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[la_jupe]

Hmmm.  My kids' daycares (back in the day) and now their schools will not allow any home-baked treats because the kitchens from whence they came have not been inspected by a certified health inspector.  All treats for school friends have to come from a commercial bakery.  Which is fine with me, quite frankly.  We never buy bakery sweets at other times of year, so it's a big thing my kids look forward to. 

But I will admit that I take the prof_mom approach to selective supermom status and try to choose activities that my kids will really remember.  My son is overjoyed that I'm the cash register lady every year at the Scholastic book fair hosted by his school.  (The fact that I can operate a cash register impresses him far more than the fact that I have actually written a book of my own.)  And, for an end-of-semester sleepover my daughter hosted earlier this year, I bought gingerbread house kits and tons of extra decorating candy for her and her two guests, so they got to take their houses home with them the next day and my daughter had one to keep.  I bought the kits close to Christmas, on sale, so they cost next to nothing.  (We weren't going to eat the gingerbread, just build with it, so who cares if it was stale?)   But wow, was I the hero.  "Your mom is awesome,"  one of the guests exclaimed over tooth-brushing.

Of course they complain about the things I don't do.  But I'm banking on the fact that they'll remember the occasional cool things I did, too.

[tamiam]

Top 10 Cool things that moms can do and get a lot of mileage:

1. Gingerbread houses. Home made or kits, either way, the kids get to play with candy.

2. Diet coke and mentos in front of the whole neighborhood.

3. Let them do something crazy to their hair at Halloween.

4. Have cookies in the oven (slice and bake are fine) waiting for them on a snow day after sledding.

5. Do the funnest PTA activity in front of all their friends

6. Be willing to handle amphibians and reptiles

7. That slimy stuff you make with elmers glue and borax

8. occasional cereal or pancakes for dinner

9. Pizza for breakfast

10. Let them into the real chemistry labs on campus!

[prof_mom]

I am such a cupcake making mother that I once made ladybug and frog cupcakes that my son saw in a picture in Parenting magazine.

This is why I stopped subscribing to Parenting magazine.

Me too!

[sequoia_sun]

Oh my. Cupcakes and buttercream frosting. You better hurry up and get to the lodge before the whipped cream runs out!

Posty, posty tolerantly.

[zoelouise]

I don't have kids but I bake cupcakes anyway, and brownies, and all kinds of cakes.

[mignon]

I resist cupcakes by always making rice krispie treats.  2 ingedients, no baking, and everyone loves em.  Then again, we live in a blue-collar, downmarket environment.  I used to miss Seattle (my hometown) but the older I get, the happier I am to be away from the Crunchier-Than-Thous.

[_touchedbyanoodle_]

I resist cupcakes by always making rice krispie treats.  2 ingedients, no baking, and everyone loves em.  Then again, we live in a blue-collar, downmarket environment.  I used to miss Seattle (my hometown) but the older I get, the happier I am to be away from the Crunchier-Than-Thous.

Three ingredients: rice Krispies, butter, and marshmallows.

[zoelouise]

Butter is one of the highest achievements of western cuisine.

[j_source]

When my son was 3 I baked and decorated a cake for him that looked exactly like a panda (face only) because his favorite book was "Alexander Panda and the Special Cake " in which Alexander's mother bakes a cake that looks exaclty like him.  He thought I was Queen of the Universe and I got to say things about life imitating art, etc.

[rowan1]

In our home dado is the cupcake or cake making guru - I just sit back and watch, mostly.  For the 2 year B-day we made giant cookies and then put an upside down cupcake in the middle, took the top of the cupcake, cut it in 1/2 and made ears, then spent all night decorating them so each looked like a different teddy bear.  It got easier after that, but we (dado and I) had fun.  Especially as we mixed food dyes into tons of buttercream frosting - black is one tough color to achieve. I have to admit the evil competitive side of me also grinned when evil snobby mom who "only buys" her cakes from the "best" bakery looked with shock and awe at the handmade and decorated bears.

year 3 was a volcano cake to go with the dinosaur theme and dado out did himself with the dry ice fog - the kids had more fun in the kitchen as dado and our physicist buddy kept a steady stream of fog rolling out of the sink.

In boyo's way cool but tragically hippyesque preschool no cupcakes are allowed, although dado did make homemade raisin and apple mini muffins on his birthday to share, after getting it cleared and making sure no nut type things were involved.

hey! (interthearduality alert) we must be feminists - dado is not only the baker around her, he also sews the costumes!  Can he have a headband too?  I think one with a nice bow on it would look good.

[tamiam]

Playing with food is always fun. I wonder who gets a bigger kick out of making the fancy decorated stuff - the kids or the parents?

[rowan1]

today dado and boyo invented a new icecream, they won't tell me what went into it, I have to wait for tomorrow's picnic, but I saw evidence of chocolate covered oreos, chocolate fudge, bananas, and raspberries.

[tamiam]

today dado and boyo invented a new icecream, they won't tell me what went into it, I have to wait for tomorrow's picnic, but I saw evidence of chocolate covered oreos, chocolate fudge, bananas, and raspberries.

Now THAT sounds like a great "celebrate the end of summer" activity. I believe I will do that with my kids and my rarely-used ice-cream maker. Thanks, rowan!