today we made bagels

Abbie loves to cook. She likes measuring and cutting and mixing and mashing the dough as she says. Today we made bagels, cranberry walnut whole wheat bagels. YUM. Those are my favorite kind at panera, well they are white there, but you know. We also made Valentines for her friends. Simple ones that you could tell Abbie made pretty much on her own, she even wrote her name on the backs of all 18 of them.

The hardest part of this whole mess (me being out of work) is that I FINALLY have the chance to spend some time with Abbie and take care of my family & house and myself and is causing quite the conflict in my head. One day I'm feeling guilty that I'm not earning real money, the next I'm thrilled to be able to move slowly and do the morning at Abbie's pace. Head to story time, bake with her, read with her, color with her, have dinner ready when Rick gets home, laundry done and all the rest of the things that go along with staying home. Today Abbie brought me her piggy bank full of coins and said here mommy you can use this instead of a new job. Every night when I head to bed and pull back the covers she's hidden a different animal to keep me company when I sleep. I'm so fortunate to have this time to spend with her and I'm doing my best to remind myself of that.