Pie and Art

This is our friend, Rachel.  She is the kind of friend who shows up and just becomes a part of things.  If you're washing dishes, she grabs a towel.  If you are tending to one kid, she tends to another.  If you are laying on the couch watching movies about Galileo, she pulls a kid on her lap and watches too.  She also teaches art!

 On one of the busiest days of our year, she painted with the children for several hours while I baked pies.  One day I will be better at delegating in the kitchen and the kids will be more a part of the baking, but I am not that mature yet.  I still micro-manage and obsess over waste and mess.

On a side note: I used to (and by "used to" I mean until about 10 minutes ago when I really thought about it) feel such guilt over not baking with my children more.  Good mothers bake with their children.  It's in all the books and blogs.  If they are going to be well rounded and if you call yourself a home schooling mother...  Well, I don't remember baking with my mother much at all.  In fact, we mostly fought in the kitchen when I was older because I didn't like being told what to do (I know, hard to imagine.).  She taught me to follow the instructions on the Nestles Tollhouse package when I was about 10 and I solo baked about 10 thousand dozen chocolate chip cookies over the years.

The result: I love, LOVE to cook and bake.  Love it!  So, I will relinquish my fears of ruining my children because I do not bake with them enough.  Who knows, maybe I will hit a maturing streak and we'll be baking up a storm come next year.  In the meantime, I will try to do other things well.

Anyway, after painting with them all day, Rachel helped make our annual Pie Stop By happen.  I could not have finished without her.  Greta helped her make pie labels.

 Our neighbor Lili has come over the past two years to help me make her favorite pie.  She now makes it every time her family gets together for holidays.

 One of my favorite pies on one of my favorite nights of the year.  Sliced sweet potato.

We didn't get any pictures of our guests this year.  The house was packed with the regulars and some new faces as well.  Looking forward already to next fall.