Missie's Pizza

Back in July while I was visiting my best friend, she made this pizza for me for dinner. It was so good, I was craving it for days and decided to replicate it that same week I returned. Mine wasn't as good, but still yummy.

Yesterday, as I was shopping the produce aisle, I noticed the fresh basil, and it got me craving this again. So tonight we decided to makes pizzas. Making them at home is a great alternative to ordering in, much more affordable and better for you as you have total control of how it is prepared.

The rest of the family turned their nose up at my pizza, but they were seriously the ones to miss out. This pizza is low in calories, the goat cheese is low calorie and packs a flavorful punch (so you don't need much), but it also has a lot of nutritional value.

Anyway, the pizza is a whole wheat crust topped with organic pizza sauce, grilled onion, Roma tomato, fresh basil, soft goat cheese, and organic chicken sausage. I ate a third of this baby for a total of only 450 calories, and I am so satisfied.

For the kids

So the fundraiser went so incredibly well. It was amazing (except for the sick kid part), and I am so thankful to all my friends and family who supported the effort. Look at those desserts at the bake sale! We raised $12,000 to help with their medical bills.

I have been so focused on putting that dinner together. This week I have taken a few deep breaths and realized that Christmas almost here, so it is time to start preparing. I went ahead and ordered darling little Christmas cards, only to realize after ordering that they won't be here until December 24th. Sigh.

My motto this year is "Keep it simple." We are doing just that. Our decorations are simple, our gifts are simple, our cookies will be simple, and well, I guess our cards will be late.

Simple just feels right for us this year, and it is not because I am not in the spirit. I am, but what is important feels different. Just spending time and being with family makes me so happy. Watching the kids purposely be overly sweet to one another if only because they are trying to impress the Shelf Elf is enough.

Christmas is for the kids.

Life is Good, but sometmes it sucks

As always, life is busy and full. And that is great, in my opinion.

Right now, I am busy planning a spaghetti dinner benefit for my brother's family. My nephew James was diagnosed with lymphoma about five weeks ago, and it has been life changing, even for me, and I am just the aunt.

There are so many things that are different. I have another little child around, my three year -old neice, who is staying with us right now, but who misses her mommy so much. It breaks my heart. No matter how many hugs and kisses and snuggles I give her, I am not her mommy. Meg's mommy is at the hospital with James being the best mommy she can be.

What has changed the most are my thoughts. And that change is too difficult to explain for now, but the main contemplation is how good people really are, and how much this all still sucks in spite of that. It is hard to balance, but I am so deeply grateful for the outpouring of support my family, friends, and community have shown for my brother and his family.

Boy

Look at that dirty face! I love how his expression reads "What, Mom?" His new word is "Why?" To which you answer his question, explain why, only to have him ask again, "Why?" It is so stinkin' adorable.

He is crossing over from baby to boy. He is out of the crib, his Bobby (pacifier) has been replaced by a stuffed Build-A-Bear, who significantly goes by Bobby Bear, but he is still in diapers, and thank God, still napping.

I never would have guessed that the time would pass so quickly.

The Project

I started this post on Labor Day, but never ended up finishing it. My husband started building a deck that weekend, and I think I thought that it would only take a few days. Boy, was I wrong, and wow, what a big job something like this is. Brent has never embarked on such a project, but I am so proud of him now that it is near finished. It is beautiful. This will be a place for lots of family fun. Good times.


Day 1 -This is just before the digging of the post holes which were then filled with concrete. You can't so much tell by the picture, but this auger is one scary piece of machinery. I was seriously frightened for his life when he started using that. Thank goodness there were only eight holes to dig!

Day 2- A lot of cutting and measuring. Re-cutting and re-measuring. My dad came over to help on this day.


We had some Three Floyd's Pride & Joy stashed in the fridge. This is one of my current faves. We laugh at the picture on the label. It reminds us of the Snow Miser. My kids love that stuff at Christmas time.





He has worked everyday after work until nightfall. He has been a little obsessive, but I don't really mind.


And some progress. We can walk on it. We will have a nice shady deck in the afternoons. The deck floor is in, let's have a dance party. Now it is time for the rails.



Good times.

Patch

Seriously, this has never happened to me before, we are building a deck this way, and have been spending a lot of time outside. We sat down in the grass to eat some crackers, and we noticed a patch.


Look closer.
Do you see what I see?




Look again.



We didn't pick, but we counted at least twelve in our lucky patch. Amazing.

Smarty Pants

This is that darling picture that I was talking about earlier in the week. This little guy loves preschool more than I ever thought he would! We are working on his letters, but he has some smarts that just amaze me. A couple nights ago, he started rattling off animals and where they live. "Mom, pandas live in China, right? And tigers are from Asia and lions live in Africa in a savannah, right?"

As a teacher, I was always aware of how children have different intelligences, and how they learn in different ways. I was always so excitement to discover what those individual smarts and learning styles. So often, especially in reading, it was just being able to tap into those special interests of the child. But what a delight to discover and recognize these in your own children!

Allison comes home from school singing cute little songs and pretending she is a singer in High School Musical, and then I have this little boy who would be in heaven if I were to let him watch Animal Planet all day.