Yummy, yummy dinner

The girls get new readers sent home every week.  This week one of Aidyn's books was title "yummy yummy" and since we read it about 100 times it has been the catch phrase for the week.  I tried a new recipe for dinner this week and guess what...it was yummy yummy! (and easy!)
Mini deep dish pizzas:

I bought pizza dough from the Publix bakery.  You'll need your desired toppings--we used garlic & oregano seasoned tomatoes, black olives, mushrooms & salt and pepper.  Of course you'll need your mozzarella too!

Coat your muffin pan with olive oil, fill with a  piece of dough, add salt & pepper to taste, then add your favorite ingredients.

Give babies dough to play with.  (not sure why he isn't wearing any clothes!)

These little girls are good pizza makers!

Bake on 450 degrees for 11 minutes and viola! You've got yummy yummy pizzas!  The kids enjoyed making their own and have given me new ideas on the toppings they want next time we make them.

Roll Tide Roll!

We took the kids to Tuscaloosa for Alabama's homecoming this year.  We had no intention of going to the game since it started at 8:00pm.  Seriously, isn't that too late for a game to start?  The day was wonderful.  We got an early start and beat a lot of the crowd getting into  T town.

We hung out on the quad and enjoyed the festivities for a while.

The girls sported some A's on their cheeks.  

Houston shared some of his sweet love with Hollyn.

The girls hung out with Big Al.

We were able to meet up with several friends.  We watched the parade with these lucky girls!

We're hoping the girls don't become Heisman Trophy winners!

We all had a great and exhausting day.

Birthday Fun!

We decided to combine all of the kid's birthdays this year into one party.  We had a big friend party last year for the girls so we decided to scale back a little this year so we had family and the girls invited their best friend.  We had a fun day celebrating at Old Baker Farm.

We had a princess & Elmo party.

Houston loved his new Elmo.

We picked some pumpkins.

Some of us just played in the dirt.  Please help us pray that the dirt washes out of the clothes!

We visited a few animals.

Note to self--take advantage of photo ops before jumping off of hay stacks, riding dusty wagons & crawling in pumpkin patches.  The kids had a wonderful time--they were absolutely filthy too.  It's so hard to believe our sweet girls will soon be six and baby Houston is almost two!  We're so thankful and blessed to have these precious children.

Projects projects projects

Here is a little update of some of the things that have been keeping posts few and far between...

Chalk up about 30 hours of work on this little project.  Who knew signing up to be room mom for a kindergarten class would get you working on projects like this!  The girls' class had to make a scarecrow for a fundraiser for the school.  Their class is the "Sea Friends" so we I made an octopus scarecrow.  Looks harmless, but pulling this out of air was not too easy!  The kids loved it.  

The girls are modeling their new Fall outfits I made.  Houston's outfit was bought not made--He did not want to be left out. Aidyn's favorite animal for the day was Big Al who had to be included in the pic as well.  Gotta love those girls--never know what to expect.

A little catching up...

OK, so we've been so busy lately I don't know if we'll ever catch up on what's been going on.  Here are a couple of things that might be of interest.

A doe ran in front of me a few weeks ago so I slowed down and a few seconds later a fawn comes walking across the road behind her.  Since then Houston has been crazy over "baby deer".  Coincidentally, my parents neighbors have taken in two "baby deer" who had been orphaned.  We had to take a field trip!

There are no words to describe Houston's excitement.  The animal whisperer himself wasn't at home so we couldn't pet them.  He's the only one they are comfortable with.  They are still being bottle fed.  So very cute.  He's planning to give them to an animal refuge once they are older since they may not have a fair chance of making it in the wild.  These caretakers certainly have a gift from God and a huge love of animals.  Such a wonderful gift.

Houston also had some fun playing in Popa's truck.

In addition to our "baby deer" fun the girls have also had a field trip with school.

They actually didn't go anywhere- it was considered an in-house field trip.  Miss Annie, a special speaker that will visit them 6 times this year, came and spoke to their class about the weather.  Even though they didn't "go" anywhere it is considered a field trip and they wear their field trip attire.  The girls enjoyed it and learned that you can make your own thunder noise by popping a balloon.  I'm sure they learned more than that (I hope), but that was the takeaway they shared with us.  Hopefully more catching up will come sooner than later.

Even though it's sooo hot, summer's over....

We took the kids to the fair for our summer finale.  We all had a blast....

The girls are growing up.  We took them two years ago and they were content on the calm and "baby" rides.  Two years later a different story.  They were all about the thrill rides--still age appropriate of course.

It's a sad moment for parents when you have to persuade your children to ride the once loved and now "too slow and babyish" carousel.

Houston joined in the fun on a train ride.

We ate some yummy and healthy fair food.

Notice the always stylish Houston is wearing a smocked fair scene on his outfit.

Of course we had to take time for silly pictures.

Our big girls fed an elephant and weren't afraid.

This is our elephant friend.

It was an appropriate ending to a wonderful summer.  We're all ready for Fall so we can have some relief from the heat!

Houston's first day of school

Houston has been in school for 2 weeks now and he is really enjoying his class and teachers.

He was very proud to show me his new backpack.  

Complete with his name monogrammed of course--the school provided this treat so his mama didn't have to do it!

He is going two days a week and goes to music and movements classes.  They are already working on his letters--they work on 3 letters a month.  In movement class they are learning balance.  

Catching up

I don't know why I find it so hard to find time to update this blog!  I'll try to do a post in the near future of some random projects that have been taking so much time, but in the meantime.....

There has been some cheering for the Tide....

more fun on the Lake Martin....

and more visits from our "deer" friends.  Hopefully more updates coming sooner rather than later.

In case you didn't know.....

Fruit snacks will always make Houston happy.....

Seriously, they go with him everywhere he goes!

Also, you needed to know that these are the cutest ballerinas ever!

Can they strike a pose or what?  They are back in ballet for the year and loving it already!

A few new neighbors....

All of our children are morning people.  That would totally come from their father.  We've seen some deer in the back yard lately and haven't been able to catch them with the camera until a couple of days ago...

I know it's hard to see from the picture but there were three bucks at the same time!  The kids, even Houston, were so excited.  The last time we saw them the 3 bucks had 6 doe with them.  We'll keep watching for them and hopefully get some better shots of them--with the camera of course!