This is such a sweet post..I cannot believe how much she has grown..She's a beauty..
Poor little arm..

I agree w/ you..after a long time w/ them..It's hard to part w/ them:)
WE have a sleepover next week.

Adorable! Looks like she had a great time, and I am sure you did too!

Such a wonderful time you two had! And as usual everything looks delicious. I'm so glad you had the opportunity to bake together.

Bri

What a sweetie, and what a SMART sweetie! I love to see little kids involved in that kind of activity with parents and grandparents. They are capable of so much more than they are usually given credit for. Why hold them back? But, realistically, age four is too young for her to have her own bread machine. Wait until she is five.

Jim

Skip the Easy Bake...she's way beyond that!

Wonderful post, I can't wait to see the Christmas Cookies this year.

Nancy

Great series of photos Annie. Makayla is so lucky to have such a wonderful grand...oops, I mean Um..ma.

She's getting to look more and more like Amanda too. So cute!

SharonCb

What a cute granddaughter you have, Annie! She sure is an industrious little girl; takes after her grandmother, maybe?

What a cutie-pie! I loved that whole sequence of photos and the descriptions of your time together. Oh to have a granddaughter who loves Cinderella and Princesses! Enjoy, enjoy enjoy, someday she'll be telling perfect strangers (like us) that she learned to bake at her grandma's knee!
E

Very nice pictures! I can't think of a better way for a grandmother and granddaughter to share time together than the way you described your weekend! Looks like a fun time. I guess we're seeing the future of this forum right before our eyes... she already loves the kitchen appliances!

thanks, this thread made my day.

I miss those little girl days. Alice was a lot like Monkey Princess, she LOVED being in the kitchen making goodies! What fun for you.

She is so precious,and you are the world's best grandma. I want to come to your house and bake! She is so lucky to have such a patient caring grandmother who is such a fabulous cook! You are giving her wonderful memories that will last a life time. More valuable than any gift you could purchase! Way to go!

Shelley

How beautiful she is! She looks like a carbon copy of Amanda. LOL re: I have to have a bread machine.

How did she break her arm? And DID she break any eggs one-handed? I'm terrible at that and never try it anymore...

What a great weekend!

~Amanda

Annie, those are great pictures, especially Makayla standing on the chair. What a wonderful reminder that children can start cooking and baking very young.

I know how much you treasure memories of your grandmother's cooking and canning. Just think - now you're passing on that same precious memory to a new generation.

Carol

Oh Annie, I just loved reading your post. There is nothing more special than a Grandma and Granddaughter relationship.

Makayla is a real little beauty. Looking more and more like her mother.

Ann

Annie! This is a fantastic post! I loved every minute of it. Wow, Makayla is really growing up and she's a DOLL! Cute! You guys made some great treats and it sounds like a perfect weekend! Thanks for sharing.

J.

She is so beautiful!!

I can't wait until my Lily is old enough to cook with Grammy.

Thank you, everyone. Of course I think she's the most beautiful and brilliant child I know, but I'm a bit biased. (grin) She does remind me so much of Amanda when she was small.

Nancy, she's already told me that "when I'm done" with that red mixer, she'd take it. Of course, she also tells me that when I build a house out on the farm by her she'll spend the night "every night". Then we can just share.

Monique, have fun with your sleepover too, I hope you have as much fun as I did.

I do think Jim is right, she needs to be at least FIVE before she gets her own breadmaker. Of course, she'll be five in November....

Amanda, she broke her arm on the slide. She wasn't sliding, she was swinging on the crossbar like the Monkey Princess she is and fell hard. We'd told her not to do it about a zillion times, we were all afraid she'd fall and whack her head against the base of the slide. She did fall, but she hit her arm, right above the elbow. It was a clean break, fortunately, and missed the elbow joint. Hopefully she'll get the cast off this Thursday.

She managed to crack the eggs but eventually gave up and let me pull open the shells and drop the eggs into the bowl. Her little hands are just too small to do that one handed.

Jayne, I'm glad to see you here, I've missed you.

I hope you all are right. I hope that some day she'll remember that she learned to cook with me while she was still so small she had to stand on a chair. One of my first cooking memories is of standing on a kitchen chair helping Grandma peel tomatoes for canning. She never had a very cool breadmaker or a red mixer though, LOL.

