Cookie Baking Night (08/22/22)

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Carissa, Allison, Rylar, Enzo, and Abigail. Tonight was Allison's birthday choice. She turned 12 years old just a couple days ago. For supper, she chose pancakes in the shape of letters (preferably the first letter of each one of our names), blueberries, and mandarin oranges. For her "cookie" she chose Strawberry-Rhubarb Upside Down Cake. I must confess, both Allison's supper choice and her "cookie" choice challenged me in big ways. 

I think Greg planted the "alphabet-shaped" pancake idea when Allison requested pancakes a couple years ago and he made one in the shape of an A for her. This year she asked for all of them in alphabet shapes. Greg is the pancake maker of the family. I can count on one hand (seriously, one hand) how many times I've made pancakes in my entire life. How many times have I made alphabet-shaped pancakes, you ask? That answer would be ZERO. Greg would have been more than happy to make the pancakes, but he has been out of town for the past two weeks and returned home right as Cookie Baking Night was starting. So, I was on my own for this adventure. 

Let the record show: Each family member in attendance had the first letter of their first name represented in pancake form (Allison, Abigail, Enzo, Greg, Katrina, Larry, Rylar). Should you ever need to do this yourself, a squeeze bottle will do the job quite nicely.

As it turns out, Abigail is a huge fan of pancakes smothered in whipped cream (no syrup required). She had a whipped-cream mustache through all of supper time. 

We actually started making the Strawberry-Rhubarb Upside Down cake before we ate supper tonight as it needed an hour to bake. This recipe was also a first for me. Apparently, Allison had this cake at a gathering one time and knew instantly it would be her Cookie Baking Night birthday choice. How many times have we made a cake at Cookie Baking Night you ask? Well, the answer to that question would also be ZERO. They take a long time to bake. How many times have I made a Strawberry-Rhubarb Upside Down Cake, you say? You guessed it. ZERO. 

The ingredients were easy for us to come by. We're big strawberry eaters around here. Rarely will you find our refrigerator without strawberries in it. And we grow rhubarb in the backyard. We had a somewhat rainy summer this year (especially in the beginning), which makes for a plentiful rhubarb crop. 

I have to say, the cake turned out really well. I will add this to my recipe rotation. Always looking for another way to use up that rhubarb. The kids really liked it. 

Here's a link to the recipe we used if anyone else is interested in it. Strawberry-Rhubarb Upside Down Cake. 

We ended the evening with a walk to the local gas station for an ice cream/candy treat. 

Another Cookie Baking Night, another birthday choice has come and gone. And, as usual, a fun time was had by all. 

Cookie Baking Night (08/08/22)

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Carissa, Allison, Rylar, Enzo, and Abigail. Tonight was Enzo's birthday choice. He'll be 9 years old in just a couple days. For supper, he chose cheese pizza, strawberries, and apples. For his cookie, he chose M&M cookies. 

Hmm. Some nights are harder than others for all of us. We just love each other through it. I'm usually behind the camera, so very few pictures of my melt downs have been captured in a photo, but they pretty much look the same on everyone and the same love and support is given to all.

Since it was Enzo's birthday choice tonight he got to chose the game we played too. He chose Mickey Mouse Uno. 

At the end of the evening, we took a walk to the local gas station for an ice cream treat. 

Awwww. 

We ended the evening by rolling down the hill in the backyard. We don't have a swing set in our backyard or even anything remotely kid centric, But we have two decent-sized hills, which seem to be very attractive to the nieces and nephews. I'm sure someday when they're grown, they'll walk out in that yard and say, "Did those hills used to be bigger?" And they'll be surprised it provided them with so much entertainment for so long. 

As usual, a fun time was had by all (most of the time).