Ready to see my Soldier

  Tomorrow morning we head out to see out Soldier in Training become a United States Soldier. It will take us two days to drive to Missouri. We're taking the Little 2 with us. Sadly Twin#1 started a new job and isn't able to take off for the week. I spent the day sorting clothes and packing the rental Yukon. I really haven't been thinking too much about once we get there.

  But just a little while ago, we got a call from out Soon to be Soldier and it's just hitting me. My baby, my little 4 pound, plucked chicken, who needed to be in an incubator for the first two weeks of his life, is going to be a private in the Army. My emotions are all over the place right now. (poor Hubby) The days have been long, but now I realize the time has flown by and we're going to watch our child do the most important thing he's ever done. 

  I know when he walks a crossed that stage, I won't see the man the Army sees, I'll see my little boy, all dressed up playing GI Joe. But the truth is he'll belong to Uncle Sam for at least the next three years. So I'll need to be "Army Mom Strong" and try not to cry so I can get some good pictures of this momentous occasion.  I don't think they'll be tears of sadness or tears of fear. I think they'll be tears of pride and joy. And hopefully there will be at least one or two other moms who need a tissue to dry their eyes as they watch their little boy take a giant leap into being a man, a private, a US Soldier.


  I'll see this little boy playing "King of the Mountain"with his twin bbrother.

Twin #1 is on the bottom. Soon to be Soldier is sitting on top

More snow equals more pizza

 It's snowing (yet again) and the kids have another snow day.



 

Baby Girl asked if we could please make pizza for dinner again. Well since it means warming the oven, which will take the chill out the kitchen, and it will entertain her, which means she won't be bugging her older brother, pizza it is!!

I really like this recipe from King Authur Flour. I didn't have King Authur, so I used Gold Medal and it turned out just fine. In the directions you'll see they tell you to put mix your yeast with warm water and sugar to activate it. My kids love this part because "Look the yeast is farting" (thank you science channel)




If you really wanted to get into the science end of it with your kids on how and why the dough rises, this could be a good "science credit" But thanks to the the science channel (I'm thinking it was Beakman's World) my kids know that the dough rises because the yeast has gas, thus the "yeast is farting" jokes. (sorry we're not the most mature, high brow people in our area)


Ok so here's what our dough looks like once it rose (sadly I didn't think to take a before picture, but it was about 1/2 the bowl)

My lovely assistant

So now for the fun part, making a perfect round pizza dough with no holes in it. OK that so isn't ever going to happen. I do start out "tossing" the pizza, but it's more like I have my hands in prayer and I gently toss the pizza to get a little bit of stretch to it. Then we lay it down on a floured surface and use the rolling pin. I totally cheated and used parchment paper to rough out the dough on so I didn't make a hole in the dough when transferring to the pizza pan. This will only work if you've got someone to hold the paper as you roll the dough  (I know, bad cook, but I'm not Italian, so no one in my family cares) If you get a hole in your dough, just pinch it tightly, maybe put a little dab of water to seal it. I'm sure there's a right way to do this, but this way works for me, so take my advice for what it's worth. (and hey, don't stress, cooking, especially with the kids, should be fun). Once you've rolled the dough, just roll over the edge of the pie.

Ta Da the crust is done!

You can get as fancy with the sauce as you want. I used Prego Marinara sauce because it doesn't have a lot of "chunks" in it (Little Man doesn't like "chunks" on his pizza) We just used a spoon to spread it on, we used *maybe* a cup of sauce. I think it's one of those, put some on, oh, put some more on, till it's just right, type of thing.

"It's like I'm painting the pizza with sauce and a spoon"

Next step is the toppings. I like to sprinkle a little grated Parmesan then shredded mozzarella cheese. After that we topped half the pizza with slices of hotdogs. I know, you're saying ewww gross, but don't knock it till you've tried it. My mom would make pizza (a super yummy, rare treat since she had to make enough to feed 9) and hot dogs were a cheap topping. So the traditions carries on.

All ready to go in the 450 degree oven

  Now I didn't follow the instrutions to a T. I didn't let it rise again, once I rolled the dough (probably aanother no-no) I left the parchment paper under the dough so it didn't stick to the pan. And I just made one big round pizza, because it fit on my pan that way. Guess what? It still turned out pretty yuumy

Please note thick, tasty crust

 Now for some strange reason, my kids don't like the actual end, crust of the pizza (hello, that's the best part) but they loved this crust. Now that could have something to do with the fact that the Daddy put a little butter on his crust when he got to that part.

So if you're bored on a snow day, looking for something fun to do, make some pizza. If your kids are into veggies you could make this a lot healthier then I did. But tomato sauce with no chunks is as healthy as Little Man is going to get with his "no chunk" policy.
 

You're in the Army now.

