his home. We were barely out of my condominium complex, when we asked “do you have some music, Grandmom?” There was a CD mix of country music in the player and I turned it on. I was introducing my little Ethiopian Prince to Willie Nelson, Emmy Lou Harris, Alison Krauss and a few other of the classics. Apparently, my sweet grandson likes country music!

We were about a half mile from my daughter’s house when I asked him if he knew where he was. “No,” he replied. “And you don’t either, Grandmom!”

“I’d better know! I’m driving!” I replied through the laughter…

Photo taken at The Great Pumpkin Festival at church.

My daughter made the costume for Halloween which you can read about here.

He loves Curious George!

(I love the featured photo of him at the top – taken about three years ago, not long after my daughter and her husband returned from Ethiopia with him.)