january 11: cooking with Eli...

We are always looking for ways to have one on one time with each of our kiddos.  This has been a rough week for Eli and I, so even though I was supposed to cook with Joel tonight...I needed to spend some QT with my biggest buddy.

We pulled out a family favorite, homemade pizza!  I thought it'd be fun to "make" pizza dough, but after realizing the directions required the dough to sit for 5 minutes in 85 degrees...other than turning on the heater in the bathroom...not sure where that location would be at the moment.  So, the dough flopped.  Luckily, I had just bought a couple things of biscuits...worked in a pinch!

Elijah's favorite part was definitely the cutting.  I had bought a kid safe knife from Pampered Chef a few months back.  He was able to safely cut up our cucumbers for salad, and our strawberries for dessert.  I love the expression he makes when he is proud of himself and excited...he tries to hide it.

Can't say the biscuit pizzas were my absolute favorite, but hanging with my biggest boy was the highlight of my day.  Tad got home a day early tonight, so we were able to commend him as a parental unit and praise his efforts as a whole in front of the whole crew...he had the spotlight for a few seconds today, and for Elijah, that's important.  Special moments like these help set the tone for the rest of the night.  He an I were more in tuned with each other then we have been lately.  Hopefully he remembers things like tonight...I know I will.

Next week Dominic gets a turn, the next week Joel...Abram is always attached to my hip, so he's always involved.  This was such an easy way to spend time with one of my boys...we will do this again.

Tomorrow, we try a new food...