Little Davis's Pizzeria

We've had a lot of fun rowing Little Nino's Pizzeria this week, especially knowing that we'd be making our own pizza for our final lesson. Have you ever thought about all the lessons to be learned from eating pizza? No, I'm not talking about the lesson I'm sure we've all had to learn a few times when indulging in Pizza, namely, overeating leads to guilt and weight gain. Instead, I'm talking about nutrition, food groups, digestion, managerial skills required to run a pizza business, measurements, fractions. We even learned about homonyms, such as need and knead. The list really could go on and on and we covered most of that and more in our short daily lessons, all the while having fun together!

And to top it all off, the kids did an excellent job making the pizza. It was absolutely delicious!! It looked home-made and rustic, which is just two of the things that give homemade foods so much charm! They all helped rolling out the dough for the crust. Kristen was in charge of the Spinach Garlic Mushroom Pizza (my favorite), and the boys shared the responsibility of putting together the Canadian Bacon and Pineapple Pizza.

 

  

 

 

By Popular Demand

Coconut Cream Pie-

2 C Milk

1/4 c Corn Syrup

4 Tbs Corn Starch

1/2 C Sugar

2 Egg Yolks

1 Tbs Butter

1 tsp Vanilla

11/2 C Coconut

Mix 1/2 cup milk, corn syrup, corn starch, sugar and egg yolks to form a paste.  Stir in the rest of the milk and cook over low heat stirring constantly until boiling.  Then remove from heat and add butter, vanilla and coconut.  Pour into your pre-baked crust and top with your choice of whipped cream or meringue.  For maximum enjoyment, hide from family members and keep it all for yourself!!  

My dear sweet, sister Tammi says this is the BEST coconut cream pie ever and I'm inclined to agree with her! Try it for yourself and see if you agree.

Lots of Pages

I've gotten behind on posting my Layouts here. There is lots of exciting news in the Digi-scrapping World this week. A brand new store, After 5 Designs, opened yesterday with a ton of fabulous scrappers making their debut into designing: Catherine, Camilla, Amanda, and Jen Anderson along with long-time designer Amy Hutchison! I'm so excited for them and wish them nothing but great success. Holly Designs is guesting at Catscrap, so I have the opportunity to use some of her wonderful designs! Nikki has released a new product at The Digichick today, some beautiful Tied and Twisted Ribbons.

Most everything on this page is from Catherine's new Kit Summer Evenings-

This page uses Nikki's new ribbon and lots more of her goodies-

I couldn't resist snapping a photo of Elie on the piano at Janie's.  This page uses mostly items from Creashen's newest kit, Afternoon Cha.

A page using Milla's new kit, Autumn Leaves-

A page using one of Aja's new kits, Bella's Nook-

One final page that features Kristen decked out on her 4 Wheeler. Everything on this page is from Holly's new kit She's So Quirky.

Anytime you'd like to see the full list of credits or want a quick link to one of my designer's products just visit my DST Gallery.  The link is located on the right hand side.  There you'll find all of my pages with their credits. Thank you so much for looking and reading!  :-)

Pumpkin Panache

I was trying to come up with a catchy title for this post and Pumpkin Panache kept coming to mind. It sounded good, but I wasn't entirely sure what panache meant. Here's what the dictionary had to say on the matter: panache- noun - flamboyant confidence of style or manner. I think it kind of fits. What do you think? Well anyway, it sounds good and that's the most important thing!

I love autumn. I love the the green leaves changing to a rainbow of golds and reds; the cool, crisp feeling in the air; the leaves swirling in the wind as they make their way to the ground where they crunch underfoot; the shortened days with the sunsetting in early evening; and I love pumpkins. Pumpkins just embody fall to me.

The best thing about pumpkins is all the goodies you can make to eat with them! And never forget how good they are for you! They are loaded with fiber, vitamins and antioxidants. So when you're indulging in Pumpkin Pie this Thanksgiving you are really doing your body a favor.

In the past, I've eaten Pumpkin Pie (duh), Pumpkin Butter, Pumpkin Muffins, Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Fritters, Pumpkin Bars, Pumpkin Roll (thanks Mom) and Pumpkin Fudge. I've even made and eaten Pumpkin Soup. This weekend I made Pumpkin Ice Cream with crunchy Pecan Topping that is really good! I also made Spiced Pumpkin Bread that turned out delicious! That is really what this post is all about! It was so easy and delicious that I thought I'd share the recipe. What made this recipe stand out from ones I've tried in the past is the addition of orange peel. It gave the bread just a touch of citrusy freshness that really complemented the pumpkin and spices perfectly!

