Natalie

Natalie is a girl who knows what she wants. Her pjs need to be in a certain place in her drawer and her toast cut to specific measurements. She can multitask . . . you think she's busy with something, but she's listening to conversations around her, so you have to be ready to answer her questions. And, as previously eluded to, she is a planner.

Sometimes I wonder whom she goes after. Smile. There is one area I've realized she's a lot like me. She's a girl after my heart when it comes to baking and . . . for a four-year-old she can be a big help already. As she plans, she lets me know, "Mimi, I was thinking we should make apple pies."

When I finally got around to it, she pulled up her stool and figured out what we should do. Without being asked, she dug into the recipe drawer, pulled out her mom's favorite recipe binder and paged through it until she found the fruit pie recipe, recognizing it by a pie sticker.

She sampled apples while I was cutting and soon we were both rolling.

We made five pies and she did not tire of her kitchen duties. In fact, she had seen a picture of donuts on the cover of a magazine and thought we should still make donuts.

So, after a lunch break, we tried our hand at something new to me. I think I will be making these again . . . and always remember the first time I made donuts.