Sometimes it all just works

We had an abundance of zucchini on the verge of going bad in the fridge.  Cook's Illustrated had a delicious and healthier recipe for zucchini bread in this month's issue.  It's too hot to play outside in the afternoon and I'm trying not to let our entire repertoire of summer activities involve Netflix.  The obvious answer is to do some baking with the kids.  

But with a new baby in the house, I never feel like I can do anything big or time sensitive without another adult around for backup, in case he gets fussy and I need to cut short what I'm doing.  Occasionally, though, I throw caution to the wind, and with all the signs pointing towards "bake the damn zucchini bread", we did.  

And it worked.  The big kids shared measuring duties without arguing and Max sat contentedly in a bouncy seat watching us.  The zucchini bread was delicious (especially since Ella and Dash convinced me to add chocolate chips). It definitely doesn't always all work out so smoothly, but it's sure nice when it does.

Nursery toys

I am constantly amazed at how much time Ella and Dash spend playing in Max's nursery with the baby toys.  They often come in to be with me while I feed Max but then stay much much longer playing elaborate games with the pretty simple toys.