Pizza Parlor Fun

Hannah has been dying to have some friends over to play, so we finally arranged to make that happen. Her friends, Audrey & Isabel, came to spend part of the day with us today. In an attempt to do something more creative than just a sandwich for lunch and just dragging out toys the whole time (or just watching a movie), I got the girls some aprons to decorate and all the ingredients for them to make their own pizzas.

First, we decorated aprons with fabric markers.

Hannah's design

Audrey's work

Jacob, who LOVES pizza, wanted to join the fun. Not so much the apron decorating fun, but the pizza making AND eating fun. Here, he's making his crust and spreading it in the pan.

Isabel is adding sauce and cheese. (I made the crusts for the girls, so all they had to do was add toppings.)

Hannah likes cheese, as you can tell from the large handful she just grabbed!

Audrey is going for perfection.

Hannah's cheese pizza.

Audrey and Isabel both added pepperoni. Yum!!! Doesn't it make you hungry just to look at it? I was smart in not making my own pizza. I was able to eat plenty just from eating what the girls didn't want.

Our Local Swimming Hole

It was SO hot outside today. It was either lay inside in the air conditioning all day long or head for the pool. Lucky for me, my sister has a pool! She's out of town right now, and I'm supposed to take care of the pool and garden anyway, so we made the most of it this afternoon. The whole family went - - a rare treat. Usually, it's just me and the kids or me and a kid or two. Samuel didn't really want to go today (he wanted to play Wii instead), but we didn't give him an option. We all had fun. We played in the pool for almost two hours; hopefully our sunscreen worked! Don't worry Ann - - we put up all the pool toys before leaving.

Jacob's taking it easy.

So is Samuel.

Hannah is enjoying an orange dreamsicle. Mmm, one of my favorites!

Hannah finally gets a turn in the boat.

Yes, they can swim and not just float on tubes and in boats.

Hannah is still working on her dive. I think she's actually pretty good. Much better than me!

Revolutionary Berries

A disclaimer first - - - I have been spending a lot of time reading the Pioneer Woman's blog, so I decided to get my camera out while in the kitchen this afternoon. I am in no way saying that these are Pioneer Woman worthy.

I was looking for fun, 4th of July treats to make and discovered this recipe for Revolutionary Berries. Hannah loves strawberries, and it definitely looked like something easy enough for her to make.

The recipe called for melting white chocolate chips, but I got a big block of Almond Bark instead. I love Almond Bark and can just lick it out of the bowl. Evidently Hannah can too.

Then, you need some blue sugar crystals.

Melt the Almond Bark in the microwave, stirring several times. And of course tasting to make sure it's ok.

Dip the strawberries into the melted Almond Bark. Try to cover the bottom two-thirds of the berry. Make sure there's still red berry showing on top.

Then, dip the berry into the blue sugar. Try to make the bottom third of the berry as blue as possible.

Lay the berries on wax paper so that they can dry and that the Almond Bark can harden. (I'm going to put mine in the fridge so that they'll be nice and chilled.)

A fun and easy patriotic treat! Happy 4th!