Maggie's Concoction

I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but one of the things I love about how my mother parented us is that she would let my sisters and I mess around in the kitchen. We would try to invent our own recipes and trust me, they were never good. They usually involved unsweetened baking chocolate and various cereals. We probably didn't even clean up that great after ourselves, but she let us do it anyway. I also remember cooking actual recipes with my mom - both baking and cooking. I know now how much patience that must have taken! The benefit of it was that as I grew up I learned my way around the kitchen and now I LOVE baking and cooking, so I'm really thankful that she let us do that.
Maggie has been helping me in the kitchen since she was two or so and I think she really loves cooking with me. The other day she asked if she could make some food and I let her. Here she is with her creation:
I'm not sure exactly what she put in there but I know the green things are leaves from a plant outside, plus there's cinnamon, honey, and water. She was so proud of herself! And no, I didn't let anyone eat it. Who knows what those leaves are?!

Finn's favorite thing lately is "cooking." He really means "stirring" but calls it "cooking." Today he helped me "cook" some granola I was making for my dad. The key, I've learned, is using the biggest mixing bowl I have to better contain his vigorous stirring. We did have a few oaty casualties, but most of it stayed in the bowl. He falls apart when I have to take over the stirring. Poor guy.