Pictures!

I promised pictures last time so since I am on a blogging roll I might as well make it two posts in a row!!

My dear lovely eldest sister Julie bought my unborn baby some babylegs. I thought these were the most hilarious things I had ever seen! Adorable but I just didn't have a clue as to when I would use them. Sam pulled them out of his drawer the other day and let me try them out on him. They are so cute and funny on his chubby legs as seen here:

These are such fun things to have around. I will definitely dress up a baby girl (if I ever have one) using babylegs frequently! They would be perfect when the weather is a little too cool for bare legs.

This morning Sam was playing with Daddy's toolbox. Like father like son,

I find myself saying this ALL OF THE TIME!

And lastly, just because he is freakin' cute when he gives me a cheesy grin:

It is so very difficult to get cute pictures of Sam right now. We haven't pulled our camera out since we moved (awful I know) so all of these pictures were taken with the iPhone. I hope they don't look too crappy. Have a great day!

Making Jennifer Happy

Ha! Jenn has been asking me to post a few recipes for awhile. Today I had a friend request my pizza dough recipe so I had to type it up for her and thought I would just copy it over here to my blog. My highly unused unread blog but oh well! This is a really yummy homemade pizza crust recipe. I got it online somewhere... I use allrecipes.com frequently so that may be where I picked it up. I know I googled whole wheat pizza crusts.... ANYWAY! Here it is:

1 1/4 cups warm water (110-115degrees)

1 (1/4 oz) package dry yeast (I have used different kinds and they have all worked)

1 Tbsp honey

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cups whole wheat flour

Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Mix in the honey and salt. Then stir (by hand or with a dough hook) in the all purpose flour followed by the olive oil. Lastly, use the dough hook on your mixer to combine this with the whole wheat flour. Adjust the water and flour as needed to make a nice ball of dough. It won't be too sticky if it has enough flour in it. The dough should all combine into one ball when you are using a dough hook. When combined, remove from the mixer and kneed the dough for a minute or two (you can add more flour at this point if the dough is too sticky). Then place in a bowl, cover and let the dough rise for an hour or until it has doubled in size. Punch the dough down and let it rise for another 45 mins. Separate the dough into two equally sized pieces and make your crust any shape or size that you want. The rolling pin is very useful at this point. I use a pizza stone to bake mine... I put some corn meal on the stone before I put the crust on so it doesn't stick. I bake the pizza at 425degrees for around 12-15 minutes.

If you have a bread machine then just put all of the ingredients in and set it to the pizza dough setting. It will do the rest for you!

Another recipe Jen has been begging for is one that I inherited from my lovely sister, Liz. This one has been used for many different things. It is generally a shrimp sauce but could be used for chicken or as a topper for rice. It is a big spicy but delicious nonetheless!

"Shrimp" Sauce

1/3 stick of butter

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 Garlic Cloves

3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp black pepper

4 tsp Worcestershire

1 Tbsp Lemon juice

Mix all ingredients in sauce pan. Cook over medium heat until bubbling, then reduce heat to low. Pour some sauce over shrimp before cooking (grill, saute, whatever) and save some for dipping. YUM

Go check out Jenn and Dave's site, it's great! They have two adorable pups and were the best neighbors we could ever ask for. (I wish they would move to LR so we could be neighbors again)

I did it!

I clicked the 'new post' button on my home page! Yeah! :) I am sure that you all have been patiently awaiting my return to blogging. I have to say that my absence has been for so many reasons. We have been incredibly happy since moving into our new (rental) house!! We have been busy with getting the house set up and working on the yard. Sam is a HUGE fan of the larger space. I now can see how cramped he was in our 1200 sqft townhouse. 2400 sqft is much more suited to this busy little guy. At first he didn't want us out of his sight but now he has become comfortable in his space and will often play in the family room/basement area without having a parent in tow. This is great for laundry day for me!

I keep on saying that Sam has become more and more easy over time. The toddler years are so fun! He says a new word almost daily. Some of his recents are "bubbles", "jeep" and "mommy". Cuteness abounds!

So, how was your labor day? We enjoyed our 4 day weekend (Cliff works 4-10 hour shifts now) so much. Friday we went to the River Market to eat lunch then I got out to a movie by myself that afternoon. (Yeah!!!) I honestly can't remember what we did that evening. Saturday we started on the awful landscaping in our front yard. We hustled to get most of the area near the driveway finished before it rained. That afternoon we went to Best Buy, Sam's Club and ate at Jason's Deli. Sunday was church and delicious barbeque chicken by Cliff. That all led up to a buy laborous Monday! We went on a 2 mile (HiLlY) walk in our neighborhood. When we got back I was so gross already that I decided to start on the landscaping in front of the house. I worked for 2 hours, then Cliff came out and took over so I could have a break for about 30 mins. Sam went down for a nap then I went out to mow the yard. It was a humid day and I was about to faint. I had to stop mowing with only a few passes left. Cliff said I was more red than he has ever seen anyone. I made it and finished up after a water break. This afternoon we just played relaxed and I made some delicious banana bread. mmmm!

We have been out of town many many weekends since moving and we plan to head up to NWA in the next week or two again. We need to help Cliff's mom out (she broke her arm up by her shoulder 2 weeks ago) and we need to see my family.

I will be starting work this week at a local church for their Bible study childcare. I am looking forward to the extra $! Hopefully Sam will have fun playing with some kiddos too.

So, what was your favorite activity of the Labor Day weekend? I hope you all were able to relax and spend some much needed time with your family and friends!

I hope to get back in the swing of blogging soon. Pictures with the next post, I promise :)