If you try it, let me know! I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

Spiced Pumpkin Bread 

(Cooking Pleasures magazine)

1 3/4 c all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/3 c sugar

1/2 c unsalted butter, softened

1 c canned pumpkin

2 eggs

2 tsp grated orange peel

1/2 c toasted pecans

Heat oven to 350. Spray 9" loaf pan with cooking spray.

Whisk the first 5 ingredients together in medium bowl.

Beat sugar and butter at medium-high speed  4 minutes 

or until light and fluffy.  And pumpkin, eggs, and orange peel.

Beat at medium speed until well blended.

Slowly beat in flour mixture at low speed just until blended.

Pour batter into pan and bake 60-65 minutes or until edges pull

away slightly from sides of pan and center springs back when lightly touched.

Cool in pan 10 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely before adding glaze.

Glaze--

1 c powder sugar

1 tbs milk 

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp orange peel

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Pour over bread and enjoy!

We've Had the Sickies

Trent has been complaining about pains in his stomach off and on since early Tuesday morning. A few times a day he would act like his stomach was really bothering him, but just as quickly as it came upon him, it seemed to dissipate. Friday was a different story though. He laid around most of the day and was even running a low grade fever. He ended up throwing up and having diarrhea more than a few times. My washing machine has been busy and he's taken a lot of baths!

He is better today, but still not feeling great. He has eaten a couple of servings of Chicken Noodle Soup and jello. He has had diarrhea, but no throwing up today. So he is definitely on the mend!

My kids are so seldom sick, that they really feel a deep sympathy for each other when they get sick. Several times Kristen and Tyler have asked about Trent and expressed how badly they felt for him. Kristen has gotten him several drinks and anything else she felt like he may need: blanket, pillow, etc.

Last night, Trent laid in Kristen's bed as they listened to Adventures in Odyssey. They both fell asleep and I decided to let them be. They looked so sweet that I couldn't bear to disturb them. At 6 this morning, I heard a knock on my door and Kristen telling me that Trent was in the bathroom sick. When I got up, she was refilling his cup with Sprite. When he had settled back down and said he was feeling better, he laid down in Kristen's bed again. They told me that they were going to lay there together and watch the sunrise. Now that is music to this Mama's ears. One of her babies is sick and the other is taking care of him like a mama bear caring for her cub, and all the while they are making memories together and strengthening their sibling bond! I count that as an answer to prayer and just one of my many blessings!

Some of Me

I found a little time this week to make a page for the Digi-Dare 99  Challenge. The rules were scrap three personality traits about yourself or someone else: good, bad and ugly.   Include a photo of that person, include some kind of messed up paper (crease, crinkle, tear or fold), something that sparkles, minimum of 3 different alphas of the same color. 

I had to choose 2 of my 3 negative points to highlight and only one of my many positives! That was tough!! lol It really is kind of embarrassing to post personal faults online for all the world to see! Especially when all they know of me is what they see online!  If any of my siblings are reading this, then they will testify that I came by these traits honestly! Mom and Dad both yelled some and griped a little, but we always knew they loved us and our love for them never wavered.



Most everything on this page is from Nikki's new kit Shabby Sunflowers for sale at The Digichick.

Astronomy Lesson One

For our science studies this year, we are using a wonderful book entitled Exploring Creation with Astronomy. The kids are having so much fun with it! Justin bought a very nice telescope and we've viewed Jupiter, Venus and the moon so far. For actual class time, they have learned the definitions to words such as astronomy, solar system, gravity, gravitational pull and satellite. We've discussed the various reasons why God made all the wonderful things in our solar system and how mankind has used them throughout time. They are memorizing the planets in order in relation to the sun with the fun mnemonic, My very early morning just started under Nancy's pancakes.  :) We've been introduced to Copernicus and Galileo and we've learned about NASA.

Today as we wrapped up our first of thirteen lessons, we made a model of the sun and planets with balloons. It was a lot of fun and work blowing up the different sized balloons. To no one's surprise, Tyler was the most successful in blowing up the balloons.  :)  It really gave us a good idea of the size of each of the planets. Our Saturn is way too big, as Jupiter is by far the largest planet, but that's just how it worked out. We discussed how much bigger Jupiter is than all of the other planets, so much bigger in fact, that all eight of the other planets could fit inside it. We also talked about how much bigger the sun really is and how our model couldn't possibly accurately reflect its size. It would be entirely too large to hang from our ceiling.  I think we're off to a great start with Astronomy and looking forward to the next lesson!

