Haircuts

So Levi got his 3rd hair cut at 5 1/2 months! This kid has a lot of hair...

Lucas had lots of fun sitting on the counter entertaining Levi :)

Pizza Recipe

Per Cassie's request here is the pizza recipe I use:

Crust:

Ingredients:

1 3/4 to 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 envelope Fleischmann's Pizza Yeast (1/4 oz or 1 1/2 tsp - This is not the same as bread yeast so I don't know how the outcome would change if bread yeast was used)

1 1/2 tsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup very warm water

3 tbsp oil

Preheat oven to 425

Combine 1 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt in medium sized bowl. Add water and oil. Mix together until well blended; about 1 minute

Add gradually 1/2 cup flour until soft dough ball is formed; will be slightly sticky. Add additional flour if needed to form dough ball.

Knead on a floured surface adding additional flour if needed, until smooth and elastic; about 4 minutes. **Now the recipe says to "With floured hands, press dough out to fill greased pizza pan, OR roll dough to a 12-inch circle and transfer to greased pizza pan** What I do is roll out my dough on wax/parchment paper to probably about a 17 inch circle and then put it on my pizza stone that I have lightly covered in corn meal.

Top as desired with pizza sauce, toppings, and cheese (We use a bag of Kraft Italian cheeses and Brian puts pepperoni on his side)

Bake on bottom oven rack for 12-15 minutes until cheese is bubbly and crust is brown (we are at a higher altitude but we keep it in for 15-16 minutes)

Sauce:

I make my own pizza sauce with cans of tomato sauce, italian seasoning, oregano, basil, parsley, salt, olive oil, and a sprinkle of onion and garlic powder. Sorry I don't measure these, I just add until it looks good. Cook it over a light bowl for about 20 minutes or so. This can be stored in the fridge or freezer.

Levi - 5 months old

Levi is so full of expressions! I have been horrible at doing monthly updates on his progress (for journaling) so this is where he is at.

*Loves to smile and play with his brother

*Weight, quite small - guessing about 13.5 lbs

*Still fits in the bigger 3 month clothes

*Rolls from belly to back, but never from back to belly. He HATES to lay on his belly

*If I put him in a push-up stance, he can hold himself up there and look around

*Loves to sleep on his side

*Still only takes 30 minute naps unless he is being held or in a car seat out and about

*Doesn't like rice cereal yet

*doesn't talk as much as he used to

*LOVES to jump! He goes crazy in his jumper or even if you hold him so that he is standing on your lap or any kind of surface

*Is in desperate need of his 3rd haircut!

*He sits pretty well by himself, but gets extremely sad if he tips over so I still sit next to him

Lucas

Lucas is on this cute little phase of loving to say that he loves things and also that things are delicious. So today for example he loved pennies and thought water was delicious! :) This kid cracks me up. Oh and he also asked if he could hook up the camp trailer (to the truck).

New Traditions

One of the best parts of parenting is coming up with fun new traditions for your little family. Brian has decided that our new tradition should be to make pizza every Saturday night. I am loving it! We are still trying to come up with the most fantastic way to make it, but so far all of the trials have been delicious :)

It is typically a family affair in the kitchen while I am making it. Levi hanging out in his Bumbo being entertained by Brian and Lucas and I in the moving around. While we waited for the pizza to bake Lucas helped me with the dishes (he LOVES to help me with the dish everyday) and this was the first time that he did the silverware ALL BY HIMSELF! He put them all in the right slot and going the right direction. My little smarty pants.

Brother Buddies

I am so glad that my little guys are best buds. I hope that this lasts all through their lives!

Levi was laughing super hard!

Snuggling with Daddy while he was trying to take a nap

Waiting for me to make breakfast

Simple Pleasures

My sister had loaned me an activity center/exersaucer but we put Levi in it and he HATED it! So, I looked on Craigslist and found this super cute jumper for him. Sometimes he absolutely LOVES it. He jumps around like a crazy man and this particular time he was having so much fun while Brian cleaned the carpets that he fell asleep :)

Brian thinks its hilarious to let him hold the juice box and put the straw in his mouth

Lucas is starting to say a lot of "hard" words. He told me "This juice is DELICIOUS!"

Lucas aboslutely LOVES Cars. He got this puzzle for Christmas and makes me help him do it all the time. This particular time I was on the phone when he wanted to make it so I told him he had to wait for a minute. When I got off the phone I went over and he had done this much all by himself! (that was 14 pieces of the 25 piece puzzle). Who knew my little guy was so smart

Pizza Night!

So for the past 5 years Brian has been asking me to make homemade pizza. Now, Brian does a ton of cooking (for himself, since I won't touch meat), so why hasn't he just made it himself? I wish I knew... Anyway, tonight I was feeling adventurous and decided to take on pizza for the first time!


Lucas saw the open bag of cheese and couldn't resist!

I took it away, but when Brian wasn't looking he went and grabbed it again! This kid is a total cheese-aholic

The finished product!


It ended up pretty good, next time it will be better than Pizza Hut! :)

Resolutions

Well I know that I am late on this, but I feel that to keep my resolutions fresh in my mind that I should have them in print to reflect on. Of course there are others that are more personal, but these are things that I have been working on.

* Be grateful EVERY day for the family I have and the wonderful life Brian and I have built for ourselves :)

* Lose my baby weight before swim season

* Be more patient with my babies when they cry for no reason

* Pray for every meal (simple prayers that Lucas can copy)

* Learn to cook a few new things

* Teach Lucas the alphabet and their sounds

* Learn to give myself a "time out" when stressed - I need to cut back on my grey hairs!

* Clean the house before going to bed

* Make Halloween costumes this year!

* Organize myself and my home

* If it's warm, play outside EVERY day