So, do you think I should let Bruvver come and cook with me next? He's wanting to, mostly because he loves to eat! I told him he could stay with me when he was potty trained, LOL, but Elery says we'll take him overnight one of these weekends while Elery is here to help me occupy him. He tends to even tire me out! Maybe Bobby could come up and help me? (grin)

Oh, and Geraldo, welcome to the Cooking Forum, where we start 'em young. LOL

Annie

The Monkey Princess has grown!! But only increased in beauty!!
If she's half as smart as she is pretty, she'll have the world by the tail....and you can tell her I said that!!
What a lucky grandma you are!!
Linda C

Those are such great pictures of what sounds like a wonderful time. Wow, I remember when she wasn't even around. Wait, does that sound right? How could I remember something that hadn't happened yet? You know what I'm saying...

What a great story, Annie! The Monkey Princess is getting to be such a lovely little lady. I can't wait to have a granddaughter to spoil, er, teach stuff :-)

I loved your pics Annie! Makayla is getting more and more grown up looking every day. I agree that the best way to instill a love of home cooking and baking is to just get in there with 'em and do it! She has taken to it like a fish to water. This is in large part because of your patience and enthusiasm. I have lots of happy memories of cooking and baking with my grandma as well. The Frisan bread is calling my name, and I do have sugar cubes.......

Happy Saturday!
DONNA

Oh my gosh. Those pictures are just precious!

What wonderful memories she'll have about her grandma! That is so nice!

Annie, that is so sweet. She is a little doll. I am glad you start her baking at an early age. I do the same with my little people. The two oldest (18 & 17) made homemade sticky cinnamon rolls when they were 5. The 14 year old had no desire to bake, and the 10 year old wants to bake with me all the time. And she has. She has made yeast breads, cookies, cakes, pies. And she loves it.
Your little baby doll is just so cute. She looks very comfortable in the kitchen. Way to go, Annie. Bring 'em up right.

Thanks for sharing those pics! Wonderful beyond words. There are some lucky CF grandkids out there in this world! I has two good cook grandmas too, that's where I picked up the bug. Those great old gals are always with me, and I know your grandma is with you too. That's the way to keep the good things going, right!
:)

Yes, Diana, I know what you mean. Isn't that kind of scary, I actually understood? LOL.

Yes, Linda, I AM a lucky woman. I still believe whoever said that grandchildren are God's reward for not killing our kids when they were teenagers. (grin)

Colleen, be patient. And talk to your daughter! :-)

Donna, that Frisan bread is very good, it's sweet and has a tablespoon full of good Penzey's cinnamon (which Makayla has already decided is "better" than Mom's grocery store stuff, and she's right, it is). It'd make awesome french toast, I think.

Sherry, it feels natural to bake with the kids, doesn't it? We love it so we want tos hare what we love. Amanda likes to cook, Ashley has no interest at all. Makayla loves to bake, Bruvver mostly loves to eat. Maybe it's all in the personality?

L, you are right, Grandma is with me in the kitchen always. Sometimes I feel that "don't forget" tap on my shoulder and sometimes it's the "what in the world are you thinking, girl?" smack in the back of the head. LOL I deserve them both, usually! I do wish Makayla would have had the chance to bake bread with her Great-Great-Grandma, though, my mother doesn't much care for cooking or baking.

Annie

Oh man, when did your little MP break her arm? I guess I missed that post too.

Thanks for sharing your day with us. She sure is a cutie and she will remember these baking/cooking days with Grandma forever. I know I do.

David

You are one lucky lady, Annie. She is just beautiful and talented. I am sure she will remember this special time when she is older.

Linda

Very cute.

My two cents is you should start an album of 'Cooking with Umma'. Get some of those digital pictures printed with recipes, and a simple three ring binder will make a tidy keepsake. Make sure YOU are in some of the photos. Of course I bet you could get Sherry to make you a beautiful scrapbook.....

I did a lot of baking with my mom while growing up and whenever I smell vanilla extract, I'm reminded of those times.

Oh, Annie....will you be MY grandma?

What fun for her to spend such quality time with you. She sure is growing up fast, and getting more beautiful every picture you post!

Love the sprinkles on the cupcakes. too! Precious memories for both of you, I'm sure!

Linda

What a wonderful experience for you both! She will treasure the memory (and you) forever!

Alexa

What a cutie she is! She did a great job on those cupcakes too.

