Aprons and Apple Pie

Last Thursday, some friends, our children and I headed to Lawrence to check out Sarah's Fabrics, a boutique shop. It was well above my usual $2/yd Joann Fabric purchases, but the girls and I enjoyed browsing through all the beautiful cloth. Maddie wandered around looking at the displayed finished projects and called me over to look at one in particular. It was a child-sized apron. It was beautiful and dainty and Maddie wanted one just like it. I agreed that it was cute and then she ran off to play with the other kids between the rows and rows of bolts.
As we zipped up coats to leave, she said, "Mom, I want to learn how to sew." Madeline had been inspired. Never had she asked me to teach her before, but now, I had a call to action!

So we headed home and I scoured the internet for coupons and that Saturday, we were in Joann's picking out some cute cupcake fabric...for Madeline's apron (50% off too!). Now, I'm not highly skilled in the art of sewing, and I prefer not to buy patterns (I usually figure out how to make something without one, or I just make it up), but I think it turned out alright.

Maddie helped sew the straight lines and also used the foot pedal (separate instances, of course). She wore her apron the rest of the day. You just never know what situation will lead to inspiration, but I'm just glad she got to be with us that day.


So now that she got her apron, she suggested we bake an apple pie. I agreed, as the bushel of apples we picked at the orchard a couple weeks ago need to be made into something!

She peeled and cored all the apples by herself (I did load and unload).

I'm going to start something new for us: I'll document via camera any cooking/baking that Maddie helps with and put those photos and the recipes in a scrapbook for her. Fun, huh?

She placed all the butter on the apples, and then after the top crust was sealed, she played with the extra dough until the pie was baking and all the dishes were done (by me alone). Smart girl.

And here's the once beautiful finished product. I don't have a pie plate, except for this FLIMSY disposable aluminum one. As I was transferring the pie from the oven to the cooling rack, the pan folded in on itself because of the weight of all those yummy apples and buttery, flaky crust. It landed just inches away from the safety of the counter top and then splashed all over the floor. I had to leave the room to cr...ahem...compose myself. Jeremy cleaned it all up, thank you, and the trash smelled quite delish. Maddie had me apologize for ruining her pie. We'll try again soon.