She Loves to Cook

Sadie loves to help in the kitchen! Some of her favorite kitchen activities include grinding coffee beans for Mommy and Daddy's coffee, spreading butter on toast and using the salad spinner but her number one favorite thing to cook is English muffin pizza...she loves to make these and eat them.

If I get the ingredients out, Sadie can almost make these by herself. She spoons the sauce onto the muffin halves, spreads it around and tops them with a good handful of shredded cheese. We melt the cheese in the microwave, heating it for just a few seconds so the pizza doesn't get too hot.



She made herself some tonight and also helped me with making the carrots. " I want some carrots. Mama, did you know big girls like to eat carrots?" she told me.

Sadie asked me to photograph her meal. As I snapped the picture, she said, "Say cheese, dinner!"

Rice Krispie Treats

On Friday, we made rice krispie treats.











This is a great cooking activity for a toddler...just a few steps, very simple procedures, fun textures, tasty ingredients, and a yummy final product that doesn't need to be baked, so it's ready quickly. Not very healthy, necessarily, but worth it for the fun.

A Kids' Grocery Store?

Yes! This is a real "only in Manhattan" kind of place. Last Sunday, we walked to Kidfresh, a market of groceries and prepared foods for kids.

Sadie loved walking through the small door, taking a kid sized cart and choosing some groceries. She picked mini carrot muffins for a snack and then a lunch box with organic cheese and turkey slices, crackers, yogurt and water.



She ate the muffins in the little dining room at the back of the store, which was complete with small tables, plastic chairs shaped like animals and a little sink right at her level so she could wash her hands before she ate. The muffins were yummy.

The lunch was eaten at Grandma and Grandpa's apartment. Verdict: Thumbs up! The cheese was delicious, but there were only 3 small slices. There were 6 pieces of turkey, it was yummy too, but Sadie preferred the cheese. She also liked the crackers a lot. We had seen these in the store before but had not tried them. The mini bottle of water was also a big hit. Sadie did not like the yogurt though. It was a much thinner consistency than the yogurt she is used to and I think she was having trouble keeping it on the spoon.

Thanks for taking us to such a fun store, Grandma and Grandpa!

Something sweet for Valentine's Day

Sadie and I baked chocolate chip cookies on Sunday. Sadie added all the ingredients to the standing mixer and also managed to eat quite a few of chips before they got into the dough.

My perfect chocolate chip cookie is mostly chips and just a little crispy, buttery cookie to hold it together.

Here's how to make my special, best ever chocolate chip cookies:

1. Buy a bag of Nestle chocolate chips.
2. Use the Toll House cookie recipe on the back of the bag with the following changes:
A. Omit the baking soda
B. Omit the salt.
C. Use salted butter (do not use unsalted butter and definitely DO NOT use margarine)
D. Add 50% more chips than the recipe calls for...it calls for 2 cups, so use 3 cups!
3. Follow the recipe as given. It says bake for 9 to 11 minutes...in my oven, they are done at 9 and would be burnt by 11.
If you eat them when they are still warm, you will get covered in melty chips!

Quotable Sadie II

In the supermarket:
Sadie: Hi! What's you name, lady?
Woman: I'm Erika. What's your name?
Sadie: Sadie-Baby!



Also in the supermarket:
Woman: How old are you, little girl?
Sadie: I two in Decender! I big!
(When people ask me how old Sadie is, I often say "She was two in December.")

In the morning:
Sadie (singing, sort of to the tune of the alphabet song): I drink milk and Mommy and Daddy drink coffeeeeee! I like milk! I like cimmanin toast for breffest! I singing about food!


In the car:
Raffi, singing: "And I need some clean water for drinking; And I need some clean air for breathing; So that I can grow up big and strong: And take my place where I belong..."
Sadie: I beyong at home!
Mommy: That's true, Sadie. Where does Mommy belong?
Sadie: Mommy beyong at Mommy's work.

At home:
Sadie: Daddy's the Pince, and Mommy's Cinda-Reya and I'm Seeping Beauty. Let's dance togethah!

Pond Party

We had a great time at the Pond Party yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny day. After crossing the pond, it was time for lunch.

Ann: "Dan and Sadie, do you want a hamburger, a cheeseburger or a hot dog for lunch?"
Sadie: "I wanna hamburger."

We were suspicious because Sadie has never had a hamburger. I was going to get her a hot dog which I know she likes but while Dan pulled her around on her sled while I waited for the food, she kept asking "Where's ma hamburger?" So I got her one.

Sadie ate the entire hamburger in about 5 minutes. She loved it. Last summer, we offered her hamburgers, but she never ate them.

Later, we got samples of 'sugar on snow', which is warm maple syrup poured over snow.

Sadie liked it, but asked after her first bite, "Where's the pancakes?" Then, she became very possessive of her yummy treat.


But her favorite thing of all was the ice slide.
Mommy and Sadie wait for a turn:

We're next!

There she goes!

Daddy was there to catch her at the bottom.

