His Very Own Pizza

Jeremy and I had a craving for homemade chicken and bacon alfredo pizza (with artichoke hearts, yumm), so we decided to make some. 

O.K.  A lot (you can see two of the three pizzas in this picture).
As I was kneading the dough, Jr. Jr. asked if he could knead some dough.  By the time he got ready (washing his hands, getting an apron on, etc.), I had almost finished kneading the dough (much easier toward the end than at the beginning of the kneading) so I gave him a chunk to work with.  He was so happy to knead the dough.  We didn't know if he would be interested in our pizza and we were wondering what to do with his dough, so we asked him if he wanted to make his own pizza with pepperoni on it.  He was thrilled with the idea. 
He rolled the dough out on a pizza stone (with just a little help from Daddy). 

He poked holes in the crust before it went in the oven.  He spread the sauce around that Daddy poured on the crust for him.  He put pepperoni and cheese on it.  

He did a great job and was very happy with the result. 

So happy, he ate the pepperoni off and left the rest. 

I think next time he has his very own pizza, we'll cut it into slices instead of giving him the whole thing at once.

KAT's Kreation

Often heard in our home:  "Is the dishwasher clean or dirty?"  The answer sometimes comes quickly and sometimes it takes a bit to remember.  "Has the dishwasher been run yet?" or "Have the dishes been put away yet?"
Enter a simple solution- the Dirty/Clean sign.
I cut two small pieces of cardstock of differing colors and glued them back to back.  On one side I wrote CLEAN.  On the other I wrote DIRTY.  I laminated the sign with clear con-tact paper.  I left enough room where the words weren't to put poster tack on each side to stick it to the dishwasher.

Simple.  If the dishwasher is empty or has dirty dishes in it, the DIRTY side is displayed.  As soon as it is filled and turned on, we flip the sign over to the CLEAN side.  As soon as it has been emptied we flip the sign to the DIRTY side again.
My 3-year old loves to look at the sign and point out if it's clean or dirty.  He can recognize which color represents "dirty" and which color represents "clean."

Dutch Days

Yesterday and today- Dutch Days during the Tulip Festival.  When we went last night, it was windy and a little rainy.  Today it's very rainy.
But we still had fun family time last night.  We got to see the windmill and Dutch boy and girl that Jeremy built (like the balloon tulips from last weekend). 

A lot of people were getting pictures being kissed on the cheek by the boy and girl.  Jeremy posed them that way for just that purpose.

The kids got to make little Dutch hats to wear.  Just like the balloon sculptures wear.

 We just had a great time as a family again.

 

Before and After

Before

After
What a difference two weeks can make.  Amazing.

Jelly Bean Earth

April 22 was Jelly Bean Day.  It was also Earth Day.  As a last minute celebration, Jeremy and I watched Independence Day while he put together a picture of the Earth using jelly beans.  If you look closely you can even see continents.

Tee Hee.  I have a fun husband.

Little Mini Date

A week ago, Tuesday morning early (1 something), Jeremy and I had a little mini date.  There was a lunar eclipse going on.  Jeremy was up balloon twisting.  Lucky had a late night.  When I finally got him down, there wasn't that much longer to wait.  Jeremy and I took the telescope, camera, and baby monitor outside and enjoyed a little glimpse of the moon for a few minutes.

 The best part about it of course was taking this time together.  I'm happy for our little mini date.

Tulip Pictures

I realized when I was writing my blog post yesterday that I don't have any recent nice posed pictures of me.  I don't mean posed tiptoeing through the tulips pictures.  I mean nice, looking at the camera, looking nice pictures.  Like in that blog post.  Special pictures.
Jeremy had to check on his balloon tulips today anyway, so he, Jr. Jr., Lucky, and I enjoyed some more of the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point.  And while we were at it, we got some cute pictures with me in them.

And of course cute pictures with Jr. Jr. in them, since the only picture from yesterday's post with him in it was of him almost completely under a blanket.

We even got a picture with Jeremy and me both in it.  We haven't had a picture like that in a while.  There were some nice people who offered to take a picture with the four of us in it.  They tried to get Lucky's attention.  He wasn't interested.  He was more interested in looking at the tulips.  They also tried to get Jr. Jr.'s attention.  He wasn't interested in smiling at first until Daddy told him, "The sooner you smile, the sooner we can be done."  He immediately put on a happy face and we got the picture.

 Remember to click on the pictures to see them larger.

I love it.  I'm really enjoying the Tulip Festival.  And it wasn't as crowded today as it was Saturday.  Though we did have to park farther away than Saturday.  Odd.  Oh well.
Happy Tulips!

