Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was Creative Genius's sixth birthday. My grandparents, who live about three hours away, came last weekend to to celebrate, plus on Friday we went to the fair (I'll write about that in another post). So, he pretty much had a four-day party. He had a good time!

Here is the cake I got to make him. I enjoyed decorating it, as it was easy and quick and I didn't have to worry about it being perfect, but still was able to practice my cake decorating skills. As you can see, he likes cowboys. :)

Hope you had a happy birthday, Creative Genius!

Love,

Sissy

Rosh Hashana

Today is Rosh Hashana - the Jewish new year! L'Shana Tova (A Good Year)! May you have a sweet new year, filled with joy.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering what this thing is all about, so run on over to Mother Dear's blog and read the great post she wrote, to learn all about it. I could tell you myself, but she did such a good job explaining, I'll let her. :)

Make sure to leave her a comment to expressing your thanks!

Quick Homemade Pizza Recipe

This pizza recipe is the easiest and quickest yeast dough recipe I've seen yet. It takes about 45 minutes from start to finish - with no dough rising! Mom found the recipe on Biblical Womanhood. Makes two pizzas.

2 Tbsp. active dry yeast

2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. salt

4 Tbsp. vegetable or olive oil

5 cups of flour

First, put mix your yeast and warm water together, setting in a warm spot to dissolve the yeast (I put mine on top of the fridge.) This takes about 15 minutes.

While you are waiting for your yeast to dissolve, mix the rest of the ingredients together in a large bowl. Then, mix in your yeast water.

Dump onto a a floured surface and knead into a smooth dough (about 5 minutes).

Roll out and press onto a lightly oiled pizza pan. We don't have pizza pans, so I just used two regular sized jelly roll pans.

Next, add your toppings. I did one pizza cheese and pineapple, and one half pineapple, half extra cheese.


Bake at 450 degrees F. for about 12 to 15 minutes or until the crust looks crispy and lightly browned.


Then, enjoy!


And look - there was almost a whole pizza left, so we had that for lunch the next day.



By the way... When I made this, I doubled the recipe and made four pizza crusts, separating the dough into four balls, putting two in the freezer for the next pizza dinner. So, next time I'll just defrost the dough balls, spread them out in greased pans, add the toppings and bake!


Topping suggestions:

For a veggie pizza:

• tomato sauce (spaghetti sauce is fine)


• mozzarella cheese


• chopped peppers, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, olives, spinach

For Hawaiian pizza:

• tomato sauce


• mozzarella cheese


• chopped pineapple


• sausage

For Chicken BBQ:

• Barbecue sauce


• chicken


• mozzarella cheese

For Taco pizza:

• refried beans

Put on after baking:

• sliced tomatoes


• lettuce leaves


• ground beef (hot) cooked with taco seasoning
  

Gardening

For the past couple of days my family has been outside, working on our yard. We've planted three fruit trees, pruned one of our large lilac bushes, weeded our little raspberry garden and re-planted some tomato and squash plants. It feels good to be out in the fresh, crisp air getting things done! I think the boys especially enjoyed it.

A couple of months ago some family friends were generous enough to give us some little raspberry plants from their yard. We really don't have a garden, so Mother Dearest (loveliest of women) made a little area of dirt and compost behind our house by our shed.

Now, I know this sounds a little different...but we didn't actually weed our so-called "garden" - just watered it. So, of course, a bunch of thriving weeds sprung up. But along with those gigantic weeds came little tomato and squash plants, whose seeds were part of the compost we made last year.

We were very surprised and happy that our new friends had found a nice home in our yard, but we figured the raspberries needed a little room. On the first day we all started working outside, Mother Dearest (loveliest of women) got Active Boy and I weeding the overgrown area, to be able to see what was what, and try to let our raspberry plants breathe. After a bit, Active Boy left saying he needed a break, and never came back. :) So, I was left to finish the job.

After getting the little garden weeded, Mother Dearest (loveliest of women) replanted the tomato and squash plants, putting them in pots. She set up a little area in our sun room to put the pots in, hoping they would survive and not freeze this winter.

Obviously, you can tell our squash are not doing too well, so they just might have to be recycled right back in to the compost bin outside, but our tomatoes seem to be doing just fine. Maybe we'll get some fresh tomatoes this fall!

Our raspberry plants are now all ready for winter, with some leaves and compost over the dirt on top of their roots (so the they don't freeze). Even though I kind of enjoy weeding, it will be nice to have an easier time weeding our little garden.

Well, that's all for now. My next post: Pizza Making. Stay tuned!

A Day At The Park

As we wave goodbye to summer, let this be a tribute to the sunny days and warm nights. Get your snow boots out... it's going to be a cold one!

Dress Up Fun

My siblings love to dress up. We've had army guys, cow boys, pirates, princesses, super heros, robots - you name it - they've been in our house before!

Today Mom and I stopped by St. Vincent de Paul and picked up some dress up clothes (as well as a few other things :) that were out for Halloween (no, we don't celebrate it, just use it as a good opportunity to add to our dress up stash :) for the boys and MIT #2.

We bought the boys a race car outfit, a Superman outfit and a super hero outfit. MIT #2 received a princess dress and a bright pink sequin dress (who wouldn't want one of those??? :). While the littles were napping, I added the new items to our two dress up boxes - one for boys and one for girls - and put them out in the sun room. When Creative Genius, Mini Active Boy and MIT #2 found the boxes after waking up, they had a blast!

Love,

Another Great Giveaway

Just thought I'd let you know (and get myself entered in twice :)...that Miss Amanda, over at The Daily Planet, is having a Nola Meadows Jewlery giveaway right now until September 26th. Head on over and enter to win your favorite neaklace, bracelet or cute pair of earrings!

