my blessed life

Panini Salad (Parents magazine) 2 personal-size pizza crusts (like Boboli ) 4 slices provolone cheese* 3 Tbls. olive oil 1 Tbls. balsamic vinegar 1 Tbls. thinly sliced basis** 1 Tbls. chopped parsley** 1/4 tsp. sugar Pinch of salt & pepper 1 bag (10 oz.) Italian blend lettuce 1/4 lb. thinly sliced ham 2 oz. thinly sliced Genoa salami 1/4 cup sliced red onion 1/4 cup roasted red pepper, sliced*** 2 plum tomatoes, sliced ***** Heat the oven to 450F. Brush each pizza crust with olive oil the cover with the cheese. Bake 7-9 minutes or until cheese is golden brown. Let crusts cool 1 minute, then cut each into 4 wedges. In a small jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine olive oil, vinegar, basil, parsley, sugar, salt and pepper, along with a teaspoon of water. Place 2 pizza wedges on each of 4 plates; top with lettuce, ham, salami, onion, roasted pepper and tomato slices. Shake dressing to mix well and drizzle over salads. Makes 4 servings. *I used shredded Mozzarella tonight inste

Pet worms, that is. One of the classes that was offered for our homeschool group's spring co-op session was *Worms*. Now what child isn't enticed by that name? Frankly, I was excited, too! It sounded like fun. So for about 3 weeks now we have had our very own worm bed with probably about 50 red earthworms. They live in a plastic bin full of the stuff they like to eat. They are vegetarians, in case you didn't know, with a little paper on the side. Some interesting things I've learned about worms these past couple of weeks, besides the usual anatomy stuff: If you leave the food scraps in the box too long, everything starts to get fuzzy and green and stinky. Worms turn things into *dirt*, otherwise known as *worm castings*, otherwise known as *poop*. Worms like to live in and eat damp newspaper, while turning it to *dirt*, of course. Apparently we are going to have baby worms soon. I'm looking forward to releasing our little friends into my garden in a month o

0121. a surprise shopping trip 0122. including two new outfits for...me {yea!} 0123. a quiet night with a Jane Austen movie 0124. and a pedicure 0125. singing along with my kids in the car 0126. to Hillsong United 0127. or U2:) 0128. family bike rides 0129. reading to my kiddos 0130. and listening to them read to me

So, I'm typing up my menu plans at midnight and I'm having a terrible Mexican food craving. So we're having a lot of Mexican this week...at least at the beginning. After a couple of nights my cravings will subside:) Just curious...do any of you do anything special food-wise on April Fool's day? I think it would be fun for the kiddos, but I've never done anything like that before. I'd love to hear your ideas! Monday: Tacos al Carbon and Queso al Carbon with pico de gallo and guacamole Tuesday: Green Chili-Chicken Casserole Wednesday: Panini Salad (I will get this made this week!:) Thursday: {still deciding on a possible April Fool's day dinner~maybe something like this } Friday: Macaroni and Cheese {wish the kids would eat this kind !} Saturday: Croque Monsieur sandwiches with salad Sunday: {Easter} Baked Ham, Hashbrown Casserole, Corn-on-the-Cob, Asparagus Bundles, Salad, Deviled Eggs, rolls and dessert...more on this later in the week!

I'm trying to take advantage of Vince being out of town by watching some fave *chick flicks* (otherwise known as "movies Vince really isn't into) while he's not here. Do you do this, too, when your husband is out of town? Last night I watched * Sense and Sensibility * while giving myself a pedicure. So nice! I hadn't watched it in a long time and it's such a great movie. I always love Emma Thompson~she's so talented! One of my favorite lines is: "If you cannot think of anything appropriate to say, you will simply restrict your remarks to the weather!" Classic!! Tonight it's going to be one of these three: It'll depend on my mood:) What are some of your fave chick flicks? I'm always looking for a good new-to-me movie, so leave me a comment!

I originally did this post last year, but I'm re-posting it just because it's such a fun idea and Easter is right around the corner!! Enjoy! ********************** I found the cutest idea the other day and just fell in love with it! Fabric covered Easter eggs!! If you're like me, you've got those plastic Easter eggs taking over your house~they seem to multiply in the attic:) So when I saw this idea, I knew I had plenty of eggs to cover. First of all, The Princess and I went to (where else?) Hobby Lobby and picked out some spring-y fabrics. Aren't they pretty? And we grabbed our Mod Podge while we were there, too. After gathering our eggs...we started cutting our fabric: it should be large enough to go around your egg at the widest part and just cover it from the top to bottom (approx. 6" x 4 1/2"). Then cut strips into the top and bottom of the fabric. ( See a picture here , because I forgot to take one...oops). When your fabric is ready br

Even though The Princess' birthday wasn't until Tuesday, we kicked off the celebration last Saturday. Our house was filled with 11 giggling girls, mostly under the age of 8. What a hoot!! We had cake, opened the cutest gifts and then made beaded necklaces. The Princess has a great group of girlfriends here. We had originally planned a *garden party* for the backyard, but the first day of Spring pulled a fast one on us and decided to snow (of all things!). So we had a fun indoor party anyway! Finally the sun did come out a couple of days later, so The Princess could try out her new bike. I love that her bike says *Pretty in Pink*! :) On Tuesday the snow was finally gone and the sun was out, warming up everything. So we decided to make the most of it and spend her birthday at the Tulsa Zoo. It was one of those perfect days! I wanted to share a *few* of my favorite shots from the day. We had a great time~I can't wait to go back! I've always loved the zoo!

(all images from Google)

0111. celebrating another wonderful birthday with our daughter 0112. the blessing of good friends for my children 0113. enjoying my daughter's excitement in riding her new bike 0114. enjoying my son's adorable absorption in Legos 0115. a surprise Spring snow 0116. star-gazing 0117. playing Wii basketball with my kiddos 0118. a meal out that I didn't have to cook 0119. discovering something you thought you had lost 0120. joy

Congrats to Marie of Martha-wannabe for winning the *bunnies & cabbages* pieces in my Spring Giveaway!! Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway!

I am here to say that I survived last week! It was a busy one. We had family over for dinner two different nights, we had a big St. Paddy's day celebration, I filled in for an absent teacher in two of the kiddos' co-op classes on Friday, there was a banquet to attend and we had The Princess' birthday party on Saturday...not to mention haircuts for all (except Vince, of course:), plus the usual numerous errands and such. OK, I'm tired again thinking about it all. Luckily we had LOTS of sugar to keep us going! Did I mention that I made three...yes, I said THREE , cakes this week? I really didn't plan that well, did I? Of course, there had to be Birthday Cake... ...and Dirt Cake for the *All About Worms* co-op class... and then there was also the Rainbow Cake we made for St. Patrick's day. Can I just say.... carried away ?? Yes, I was. So, NO more cake is on the menu this week. Unless you count something that will assuredly be made with my daughter'