Without the benefit of my alarm clock, I woke up blissfully at 10:34 on Saturday morning. Mmm…I smelled Waffles.

I quickly got ready and went downstairs. And sure enough, a large half waffle was waiting for me. But a green waffle?

As I stood over the un-natural looking waffle at the kitchen island, the kids yelled over their Wii game, “We made you spinach waffle!”

I gave it a good sniff, and tore up a small bite. Ha! No funky spinach flavor in my waffle. They must have gotten creative with the left over food coloring I had purchased for my 10-year-old’s science project.

My children are seasoned young chefs. I love cooking, and believe that cooking skills are a necessity for fine daily living. Almost every Sunday, we have “kids in the kitchen,” where they get to choose the dinner menu, and participate in food preparation. But this waffle business is entirely to the credit of my husband. He loves waffles–not just any waffles–Belgian waffles.

Since I am the one who wakes up early to get the kids ready for school Monday through Friday, my husband gets the pleasure of getting up early on weekends to entertain the kids, so I can sleep in. Frequently, the three of them will storm into my kitchen and make waffles together.

Now at the ripe old ages of 10 and 7, the kids can make the waffles by themselves! Yes, they can follow the instructions, measure the right amount of waffle mix, beat the eggs, add the oil, and water, and cook the batter in our waffle maker.

In the earlier days, I used to dread their unsupervised breakfast making, because when I came downstairs, I was greeted with a kitchen left in a disastrous state. It looked like my kitchen suffered a series of food fights.

Well, those Saturday morning Kitchen clean-up days are now over! The children now can make me a “Spinach” waffle, and clean up their mess. Such useful kids!

Here is a previous post about Kids in the Kitchen.