Baby MIT

Remember how I told you, what, like a little more than three weeks ago, that Baby MIT was crawling? Well, guess what she's doing now - at six months old. Pulling herself up. Yes, really. I'm tellin' ya - this girl is a wild woman. :)

I think it was about four or five days ago when I was sitting in our school room in a low chair, with Baby MIT crawling around at my feet. All of a sudden she puts her hands on the chair and gets up on her knees, then stands up, grinning! Mom predicted she would start walking at ten months, just like all the boys did. I guess time will tell...

Recent School Assignment

My Summer of 2008

Written by Serenity, September 2008

This last summer has been a fun time for me. Although it wasn’t as eventful as other summers I’ve had, I’ve had a good time here at home with my family, enjoying the hot days.

In the early stages of the summer, when it was just starting to get hot, we lugged out the pool. It was still dirty and slimy from last year’s swimming, and took a few days to get it clean. Our first time swimming in it, on a quiet Shabbat afternoon, was quite cold. Although the rest of us got used to it after a while and started swimming around, mini-active boy and M.I.T. #2 nearly froze their buns off and were hesitant to do much. To my surprise, the next day they were walking around in the water with ease, and mini-active boy was even going down on his knees. We enjoyed the pool all summer.

Not too long into the warm summer months, I started a blog. I had been keeping up on a couple of other blogs I liked, and thought it might be fun to have one of my own, but never brought up the subject with my parents. One morning, Mom told me she had started a blog called Fresh Thoughts from the Laundry Room the night before, and found it very easy to make. She then suggested I start one of my own! About a week or so later Femininity in a Feminist World was created, and I wrote my first post. After two months from starting my blog, I still enjoy keeping it updated and new. I have been encouraged by other blogs written by young ladies striving to be more like the Lord. All in all, starting a blog has been a good experience, and I think it will just keep on getting better as I get more and more familiar with the blog world.

The next exiting event of this summer was Wednesday, July 23rd – my fifteenth birthday. That day was a busy, fun and surprising one. In the morning, I went into my room to find many gifts scattered throughout my bedroom. After putting on my new outfit that was on my bed, and getting myself ready for the day, I went downstairs to find a card on the table. When everyone was in the room, I opened it. Dad and Mom shared some loving and encouraging words, then broke some news: I wasn’t going to have a bedtime anymore, and that we were taking a trip over the mountains the following night. Wahoo! :)

In addition to all those great things, I also started a two day sewing class on the 23rd. Dad took me out for cini-minis (what else?) that day, and we rushed back so Mom and I could drive down to the class. The class was from 10 – 12 both mornings, and I learned a lot in those four hours. The girls and I in my class got to make a little throw pillow, bag and a hand purse with our names embroidered on it. That was fun! Through making those things I feel like I started to really understand the basics of sewing. Now I’m thankful to be able to make something simple, without feeling lost the whole time.

After the last sewing class on Thursday morning, it was time to pack everything for the three day, three night trip. I had already packed some things the night before, so after finishing up my stuff, I helped Mom by watching the kids while she finished packing everything. At 11:00 that night, we stopped to pick Dad up from work, and then off we drove to the freeway to get going. We arrived at about three in the morning to Grampy and Gram’s house in Everett, due to some tire problems by Seattle. We visited lots of friends and family while on our visit, and even got to stop by our old church. We left early Sunday afternoon feeling exhausted, but happy, from our trip. I really enjoyed that weekend!

At the end of the summer we took a two week course of swimming lessons. Mom and I were with Mini-active boy and MIT #2 in the mommy-and-me class, and Active Boy and Creative Genius were in Level One together. Everyone had fun, and the boys and MIT #2 improved their swimming skills a good bit. At the end of the two weeks, we were each pleased to receive free passes good for one free swim. We hope to take a trip to the pool soon to practice what we’ve learned and to have some swimming fun.

About two weeks before starting school, Mom and I finished MIT #2's and my bedroom. We started with the closet, but ended up organizing, straitening and decorating my whole room. It took a few days to get it all done, and I am sure glad we spent the time! The Ladies Lounge looks great now, and it’s nice to finally have it done. I love the turnout!

Not long after decorating my room, Mom finished the home school room she had been working on, and on September 8th, our first day of school began. After a fun filled summer, I’m ready now to take up my school books again!

Stamping Fun

I have just learned the art of creating my own stationary! It all started a little more than a week ago on my weekly date with Mom.

While we were out and about, we stopped by the Craft Warehouse to check out some stamps that were on clearance. Mom had seen them there on a clearance table a few days before, and mentioned that it might be a good way to save money, instead of buying stickers, since I have a good amount of pen-pals and love decorating my letters. Here's what I ended up buying:

My mom happened to know that the Dollar Tree was carrying stamp pads at the time, so we drove on over. There were five colors to choose from, surprisingly enough since this is a dollar store (you know how they are), and I bought a few of each color I picked. The colors? Red, blue, pink and purple.

I had a couple of letters waiting to be written, so, what did I do when I sat down to write them? Tried out my new stamps, of course! Since I like having lines on my paper so I don't slant, I used some lined school paper and cut off the left side where the binder holes were. Then, I used my imagination (wouldn't Anne-with-an-"e" be proud? :) and started stamping away. Here's how the letters turned out:

All ready to go:

For fun, I decorated some plain envelopes too. With one of my letters I included a photo of myself to send to a new pen-pal, and to Princess S, I sent a recipe card (made with a stamp) with a granola recipe written on it.

I love that recipe stamp! I originally bought it to go in my hope chest, but decided to start using it now. :)

How do you like to decorate your letters? Do you have any creative ideas to share? I would love to hear them!

Love,