The Test Cookie

The other day the WBH came home and said, "I talked about your grandma at work today." The grandma to which he refers is my Grandma W., my mom's mom. She was a great woman, a marvelous baker, and she loved to feed people more than anything.

Grandma's been gone for almost a decade now, so I was curious how it was that she came up in conversation.

Jeff went on to explain that someone had implemented an entire project without testing. They discovered after the fact that there were problems with computer access that prevented the right people from getting to the data they needed.

He told his colleagues that they should have heeded the wisdom of my Grandma: "Always make a test cookie."

I had to chuckle.

You see, my Grandma W. was a fantastic baker, and she always, always, ALWAYS made a test cookie. She would put one cookie on a sheet and bake it to see if any adjustments needed to be made before she made the whole batch. Did she need more flour? More butter? A hotter or cooler oven? No doubt this little experiment was one of the keys to her success in the kitchen.

Grandma was one smart lady.

It turns out that the test cookie is a pretty good philosophy for life, too.

While you can't always make a test cookie, you probably should whenever you can. Because it helps guarantee great results in the end.

And if worse comes to worse, the test cookie will tell you when it's time to scrap the batch and start over.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Today is my mom's birthday. Last year she was here with us on her birthday, helping take care of me, Amelia and the house while we waited for the boys to be born.

She cooked. She cleaned. She did laundry. I should have been doing those things for her by the time I was 36, not the other way around!

My mom nested on my behalf, since I couldn't do much. So she painted and sewed, and in an trip to Home Depot that had us both shaking our heads, pushed me (at 33 weeks pregnant) around on a rolling chair to pick out a washer and dryer after the electric cart died.

Bet she didn't bargain on that when I was born.

In exchange, we treated her to pizza and a beer on her birthday. Oh, and gave her our undying gratitude. And three beautiful, healthy grandsons.

Grandma Alice holds all the triplets for the first time ~ Sam, Alex and Isaac ~ 10/10/08

I honestly don't know how we would have done it without my mom's help, even though I never went on bedrest. I'm sure having her here helped me carry the babies longer because I was able to do less and rest more.

I don't know if my mom would say that this year's birthday was better than last year's, but it certainly had to be more restful!

Grandma Alice & triplets in the baptismal gowns she made ~ Sam, Isaac and Alex ~ 01/16/09

Happy birthday, Mom. Thanks for always being there.

Love,

Christy

Fun with Grandma Alice

Everyone's having fun with Grandma Alice in the house. Yesterday she and Amelia made cookies before Amelia even got out of her jammies.

Grandma Alice and Amelia make chocolate chip cookies. Yum!

I'm pretty sure Amelia was taste-testing the chocolate chips before she even had breakfast. She helped count and measure everything and got to push the cookie dough off the spoon onto the pan. The best part of that job was licking the cookie dough off her fingers between every cookie!

Later that day, Amelia was busily playing stickers while we were tending to Sam and Isaac. Turns out she was playing stickers with Alex.

Or perhaps I should say ON Alex...

Amelia and Alex play stickers.

Let's take a closer look...

I guess the lack of hair makes Alex's head a pretty good palette for stickers. Sorry little buddy!

Everyone's gotten plenty of holding time, but Grandma Alice says the boys are so heavy now that she's not coming back until they can walk. I'm not sure that will be easier!

Isaac hangs out with Grandma Alice during supper.

We are getting awfully close to an announcement about crawling. I'll keep you in suspense on who might be the first to make the big move!

Grandma Alice Returns

Yesterday Grandma Alice came back for a visit. She saw the boys last in January, and they've sure changed a lot since then! Now they are grabbing for their bottles, hollering for food when they are in their highchairs being spoonfed, and getting oh so close to crawling. They had her laughing all day at their antics.

It some ways it's a lot less hectic than when Grandma Alice was last here. In other ways it's more hectic.

The boys eat less often, but consume more. And spoonfeeding three boys at once ... whew! Sometimes I can't shovel fast enough!

Gone are the days of plunking the babies down and finding them in the same spot 10 minutes (or even 10 seconds!) later. They are mobile now, even if they aren't quite crawling. And they do get in each other's faces and take toys from each other already, causing the occasional bout of tears.

The boys go down more easily for naps, but demand a lot more attention and energy when they are awake.

Tomorrow I'll try to post some pictures of Grandma and the gang, but now it's time for me to catch some zzzzs.