Mini Chef

Channing's love of helping in the kitchen holds no bounds.  He's always up for a kitchen project.  Always.  Last Tuesday was no exception.  While the rest of us dined on herbed chicken pizza of the pre-made variety, having only to toss it in the oven to bake it, Channing's pizza was a little more involved.  He couldn't have been more pleased.


Have you ever seen these at Papa Murphy's?  It's called a Mini Murphy.  Everything you need is right there in the cute little box.  My mini chef smeared, sprinkled and plopped his way to pizza perfection.

He may have had just a little help from Grandma Meredith.  ; )

See?  A perfect little pizza for one hungry little chef.

Oh yeah, and he got a tattoo.  Not sure which he was more proud of, his pizza or his arm. 

 Nonetheless, it's a culinary experience worth repeating.  Soon.

Sweetie's Pies

My sweetie, he loves to get down and dirty in the kitchen.  If you measure it, pour it, stir it or scoop it, he's right there in the middle of the action.  Oh, and the more sugar, the better.  

That's Grandma lending a hand with the meringue.  She deserves as much, if not more, credit for this dessert than Channing does.  Thanks, Mom!!

Last Sunday, with Grandma Meredith ready to swoop in and lend a hand, Channing had his first turn at making pie.   He made individual lemon meringue pies with honey meringue and graham cracker crust.  I'd come across the recipe on another blog I follow, Sugar & Charm.  A special occasion deserves special dessert, making these tasty treats the perfect ending to our Easter dinner.

Channing's got this baking thing down.  His pies did not disappoint.  My sweetie, he makes a perfect pie.

A Thousand Words

I should really write something one of these days.  It's been terribly long since last I posted.  Stuff has happened.  Lots of stuff.  Photos were taken to preserve the memories.  The writing part...Well, that seems to be where I'm stuck.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let the photos do the talking this time around.  

Hot and tasty treats courtesy of Kathy.  She served 'em up while most of the sewing club ladies worked on holiday themed hot pads.  The pair with the holly are the one I made.  Get it?  Holly.  There are times I just can't help myself.

While the mamas sewed, the wee folk worked on crafts.  Felt reindeer ornament craft kits kept little hands just as busy as the bigger ones.  If you ask Channing, his reindeer is actually a zebra.  Notice the one black stripe?  That was a left over bit of antler.  

I found these sweet treats on Pinterest and just had to make them when the high school girls came over for our annual ornament exchange.  Channing was more than willing to lend a hand.  For once, the majority of the candy ended up on the goodies instead of in his belly.  And once again, he used his own best judgement when placing the decorations.  A three-horned reindeer with two noses?  Why not?

We did a little painting too.  A hand print globbed onto a glass sphere with a few small details thrown in quickly turns into a happy family of snowmen.  A few of our ornaments took on the appearance of spring thaw.  The colors may have been muddied together into a lovely shade of brown that colored more of the hand print than not.  Whatever.  We're going with it.  With this project, it was a whole lot less about the end result and a whole lot more about working together and making 'a big, giant, giant mess.'  We definitely accomplished that.  

And there you have it, in several thousand words, give or take a few.  

Catch Up

It's time to bring you all up to speed.  Posts have been started and stored and started and stored. I have no less than five draft posts hidden on the back pages of Fresh Picked.  The thing is, we've been busy.  Frantically busy, but in the best of ways.  

This mama has been stretching her creative wings yet again.  There was another fall wreath.  Newer.  Brighter.  Highly improved and perhaps a bit spooky in anticipation of Halloween.  However, the idea of using a pool noodle and duct tape to make the form.... Not the best.  The wreath looks more like a coma now and has been tossed in the closet until there is time to find a way to make it round once more.  Suggestions anyone??


Slippers.  Mary introduced me to ithinksew.  For $3 I downloaded the pattern for these:

Don't my feet look sweet?  Love them!


There are two super secret birthday projects that will have to be revealed at a later date.  Let's just say, I am proud enough of these to toot my own horn.  Loudly.  Very loudly.  They rock.  I'm so excited to give them to the recipients.  Anderson.  Megan.  Get ready!


Play dates.  Three have been photographed.  There have been more.  The kind where smiles abound, laughter rings out and hearts feel light when all is said and done.  


Kelli sent a quick text to the effect of-park:  5 minutes.  Let's go.  We went.  

Kendra, Libby, Channing & I made good on last fall's promise of a trip to the apple orchard.  It took a year, but was worth the wait.  We came home with a half peck of apples that quickly found their way into an apple crisp.  Channing tried adding raspberries, blueberries and strawberries too.  I'm an apple crisp purist.  No berries, please and thank you.  

More recently, Mary, Collin, Kiera & I braved the threat of rain for a wet morning in the park.  Mary and I delighted in the antics of Monkey See, Collin, and Monkey Do, Channing.  Kiera thought the boys were pretty amusing too.

It's been a little crazy.  It's been a little nuts.  But only in the best of ways.  Tonight, we've a daddy date on tap.  Not sure of the exact plan.  It will involve my two best guys, the ones I'm so proud to call husband and son.  


Happy Friday to you all.  Mine certainly is.  

I Scoop. You Squeeze.

I scoop.  You squeeze.  It's a new but unwritten house rule for the Flynns.  It started with a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  Channing, after eating loads of sugar and chocolate chips while I mixed the dough, decided that he wanted to be the one to put the cookies on the sheets prior to baking.  Try as he might, he could not get enough leverage on the cookie scoop to get a full dip.  He got a little frustrated until I volunteered to do the scooping while he did the squeezing.  Worked like a charm.  Well, sort of.  He kept trying to squeeze all of the scoops onto the same spot.  

We scooped.  We squeezed.  We baked our way to chocolate chip cookie perfection.  And we washed it down with a big glass of milk.  Ahhhhhh...

It wasn't long before the cookies were consumed.  Every. Last. One.  Why couldn't I have kept just a few so that when our neighbor brought a sample of his smoked pork ribs over for WM to try, I could have washed his plate that night, filled it with cookies and returned it?  I know.  You're thinking, why couldn't you just return a plain, old clean plate?  I just can't.  


Is anyone now thinking of the book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.  For those of you famillar with the story, yes, sometimes my brain works like that.  

So we made cupcakes to keep from returning a plate of nothingness to the neighbors.  Channing carefully helped prepare the batter.  When it came time to put the batter into the baking cups, he grabbed the scoop dunked it into the bowl, let the gooey mess drip a moment or two and handed the scoop to me.  'I scoop.  You squeeze.  It's the rules.  Scoop please.'

The cupcakes, once baked to sweet perfection, were frosted with chocolate and then Channing made them spooky, adding eyeballs to each one.  They were delivered to the neighbors.  No, not just Trent, Nicole & Lexi, source of the fabulously tasty ribs.  Kyle & Bekah, Jim, Kelly & Megan too.  Channing insisted.