The Yellow Stool

I have a new favorite breakfast. Not the healthiest breakfast, mind you, but a fun one for the occasional weekend fare. Peanut Butter Pancakes with chocolate chips in them. YUM! I just make regular pancake batter and then heat up about a cup of peanut butter to thin it out a bit and add it and the chocolate chips to the mix. (I do have to set aside a bit of batter to make Jeff regular pancakes. He's not so big on the sweet stuff. He loves to snack on fruit for something sweet. Really.)

So, my girls were helping me out this morning. I'm a big fan of cooking with your kids. Yes, it takes twice as long. Yes, it's twice as messy. And yes, it is twice as stressful and trying on your patience. But it nevertheless is a Kerr family favorite activity.

It's so meaningful for me to cook with my kids, because I learned to cook with both of my grandmothers. I still can't make a pumpkin pie without mixing it by hand in a big plastic bowl just like my Grandma did. It just doesn't seem right to do it any other way. Both my Grandmas had one of those old fashioned vinyl stools that you can fold up the seat and it becomes a stepping stool. I would drag the stool across the kitchen and pull it up to the counter and watch them make homemade bread, or noodles, or cookies or whatever. What great memories!

Not only did they pass on a really handy skill (for I do a bit of cooking for these six hungry mouths in my charge!) but it was a wonderful time of connecting and spending quality time with these incredible women. We would chat about what was going on in my life. They would tell me stories about cooking with their mothers and grandmothers. It was in those sweet moments that their strength and character was woven into my heart and mind. I'm so thankful they took the time to let me cook with them.

So, a couple of years ago I came across a yellow vinyl stool at a flea market just like the ones my Grandmothers had and I snatched it up. Now, my kids drag the stool across the kitchen and pull it up to the counter and we cook and chat. I hope that the lessons I learned from my Grandmas are being infused into my sweet children too.