Fun Mom Friday: Fostering Independent Monkeys

This week, Kitchen Independence was declared by the monkeys. NOT the Wrangler. In the spirit of Fun Mom Friday (and a need for some help in the kitchen, as having the Little has been a real game changer), I decided to bite my tongue, take a deep breath, provide supplies, and see what happened.

NOTE: The Big and the Middle did ALL of this themselves. I was only allowed to put items in the oven and flip pancakes on the griddle. It was lucky I was able to be in the vicinity of the kitchen AT ALL. They were very keen to do this ALL BY OURSELVES. Which makes the Wrangler say. . . . .Ack.
RECIPES:

Taped inside the cabinets for easy monkey access and independence

RESULTS:

Pancakes: Three attempts. . . and three rousing successes! Light, fluffy, delicious. Enjoyed by all, but received especially high marks from the very discerning puppy dog.


Cookies: After three failed attempts, one and a half POUNDS of butter, and a course correction by the Wrangler, we got this. . . .
BIG, INDEPENDENT fun was had by all. And, I'll admit. . .despite the messes, the mistakes, and the mayhem, it is fabulous to watch my cheeky monkeys embrace something that I love so much. Baking. . . bliss. Watching monkeys bake? Ahh. . .there are no words.

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Fun Mom Friday

Cakes. Yum.

Decorated by monkeys. Even Yumm-er.

Happy Friday!

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Fun Mom Friday

I have such fun all week thinking about what I will post on Fun Mom Friday. Thanks to Moriah for hosting this at her fun blog, Please Pass the Salt.

This was a terrific week---one of those rare weeks when we did not have a jam-PACKED schedule that had monkeys hurling themselves in fifteen different directions. Very relaxed, spontaneous, and unfrenzied-like. We had simple fun, lots of good old-fashioned monkey play time. Big and Middle built a fort for Little and they happily played in it each morning. We swam for a little bit each day. We baked, chatted, read, and laughed. We drank a lot of tea and ate a fair amount of junk. Fun was had by all.

But the best part? The big fun in our simple week?







Yup. I downloaded Alvin and the Chipmunks songs onto my iPod.
And everytime they asked to listen, I SAID YES.

I said yes 1,658,432 times.

And those chipmunks can't get outta my head.

Happy Friday.

Fun Mom Friday

My husband's cousin, Moriah, has a great blog that chronicles her life with her adorable children. I have enjoyed reading Moriah's sensible, loving, and FUN posts for several months.

Check her out at www.pleasepassthesalt.net or look for her on my blogroll.

Moriah is the creator of. . .

FUN MOM FRIDAY

as a way for us moms to stop for a moment and think about how we brought the fun this week.

This week, my family has been vacationing with dear friends at the beach (who have four cheeky monkeys of their own). Each day we spend the morning at the beach, have a short inside break in the heat of the day, and then close out our day by the pool.

This year I thought it would be fun to have snow cones EVERYDAY. By the pool. BIG FUN for cheeky monkeys!

There are six kids old enough to eat snow cones, so each day I choose a "trusty assistant" to determine the favors being offered, solicit the orders, and deliver snow cones to his/her friends. The benefit of being the trusty assistant? You get EXTRA syrup. Yum.