Sunday

I sewed the ties that Kai and Luke are wearing. I am pretty proud of them. So after church I took a few extra picture of Luke with his adorable tie on!

I love this little boy!

Olivia's First Haircut

It seems like it has been forever since Olivia had a first, but today she had her first real haircut! He has has gotten so long but the ends really need a trim. I reassured her that it would still be long.

These are her "before" pictures outside the Salon. She NEVER looks right at the camera so we had to take a few!

The back

She tried not to smile the whole time she was getting her hair washed!

Almost time to start cutting.

And now there is no turning back. Because he hair is curly it doesn't seem that long, but looking at it like that shows it really is!

The "after" shots

I LOVE it. Now we can do so much more with it, and even leave it down.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz. red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside. Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together really good with another wire whisk. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.Bake for about 30 minutes.After about ten minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. Then make the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups confectioners’ sugar. Beat cream cheese and butter on high until creamy. Add vanilla. Then, add the sugar in batches. Scrape down the sides in between each addition. And frost away.

Red Velvet Cupcakes are my families favorite and we make them for just about everything we celebrate.

Kai's Pirate Party

Dr. Seuss's Birthday

Olivia's 1st Grade Choir Concert

Today finally arrived for my sweet Olivia. She has been singing around the house, in the bathroom mirror, and in her bed before she goes to sleep for at least two weeks now. She couldn't wait for her very first Choir Concert.

So here she is on her BIG day!

Striking a pose and looking adorable as always.

The proud parents.

Am I the only one wondering when she got this big and where my little baby girl went?!?!?

Brotherly love.

We arrived early (I may or may not be an obnoxious mom who wants a good seat) and it must have felt like church two days in a row to Luke. But once he saw Olivia on stage it was well worth the wait! What could be better then a proud wave from this baby?
It was a wonderful performance. They sang 15 songs, and I could have watched her up there for 15 more. Although, I was holding the video camera, and I am not as confident that my arms would have lasted 15 more. She did fantastic. Afterward she asked me if I noticed someone and then described them. I had to be honest and say that I didn't notice a single other kid up there except my sweet little Ollie. She had my undivided attention. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I felt like if I did by the end of the performance she would be 12. That is how fast I feel like she is growing.
Then I asked for something small, something easy, something I knew would be perfect. A picture of Olivia with the boys, and this is the best I got. HA
Brian got flowers for Olivia on the way home from work. She loved them.
Olivia and her super sweet teacher Mrs. Cadman who will retire at the end of this year after 35 years of teaching. I think that is pretty awesome!

Great job Olivia! I love your guts!

Sunday

Happy/Crazy Sunday

Lukie pulled the fire alarm at church today. When I was only about one foot away from him. Embarrassing!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Every Friday night in the West's house is Pizza night. Brian has become the master of pizza dough and yummy toppings. Whenever anyone is over for our pizza night they too fall in love with Brian's recipes. BBQ is our family fav!

• Dough ingredients
• 2 chicken breast, thawed and diced.
  
• 1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese.
• 5 strips of bacon or 1/4 cup of ham. ( Bacon is better, but the ham will do if you're short on fat back)
  
• 1/2 cup of thinly sliced red onion (The more the better, whomever you are making this for will love you so much they won't care about your onion breath)
  
• 1/2 cup of tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 shredded Parmesan cheese.

Pizza Dough

1 package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/ 45 degrees C)

2 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons white sugar

1. In a small bowl, dissolved yeast in warm water. Let stand until cream, about 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups bread flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar, and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Beat well until stiff dough has formed. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, and about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. Cover with your favorite sauce and toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Chicken

• Before you prep your dough, thaw and marinate in your favorite BBQ sauce. Sweet Baby Ray's is the best in my book and you can get a big ol' double pack a Costco.
  
• While the pizza is in the oven cook the chicken on the stove in a pan on medium-high heat. Ensure you add all of the BBQ sauce to the pan as well as some extra for good measure. You want enough sauce so that it lightly caramelizes on the chicken. Once the chicken is almost fully cooked (8-10 minutes) turn down the heat to medium-low so that you don't burn your nice gooey sauce covered chicken bits.

BBQ Pizza Sauce

• 1/2 cup of tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 shredded Parmesan cheese.

Prep dough according to recipe.

• When proofing dough add one good pinch of sugar to the warm water for each yeast packet ( one per batch)
• Add the rest of the sugar to the yeast mixture just before adding it to the flour mixture.
• Mix flour and salt prior to adding the oil, then add the yeas mixture. I prefer to do this with the wisp attachment.
  
• If using a Kitchen Aid or other similar mixer: Mix, flour, oil, and yeast mixture, and then add flour in 1/4 cup increments until the dough starts to pull away from the side of the bowl, then switch to the dough hook and kneed for about 5 minutes. The longer you kneed the better the rise you will get.
• Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place for atleast 15 minutes. The dough will be better if you let it rise for more like an hour, but we normally are all starving and want pizza NOW, so a short rise will do just fine.
• While dough rises prepare your sauce and toppings.
• Once risen, dump dough out on a lightly floured surface. I recommend using a large cutting board, like the bamboo one we have. This keeps the flour contained to the board and off of your counter and subsequently your floor.
• Loosly form into a mount. DO NOT KNEED IT, if you do it will be difficult to stretch out to a full sized pizza.
• Lightly flour the top and make sure your hands are nice and floury.
• Slide your hands under the dough, palms down so the dough is resting on the back of your hands, now lift the dough up and form the pizza. As you lift the dough up at an angle it will start to sag down on the side, this is where you turn it to let the other side stretch. Nothing fancy just a couple of turns to stretch out the dough, no tossing necessary. (unless you're feeling froggy). then place the dough back on the floured surface and finish forming the pizza by stretching out the uneven sides.
• Transfer the dough to your stone or baking sheet. If using a stone I recommend preheating it so that it is not cold when you put the pizza on it. It does not have to be super hot, just not cold.
• Top with BBQ pizza sauce, 3/4 cup of cheese, and onion. (Add ham now if using).
• Place in oven on bottom rack; 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted.
• Pull pizza out, top with chicken, bacon, and last 1/4 cup of cheese. Brush crust with olive oil so the crust will brown.
  