My DD and I are not allowed to go to the kitchen without Katie. She wants to do all of the cooking. We made cookies when she was here the last two times. She had never broken an egg before and wanted to do it, so she cracked it and held it over the batter and the egg and the whole shell both went in. You should have seen her little face.

Beverly

What precious pictures. You are one lucky grandma. Do make that scrap book for Makayla. What a keepsake that will be when she is a grandma herself.

I have a tea set just like yours. Ive had it since I was a little girl. I had tea parties with my grandma using it as well as my mother and my DD when she was little. I only have one DGS so it will not get used again unless he someday has a DD. I hope to still be around to see it played with again.

Claudia

Claudia, that tea set was my Grandma's. It was given to her by my Aunt Yoshiko, who brought it with her from Japan when she married my Uncle Charles.

She was a young "war bride" and very homesick, Grandma decided that she needed to be taken care of and so they became close. Aunt Yoshiko decided to be called Amy, and she gave the tea set to Grandma, telling her it should always go to the oldest girl. My mother got it from Grandma, handed it down to me, I gave it to Amanda and now it's Makayla's. All these generations, already, using Aunt Amy's tea set!

Annie

Annie..

Im pretty sure my teas set was my mothers. It was made in Japan. DGS broke a cup when he was little but I found one in an antique shop. DH made a little hutch for it and now its in my doll cabinet along with a salesmans sample cook stove that was my grandmothers. I still have the little cast iron pans. DGS loved playing with them until he discovered hot wheels. LOL

Claudia

What a wonderful post Annie. Thanks for sharing. I loved your narrative with the pics. Smiles. Those princess sprinkles cracked me up. My great nieces are being raised by their GM, My DW's sister. For the past few years they have been coming here from New Orleans for Thanksgiving and both enjoy the cooking and baking alot, especially the older one. This past year they couldn't make it up and one night the older one was crying to her GM that " I don't know how Aunt Coke will be able to make Thanksgiving dinner with out me there to help". LOL.. the poor thing.

What a darling, wonderful post! Thank you so much for sharing this! She did a beautiful job and I just know she loves LOVES *L*O*V*E*S* her time with grandma!

Smiles,
Sooz

Hooray for the MP! High five to umma for being such a great umma.

: )
lyra

Oh Annie, She is almost 5 years old??? ~sigh~

Makayla is such a beautiful child. I agree she is looking like Amanda more and more as time goes on.

Thanks for sharing your fun filled day.

Gosh Annie, almost 5?-- doesn't seem possible-- memories in the making for sure-- thanks for sharing .

You're not spoiling her or anything, are you? Well, if giving love and attention and lessons for life is spoiling, then spoiling is a good - no, great thing!

I broke my wrist when I was 5 during recess at kindergarten, falling from the hand-over-hand bars. There must be something about being 5 years old that makes us daredevils!

I'm with Linda - can you be my Grandma too?

Sally

How cute. My 4 yr. old DGS loves to make cupcakes, well actually he likes to frost them. I think Makayla is a little more sanitary than he is. He thinks nothing of licking the icing spatula while frosting the cupcakes!

Makayla is a beautiful little girl! Grandchildren are so much fun aren't they.

I
AM
SO
JEALOUS
!

Makayla gets prettier by the day!

Yes, Bruvver needs to learn too. Ya don't wanna send him into the world 'dependent' on someone to cook for him now do ya? Of course, he does have a little time....

Annie, you're a good Umma! They will cherish these times forever!

Deanna (twiddling my thumbs till I have grandkids, yeah, I want MY kids to finish college, but darn it! I wanna play!)

coconut, how WILL Aunt Coke be able to cook Thanksgiving dinner without help? It won't be the same, you know. Poor Aunt Coke...

Diane and RR, she will indeed be five in November. I know, it's hard to believe. Sigh. I'm going to cry when she gets on that bus for Kindergarten.....

Deanna, just borrow some young mother's small children! I borrowed nieces and nephews and neighbors until I got Makayla and Bud. (grin Yes, Bruvver does need to learn. First, though, he needs to learn to use the potty. (grin)

Sally, Linda, sure I'll be your Grandmother. LOLOLOL. The age thing might be a bit difficult to explain, but the cupcakes will make it all worthwhile, I'm sure.

Jessica, the scrapbook is a good idea, I'll have to remember that. She could have her own cookbook with her favorite recipes, she'd like that.

Annie

Oh Annie she is so sweet! What a great time you must have had. I can't believe she will be 5 and going off to school....it all goes by way too quickly!