TGIF

Before you go further, be forewarned that some of the pictures are very much out of order.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to adjust the order, only for it to duplicate and stuff.  When I see it while editing, it IS in order so I'm stuck with how it is.  Enjoy!

Isn't it just great when Friday shows up each week?  We had such a great morning.  Clara worked very diligently to complete all of her school work by 12:30 today, leaving us with plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the day.  

Zach loves to help me in the kitchen.  When Clara declined the offer to help me make brownies, Zach readily agreed.  As it turns out, my good friend Donna shared the website heavenlyhomemakers.com and I have been perusing its contents quite a bit lately.  As I was scoping her recipes, I noticed that with modifications I could make her recipe for chocolate chip brownies.  

 So, I started gathering ingredients and the Zachster.  He started by helping to melt the butter (voi here in Estonia).

Then, after having everything in place, he started greasing the dish quite thoroughly.  I don't have cooking spray (although I have seen it in one store, refrigerated) so just spread a little olive oil on the surfaces.  

With direction, he added the sugar.  Her recipe called for sucanat, which I did not have.  I did have Demerara sugar though and substituted it for the sucanat.

Next came the cocoa, which I was able to find locally as well.  

 Next, he added the melted butter.

 Now comes some elbow grease as he mixes the ingredients.  

 By this time, a certain young lady was regretting her decision to not help and came to offer her services.

 Zach loves to crack eggs, and it absolutely pains me to let him do it each time, but so far he has a good track record of keeping the shell out of the food.

 Clara is helping now after Zach added the vanilla.  

 Another elbow grease activity after adding the flour.  Again, the recipe called for whole wheat flour, but I used all purpose as I had none of the other.

Now that it is all mixed up, time to add the chocolate chips.  There was a slight disagreement with which one should do the honors, so we shared.  Clara poured the first half...

and Zach added the remainder.  

 Clara then learned how to fold the chocolate chips in.

With everything ready, Clara dumps the brownie mix into the dish!

The both worked so hard to spread it evenly in the dish. 

 With the brownies in the oven, it is time to work up an appetite by going outside to play.

 Oh look, more snow.  

 While they are outside, the brownies finished cooking!

They were quite industrious and surprisingly couldn't agree to make a snowman together (I hope you know I'm joking here).  Clara says it's a girl. 

 Zach was quite proud of his too, although I missed the super sweet shot of his bashful smile.  

 Clearly, these are a little out of order, as this is Clara beginning her snowman.  

After all that hard work, it was time to enjoy the fruits of their labor!  They declared the recipe a success and we should definitely make these again.  Even though it was naughty, I had one of these too and it was sooooo yummy.  

Since Clara showed she can knock out some school work efficiently, I'm super excited that I went ahead and ordered the curriculum for her to begin Spanish and Latin!!!  Learning right along with her will be a big treat.