I have mixed feelings about days that Ellie and Ethan are
both off school. Yes, it’s really special to get to have fun with them outside
of our normal routine. However, if we don’t have anything to do with our day,
then it will inevitably turn into crying, yelling, complaining, and
bellyaching. Oddly enough, even if I do have something planned, the aforementioned
crying, yelling, complaining, and bellyaching will likely occur. In other
words, there’s no way to avoid said crying, yelling, complaining, and
bellyaching so I might as well just have fun in spite of that.
With Ellie being off school on Friday and next Monday due to
parent-teacher conferences being held this week, it was only fitting that we do
something fun and out of the ordinary. When I asked her what she would like to
do with her days off, her initial request was to go to the zoo and see the new
aquarium. While I’m always up for a zoo trip, the chilly temperatures and
overcast conditions on Friday made that prospect seem like it wouldn’t be as
much fun and that Monday might be a better choice. Therefore, I asked her if
she had a backup option. After putting in a little thought, Ellie decided it
was the perfect day to go eat breakfast at Kate’s Kitchen.
Once Bethany left for work on Friday, the kids and I waited
around home until about 9:00 when we decided it was the perfect time to go eat
breakfast. When we arrived at Kate’s, it took a few minutes for us to be
ushered to our table which ironically, was the exact same booth we sat in the
last time we went to Kate’s. My hope with this visit to Kate’s was that I might
be able to order one meal for the kids to share off the adult menu. However,
Ellie wasn’t having any part of that as she desperately wanted the Kids Waffle meal
mostly due to the presence of the whipped cream and berries that adorns it. Since
I’m a pushover, of course I gave in and let both Ellie and Ethan order their
beloved waffles off the kids’ menu. No worries since we don’t eat out much anyway.
Once we finished our meal, it was time to head home where we
would spend most of the day since we are currently having the exterior of our
home painted. Of course, I did have one more activity planned to help the day
go by quicker. Ellie and I used to have a weekly tradition in our house of “Baking
Friday”. That’s largely gone to the wayside in the last year or so due to
busyness and the kids being at school. However, during my last shopping trip, I
had picked up the ingredients for one of the kids’ favorite desserts, “Beach
Cake”. It’s basically dirt cake only with vanilla pudding and graham crackers
but still tasty.
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| Proof that our house is indeed being painted. |
The first step was to let the kids take turns chopping up
graham crackers in the food processor. Then, I gave each kid a large mixing
bowl, a whisk, a box of pudding, and two cups of milk and stood back and
watched as they each mixed up their supply of pudding. Then, with that, we put
the pudding in the refrigerator to harden for a few minutes before we could
finish our dessert. Once the pudding was hardened, it was time to assemble. We
first added a graham cracker base to our dish before dumping the first bowl of
pudding over the top of it. Ethan then carefully spread the pudding out over
the graham crackers before we added another layer of crackers, complete with
stray gummy worms for added delight. Then, Ellie took a turn emptying her bowl
of pudding over our dessert before we finally topped with the remainder of the
graham cracker crumbs and put it in the refrigerator where it would sit until
dinner time.
Even though “Beach Cake” isn’t one of the most difficult
recipes to make, it certainly helped fill the day for us. Not only that but it
reminded me of how much fun it can be to create things with the kids in the
kitchen. Also, it most definitely provided us with a tasty treat for after
dinner.
#DaddyWrite
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