Birthday Wishes Do Come True

With there being only 10 days separating the boys' birthdays, we've always had one big party for them both. And since Tyler's comes first, we've always done it closer to his birthday. No amount of explaining on our parts has ever convinced Trent that this was actually in his favor. He's never understood why that by the time his birthday came all the fun had already been had. This year he insisted that we have his party ON his birthday!

A few months ago I asked him what he would like to do to celebrate. It took him all of about 20 seconds to come up with his answer, "ride 4-wheelers at Wizard Wells". Inside, I moaned because I know how hot it can still be in September, but we got pretty lucky. The day was warm, with a high of about 90, but with a light breeze and lots of shade, we were comfortable.

The kids rode their 4-wheelers for a few hours while we relaxed and chatted.

Here's a few photos of the kids on their 4 wheelers-

Trent spoke of wanting nothing else for his birthday other than to have a party on HIS birthday at Wizard Wells (riding 4-wheelers) and a Batman Computer. Grandma Janie made sure the Batman Computer wish was realized. He was so excited when he saw it.
Aunt Julie made him a cake decorated with 4 wheelers. It was cute! Looking forward to seeing the cake that she makes is always a lot of fun! She has spoiled the kids by decorating their cakes for all of their birthdays since 2001. That's a lot of cakes! Thank you Aunt Julie!

7 Years Ago

Today we celebrated Trent's 7th birthday. Yes, it's true, even if it's hard to believe, my baby is seven years old. He's tall, lanky, comical, silly, sweet and getting more independent every day. Seven years ago, he and I were in the hospital relaxing and just enjoying each other. I took tons of photos, but thanks to an error on my part, I don't have any of those to share. Instead I'll show you some from his first few days at home and then tomorrow I'll share pictures of the birthday party we had for him today. What a sweet, perfect addition he was to our family.  

Layouts To Share

I have a few pages to share. Nikki Beaudreau is the guest artist at The Digi-Chick for September and has two beautiful new kits there. I've got a page using each one of them. Aja Abney released a cute mini kit today at Scrapartist and I couldn't resist making a page with it. 

Impromptu Photo Shoot Pt 2

Impromptu Photo Shoot

Katina found a really nice spot not too far from home to take pictures of the kids. We decided with the clouds and cooler weather that today would be a great day for a photo shoot. We got a few good shots and the kids had a blast roaming around exploring.

Here's a sample of what I got--

Labor Day

We don't usually do much for Labor Day and this year wasn't any different.  We relaxed and enjoyed being home until late in the afternoon, when we went across the street to my in-laws house and enjoyed my FIL's famous Baby Back Ribs!  I'm telling you he makes some lip-smacking, finger-licking ribs!  

I always bring Potato Salad to these events.  I don't even know if they'd let me in the door without it, but I was really in the mood to bring something fun in addition to the PS.  Ya know something sweet, and yummy and different! 

I rarely make cream pies.  I don't know why.  Maybe because they're not Justin's favorite or maybe it's because I don't really enjoy making pie crusts.  Well, that's no excuse.  Pilsbury makes some awesome pie crusts that you just unroll and plop in the pan!  So I armed myself with those and decided on Coconut Cream Pie and Chocolate Cream Pie.  It really couldn't have been any easier.  

The Coconut Pie recipe is from my sister.  I have no idea where she got the recipe, but it is the easiest custard recipe ever!  You make a paste with part of the milk, egg yolks and sugar and then add the rest of the milk and stir over low heat until it boils.  That way you don't have to worry about tempering the yolks correctly and ending up with scrambled eggs in your custard!  YUCK!  No, this recipe turns our smooth and creamy every single time!!  Thank you, Tammi!!

The Chocolate Pie recipe came from a recent issue of The Taste of the South magazine.  It was everything you want from a chocolate custard:  thick, rich and creamy and it used cocoa powder!  I'll definitely be making it again.

I Have Pages

I've got two pages to share today. The first one started out about Tyler turning ten years old. I got all nostalgic and emotional as I made it and it ended up being more about how he'll always be my baby no matter how big he gets. He sure is growing into a handsome young man! Don't you think?

The second has just a few tid-bits of information about Kristen. She's way more complex than appears in this page. These are just the traits that I wanted to highlight using Mossa's new Journaling kit.