Making Memories

By: Boogie

Peyton and Haley are finally old enough to start helping out in the kitchen. I want them to make memories like I did growing up.

 I remember the smell of breakfast being cooked every Saturday morning in our house at the end of Little Road in Royalton, Kentucky. My father would get up on Saturday mornings and start cooking breakfast for the people in our small community. He would make homemade biscuits, gravy, eggs, sausage, bacon…you name it, and he could fix it. People would start coming early in the morning to enjoy a tasty home cooked breakfast and even better conversation. The smiles that were on people’s faces were priceless.

After my father passed away, we moved to Indiana so we could be closer to my mom’s family. I remember going into the kitchen and watching her cook (lasagna was my favorite). She would always take the time to show me what to do. Sometimes the meals were not the most extravagant, but the conversations and laughter were priceless.  These are the types of memories I want to make with my daughters.

Yesterday, the girls and I decided to make homemade oatmeal cream pies. They get so excited when they get to help. Erin helped the girls get out all of the ingredients that we needed to begin. I have learned that it is very important for each of them to measure and add the ingredients by taking turns. If someone goes out of turn, it can become chaotic and incite quite the argument. The girls carefully added everything step by step making sure they followed the instructions for the cookies. Being an educator, I even sprinkled a few math problems to make the girls think about the amount they should add. They were solving math problems and didn’t even realize it. They really liked using the mixer to make the cream for the middle of the cookies. The girls enjoyed licking the paddles clean after they came out of the mixer. The cream that goes into the middle of the pie was super sweet, and it made the girls really hyper! We sat down together and finished making the pies.

As we were sitting at the table eating our own pies, one of the girls had the idea to take a cookie to Papaw Rodger. I thought that was a great idea, so we decided to take an oatmeal cream pie to Papaw, Nana, and Grandma and Grandpa. The girls and I loaded up in the van, turned up the radio, and delivered dessert to their grandparents. Each stop involved hugs and kisses for the girls’ efforts. The smiles on their faces were so rewarding. I hope these are memories the girls will keep with them as they get older and have families of their own.