 Yup he's in the Army now and by extension, so are we. I do know I can't share much about where he goes or what he does, so this is more about me and to some extent the rest of the family and what we go through while waiting to hear from our Soldier. I didn't blog in the beginning because, well this mom was just too emotional and I didn't think I wanted to read back on those early days.


   I have some people to thank. First my dear friend Dawn (and her hubby too for answering my questions) she's been an Army wife for while a long while now, so she's been my sounding board, my shoulder to cry on and my "keep calm and carry on" when I just felt lost. So big hugs to you my friend.

     Also my group of internet moms (most of whom I've never met) and yet they surrounded me with love and read my sad words and reassured me we'd get through those first couple weeks of Basic training. (a couple of them had hubbies in the service and one even was in the service herself). 

   And most importantly I thank my Heavenly Father. I worried so often about how our Soldier was doing and all the while God was putting him right where he needed to be. (oh you of little faith).


  
    For those who don't know, Basic Combat Training (BCT) shuts down for Christmas/New Years so the Drill Sargent can spend time with their loved ones as well. Which means we got to spend time with our Soldier over the holidays as well. Which also meant this Army mama, got to hear it from the horse's mouth that the Army was treating him ok and his training is going well. That was a true blessing to our family. 

   So that's my little update on Son#2. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with my blog a little more. 

We'll try this again...

  Well I still haven't learned to disable the shortcuts on the lap top and the desk top has gone to that great cloud in computer Heaven, so I guess I'll just try to muddle through and see how it all goes.

   Some big changes at our house on the hill. Son # 1 has moved out on his own (renting from a friend). Son #2 has joined the Army, so this is an interesting journey as well. Baby Girl is now in school full time (big 1st grader) which means mommy is working in a new department during the day. (getting back to my roots and working the deli) So big changes all around.

   Maybe I'll even tinker with the blog and change it up some.

I've been away for a while

 However.... I'm going to blame my laptop. ( I know big surprise me blaming technology, but whatever) For some reason, laptops are installed with all these great little shortcuts. I'm sure it's a great idea for some people, but not for me, because 1) I don't know what the shortcuts are and 2) I'm just typing away minding my own bee's wax and boom, my page is empty. Yeah total frustration. I will be working on my desk top though, because I really do miss blogging, so.... in the very near future.... Baby Girl's birthday party and things I make with "Precious" (my Kitchaid Mixer)

A little Christmas treat

   So Baby Girl wanted to be a little elf to her classmates and give them each a little gift. We've been trying to instill more the giving side of Christmas, instead of just the "what's under the tree for me" side, so I couldn't really say no. But with Christmas less then a week away and the budget tight, what's a mom to do? Oh just recycle an old bridal shower party favor idea.

   I got some plastic spoons for under $2. A bag of Hershey Kisses for less then $4 and a roll of  Christmas cellophane for $1 for the roll. I put three kisses in the spoon then wrapped the spoon and Kisses with the cellophane and tied it all up with some curly ribbon from the Christmas wrapping bag.  My writing isn't something to brag about about so I went to the computer to print out a little saying to attach, well you know it can't be that easy, of course the printer isn't working. Up to visit my parents and borrow Pop's computer and printer. After I figured out how to make columns again (man I need to keep a little more up to date on Word) I was good to go. 

    So this is the final project, under $10 and a little treat for all 14 classmates...

This is a close up of the tag

  Baby Girl was thrilled to be a little elf to her friends and I hope they like their little gift. 

  Oh and just because I think she's just the cutest little girl I know, here she is all dressed up for her "Christmas Concert"

 Yes that's the same green curly ribbon in hair that we used to tie the treats with. 

                                   Merry Christmas

Some more "rules for grocery shopping

  So we're in the path of the up coming hurricane, we don't live on the coast, but we're close enough that people are in "panic at the grocery store mode" So I thought I'd give some simple rules out to those who don't know any better....

• It's not the cashier's fault that the store is out of the cheap store brand white bread, don't take it out on them. Be nasty to a manager if your really feel the need, but not the cashier.
•  
• If you're buying a whole bunch of tuna cans so you'll have something to eat, make sure you've got a manual can opener at home ( I jokingly said Remember you won't have your electric can opener to open the cans. Poor guy was in a panic as to where to find a manual canopener)
•  
• Fruit is just as easy to eat with no electric as junk food is, do you really want you kids all hyped up on sugar from Oreos and that sugary cereal if you're going to be stuck in the house in the middle of a storm?
•  

• This last one doesn't really have to do with the impending storm, but since I'm at it.... If you have varicose veins and you're pushing the backside of 40, you might want to rethink that short denim skirt you bought at Forever 21, it's just not a good look on you.

