Making Sweets with a Sweetie...

As soon as she realized that it was "Valentime's", Isabelle has been prolific in the craft room churning out card after card... and giving them to everyone that steps foot in the door this week. This is most definitely HER holiday...

So, following her sweet lead, and as part of my New Year's determination to take life "in moments" and make (and record) more memories, I actually did something this week that I have been meaning to do but have not done since the whirlwind of our move here to QC and all that has commenced since. I MADE SUGAR COOKIES! Now stop laughing... I know it sounds ridiculous, but this is a big deal for me!


Yes, it took me ALL WEEK to make the 2 batches, (I thought we would do them for F.H.E., and I didn't even manage to get the dough finished before we had to call it quits and send everyone to bed... yes, they were all smiles as we tucked them in without dessert!). So I knew I would be finishing them either late at night or at Kate's naptime with Izzy (which ended up being both)...



As sad as it sounds, it is very hard to me to stop my constant, the-work-never-ends-so-I-can't-stop-working mode to actually slow down, let it go, and just make cookies. And especially sugar cookies. You know, the zero-nutritional-reward-for-hours-of-tedious-labor cookies! Pure unadulterated sugar just for kicks is really not my style. And of course I had to search and search for a recipe that didn't call for shortening (this health nut has her standards, you know! As warped as that sounds...) And to be honest, if I hadn't have had to make them for Izzy's class party (I was chairperson, and the treat sign ups were both conveniently out of town) I don't know now if I would have even done it at all. And boy, wouldn't it have been tragic to miss this smile...



So, I may have let my house go further down the drain, and let the laundry lion win his match again this week, but WE MADE SUGAR COOKIES!!!



And I sat with Izzy as we decorated them, and we played the "echo song" game, with a Valentine's theme. It goes something like this: Izzy sings an original melody and word phrase, and then I repeat it exactly ( Or at least I try to, even with the atonal-sounding tritones she throws at me!). Then after awhile we switch places, and I make up the phrases and Izzy repeats them. It's great ear training, actually. When you repeat the phrases a few times, it starts to actually sound like a song! Ours ended up something like this, with Izzy in the "composer's seat":

Oh, how I love Valentime's Day!
(Oh, how I love Valentime's Day...)
It puts so much joy in my heart
(It puts so much joy in my heart...)
It's all about loving and giving
(It's all about loving and giving...)
and it's just such a wonderful time
(and it's just such a wonderful time...)
Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful, (sung in the stratospheric child's upper register) Valentime's Day!
(Wonderful, Wonderful, etc... Valentime's Day!)
it's my favorite day of ALL...(sing your highest possible note here, mine was an impressive high B flat that day, I even ran over to the piano and checked :) )
(it's my favorite day of ALL..)

etc..

We sat at the counter frosting and sprinkling, and sang our hearts out, verse after verse, for a good 30 minutes. Just Isabelle and me, having each other all to ourselves. A simple thing, but one of the sweetest of my motherhood thus far. Now that was a moment worth making a mess for...