Memory Box

Last week Shira created a memory box for herself. Into this box she puts items that are associated with good memories and cards on which she writes about good things that happen in her life.

I think it is a great idea. She's a sentimental child and it is difficult for me, the great unsentimental mother, to do things with her that are full of sentimentality. I think she's realized that she's on her own on this endeavor so she's taken things into her own hands.

She's just told me that she created two great new memory cards for her memory box. The first one was about the carnival and the second was about our baking lesson.

This afternoon, while Ben was watching "the Little Shop of Horrors" or as he calls it, "The Little Shop of Terrors", I gave Shira a baking lesson.

She baked Gluten free vanilla cupcakes from Elana's Pantry. This was an experiment as this was the first time I've ever baked with coconut flour. (I rather like them, though next time we make them we'll halve the agave nectar as they were very sweet.)

Shira did so well, she made the cupcakes entirely on her own, I just stood around supervising. She took all the ingredients out of the cupboard, measured them, and even did the oven. Afterwards she washed everything and put it all away. My baby is growing up.

Next she made a loaf of gluten free bread from Gluten Free Mommy's blog. We just had to try it because it has received so many reviews on so many gluten free blogs. Since my Kitchen Aid stand mixer is in the shop, we made it in the bread machine.

Gluten free baking is a huge pain, this bread uses 7 different flours. That's good in a way because Shira got a good workout in measuring exact amounts in different quantities.

The bread is in the machine as we speak. I truly hope it is as good as all the reviews say it is. We haven't had a good loaf of bread since we went gf.

My goal was to have both kids making one meal a week by the time they turned 7, but that last 3 months of their 7th year were all topsy turvy and I didn't get to spend time teaching them to cook.

I have promised both kids that I'll spend the summer teaching them to cook and bake. You'd think I'd promised them the earth, moon and stars, they were that happy.