Cake decorating

Hannah has been practicing her cake decorating skills for 4-H, experimenting with a variety of different tips. She's an eager learner and despite her sore hand and wrist, she keeps on! We've worked on: stars, letter piping, leaves, shells, a basket weave and using those tips to make different borders. She told me today she feels that she is really beyond Level I and I had to gently explain that we've barely scratched the surface {the look of awe was very cute}!

I'm Gonna Miss This

I'm staring at a mountain of laundry and a floor scattered with Legos. I'm looking at four girls' bedrooms in desperate need of an overhaul and a messy kitchen with its endless stack of dirty dishes because of the four little people that are now home with me all day. I'm listening to the endless sound of siblings arguing & laughing and every TV blaring, set to Nickelodeon and wondering if I'll survive the summer; always feeling two steps behind. And then, as if a sign, this song comes on the radio:

How apropos.

A Summer Meal

Here is a recipe perfect for those warm summer nights.
It can stand alone as a meal or you could
serve it with a meat or as an appetizer.

Italian Salad Pizza


Loaded with veggies, easy to make
and so yummy!

I paired the pizza with my favorite go to
grilled chicken seasoned with Adobo.
Easy and delicious everytime!

Italian Salad Pizza

{serves 6}

1-10 oz. prebaked pizza crust, such as Boboli
2 C shredded romaine lettuce
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 carrots, shredded
1 C peeled, seeded and chopped cucumber
5 pitted kalamata olives
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 T extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 t dried oregano
2 T grated Parmesan cheese

1. Place the pizza crust directly on an oven rack and turn the oven to 450 degrees. Bake 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, combine the lettuce, tomato, onion, carrots, cucumber, olives, vinegar, oil and oregano in a large bowl. Top the pizza crust evenly with the salad mixture, leaving 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and cut into wedges and serve.

It's really quite tragic...

I mean just look at this face:

And to think it all started off like this...
perfectly happy taking Churro & Flapjack for a stroll.
That is until Flapjack decided to take Bella for a stroll,
dragging her along {that portion not caught on film}...


And in the aftermath we had:
mangled glasses,

a slightly skinned elbow,

if you really strain,
you'll see some specks on her knuckles,

this injury is more notable,


and finally, down her leg.


All resulting in this pitiful face.

Such a tragedy.

Today I might as well be the happiest girl in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE!! I was looking around in my room for some thing Mia might have stolen, and I looked under my bed and here comes the best part, I FOUND MY LONG LOST RETAINERS!! They've been missing for a month and I thought I would have to work for a very LONG TIME to earn one hundred sixty dollars! Crazy right?! Now I can play, draw, write and do every thing including going to the dentist with no fear that they would ask me about the lost retainers, because they are found! This happened 7 hours ago and I'm still smiling about it!

Summer lilacs

We went over to my inlaws for dinner tonight.

This is what their lilac bush looked like
in their backyard:


AMAZING!
{and it smells divine}

and now we have these beauties
on our kitchen table!

Best Gift Ever!

What do you get for the dad who has virtually everything and needs nothing? A telescope back scratcher - that's what! It solves a myriad of issues: 1) JTS LOVES to have his back scratched {and is always trying to enlist us to do so} 2) previous wooden back scratchers have been eaten by the furry, four-legged members of our household {we cannot explain this as they eat nothing else in the house but, apparently wooden back scratchers have big "EAT ME" signs written on them}, and finally, 3) it works like a telescope {hence the name} so, it's very compact! PERFECT!