Pizza with Pazazz

Gavin's Snake

Not that you generally need a way to make pizza more appealing to kids, but here's a fun way to eat their favorite food with a little more pizazz!  I let the boys each pick their favorite animal and viola...we had an alligator and a snake calazone!

Supplies:

• Baking sheet
• Parchment paper
• Pizza Dough
• Pizza Sauce
• Shredded Mozzarella cheese
• Any desired toppings (pepperoni, etc)
• Olives for eyes (although I had to cheat because I ran out...mine our kidney beans :)
• Scissors
• Rolling Pin

Directions:

1. pick and animal (snake is the easiest because it doesn't have legs)
2. roll out long oval about 4" wide by 12" or more long. Try to make the dough about 1/4" thick
3. spoon a thin layer of pizza sauce only down the center of the snake...DO NOT GET SAUCE ON THE EDGES OF THE DOUGH!
4. Fill with cheese and other toppings
5. Carefully stretch dough over and pinch it to the adjacent side (should look like a long pot sticker)
6. Roll the snake body so the pinched seam is underneath
7. Coil the snake in a circle leaving the head slightly apart from the body
8. Pinch two eye holes and insert olives or beans
9. Take a pair of scissors and snip little "v's" into the top layer of dough. Be sure to not cut into the middle part or your fillings with bake out of your snake
10. Bake at 425 degrees for about 15-20 min or until golden brown 

Enjoy

Gage's Alligator

A Day at the Spa

It's been so long since I posted and I feel like I need a little pampering after such a crazy month. Yet out of madness came such a great idea. I would love a spa getaway and maybe my kids would too. Truth be told I have never seen them so excited! After a long afternoon of running errands and helping me clean house I decided that we needed a little TLC. We enjoyed it so much they are already asking if they can do all the chores tomorrow morning and earn another :) Here are a few of the things we included in our spa day  and some ideas I want to try next time. Hopefully, this will get your creative juices flowing and help you and your kids Zen!

My Crazy guy went bonkers over his crazy hair!!

Head:
~Fancy Hair (let them style yours too for a great laugh)
~Make-up (innocent as chapstick or as divalicious as you like)
~Face Mask (I used cetaphil because there's no need to rinse)
~Beauty sleep mask (with classical music)
~Warm face wrap (warm wash cloth)

Gavin relaxing with his "foot bath"

Body:
~Body Scrub (easy recipe: 1/2 c Brown sugar, 1/4 almond oil/olive oil, drops of vanilla)
~Massage (we formed a massage circle for shoulders then yelled "switch!" then we quickly turned 180 degrees to rub the other person shoulder. They thought it was hilarious)
~Yoga or Peewee palates (my guys lasted 3 moves)

Miss Addy's 1st Pedicure

Feet:
 ~Warm foot bath
~Paint toes

Remember: No spa day is complete without delicious snacks and drinks. We ate fruit kabobs drizzled with honey, mini sandwiches, and drank tea and "spa water" (just water with ice and lemons/oranges/mint or cucumber floating in it).  

Say Cheese!

Pictures are worth a thousand words! If you are a parent, they are worth more than that, but what about your kids? What do they think pictures are worth? My guys are head over heals with the idea of documenting all of their daily excitement. They love to look at past photos, take photos and play photographer. I'm not here to lecture about putting together baby books (partially because I'm still working on Gav's and he is 4), but I am here to advocate that you let your child experience the joy of capturing their loved ones on film. Nowadays, thanks to the camera phones, taking pictures has never been easier. My kids are better at working all of my electronics than I am and they haven't even entered grade school yet. Here's some of the best ways to have your child help capture special moments and they'll gain a new respect for how hard it is to get a great photograph.

Photography Opportunities:
1.) Let them take a picture of their birthday cake and guests.
2.) Pet Perks: Animals almost always look great and are always doing crazy stuff. Let them snap away as Fido runs through the sprinklers or snoozes in his favorite bed.
3.) Family: I give the camera to the kids and tell them to take pictures of each when they do things that they think are fun, that they love, or that are silly. Nothing says fun like a silly face contest...print them off and vote for a winner :)
4.) Vacation: Everything looks different from their point of view. Have them take some pics and you'll see. Example: I could not figure out what in the world Gavin was snapping away at the grass for...turns out it was a tiny little spider on a blade of grass...How he saw that while walking past I'm not sure, but it was the cutest thing I ever say (him talking to the spider telling it to hold still, not the actual spider)
5.) I Spy: Great for practicing how to use a camera and making sure the picture is in the viewer.
6.) I LOVE: This is my favorite game ever and I mean EVER! I gave the boys the camera and told them to take pics of things they love and they surprised me. Here are a few of the things the love...I hope you love them too!

"I love that our sissies love each other"

"I love my Gagey laughing"

"I love her cute little nose dots"

"I love my sissy in my hat"

"I love hiding in pillows"

"I love sharing with my baby"

Gage and Gavin's Hospital "We love the hospital that made Addy can come home!"

tape...Tape...TAPE!!!

I love tape! It has so many useful purposes, but none of them compare to the endless hours of enjoyment it provides my boys on rainy days. Grab the cheapest roll of duct tape or masking tape you can find and let the games begin! Here are two of the ways we use it...I'm sure you can come up with more :)

Tightrope/Balance Beam:
Stick a 4' piece of tape (or larger) to the floor in a straight line. Challenge them to walk it forward, backward, heel-toe, with their eyes closed or even try to jump/skip/run/crawl it. **For older children (or if they get bored) try adding different lengths of tape at different angles so that it zigzags around the room. 

They're racing around the "world" (they named it not me)

So proud of himself

Don't Cross the Line:
This is our version of tug-of-war. Instead of one piece of tape. Stick two pieces of 3' tape about 5' apart and tape a small "x" in between both lines. Tie a small stuffed animal to the middle of the rope. Start it on the "x" and then let them proceed to pull until it crosses the line.


Siamese Twins:
For some odd reason my guys are memorized with twins right now. While watching a National Geographic on India they saw twin boys joined at the torso. They had tons of questions about what they saw, a vast majority of their questions stayed with a theme "how do they?" I was beginning to get frustrated with repeating my answer so I asked them if they wanted to find out. They did :) So we dressed them in PJs and loosely wrapped a circle of tape around their ankles (three legged race style). They tried to walk, crawl, play soccer etc. They tired of this and wanted to have their torso tapped...Ok so I didn't think it was the greatest idea, but I figured that they might learn an important life lesson on either acceptance or team work so we gave it a whirl. Gavin grew tired of Gage's antics and decided if they were stuck together he would carry him because "he's in the way and messing me up!"