My older children rock the kitchen. One of the ways that I've gotten so much baking accomplished this year is that they've been willing to shape and bake the cookies that I've mixed up. Sometimes (like for last night's soccer party) I just hand one of them a recipe (in this case the TQ whipped up a pumpkin cake) and let them rip!

My little guy SO wants to get in on the sous chef act. He reacts to my starting up the Kitchen Aid much like a cat does when it hears the can opener...."I help! I see! I smell cookies!".

We had our new friends E and her son K over this week to make some cookies. The littles did "splatter paint" icing on molasses cookies. They looked very arty and our helpers were so proud of themselves.

On Friday, I started up batches of Grandma's M&M cookies. My little helper was again at my side, so I decided to forgo perfection for a fun memory, and let him "decorate" by placing the candies on the tops of the cookies.

He took his role as pastry chef very seriously. We even practiced counting as the candies went on the cookies. He was more than a little sad when the job was done, but a little sample of the fruit of his labor went a long way towards cheering him up.