Busy Weekend

Sadie's being silly with one of the plastic red peppers from her kitchen. Nana's in the background.

We had a fun weekend, including a Friday night grown-ups night out to a beer dinner at the Hanover Inn (Nana and Bob-bob babysat for both Sadie and Isaac, who made it easy on them by both sleeping the whole time).

Saturday, Dan and Bob-Bob painted our downstairs bath, which prior to then had not even been painted. You might have thought it was white, but that wasn't paint, it was primer. Now it looks great! It's "Geranium Leaf", which is means green, and has new curtains, shower curtain and crisp white towels. So pretty. Do you want to see it? Maybe I will post some pics.

Nana and I kept Sadie out of their way while they painted by doing lots of errands, including the Norwich Winter Farmer's Market. There were lots of crafts for sale, not too much food, but I got some Frog City cheese, which Sadie loves, and some local purple potatoes.

Unrelated to weekend activities, do you see how green Sadie's eyes are looking in recent pics? They remind me of Aunt Jenny's eye color.

We'll watch the Super Bowl tonight and eat some chili. Dan is rooting for the Bears, I think.

Helping in the Kitchen

Sadie still loves to help in the kitchen, especially if we get to use the mixer and even more especially if I'm making mashed potatoes, which she calls "hot potatoes!" If I ask her if she wants to help, she immediately goes to get a chair to stand on. We made the potatoes on Sunday to go along with meatloaf and I made a big batch so Sadie could have some for her lunches this week.

Speaking of lunches, I could use some fresh ideas for Sadie's lunch box. She doesn't seem bored or unhappy with her lunches, but I'm starting to get bored. I feel like I pack the same things over and over.

Assortment of Sadie

Just an assortment of recent snapshots...


Sadie enjoys a breakfast of Puffins cereal and milk. She calls this "penguin ce-yul". In her hair, she is wearing a little plastic, retro style barrette. When I was little, these came in a package of all different shapes, sometimes animals, sometimes bows/flowers. The only ones I can find are all butterflies.


Just a few minutes later, Sadie pretends her bracelet is a camera. Very post-modern...I am photographing her and she is photographing me at the same time. Note the spilled milk down her shirt-front. We changed shirts before daycare.


In her playhouse on Monday. She brought so many toys and dolls into the house she barely had room for herself.


A serious expression, but I think she looks pretty. When she wears this sweatshirt, she calls the pictures on it "tattoos". She never says this about any other item of clothing.


We lent this costume (from Halloween '05) to a friend. When they returned it, Sadie wanted to put it on. It still fits!

Snow Day

On Monday, we were all home for a snow day, or rather a snow/ice/sleet/freezing rain day. It was pretty gross outside. In the afternoon, Sadie was getting a little stir crazy, so we went out to play in the yucky weather. After about ten minutes, she said she was cold and we went in.
As a treat, I made some hot chocolate. Sadie had never had hot chocolate before and she was a little hesitant to try it because she hates anything hot. Of course, hers was just barely warm, because I had diluted the hot cocoa with cold milk. She finally took a little sip from Mommy's cup.

She liked it! No, she loved it and drank her whole cup of "hot chocolee!" And she was wide awake and chattering to the toys in her crib until nearly 9:30 that night. This child is sensitive to caffeine!

Hanukkah Recap

Tomorrow is the 8th and final night of Hanukkah. Some highlights from the holiday...

Lighting candles with Mommy and getting presents:

Sadie has learned the blessing and sings along when we light the candles! She had learned it by the 3rd night.

Just enjoying the Hanukkah lights:

Notice the ecumenical quality of this photo as Sadie is wearing a Christmas outfit for her menorah lighting. Also notice the holiday cards in the background. If you look closely, you may spot Samuel, Cordelia, Tavyn, Anabel and Sophie, Aili and Ava and even Doug and Kristin.

Making latkes:

We did this on the 6th night. Sadie was already asleep, but Dan and I enjoyed them. Sadie ate a lot of latkes at...

Latkepalooza:

Sadie's favorite part of the party was playing with the cat door with Isaac. The kids were fascinated with the little door that leads to the basement and to make it even better, both Daddies were in the basement talking to the kids.

It's been a really good Hanukkah.

Pizza-licious

Last week, we went out to dinner at the new Ramunto's Brick and Brew around the corner from the previous location. This is our favorite pizza in the area and of course, we had to try the new location on the very first day it was open. The location on Main Street in Hanover has closed, since the college will be rebuilding that block.

The pizza was just as good as always. Our garlic knots had clearly been made earlier in the day and reheated and it was a little disorganized, but it was the first day, so it's to be expected. We did get our pizza without too much waiting and we got a table right away.

The new location is a lot bigger, a lot cleaner and has more tables and booths as well as more high chairs. They have also really expanded their beer offerings with more drafts and some interesting bottles, which especially pleases Dan.

Mmmmm. Pizza.
(Yes, Sadie is wearing just an undershirt in these pictures. I forgot a bib, so we took off her cute shirt, let her eat in the undershirt and jeans and then put the clean shirt back on after dinner.)