Out Of Energy...Full Of Cookies

It's official. This pregnant woman has run out of steam. With the girls I prided myself on being, well, myself right up to the day of their deliveries but this time I'm just done. The power is gone. This energizer bunny isn't gonna whack that bass drum anymore. Over. Kaput. Fini.

I seem to be able to manage to do one 'thing' per day. Any more than that and I end up crabby and sleepy and achy. If I can sneak a power nap into the day I can do two 'things' before my mood crashes. The number of activities that fall into the category of 'exhausting thing' gets broader and broader as the days go by too. A couple of weeks ago the sort of thing that would do me in would be an afternoon of shopping at the big mall 25 minutes drive away. Last week, a trip to the grocery store was enough for a day. This week, getting the kids assembled and off to school in the morning leaves me huddled on the end of the couch, moaning softly and eventually falling asleep with my mouth dangling open and drool falling onto the cat. I must have a sadistic streak because yesterday I did so much that I'm amazed that I'm upright today.

On Wednesday night I was sitting having dinner with the girls when my brain heard my mouth say "Hey kids! I have an idea". My brain, which admittedly has been failing me a lot lately, started muttering "Watch out. Nothing too major now. Zip it. Kids remember things. Be smart! Shuuuuuuut uppppp". And then my mouth did it. It went and said "Let's make Easter cookies tomorrow! Won't that be fun?". At that point my brain got huffy and shut off altoghter and let my mouth prattle on about cookie cutters and icing and dough and Easter and how much FUN we were gonna have. Dumb mouth.

So yesterday morning I got up and resigned myself to my fate. I was going to have to make sugar cookie cutouts with the girls and I was going to have to try to remain calm and patient throughout the whole extravaganza. I could do it...later...maybe after lunch.

Then the phone rang and my good friend asked if I wanted to join her on her kid's shoe shopping mission. Before my brain could even react, my mouth said "sounds good!" and within the hour I was crouched down in the kids section of Payless Shoes wrestling the kids' feet onto that measuring thingy so I could get them new shoes while repeating "No...those are not your size. Put 'em back". And when I was done there, I went to Walmart because I was up that way anyhow and I needed to get new sheets for the kids.

Now, by my reckoning, that's two 'things' I had subjected myself to before noon. I was at capacity and I knew it. I was tired, snappy and hungry and I just wanted to go home and lie down. I got in the car with the girls to come home Jillian squeaked "Hey! Now can we make cookies?". I was stuck.

I came home, made lunch and imposed a pre-cookie "quiet time" during which I managed to sleep for about 15 minutes while I made the kids read in their rooms. That gave me enough stamina to get up and start thinking about the cookie making and how I could help myself make the whole thing run smoothly. I think I had a half decent idea at that point - the Wok With Yan method of baking. When I was a kid watching Wok With Yan I noticed he never had to measure anything, he always had the portions measured out in little dishes on the counter (I'm know lots of shows do that sort of thing but I guess Yan made a big impression on me when I was a kid). I figured that lessen the amount of time I spent wrestling with kids and measuring cups. It would probably also decrease the amount of time I spent breaking up their fights or cleaning up their spills. I even labelled the things so our budding reader would have to do some work:



I got Claire to read the recipe too. For the most part she managed to muddle through the thing and learned a few new words along the way. I made her let Jillian add things to the bowl and the making of the batter went rather smoothly. Here are the bakers in their aprons:


Get a load of the ringlet Jillian has going on. For months I've been thinking her hair was starting to straighten but it apparently isn't. That ringlet bobbed about on her head all day.

After we cooled the dough in the fridge, I let them cut out the Easter shapes with cookie cutters. The perfectionist in me had a bit of trouble not micromanaging every moment of this part but I think I did fairly well considering how grouchy I was getting:


They're doing a good job though, eh?

Baking:


Claire and I did some of the icing because a) Jillian had lost interest b) I didn't really want Jillian into the icing anyway. Bedtime eventually arrived and I had to stand in the kitchen for an hour after the girls retired, icing Easter cookies and washing dishes. Sigh. I could not wait to go to bed last night (and was not pleased when Claire tucked herself into our bed at 5:01 AM complaining about "bad dreams").

Finished product:

I have to admit that they are really tasty and biting the heads off of baby chicks gives me a little thrill that makes me wonder about myself.

For all my grumbling, I'm glad I exhausted myself doing it. The kids have a lot of fun with this sort of activity and I think these are the things that make for happy childhood memories (especially since I managed not to rave like a madwoman at any point). Besides, if they learn a thing or two about baking along the way, that isn't a bad thing.

At the same time, it would be awfully nice if my brain could go back to full capacity so I don't get myself into any situations like this for a while. Fat chance of THAT happening. Maybe I should just duct tape my mouth closed when I feel it revving up with its bright ideas.