We had a snow day today in the South.  There was a “threat” of snow, sleet, and ice in the forecast yesterday evening for today, so the schools decided to make it a snow day today.  Yea!!  Snow day!

When I woke up this morning, I ran to the window anticipating to see a dusting of snow.  However, none was to be seen in our area today.  The only thing we had was rain and a tad bit of ice which did not last long, thankfully.

My daughters and I took advantage of the time together today, though!  While my oldest daughter was as snug as a bug in a rug sleeping in until way after noon, my youngest daughter and I baked peanut butter cookies!  They have always been one of my favorites, and I have fond memories of making homemade peanut butter cookies with my mom when I was younger.  I thought today would be the perfect day to show my youngest daughter how to make them.

I didn’t start with an “instructional” as one would think.  Instead, I allowed her to continue watching television in the living room while I got the ingredients out.  In my best Julia Childs’ voice, I started speaking as I was preparing to get started.  My daughter immediately came into the kichen to inquire as to why I was speaking in such a weird voice, but the moment she saw the cookie sheet, her eyes got wide as the look of delight filled her little angelic face!  She almost squealed as she said, “I WANNA HELP!”  And I could contain my happiness no longer as I smiled so wide at her eagerness to help!

I preheated the oven as she leveled one cup of sugar in the measuring cup.  Then I went in search of the Vanilla Extract in the very back of the cabinet.  I could not see it initially, but I knew it was there.  Dragging a heavy chair across the kitchen floor, I positioned it just right for us short people to get a good view of all of the contents of the cabinet.  There it was, the tiny, thin bottle of goodness waiting for me to grab it and measure a teaspoon full right into the middle of the sugar that my daughter had just poured into the bowl.  After putting the chair back in it’s place at the dining room table, I made my way back to my daughter’s side where she was eagerly waiting to crack one pearly white egg.  She held this egg in her hand with great determination that SHE had to be the one to add it.  And so to my daughter’s delight, she did just that as the egg shell crackled and then cracked open as she struck it against the side of the bowl.  She was sure to inspect it so that no egg shell contaminated our other ingredients as she poured it into the bowl.  Next up was one heaping cup full of the creamiest peanut butter on the planet – Peter Pan, that is!   We added it to the bowl, and she had her little spoon going round and round in the bowl alongside mine as we made mixer noises with our mouths which only made her laugh harder at my silliness!

And there I was, side by side with my princess loving every single minute!

Now for the fun part!  ROLLING the cookie dough in our hands!  This was her most favorite part!  It even far exceeded the excitement that she felt cracking that egg!  Yep, this little girl took her teaspoon and scooped up some peanut butter cookie dough and then took it into her tiny hands and rolled it round and round, looking up at me smiling and laughing as she felt the gooey substance and fished around for more to add to it.  She thought her work was through until I told her that we get to make designs on them.  “DESIGNS?” she asked with her little eyebrows raised and the biggest smile on her angelic face.  Yes, designs.  I took a fork out of the drawer and showed her how my mother and I used to press the fork on the top of the cookie horizontally and then vertically.  She smiled, then held her mouth just right as she had this determined look come over her as she made the perfect design.  I nodded my approval, and she went on to the next one.  By the time we reached the second dozen, though, she got a little wild and crazy with her own designs, and I just laughed and laughed!  When we were finished decorating, we popped those two dozen cookies into the preheated oven and waited for 10 agonizing minutes until they were ready to take out of the oven.  The house was smelling really good at about the time we heard the “ding” of the timer as it went off, and I took our goodies out of the oven.  But now they had to cool before we could try them!   My daughter danced off into the next room where she returned in a few minutes just in time to sample one of our cookies.  She was so excited when she took a bite because they were really good!  I think she was a tad bit surprised, but she shouldn’t have been for we had the world’s greatest chef in the kitchen  – my princess!

Much later in the day, our oldest daughter finally woke up and got to sample our tasty treats as well.  She missed all the fun, but she sure did enjoy those cookies!

While there was nary a bit of snow in sight today, we still had the best day at home making memories together on this snow day!  Thank you, God, for moments like these with my children!