Erica walked into the kitchen and looked up at her mom at the counter. "What are you doing?" she asked softly, watching her mom put baking soda into a bowl.
"Making cookies. Would you like to help me?" Monica looked down at her daughter.
Erica nodded and stood on her toes to look at the bowl. "What kind of cookies?" she asked.
"I'm making chocolate chip cookies" Monica explained getting her a stool. She picked her up and placed her on the stool "better?"
She nodded looking at the ingredients. "Can we eat the cookie dough?" she smiled.
Monica chuckled, "if we eat cookie dough what happens?" She moved the bowl closer and measured out the sugar for Erica to pour in.
Erica poured the sugar into the bowl with interest "our tummies get sick" she said softly remembering the last time her Dad let her eat cookie dough. "Why do we get sick when we eat cookie dough but not cookies?"
"It's not good for our bodies to eat raw eggs. When we cook them, the oven is so hot that it gets rid of all the bad stuff" Monica explained, helping her put in the butter.
Jack walked in and watched his mom "Whatcha doin?" he gently tugged on Monica's shirt.
"We're making cookies. Do you want to help us?" Monica asked as she picked him up. She measured out chocolate chips and gave them to Jack so he could put them into the bowl. She grabbed a few chocolate chips from the bag and held them out for Erica.
"Chocolate!" she smiled while taking some of the chocolate chips to eat.
"I want some too!" Jack held his hand out. "Pleeeease!"
Monica chuckled softly, giving him chocolate chips. "Now we have to mix it" she grabbed a spoon and gave it to Jack letting him mix the ingredients together. Monica gently held his hand to help him mix more efficiently as the cookie dough started coming together. Once the dough was ready, she put Jack down and got out the baking trays.
"What's the next part?" Jack asked softly.
"We're going to scoop the dough and put it on the baking sheet. Then we're going to put them in the oven to bake" Monica laid down parchment paper and put Jack on the counter. "And then once they're cooled off, we can eat them after dinner" she smiled as she grabbed a spoon.
"I want to eat them all" Erica giggled watching her mom put the dough on the sheet.
"But I want some!" Jack whined.
"Each of you can have one cookie tonight okay?"
"Okay…" the kids said in unison.
Monica finished laying out the dough before putting the cookies in the oven. She helped Jack and Erica wash their hands before they ran off to play.
In twenty minutes the kids ran back to the kitchen and looked up at their mom as she was taking them out of the oven. "Momma, I smell the cookies," Jack smiled.
"They just finished baking" she chuckled, putting them down.
Chandler walked into the kitchen "I smell cookies" he walked to the food and went to grab one before Monica slapped his hand away. "Ow," he pouted.
"The kids made them. They get to have the first one when they cool off."
He looked down at his kids, shocked "you made these?" he smiled crouching to their level.
The kids both nodded and Erica wrapped her arms around his neck. "Momma helped," she smiled softly.
"I did the chocolate chips!" Jack smiled proudly.
"Are you gonna be a chef like mom?" Chandler asked him as he held Erica.
"Yeah cause Momma is the best chef in the whole world"
Monica picked up Jack and kissed his cheek. "You're so sweet," she said softly. "I think the chefs deserve a taste of their hard work" she tore a cookie in half and gave one half to Jack and the other to Erica. The kids took a bite of their cookies and smiled widely. "Is it good?" Monica asked and they both nodded excitedly.