The hubs and I were contemplating eating out last night just for fun. No rush. No where to be. No logical reason we needed to grab food and run. Just time to hang out as a family out.

We quickly changed our minds when we realized how filthy our kids where after playing outside for the afternoon. They were in desperate need of some down time, tick removal, intense baths, allergy medicine and early bed time. We stripped them down to diapers and panties for a relaxing dinner and then decided to make some dessert.

Chocolate chip cookies are easy enough...right?!?

We made the fancy dancy homemade recipe off the back of the chocolate chip bag.

The girls helped me gather their steps and the ingredients. Toting heavy containers back and forth from the pantry. Racing one another to be the one who carried the most to the counter. Halted by the fact that heaving it up to the counter top was a chore in itself.

Izzie's job was to mixed all the dry stuff. I imagined this to be the less messy of the elements. I gave her an over-sized bowl in an attempt to {ahem} keep all the contents in place.

Maggie was in charge of the 'liquid' part. {I forgot we had run out of stick butter and forgot the importance of using stick rather than tub...you'll see}. She loves counting the scoops of sugar, butter, and being allowed to do the EGGS all by herself.
*I use the 1/4 cup scoop to measure everything when cooking/baking with them for a couple reasons:

1. it's smaller and fits into the containers easier
2. since it's smaller it is also easier for them to handle/balance
3. they get to scoop more {seemingly}

We has a few slight mishaps but TONS of fun:

Izzie's stirring got a little out of hand, duh, she's 2. It covered the counter, steps, chair, feet, aprons, Hats, hair, and faces. The poor baby tried to clean up her own mess by scooping it off the counter. Into Her Mouth! Yep, Squatted mouth level to the counter, scooping the powder {combination of flour, baking soda, and salt} straight into that tiny mouth. Her eyelashes were covered {goopy allergy filled eye lashes}.

Maggie missed the mixing bowl with her egg. She carried them successfully to the counter. Cracked them beautifully. And then pulled that bad boy open, gave it a little shack and pulled it out of the mixing bowl about a millisecond too soon. She quickly shot her eyes to me. I laughed hysterically. She began to laugh and said, "Oops!" We scooped the puddle of egg as well as the remainder of Izzie's powder off the counter and plopped it into the bowl. Gross!

The entire corner of the kitchen was Covered in...cookie parts. I'm sure Matt thought we were nuts cackling and squealing all while he was on the phone with a long lost friend.

The giggling continued as I let them taste the batter {I know, I know...raw egg. I didn't die as a kid and they haven't...yet ;O)}

When I started scooping {I use that turn loosely} the cookie dough {also used loosely} onto the pans I remembered why you are supposed to use stick butter. It was a runny mess. Oh well, the girls didn't seem to mind as they used their itsy bitsy fingers to catch the drizzle as it quickly fell from the beater.

Cleaning up was almost as much fun. We shook each others hats and aprons free of the ingredient debris. Each girl had a washcloth and began quickly sloping the aftermath onto the floor. We continued by scrubbing down the chair and steps before they headed off for their bath while our dessert baked.

With those adorable aprons and chief hats make make their sweethearts look like professionals but these cookies prove that they {and their mamma} are still way less than professional.

Although, their little brother didn't notice anything amiss with the cookies.

Stay tuned to see how we tried to 'fix' these cookie! What do you do when your baking turns out 'less than professional'?