• Place back in oven on middle rack, remove when newly added cheese is melted and crust is golden brown.
• Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, cut, and pig out.

Sharing this recipe at Kelly's Korner today

You Know What They Say.....

..... big brother's who sit on their little brothers lap,

Stay Together!

Drop Him

Last night at dinner, during best and worst, Olivia shared that her worst of the day was a boy in her class pushing her. I can only described Brian’s anger with the amount of time steam flew up from his ears, 63.5 seconds. Then he eventually asked her what she did. Like a lady she asked him to stop, then she told the teacher.

This is where Brian’s expertise came in. He told her that if it happened again to (and I quote) “drop him.”

I just shook my head knowing there wasn’t anything I could say at this point. He was already moving this discussion from the dinner table to the family room. I suspect so he would have more space to demonstrate how he wanted her to “drop him.” Understandably the kitchen table got in the way of that.

Here is what transpired:

Why Would I? means Yes Ma'am in Spanish

Asking Kai to clean or pick anything up is like asking him to stab Olivia in her sleep. At least that is what you'd think he’d been asked to do by his over the top reaction, coupled with sobs of

“Don’t you know I am only 5”

“I am just a kid”

“Kids are supposed to have fun. Why don’t you want your kids to have fun?”

Oh the theatrics.

On one particularly blissful day sprinkled with a little Kai drama I asked him to do a Laundry Round Up. His immediate response,

“WHY WOULD I?”

I followed, ready to end his life or at least his day of fun. To which he quickly replied,

“Why would I? means Yes Ma’am in Spanish.”

All In A LONG Days Work

Saturday mornings are the only day throughout the week that I have to sleep in, and yet it is the only day of the week that I get up BEFORE my 6:30am alarm. This type of frustration can only be summed up by singing Alanis Morissette's "Isn't It Ironic" ......... don't ya think!

In some other crazy twist of fate I ended up being the first person outside working on the yard. Before I got started I took some before pictures. When ever I take before pictures I always have high hopes for the project. I don't have many before pictures. Maybe I am not quite the optimist I consider myself to be.

7am Before:

5pm After:

All that with only 1 down poor of rain right at lunch time! Miracle, no just an answer to my prayers! Ha

We couldn't be happier with how it turned it out, and the mulch has now officially survived 2 big rains and 3 little sprinkles. That type of excitement can only be expressed through song, "Hey Ya!"

Linked up to DIY by Design

Savvy Southern Style

Marburger Dairy Farm

On Saturday Kai decided to cut his own hair, AGAIN. I tried for 3 days to comb it over because the truth is I LOVE his hair long. Well, it wasn't working and so yesterday morning Brian went into work a little late to cut it. Then Luke said "Baby Next" and climbed into the chair, and after that Brian cut his own hair. They all looked so handsome!

A little later on we headed off to the Marburger Dairy Farm only 15 minutes from our house. We had some wardrobe issues because if Kai is wearing rain boots so is Luke, and we don't have any Luke's size.
This little cow was just his size. However, I think what really won him over was that it wasn't real!
The Mama and her baby.
Kai's pose with the cows.
Then after a while looking at just that mama and her baby I found Luke like this. How long could I ask him to look at the same cow, who wasn't even mooooing.
They were great little listeners and Kai learned so much!
Then all the cows starting coming into the barn, and this is about the time Luke's enthusiasm for cows picked back up.
Although he still wasn't interested in touching them.
Then we headed to the milking house. That big cylinder is where all the pumped milk goes. They milk the cows 2 times a day every day (even Christmas, Birthdays, and Weddings) and each time they get about 5 gallons from each cow. Pretty impressive. Right now she said they milk about 129 cows. Feel free to do the math!
More great listening, I think I know of a little boy who is ready for Kindergarten!
The actual milking room, which for me resembles more of a torture chamber.
Again the pose. We weren't able to touch anything in this room, so I am sure you can imagine all the fun that Luke and I had while we were in there.
Then Ms. Becky asked the children if they remembered what the "thing" between the cows back legs was, and Kai proudly answered "the milking bags." Classy!
We then got to see the babies which was more Luke's cup of tea. He even tried to feed one.

A nice normal smiling picture of Kai, it can't be! HA
Ahhh there we go, that is much more like it boys!
Then the best part! The milk! Kai and I got strawberry and Lukie got Chocolate! YUMMO!
Top that delicious milk off with a mini swing set and we are all in business!
I loved this! Kai being a gentleman and pushing his little friend on the swing. She couldn't even get on at first and so he lifted her up! He can be a little wild and crazy some (ok most) of the time, but he is the sweetest little guy in the planet!
I give this field trip TWO Thumbs WAY UP! If you live in Western PA you have got to go and check it out!