Stick Me With A Fork, I'm DONE!

So, yesterday was our annual cookie baking day. We made chocolate dipped pretzel rods, Ritz crackers spread with peanut butter and sandwiched together-then dipped in chocolate (one can't have too much chocolate in my book) and pumpkin cookies with caramel frosting. All of this mess-making, dough tasting, finger-licking (yes the kids were there) was done so we could have a variety of goodies to take to a cookie exchange. Now, we have a million and one cookies and sweet things sitting on the counter...and I have no desire to eat them! (that's a first!)

The day was actually pretty embarrassing for me....my Mom came over to bake with me and the kids. The kids were, well, kids. And if you've ever seen my kids in action, it's not always pretty. After finishing up the baking and spraying down the kitchen to remove the flour, melted chocolate and sprinkles from every crevice, I made the suggestion that we go out to eat. (um, okay, WHAT was I thinking?) I was too tired to make lunch and mess up the kitchen again. So, we drove off to a near by Wendy's. Before we got out of the car to go in, I gave my normal warning to the kids about not throwing food and not humiliating us in public. (it never works, but I still do it..I guess just to make myself feel better) All seven of us sat at three different tables. Everyone wanted to sit by Nana, so I had to make the decision to let Gracie sit with her, because I know that she can scream the loudest when she gets offended...and I knew we'd all hear from her that "Only boys sit with boys, and girls sit with girls". Once we got our food and 'got settled', things weren't too bad. Except for the fact that Gracie spilled three-quarters of her chocolate milk all over the table,and she ripped off the plug on the bottom of the salt shaker and dumped mountains of salt all over. And of course, she only licked her hamburger and then proceeded to tell Nana she was 'full', so could she have her frosty now?

After we finished lunch and ushered everyone back into the van, we headed over to the cookie exchange. As soon as we arrived there, the kids (all of them) shot upstairs and they were actually pretty good...except for the occasional toy being launched over the railing and into the living room. Mom and I had a nice time eating, talking and going around and around the cookie table until all the cookies were gone. When it was time to go, I went up to the toy room to survey the damage...it was pretty bad. I cleaned up the best as I could, muttered my sincerest apologies to the hostess,and loaded everyone back up in the van for the trudge home. Sam refused to put his coat on yelling "Me NO wanna coat on"! even though it was only 19* outside. So, he cried all the way home about how cold he was.

I sure hope my Mom is still speaking to me after all of this! (love you Mom :)