Easter Sunday

There was a very nice video on the home page of lds.org recently.  It can also be found on mormon.org
It's a special Easter message reminding us of what the Savior has done for us.  Because of Him, there is always someone who knows what I'm going through.  Because of Him, I can find peace and I can count my blessings.  Because of Him, I know that I am loved.  Because of Him, I know that death is not the end.  Because of Him, I can be with my family forever.

 

I am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, for the example He set of following our Heavenly Father's plan.  I am grateful I can feel His love and I am grateful that His love helps me love others.
I am grateful for this Easter reminder. 
Because of Him, I have reason to celebrate.

Tulip Festival

April 18-May 3 at Thanksgiving Point is their annual Tulip Festival.  We went together as a family today.  Of course we chose to go on opening weekend.  It was packed.  I've never seen so many people at the Gardens.  There's a reason we went today, though.  Yesterday, Jeremy spent the day at Thanksgiving Point building a balloon sculpture for people to see as they headed into the Gardens.

We wanted to go see it in person as a family.  And decided to stay for the tulips.  Tee Hee.

They were gorgeous.  We went to the Gardens a couple weeks ago when the tulips were green and not blooming yet, but it was amazing to see the change with all the colors.  

Gorgeous.  I'm so glad we went.  We've been looking forward to the Tulip Festival for a while.

 "Tiptoe through the tulips."

Anyway, we continued to make a day of it after we left Thanksgiving Point.  We stopped home for a bit to eat and headed out to do some family photos.  Not your typical family photos, though.  Family photos with... balloons.

Jeremy needed some pictures for work so we got to help him out.
On our way home, we stopped at a friend's house and gave their family these balloons.  We thought the kids might have fun acting out some stories with balloons.  These are good friends, our kids visit them sometimes, so when they opened the door our kids immediately ran in and started playing, even though Jeremy had told them repeatedly we were not staying.  Sigh.  Apparently some of our children did not hear Daddy.
After chasing them back to the van, he told them they needed to act like vampires.  They may not go in unless they are invited in.  We thought that was pretty funny since today, April 19, is Garlic Day.  Also goes along with vampires.
When we got home, we had a late dinner (including garlic bread), and everybody was tired.
The End.
P.S.  It was a good family day.

Happy Birthday, Hayley Mills!

I don't know about you but I love watching old Disney movies with Hayley Mills in them.  They're fun.  My kids think so, too.
So to celebrate Hayley Mills' birthday, April 18, this year, we did some planning ahead.  We chose several of her movies and starting a month before her birthday, we decided which holidays those movies would go with.  And we watched them on those holidays.
We did some other celebrating for those holidays as well.  I just held off mentioning those movies until this post so I can talk about all of them at once on her birthday.
So here's the list of movies with Hayley Mills in them that we watched leading up to her birthday, as well as links to my posts about how else we celebrated those holidays:

March 18 was Forgive Mom and Dad Day.  We watched The Parent Trap.

March 21 was Fragrance Day.  We watched Summer Magic.

March 22 was World Water Day.  We watched In Search of the Castaways.

April 4 was Walk Around Things Day.  We watched That Darn Cat!

April 12 was Look Up At The Sky Day.  We watched The Moon Spinners.

April 17 was Blah Blah Blah Day.  We watched Pollyanna.

So thank you, Hayley Mills, for having a birthday that we could celebrate this way.  Happy Birthday!

Blah Blah Blah Day 2014

Jr. put together the menu plan for this week.  Since he found out today, April 17, was going to be Blah Blah Blah Day, he decided a certain food would be known as "Blah Blah Blah."
So Jeremy and the kids had Blah Blah Blah with dinner.  I didn't.  I had a meeting.

Apples with peanut butter and honey will from now on be known as "Blah Blah Blah."

Family Home Evening With Cousins

Last Summer while visiting Wyoming, we were able to have Family Home Evening with cousins.  My cousin's wife made rice crispy treats to teach about how we are sealed together as a family.  There are different parts that come together and are stuck together just like our families are.
It was a really nice lesson and treat.
I love family. 

KAT's Kreation

Another one of those projects I've been meaning to get to for a while.  I wanted to make a bag for all the balls that are in the kids' room.  Much nicer than having them in a garbage bag or something they don't fit in.  And much much nicer than having them just out all over the place.  So I finally got to it.  Hooray!

And it's got a draw string so the balls won't just come out while it's sitting in the closet.  Yay!
Easy to open.  Easy to close.  Maybe new and exciting enough for the kids to want to use it to clean up at least a little bit of their room.