  

   I am so not looking forward to work tonight. People are acting like we're getting a foot of snow. By the time I get to work a lot of shelves will be bare and I just know it will somehow be my fault (because we all know the lowly cashier is the one who orders for the shelves and that there really is more stock in the back, we're just too lazy to go back and get it (insert eye roll here)

 So all you East Coasters be safe in the storm and remember to smile at your cashier when you're in line buying your cart full of bottled water, bread and peanut butter (if there's any left on the shelf) 

Day 2 (he poops)

  Day two Dozer showed us more of his personality, some good, some not so good. Dozer woke up fine, came out of the bathroom where he sleeps and went for his walk with me. I noticed there was a smell in the bathroom, but I looked all over the floor and there was no poop, so I figured he had some gas. Twin #1 goes into the bathroom and comes out saying uhm, did no one really notice what he did in the tub? Of course not, why would I look in the tub???? Dozer had pooped the size of a meatloaf!!!!!! (gag) So after much arguing discussing, Hubby and Twin#2(the one who's wanted a dog his entire life) cleaned up about 2 1/2 pounds of dog poop out of the bathtub. Then Twin#1 got the joy of scrubbing the tub out. (hey I'm always looking for family bonding!!!!) 

please commence the belly rubbing

     As a side note, Little Man has decided he'll never take a shower in that bathroom again. I didn't have the heart to remind him of how many times he poop in my bathtub when he was a baby!

  Dozer has also decided to find out where he fits into "the pack". He got aggressive with Hubby when Hubby was sitting on the couch playing with Dozer. That got the old heart pumping because Dozer is a big dog!!!, with a big mouth. Hubby did get firm with Dozer and show him who's the alpha male.  Dozer also tried this with the 18 year old twins as well. (we had warned them after Hubby's go'round that morning, so they were prepared) and Dozer did offer his belly to be rubbed by all of them so I think we're good.


  Dozer however didn't mess with me (smart dog knows not to mess with the mama!!) Dozer also puts up with all the love the little 2 want to give him.

I am king of all I survey!!!

  Oh and it rained yesterday, so we all got a chance to walk the dog in the rain (yeah we all enjoyed it about as much as the dog, but it sure beats cleaning up a mess in the house)


   So it looks like Dozer is winding his way into our household. We have to let the adoption agency know on Saturday if we'll be keeping him forever. He's such a sweet dog and he's already lost 2 home (the one that abandoned him and the foster home where he didn't get along with the other foster dog). 
  
    Our next adventure will be a trip to the vet!!! Fingers crossed that all goes well : )

Our New Addition

 So after my hubby vowing to never have a dog in the house, relented and we've gotten a dog (or maybe a small horse depending on how you look at it.)

   We had decided we'd rescue a dog instead of buy a puppy for a number of reasons. The most important reason being there are so many great dogs out there who need a loving home almost anyone will adopt a cute little puppy, the older dogs have lost some of their cuteness (at least to some people) Plus since my kids are not the best at picking up their toys and puppies love to chew on anything they can reach, there would have been some tears shed.

   So after browsing the petfinder site for over a month we found a dog we all like and that the foster "parent" would get back in touch with us. So this Saturday we got to meet Koby and bring him home if we all got along. Well we all got along and now he's snoring in my living room.  Since Koby's name is a little too close to one of the kid's names, we're renaming him Dozer (yes as in bulldozer)

   The car ride home wasn't too bad, he settled down in the car and with the help of Twin#1 petting him the whole time he had a great first ride. To show Twin#1 his gratitude for being so kind, Dozer sneezed on him (eeewwww gross).

     

  We decided to give Dozer a bath and that went really well, Dozer stood there like a good boy.So other then the "whole shake like a dog when it's wet", we did really good. Dozer smells like a nice dog and not the kennel anymore.

 Our first day with Dozer wasn't too eventful. Thankfully no accidents in the house. Dozer likes to pull on the leash sometimes, but he'll soon learn who gets to control the walking. Going to check into a special harness for him.


  Dozer seems to be a great dog. He loves to be pet and have his belly rubbed. The kids all think he's great. Other then reminding him Not for Dozer when he puts his nose to the counter we seem to all be getting along. I have a feeling this is going to be quite an adventure for all of us.


  

A Good Day at Work

    Ok I am under no illusion that my job is fantastic, or going to take me anywhere special in life, but it's a good job and I do it fairly decent, so with that being said, today was a good day. Actually I guess it's more like tonight was a good night. Since it's the Friday of a long holiday weekend lots of people were shopping. Lot's of teens who have no idea where anything in the store it. Lot's of picnic throwers getting all their rolls, meats, watermelons (by the way, I finally learned the register number for watermelons since I sold so many in the last two days)
  
      I had one lady tell me you are just so pleasant. Two Aren't you just so sweet to help me? And one Thank you so much for the conversation as I checked out my groceries, it seems like so many cashiers don't even want to greet a person any more. Ok that last one, I can't really take credit for because I'm at home with the little two for most of the day by myself and quite frankly I'm just happy to talk with an adult and not be interrupted by some little voice who needs a drink, food or a referee, so I'm a regular "Chatty Cathy" when I'm working for the most part.

