(Not so) Easy Bake

Jasper got an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas from her Grandparents. Do you remember those? I always wanted one when I was younger. They looked so fun, the cakes and cookies looked so tasty and the process seemed so easy.

You just add the mix (yellow cake mix shown) and water and away you stir.

Cute little things, aren't they? I mean the oven,.. although the girl is pretty cute, too. Did you know the heating unit is just a 100 watt light bulb? Weird, huh?

So, this is the part that becomes not so easy... scooping the batter into the tiny, hard to manipulate tin pan.

Believe it or not, this mess is my fault and not the 6 year old's.
I was trying to help her scoop with the dinky little baking utensils they give you, when the batter stuck to the scoop and the pan was about to tip over, I made a grab for it but dropped the mixing bowl in the process.
Right on top of the tin pan.
Which jumped up into the air.
Splattering Jasper before ending upside down on the floor...

where it left the majority of the batter.

Certainly, not enough left to make a cake out of. So much for easy baking! So, we tried again using Sugar Cookie mix this time.

Successfully mixed and formed into cookies before baking.

Too bad they STILL didn't turn out right. They spread into one big cookie blob. Which I cut into pie shapes so she could frost them.

Not a TOTAL disaster, but they didn't taste very good. Especially compared to the Sugar Cookies I made right before Christmas. Now, they were go-oood.

(You can find the recipe here)

This girl was a happy baker anyway.

As for me, I think I will stick to my non-cute, big old oven.

Christmas time for the Kittles

Christmas Eve is always my favorite of Holiday 'days'. I'm not sure why... the excitement of the day is palpable, I guess. We usually do some last minute things and then catch a movie as a family. The evening is always reserved for dinner and present opening at my Parent's house, which is a lot of fun.

This year...

We were lucky enough to find Santa at our local restaurant. He was very kind and we all thought it was really neat. All except Aram, of course. He just wanted Santa to go away. Even after getting a candy cane from him, Aram was still not going near him. Santa tried for quite a while to persuade him, too. Ah well, I would say maybe next year but I can't imagine this childs personality changing enough for that.



Later, we went to our 1st ever 3D show. Avatar. Loved the movie. Awesome colors and CG. HATED the 3D. Major headache. Just my opinion... :)

Grammie and Papa always go overboard and buy the kids really cool presents. It was a fun evening watching all the kids' excitement

Aric enjoying Angie's homemade Strawberry (virgin) Daiquiris.

Papa with a big smile on his face! Love it!

See, children's' excitement is contagious!

Christmas morning in the Kittle household also, didn't disappoint. Aram got tons of Geotrax, which he may not 'get' yet as he just wants to dismantle the tracks and pick up the cars rather than watch them. He loved his Sissy's present and torments her by his need to play with it...

Jasper got a Polly Pocket Mini wheels Rollercoaster. So much fun! So many battles to fight to keep Aram away from it!

Today the Christmas tree came down in order to make room for all the new presents, so we say 'Goodbye Christmas tree,.. you will not be forgotten... just ignored for another 11 months!'