Emmie Kay‘s got herself an adorable little sous chef!
Chip and Joanna Gaines‘ younger daughter, 9½, busied herself over the weekend with some tasty dessert prep, whipping up a batch of cookies from her own special recipe with the help of brother Crew, 17 months.
In the sweet photograph Joanna, 41, shared to Instagram, Emmie is hard at work, concentrating on rolling out the last of the dough while Crew waits patiently with cookie cutters in hand. On a parchment-paper-lined tray next to the siblings sits a collection of impressively cut-out shapes.
“She was determined to make up her own cookie recipe and I left the kitchen so she could surprise me (and so i wouldn’t micromanage her work in the kitchen😅). Let’s just say this was one of my favorite cookies I’ve ever tasted!” the Fixer Upper alum praised Emmie in her caption.
“It was like a perfect blend of a shortbread cookie and chocolate chip cookie topped with a yummy icing,” Joanna added. “I also love what she named them in her little cookbook, ‘Emmie Kay’s chocolate chip kisses cookie’ ❤️”
![Joanna and Chip Gaines](https://people.com/thmb/nIRQqXBL4GjJebnVhFpYINUhgCQ=/4000x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(539x0:541x2)/joanna-chip-kids-1-9c88c4adcf4b4da49ed74f3e82aaef3f.jpg)
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![Chip Gaines Needed a John Deere Tractor to Lift Giant Christmas Tree on Truck](https://people.com/thmb/wIz89KV1fNiGTdj8a88HsEdCcPc=/4000x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(561x0:563x2)/img_4880-2-2000-ce05774d9c13490ba7674b8230d99ab7.png)
Between cookie baking and holiday prep, the Gaines family’s weekend was a busy one. On Sunday, Joanna shared that her husband had chosen a Christmas tree so large that it required assistance from some heavy-duty equipment to get it on top of their car to take home.
“Chip picked this 12 ft beauty that required a little help from ol’ John Deere … ” she labeled a video of Chip and a few other men working together at The Robinson Family Farm in Temple, Texas, to get the tree secured atop their vehicle with the tractor.
A snapshot posted immediately afterward by Joanna showed Chip, 45, standing proudly in front of their car, his arms stretched out wide and a smile on his face after successfully securing the massive Fraser Fir.
“I guess I can do without a dining table for a month,” the Magnolia mogul joked in her text on the photo, adding an emoji of a monkey covering its eyes.
RELATED VIDEO: Why Joanna and Chip Gaines Had to Move the Family Christmas Tree into Their Bedroom
In this month’s first-ever Kindness Issue, Chip — who, along with his wife, regularly shares photos of his family bonding at home on their farm in Waco, Texas — told PEOPLE there’s clearly one member of their clan who likes the spotlight a little more than the others.
“It’s funny, out of all the Gainses, Crew likes being famous the most,” said the proud father of five (he and Joanna also share daughter Ella Rose, 13, plus sons Duke, 11, and Drake, 14).
“Literally, he’ll sit up in our office at the Silos and bang on the window until finally people look up. Then he’ll wave to everyone shopping at the Silos,” Chip added. “He’s eating up this fame thing. Crew is really in his element!”