    I had one customer who never used self check out before, and he was so nervous he'd mess it up (it's not the atom bomb folks, there's nothing you can do to that machine that can be undone with the turn of a key.) So I explain the basics, he goes through his whole purchase, with minimal help from me, and that was only because he had produce, and at the end, the look of pride/excitement on his face was priceless (reminded me of my kids and a good grade on a test). So now he's all excited and can't wait to use self checkout again!!! (I'm sure he went home and told his dear wife all about it.)

    So while I didn't cure cancer or balance the national debt, I did make some people smile today. And I helped one man face his fear of the self checkout and walk away with the feeling of victory. All in all, not a bad night in my book.

And now I can breath a sigh of relief!

       The twins are officially high school graduates! And that my friends is no small feat! They both had very bad cases of senioritis! In fact so bad, I wasn't so sure they were going to walk to get their diplomas. I think I got at least 30 more gray hairs in the last month (not that I didn't need to dye it already). I think I can write about it now, without crying (too much) so here goes.


       One June 8th they graduated from their vocational school (in our area the students have a choice to split their educational day between "home school" and "tech school") Now this wasn't the graduation that worried me. I knew they were passing their classes there with flying colors. Twin 1 was awarded the "Excellence in Machining" and given 2 tool boxes, with machining tools, that were gifted to the school from a retired machinist. Twin 2 was awarded "Excellence in Welding" from his employer and also given a bonus from them. #2 also won an award for writing a letter to thank a veteran for their service. This award is given to a graduating senior from his welding class every year in honor of a past student who upon graduation joined the Marine Corp and lost his life in Iraq. The mother of the Marine was there to present #2 with the $500 check to be used toward further education or tools for his trade. (as a mother, I can't imagine her loss and my heart breaks for her. The strength to go every year and meet these young men who must remind her so much of her own lost son) 

   So here they are all dressed up, ready to head off to tech graduation.

     So the next week we have the "home school" graduation. And this is the one that had me worried. But by the Grace of God and the skin of their teeth, they passed Economics and were able to walk with their class.
     Although they were irritated they had to miss their co-op jobs to make rehearsal, they suffered through their classmates being idiots. A little funny side note here is that because the class is so large (577) they have the kids come from either side to make it go quicker when they call the names. So Twin 1 finds his name on the side he needs to be on, but Twin 2's name is not on that sheet. Twin 2 now proceeds to almost hyperventilate because he thinks he failed his final and will not graduate with his class (which means he will have to face his parents who will not be happy at all) Finally after what must have seem like hours to him, but really only a few minutes, someone points out his name is on the other list that sits on the other side of the stage. Now as a mom, I know I should feel bad for my poor dear son, but, hey he shouldn't have cut it that close!!!!


    So there they are, all dressed in there cap and gowns, the grandparents have come, and even Hubby's brother and wife (who happens to also be my sister) hubby's nephew come to watch the graduation as well. And now it looks like rain. So I am texting all who pray and asking for prayers the rain holds off till the kids are done. Other then a few "spritzes" here and there, we made out alright and the rain held off (thank you Lord!!!!!)

       Twin #1 walking in with his class, so happy it's almost over

      Twin #2 has just gotten his diploma. The key to his future.

   After graduation the Pop Pop and Nana offered to host a little dinner party at the Texas Roadhouse!!! We had a great meal and a good time. If you've ever been to the TR you know they have a saddle you get to sit in for special occasions such as birthdays, etc. Well graduating is a pretty special occasion so the waitress wanted to know if  she should bring the saddle over for the twins.  Oh heck yeah, bring that bad boy over!!!!
     
    So with a little bit of coaxing each twin had their turn in the saddle as all shouted YEA HAW!!!!! Yes their faces turned a little red, but it was all in good fun and they laughed just as hard as the rest of us

                                                      Twin 2

  Twin 1

     And so now they're men and working in the real world. Twin 1 is a machinist, working for a company that makes surgical parts. His boss seems pleased with his work and he will be working full time (started today) It's a good job and the benefits are good. 
       Twin 2 will be working 3 days a week (his choice) for the month of July and goes full time in August. His employer also seems quite please to have him working there. They were happy to see he'd spent his bonus on a nice tool box that will help #2 to be a good employee.

   So we have 2 down and 2 to go. (although it's going to be a long while before the other 2 are even close) I am very proud of the young men who are my sons. They've struggled, but they've prevailed and they are on the road to success. Sure they'll have a little stumble here or there, but I beleive they've got what it takes to make it in this world. For now they'll stay living here at the house. I don't think I'm ready for them to move out just yet. Let me just enjoy not having to hound them to do their homework.