Baking with E

Ethan is my nephew, and also the cutest kid on earth. (Although I might be a little bias.) He lives in west Texas so I don't get to see him all that often anymore. I used to live with him and his mommy so I definitely miss him a lot! (Look how cute and little he was last year when we had our snow day!)

He's grown so much in the last year. He used to come into my room and play with the stuffed animals I'd bought from my travels. Or we'd color. Or we'd go through all the photos on my laptop and he would tell me everyone's names. And now here he is talking in full sentences, telling me, "Be quiet," when I start humming along to YouTube playing "Baby Shark." The other day in church our pastor jokingly said, "Do you want to go to Chick-Fil-A?" and Ethan answered, "No! I want to go to McDonalds!"

I visited my family this weekend in northwest Louisiana and brought a lot of Valentine's Day cookies to sell. (I have a side hustle making cookies. You should check out my Instagram! @JohnHenrysSweets) Ethan and his mommy were visiting too (we all stayed at my grandparents'), so I asked Ethan if he would help me make dog cookies. Well, actually I told him we were making cookies for Oxford, and since Oxford is his favorite and was one of the first names he learned to say, I figured he'd be excited to help me. He was a little upset that Oxford didn't come with me, though.

My mom and her husband came to visit everyone, they told Ethan and me hello and Ethan told them, "We're busy." So we scooped and poured and mixed and rolled out and cut dough. He was such a good helper! Although I did have to stop him from putting his feet in the cookie dough. ("I squish it!")

These are memories that I will cherish forever.