We drove to Manteno, Illinois, about 50 miles south of Chicago, to visit BIL and SIL while #1 son is home. #2 son took a couple days off work so he could go, too, and his new girlfriend came along as well. Plus the two dogs. The van was, um, full. Not crowded, exactly, but full.
On Sunday morning Maggie, #2's girlfriend, decided that she and Matthew would make banana chocolate chip pancakes for everyone. Is she a keeper or what?
I didn't realize until I started picking out photos for this post was that I hadn't gotten any good pictures of her that morning. Or maybe she was shy. Or maybe I am just a lousy photographer/blogger.
There was a lot of help in the [smallish] kitchen.
While Maggie and Matthew made the pancakes, I was in charge of the bacon.
Smokey, looking like a total wild man, decided that he would make waffles with some of the batter.
The first ones stuck to the grates, like they always do, but take my word for it -- those funny-looking waffles? split flatwise on the plate? tasted exactly like the ones that looked prettier. And there were zero leftovers.
Andrew didn't help in the cooking phase, but he participated whole-heartedly in the eating phase. And he cleaned up the kitchen afterward with only minimal prompting. He's a good boy man.
You know how I said there were no leftovers? Besides the ravenous appetites of the Kat™ family, there was this little helper. That is my hand you see, wickedly encouraging the begging behavior.
It was a warm and friendly family-type morning. With coffee.
Don't try to read what it says on the cup. Besides being a bit blurry, the words are in Xhosa; the cup was a gift to my coffee-loving SIL from our trip to South Africa. I was totally delighted to find it in the cupboard with the rest of the use-them-every-day cups.
