Swimming

How many ways can we love summer? Popsicles by the pool, lots of swimming, smiling sunshine, ahh...

Wicked

Grace and I discovered the musical, Wicked, about a year ago and have enjoyed listening to the music and watching various videos on YouTube. Last fall, I found out that Wicked would be included as one of the Dallas Summer Musical series and I started watching for the tickets to go on sale. This spring, I was able to get tickets and we invited her two BFFs and their moms to go with us as well. We had a huge girls night out and it was fun! We all rode to Dallas together and were able to eat before the show.
This musical was the best I have ever seen! The sets, costumes, music, vocals, were just amazing! I could gush on and on about how much we loved the show.

Here is Grace and Rachel.

Ady and Grace both brought their American girls.

The girls had a blast!

Pizza

After a wonderful afternoon of swimming and popsicles by the pool, we came home and decided that we should have homemade pizza for dinner. I have been making pizza for awhile, but last night's pizza was something special! I think it was the perfect storm of getting every aspect just right. Shane declared it, "The best pizza you have ever made!"

Pizza Dough

1 1/3 cups warm water
1 pkg dry yeast
3-4 cups of flour, approx.
olive oil
2 tsp. salt


In 1/3 cup warm water, dissolve the yeast and let sit for 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of the flour, 2 tablespoons of oil, 1 cup of warm water, the salt and beat with a dough hook until combined. Add more flour as needed, mixing well, until dough holds together in a rough mass. Lightly flour a work surface and knead dough for 10 minutes (I usually go a little less) or until it is smooth. Put dough in an oiled bowl, covered with plastic wrap, to rise until double in size.

While waiting for the dough to rise, you have plenty of time to play with the kids, bake a batch of cookies, watch tv, surf the net, whatever catches your fancy ;)

Get your pizza toppings ready.

I used ground Italian sausage, pepperoni, and onions.
Brown the sausage and set aside. Chop the onions. Shred the cheese. (Or buy the prepackaged, already shredded stuff.)

Oil two 13x11 cookie sheets with olive oil. Punch down the dough and set back out on the floured surface. Divide the dough in half and using a rolling pin, roll out one half of the dough to fit the cookie sheet. (By the way, this was one of the reasons it was so great! The dough should be about a 1/2 inch thick. This makes the crust nice and crunchy.) Place the rolled out dough on the cookie sheet and begin assembling your pizza. Save the other half of the dough for a pizza later in the week, or do the same for that half and make two!

I spread my desired amount of tomato sauce on the dough and then seasoned it by sprinkling salt, pepper, garlic salt, and basil over the top of the sauce. (I don't like to use oregano, it has a bitter quality to it.) Top with the cheese and Italian sausage, pepperoni, and onions. I ran out of shredded mozzarella, but had some fresh mozzarella in the fridge, so I sliced that in little pieces and placed that on the top as well. It was SO good!

Once the pizzas are assembled bake in an oven at 400 degrees until pizzas are golden and bubbly. Enjoy!

Family

Last weekend, after church, we headed out to the farm to meet up with all of my side of the family. My brother, Tom, is leaving for the Marines and basic training this coming week and we had a big going away party for him. We had lots of fun, with a ton of yummy food and lots of people! It is really great to see all of the siblings with all of their significant others and makes for a big, fun group. This was the first time that all of us have been together in quite awhile.

My boys were feeding Grandma's fish.

Here's Uncle Tom and Aunt Esther.

Hayden and Esther were swinging and swinging.

Here are a bunch of girls! Aunt Bekah, Aunt Mia, Aunt Esther and Gracie.

Here is our large and growing family. I'm excited to see what the future has to hold for all of us!

Graduation 2010

Another year has come and gone. This year seemed to drag and fly at the same time! We finished up kindergarten graduation and Gracie's awards ceremony last week. I was very proud of both kids and they finished strong for the year. Gibson has learned how to read and is getting better and better in the school environment. Grace had a successful year as well and made commended on both of her TAKS tests. We were very proud of her.

Here is Grace with Mrs. Gillis.

Here is Grace's 3rd grade class.

This is Gibson's kindergarten class. They were all so cute in their little robes and caps. They had a really cute little program that some music teacher put together. ;)

Here is Gib and his best bud Jonathan.

We are ready to rock and roll for next year!

My hero

Last Saturday morning, Shane was headed to work. We had gotten in late the night before from my brother's graduation and were missing the family reunion that morning because of Shane's schedule. As he turned the corner a couple blocks from our house, he glanced to the side and noticed that this house appeared to have smoke coming out of the garage. (At this time, the smoke wasn't nearly as thick as it is in the picture.) He immediately stopped, along with another lady that was driving by at the same time. Shane told her to call 911 as he ran to the door and started banging. After some frantic banging, a very tired looking, college-aged kid came to the door and had no idea that his house was on fire. He ran back in and grabbed his clothes and the dog and headed back to the front of the house.

Meanwhile, Shane and the other lady, started waking up the neighbors that were on either side. Everyone was still asleep. The cars parked behind the house were completely destroyed. Shane and the kid were trying to move them, but the fire was too hot and the tires started popping.

Everyone was able to get out of their houses safely and the firemen were quickly on the scene.

The garage of the house and the story above it were completely destroyed. They had a lot of smoke damage to the rest of the house as well. It was a very shaky feeling to watch this house in our neighborhood burn. I was very thankful that Shane was where he was supposed to be, at the right time and was able to help keep our neighbors safe!

Ahh...summer...

Summer is finally here! I turned my keys and badge in yesterday and literally whooped and hollered as I skipped and jumped down the hall. What a year! I am in desperate need of a break.

I spent part of the day today roaming the aisles of the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington. Bliss... Hayden went with me and every few minutes he would knock me out of my bliss with a "I'm tired..." "Are we done yet?" "When are we leaving?" Besides that, we had a wonderful time and I have marked the calendar for next year.

The kids are having to adjust to a slower schedule. I realize about this time every year, just how busy we are on a daily basis. The kids are so used to having every second of their day scheduled, that when we are unstructured and free, they don't know what to do with themselves. We will get there again soon. I am looking forward to a wonderful summer full of reading, scrapping, creating, and hanging out with my kids!