Pita Pizzas

I just started making homemade pita bread recently and Maria asked once if we could turn them into pizzas. So today I made a batch of whole wheat pitas.

After rolling them out, they go into a super hot oven until they puff up. They get tossed into a paper bag to soften and then done!

Rising pita rounds:

Decorating the pizzas.

Girls enjoyed the process and actually ate all of their pizzas. Even the crust!

Being Home with Bridget

Just a few snapshots to illustrate Bridget's days at home with me. She keeps me entertained but is also a great helper in the kitchen. When she's not making a mess.

Sushi night!

To celebrate Maria's completion of the first week of school, I bought some things for us to make sushi at home. Maria loves shrimp sushi and the veggie sushi (and also apparently loves wearing a bandana). John and I got to enjoy some mackerel, salmon, and yellowtail. They all turned out great and Maria really enjoyed the process!

First Day of School

I know I've missed a lot of posts through the summer but we'll pick up with those later. Onward and upward to Maria's first day of first grade!

Ready for school.

Note for the first day.

Showing me her first day's information.

Cute gift from Mrs. Phipps.

First homework at her new desk.

Cooking and Art

A nice quiet day at home with the girls today. We made S'mores bars (one of our favorites) and painted some animals from a kit that Maria bought.

Bridget crushing up the graham cracker crumbs. This is a perfect job for her.

My wonderful kitchen helper.

The artists at work.

Colorful animals are much more fun then just your run of the mill stuff.

Great Wolf

So Maria and I have been calling this the "Summer of Fun". It's such a privilege to be home with them and on top of that, we have had some great trips, visits, and plans.

One of the big plans this summer was a night away at Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, WA. Last year, I won a trip to the resort for two nights. Ever since that visit, Maria has been wanting to return. The rooms can be expensive and so it's not really party of our budget. But Maria was determined. She saved up money for the past 9 months to get us a one night stay there. We are so proud of her.

When we got there, I mentioned the story to the lady at check in. She was in tears thinking about Maria saving her money and was nice enough to upgrade us to a "Wolf Den" suite on the house. Maria went and thanked her later. So thanks, Lori, with the blonde hair. We loved every minute of our stay!

Kid's splash area.

Girls in their wolf den bunk beds.

They even had their own TV.

Outside of lodge.

A little coloring before heading home.

Posing with Great Wolf.

Remlinger Farms

There's a farm about 40 minutes from our house with rides, ponies, other farm animals, and a large store and u-pick areas. I've heard about people going there for years and we've never gone. I got a 2 for 1 admission deal on Groupon earlier this summer so we took advantage of that and a nice, overcast but pleasant day to head over there.

We had it practically to ourselves so we went on many of the rides several times. The girls loved it!

Hay jump area and climbing wall. Fun but I was pulling hay our of our shoes for a few days after. :-)

Train ride!

Bridget loved the pony ride. She giggled during the whole thing.

Driving the old roadster cars.

Maria told me she never wanted to leave. It was pretty fun.

One more ride in the canoe.