My Pizza Chef

One of the things I always knew I wanted to do with my kids was cook. I grew up cooking with my mom and Nana, and I think it’s one of the reasons I still enjoy cooking now. When I was little, it was all easy family meals in large portions – one of the first family meals I ever learned was Baked Ziti. Now that I’m older and more health conscious, we keep things a little simpler, but I still want Abbie to learn just the way I did – by helping out in the kitchen from an early age. Luckily, she’s a good little helper.

I always forget to capture these moments – hanging out, just the two of us. Like so many moms, I think these moments exist in my head, but that means I don’t get to physically look back on them. When Abbie and I made this pizza on Sunday, I almost didn’t capture it – until I realized my camera was sitting on the table. I snapped a few myself before asking Chris to pop over and grab a few of the two of us.

It was a simple moment, rolling out the dough, helping her learn to spread the sauce (we like to use pesto instead of tomato sauce), and letting her sprinkle on the cheese. Completely ordinary things, but at the same time, extraordinary. This was the most involved she’s ever been in making a pizza with me, and I just loved it.

The photos we captured are far from perfect. A few are out of focus, or she’s making a weird face. You can see the random clutter that plagues my kitchen (seriously, I cannot keep stuff off my counters no matter what). The thing is, I love them.

I love the smile on my face. I love knowing that she learned something new, that we got this little moment of time together, especially since her little sister will be joining us in just a few short months. I know these moments are fleeting, and I’ll never have this age with my girl again. I love that she’ll have these pictures – of us together. That’s way more important to me than a perfect photo any day.