Saturday, August 4, 2012

Baking Assistants

On this super warm Saturday, indoor activities were a must!  It's not forever hot like last summer, but it's been at least 108 degrees several days this week and 101 degrees today.  Beau and I hit up Hobby Lobby while Daddy and Linc went to (indoor) baseball practice.  After lunch, we decided to make cake balls!!!  Nana always makes them for birthdays, and we thought we should give it a try too.  I had two little helpers that were much more interested in eating snacks and playing with kitchen tools than actually helping me with the process.  I'm secretly thrilled that they didn't contribute any germs to the mix!!!! 
It turns out that making cake balls requires lots of patience because there's quite a bit of down time between steps.  Interestingly enough, neither Linc nor Beau possess very much patience.  After an excruciatingly long wait while the cakes baked and cooled, we were able resume activities and mix the crumbled cake the the icing.  Messy stuff, but again my helpers were happy to stand at the counter but do other things.  I guess I'm glad I was the only one covered in sticky cake!  So we're all excited that we're making cake balls . . . until Mommy ruins the fun and announces they have to firm up in the fridge for half an hour.  Nooooooo!  Another wait begins, and I am asked at least 100 times by Lincoln if the cake balls are ready yet.  When the time finally comes, we melt the bark and get to dipping.  Beau had a cup of Lucky Charms and was no way interested in what were doing, but he did insist on being near.  (I don't think he left the kitchen all day!!)  Linc was the official sprinkler, and sprinkle he did! 
 After all of that hard work, it was finally time to taste the finished product.  Success!!!!  The boys loved their strawberry cake balls with sprinkles.  Lincoln has never had strawberry cake and kept asking me why they put strawberries in there.  I don't remember why I bought that one a few weeks ago, but it was a fun surprise.  Beau didn't seem to care about the fact that it was strawberry.  He just said "cake" a few million times and chomped it up!
 Baking (waiting) is hard work, so we headed out to our favorite dinner spot to relax and enjoy a good meal.  The guys were so well behaved during dinner!  I was cleaning up our table at the end of the meal and only had to pick up one piece of food off the floor.  Our waiter even thanked me for our considerate behavior and neatness!  (He must not have been our waiter the time I gave Beau rice at that restaurant . . . it.was.a.disaster.)

My chatting with the waiter was taking too long so the guys went to play outside.  A little table drumming made everyone laugh!  I think they were all sweating after 5 minutes of activity!
After a long day of baking, playing and eating, we're all pretty happy.  There was only one brother-fight on record today, and Beau won.  Unfortunately, he bit Linc on the arm.  Linc was trying to take a toy away from Beau, and Beau wasn't having it.  Beau got a stern talking-to, and Linc got a band-aid.  I don't like biters, and Beau hasn't been one at all.  Hoping this is just a one-time thing!  We all had a happy day, lots of laughs, nice naps and yummy treats.  I think we're handling these 100+ degrees days pretty well.  But oh, how I dream of 75 degrees . . . October, please hurry!

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