leaf cookies

Every fall we make "leaf" cookies at our house. The little people love cut out cookies, and we enjoy doing the whole process together. I've always loved baking & cooking myself, and I hope my kiddos grow to have a passion for it as well!

I've learned for these baking experiences- to plan on a mess- a BIG mess. That I, only I, will be cleaning up. But.........once I've set those expectations...then I can enjoy the fun of making that mess with them! And, well, let's be honest, there's nothing sweeter than a flour coated toddler!

Nboy was at school and so I decided this day, just GGirl and I would mix up and bake the cookies together.

This spunky girl is SO independent....even while making cookies. If I turned the mixer on, she turned it off....and then turned it on again.......to the speed I specified....just because SHE wanted to do it herself. And so on. With every single cookie-baking-step. Every one. she would do, or re-do on her own, if I did it first.

She loved putting the cookie cutters in the dough....and then putting her fingerprints in the cut out cookies......so then we had to re-roll the dough, again, and again!

She also loved wearing her apron from Grandma NeNe (we have matching aprons- how sweet is that).!

And of course, for those of you who think the cookies were made in a perfectly clean house, with a perfectly behaved toddler, with a peacefully sleeping newborn.....here's sweet RBaby's reality photo from her time baking cookies:

Sweet baby. Don't worry though, a good cuddle session and full tummy cheered her up just fine!

And Nboy got to frost and sprinkle lots of leaf cookies when he got home....his favorite part!