Friday at last!

I can't believe it's Friday again, the past two weeks have flown by. Our oldest daughter got sick on my birthday (Feb. 7th) and it has been a long haul since then. After one trip to Urgent Care and three trips to the pediatrician we found out she had strep throat and mono at the same time. We finally had to take her to the emergency room for an injection of antibiotics and praise God she is getting well. It was a scary time because she seemed to get worse each day for about a week and a half, it really had us worried. We were up with her for several night fighting off fever, coughing, chills, etc. As I watch her recover from this illness I am just so amazed at how gracious God is. Our children are so precious and often times that is really made clear when they get sick.

Next week we will be back to schooling. I've got some information to share about a new healthy eating plan our family has been following that has been a true blessing as well as a new Bible study post to put up. God's will, those will come soon.

Have a blessed weekend!

Jesus Loves Me

Our one year old is so sweet! I always sing Jesus Loves me to her before naps and before bed at night. Last night at bed she began to sing along as always and I realized she had created her own lyrics. She even remembered them today at nap time.

"Jesus will help me. Bible, Bible. Daddy, Daddy, me."

Too cute. :0)

Calzones

The next few days are going to be kind of busy. My parents might come visit this weekend plus my husband will be off on Saturday which is very rare. So, today I thought I'd make something for lunch that would last a few days. We had some leftover sauce, cheese and pepperoni from the last time we made pizzas so I thought calzones would be fun to make. We ended up with enough for lunch today plus two more lunches and two focaccia breads. Not bad for one afternoon of work. I think it took two hours total and that was with little ones under foot and coaching homeschool assignments from the kitchen at the same time. I've used this pizza crust recipe for a long time and we love it.

Pizza Crust

1 cup warm water
small squeeze of honey
1 package dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour

Stir hot water, sugar and dry yeast until blended. Add oil, salt and flour. (I use a food processor). Stir until mixture forms a soft ball. Let rest 30 minutes. Roll out or stretch to desired thickness then place on a pizza stone or cookie sheet. Top with your favorite pizza sauce and toppings. Bake 500 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

I usually use my Kitchen Aid and make a quadruple batch of dough. For calzones, I just pinch off baseball ball sized pieces, roll them into circles and add sauce, cheese and pepperoni to the very center. Then just fold over and fold the bottom of the dough half-circle over the top and pinch shut. I cook them at 500 degrees for 7 minutes each on a pizza stone .

For the focaccia I cook the same as a pizza, only just top it with a little extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of dried and/or fresh herbs, a little bit of mozzarella cheese and some thinly sliced red onion. Delicious!

Now tomorrow I'm going to work on a couple days worth of dinner and hopefully get the girls hair washed and braided. I cut my own hair and it feels so light now, it's great! It was almost to the middle of my back but now it is shoulder length and feels much more healthy. Split ends are not fun, especially on long curly hair. I will try to get my 6 year old (the budding photographer) to take a picture so I can add it to the blog soon.

Hope you're having a blessed day! I will be starting back up the Romans Bible Study next time, sorry it has taken me so long!

Pretty Things For The Little Girls

I'll be honest, decorating is not one of my strong points. I want to have a nicely decorated home but I guess I am just a minimalist at heart and like things simple and kind of plain. My girls, however, are not this way. They want ruffles and flowers and all the pretty girly things that they love. And who could blame them? Every store we enter seems to sell things cuter than the one before. So many choices!

Ever since we moved into this house, I have put off decorating their bedroom. I just could not find anything that seemed just right. I am making quilts for the girls and I wanted something to vibe off of the nice bright colors I am using.

My mom, on the other hand, is a decorator extraordinaire and she always knows just the thing to buy! She bought some plain frames and painted them along with a little sign that says "LOVE". All I had to do was go on-line and fine some pretty pictures to print out to fill the frames. Instant art! The girls love everything and we will be hanging it all up this weekend.


Now if I could just find time to finish those quilts! :0)

Catching Up...

Just getting caught up on things around the house today and thought I would post a picture of a new "blankie" I made for my one year old. I have a set of Provo Craft Knifty Knitters and thought I would use one to make a sort of patch work blanket for our daughter's crib. I like how it turned out except the part where the panels are stitched together shows more than I would like. But baby girl loves it and that is all that matters. It has sort of a cute country sort of charm ;0) Baby girls calls is "Me me". Next project will be matching patchwork quilts for all 4 girls. That should take some time but will be much more fun because quilting is my passion!