Let the Circling Begin!

Chol ha moed we went to the Grove and visited the American Girl Store. The girls brought home two cataloques each and began determining which items they needed. 

Now the catalogues have started arriving in the mail. 

Each day the girls find now stuff they need. Even better? They find toys that their toys need. Baby Batya really wants a brother. Tahlia needs a horse...or three.

I have fond memories of circling items from every page of the JC Penny and Sears cataloques' toy sections when I was little so I'm okay with it despite it getting rather annoying.

I was worried about them getting their hopes up that everything would arrive in-house, but Shira put my mind at ease.

"That's okay. I have money in my piggy bank. I can buy Little Shira's wagon with that."

Baking with Batya

One of the things a lot of people have a hard time understanding is that multiples are not copies of each other. Each of the girls has a very distinct personality, interests, skills and abilities. Friday was another example of this.

As I prepare for Shabbat, the girls usually wander in and out of the kitchen looking for food, conversation and wondering what I am doing. Occassionally they will ask to help. Slowly Batya has become more interested in what I'm making and how I'm doing it. Last Friday she took the step.

"I want to help."

So we made Hamin. She chose what type of beans we used (white), how many potatoes (more), if we chopped the onion or left it whole (yuck!), how we cut the sweet potato (big) and how much of each spice we put it. Then she wrapped it up and turned on the crock pot.

I had already made most of the meal so there were just a few decisions left. Rice or couscous? Couscous. Meatballs or sausages? Sausage. Egg salad or deviled eggs? "Debilled." Then came the big question. What to make for dessert and breakfast?

We finally decided on banana bread with soft butter for breakfast (recipe coming soon) and cobblers for dessert. We couldn't decide which fruit from the freezer stash to use so we made one with Queen Anne cherries and one with mixed berries. We made the biscuit dough and assembled the berry cobbler together and then her sisters wandered in to see what we were doing so Batya got to instruct them on proper cobbler biscuit shaping and assembly.

That evening she helped put salads into serving dishes, set the table and chose which cobbler to serve. She shared her new skills with Aba who asked, "What did you make, Shira?" "Nothing. I watched She-Ra instead."