Explore 2019: Peace + Therapy Via Baking

This morning with Violet was really hard. I'm not sure what was going on but she was alternately OK and grouchy/sensitive/melting down and quite frankly, I didn't have a ton of patience for it. I spoke sharply to her and she burst into tears and I apologized. I know it's not fair to expect this of my kids, but when I'm coming off a crazy work week I want weekends to be happy and relaxed.

We're seeing friends tonight and were charged with bringing dessert. Normally iced cookies feel like a special occasion project but then I was thinking of how tactile, focused projects like this are really good for Vi. She just seems to go into the zone and chill out. So I took a deep breath and we rolled up our sleeves and got going.

Three hours of baking + piping later (seriously, she just sat and quietly piped!), different kid. And honestly, it was a good cool out period for me, too.

Also, piping cookies is really, really humbling! I consider myself a pretty good baker and decorator but after you see something like Hayleycakes And Cookies in person you sort of start imagining you can pipe in brush lettering (OK, maybe not that!).