Alice in a creative mood

Alice has been "working" as a mother's helper this last week or so. The first day, she took the 2-year-old to the neighborhood park and got lost, but totally kept her wits about her and managed to work through several logical methods for finding her way home. This girl, who cannot bear the thought of being home alone, did something miraculous that day.

Anyway, she's grown extra attached to this kid recently. She came home from "work" on Friday and decided to bake him a batch of sugar cookies. With only the smallest degree of intervention, Alice did it. She also made him a sock monkey.

I didn't see the boy's reaction when she presented him with these gifts, but I do know that she was a beaming ball of joy every moment she spent planning, preparing, and delivering them to him. 

The next day, she and her neighborhood friend harvested every edible fruit and veggie from our garden (mostly cucumber) and put it in a salad with various and sundry ingredients from the fridge (3 kinds of cheese, raspberry vinaigrette, sugar, additional fruits and veggies). It was a sight to behold:

She and her friend loved it! They divvied the final product and Alice donated her share to our dinner that night. I decided to try it...no one else in the fam would :( The salad was mostly cucumber, kinda sour, and I believe they included at least two half-rotten blackberries by accident, but I applauded their efforts all the same. They want to make something like this every season. I suggested apple pie for fall...