Tester

This year Jonathan and I decided to pick up on an almost tradition and politely invite ourselves to spend Thanksgiving with some friends. (Thankfully they love us and welcomed the idea!) In order to follow all proper protocol I asked what we could bring. Although I was praying for paper products and drinks, I got rolls, whipped cream and the dessert, specifically pumpkin pie. Once I saw these items listed next to my name, I knew I would be buying all of them, especially the pie! So I simply closed the email and moved on.

Well I am not sure what happened but as Thanksgiving approached I was feeling a little bravery come on and decided I would try baking the pumpkin pie myself.

You should know I have never baked anything besides chicken…well porkchops, and that sort of thing but nothing sweet. No cakes, no cookies and definitely no pies. When I first broke the news to my husband, in an effort to keep the peace, he nonchalantly mentioned a great bakery he knows of…ha. So as the compromise I decided I would do a test bake. I went to the store and bought double the supplies. I did my test bake on Tuesday in order to have ample time to purchase the real deal if I needed to. I had to have this thing planned out just in case the tester failed. However, the tester went well, so I carefully redid my exact steps in order to prepare the one that would actually leave the house on Thursday. I was pleased and thought I was well prepared for Thanksgiving dinner with Al and Susan.

Well, I was not. I had not quite tested everything. My little three year old Alena had a few surprises in store!

When we got there we just hung out for awhile while waiting for another family to join us. Alena was in heaven. She absolutely loves Brandon (their son) and in general she just loves being around people. So she and Brandon took off playing before everyone arrived.

Once all the people and pieces arrived we decided we would eat first and then feed the kids. As we picked over turkey pieces, disciplined our husbands, spooned out mashed potatoes and passed the gravy, we began to hear tiny footsteps and feel the glares of little people. The room fell silent and we all looked up at them quietly to see what they needed.

No one spoke.

So Ken, a new face to Alena, looked up and said in his sweetest kid voice, “Hi Alena, how are you? Are you hungry?” Alena looks down at him, pauses, frowns her face and in her As-A-Matter-of-Fact voice comes out, “WHO ARE YOU?”

The entire table filled with laughter, but because I was in fact responsible for the adorable rude little creature…I begin apologizing while trying to hold back my own laughter in order to keep face with Alena.

Later on when I asked Alena why she said that, she very innocently defended her question and said “Mommy, I wanted to know his name.” This was not Alena’s only honest yet improper comment for the night. They also included “I am not dear, I am Alena.”!!

I was not angry with her and although it was unacceptable, it was quite funny. It really just made me realize how pure and honest children are. There is so much about life that they just don’t know and its up to us (parents) to not only prepare them at home but sometimes we need to actually test them out before they show up at the real deal.