When Little Hands Made Big Messes

I was going through old photos on my phone today and found these gems from when the kids were tiny kitchen helpers.

When Little Hands Made Big Messes

Sophie was maybe 6 here, taking her measuring duties SO seriously, while 3-year-old Theo was just happy to be included and steal tastes of everything.

Look at those little concentrated faces!

The eternal sibling battle over cookie ingredients

The way they’d fight over who got to add the chocolate chips, but then immediately team up against me when I tried to limit their sampling.

Evidence of their ‘help’ was everywhere

And don’t even get me started on the flour explosion that happened five minutes after these photos.

Now Sophie’s 15 and too cool to bake with mom unless there’s something in it for her, and Theo would rather tell me dinosaur facts than crack eggs.

Teamwork makes the dream work (and the mess)

But sometimes I catch glimpses of these little helpers in their faces, especially when they think I’m not looking. The kitchen was never clean, but my heart was always full.

These days our Valentine’s prep looks very different - less flour explosions, more eye rolls from teenagers. But I’d take those chaotic afternoons back in a heartbeat.