Lately the kids are really in to kid-themed cooking shows. I don’t even know the names – Kids Baking Challenge? Chopped Kids? Top Chef Junior? – but it doesn’t matter because I am just so relieved to find a show they are watching that I can actually somewhat enjoy with them. Cartoons and Disney live action sitcoms just don’t do it for me…!!!

Thanks to the the influence of these shows, Evie is especially showing more interest experimenting in the kitchen. Sometimes she’ll pull out one of my cookbooks, but often she just wings it. A few months ago she came up with her own recipe for homemade pop. (Yes, here in Chicago we call it pop thankyouverymuch despite my East Coaster husband’s best efforts to covert us to soda drinkers). Sometimes she smashes berries into the concoction to make it extra special. Always she takes our orders with a pen and note pad “Do you want lemon, lime, or both?” Both, please. “Do you want ice?” Yes.

I love her. So much. Every day she is becoming more independent and mature, but every day I am reminded that she is still a little girl. She’ll always be this little girl in my mind:

Evie’s Lemon-Lime Pop

Juice from half a lime

Juice from one lemon

A spoonful of sugar

A bottle of club soda (we use a Soda Stream)

In a small cup, combine the lime and lemon juices. Pour them into the bottle of club soda. Sprinkle in the sugar and gently stir. Serve over ice with a little slice of lime on the glass.