God Makes Them Cute so You Won't Kill Them

We celebrate all the Jewish holidays with our friends and travel-mates Scott & Gaynor and their adorable daughters (and Ten's China Sisters) Lauren & Amanda. Scott loves anything with peanut butter, so it was no surprise a couple weeks ago when I started making a Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie to take over to their house for "Break-Fast" aka Yom Kippur. Now, the running gag is that I'm not allowed to set foot in the house unless I have a pan of Crunchy Peanut Butter Bars - which belong only to Scott, are immediately hidden, and which he does not share- hence the Pie which was to be shared.

Since I worked both jobs on Wed, I only got the Pie made- but I wasn't concerned because I had plenty of time on Thursday morning to make the bars. So the well timed plan was: get up, breakfast, grocery shopping, make bars, lunch w/ Aunty Kim & Jaxon, leave for Scott & Gaynor's house approx. 5 billion miles away.

All was well...except that I desperately needed a shower & Ten needed a bath. I worked it out: bake the bars- cool slightly- glaze; then shower while the glaze set, throw Ten in tub, do chocolate ribbon while Ten plays in bath, bars will finish cooling and icing will set while we have lunch- voila! ready to cut & transport before we leave!

Everything was going according to plan. Ten helped mix & bake the bars, and was coloring happily while watching "Wow Wow Wubzy!" while I did the glaze- she even got to lick the spoon.

I jumped in the shower.

15 min later I was out & Ten was in the tub.

I decided to make sure the glaze was set enough for the chocolate before I started the double boiler.

and THIS is what I found:

What the? Oh no. Horror. Cat?? No, wait....those look like little finger trails.....

"TEEEEENNNNNLLLLEEEEYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!" People at the other end of the street probably heard me. I storm into the bathroom & demand an accounting....and she LIES!!!!!

"Tenley! Did you drag your grubby little fingers through the glaze on Uncle Scott's Peanut Butter Bars???"

"No."

Must. Control. Fist. Of. Death.

"Really. Then who RUINED them?"

No reply. She starts looking at her feet poking out from the bubbles.

"Did you do that?"

She nods.

I give her the speech about how disappointed I am in her behavior, that she ruined Uncle Scott's special dessert, what "double dipping" is and why it's gross, and tell her that she has lost the priviledge of lunch with Jaxon. (It is difficult to do this with a straight face when the person you're admonishing has soaped their hair into bunny ears and has a bubble beard a'la Colonel Sanders.)

I call Gaynor who laughs so hard she snorts, and assures me that Scott won't care. I call my Mother to confirm that my proposed method of fixing them will work- she laughs so hard she chokes, and tells me it will. I send a picture from my cell phone to Jeff - he calls me and all I hear is laughter. :::sigh::: I call Aunty Kim to cancel lunch- and she takes my side- she'd be really ticked if Jaxon did it too! Thank you!

Truthfully? It's funny....now. My own fault, I know. I just didn't think she'd bother them. She'd never done anything like that before. I learned my lesson, and if I had a chalkboard, I'd write it 1,000 times:
I will not trust a 4 year old I will not trust a 4 year old I will not trust a 4 year old I will not trust a 4 year old I will not trust a 4 year old I will not trust a 4 year old I will not trust a 4 year old I will not trust a 4 year old I will not trust a 4 year old I will not trust a 4 year old I will not trust a 4 year old.....