Pizza Partay

As of lately I have been looking for ways to be more frugal.  I would consider it recovering from a pretty intense spending problem in my high school and college years( another blog for another day)  Anywho, it turns out eating out costs a lot more than eating in.  Like A LOT.  Thanks to my friends of the small child variety, we rarely are up to the task of going to eat at a restaurant regardless of the cost.  Our table ends up looking like a crayon and puff war zone.   

Luckily, my mom is always good at making routine activities a little more exciting.  She suggested creating a fun night making homemade pizza.  

I was little leery of this at first being that I consider myself a bit of a pizza snob.  I was raised in a town that is home of undoubtedly the best pizza place on the planet.  Some might disagree but all of my Jersey readers are now nodding their head and probably drooling at the mere mention of the one and only Sam's Pizza.  It's not fancy but it is the best and that's all I have to say about that.  I knew making our own pizza would be like apples and oranges to what we have been used to but I figured it was worth a try.  

After three months, I can honestly say Friday night pizza is what I most look forward to during the week.  Every Friday during nap time, Lord willing for both children, I make the dough and set it aside to let it rise for the next few hours. I have researched a handful of recipes and I keep coming back to this one.   It is a big enough batch that we can make Wilbur his little personal pizza, 3 thin crust pizzas for Mom and Dad and even have some dough left over for bread sticks.  There is always plenty left over and we usually eat it for lunch the next day.  I feel like each week I am tweaking the crust a little too see how I can improve.  I am also hoping to find a healthier recipe in the future since, you know, carbs are the enemy.

What has really been a fun way to get creative is with toppings.  We usually always make one plain(cheese) pizza and then see what we can come up with for the other two.  So far Will has simple taste and loves the pineapple and pepperoni.  One of our first weeks we did a white pizza with prosciutto and arugula then drizzled aged balsamic on top, and I am still having dreams about it!  Some combinations turn out great and others, eh not so much.  Fortunately, my gracious husband tells me its his favorite even if some weeks they turn out borderline inedible.  

I had hoped to include little Will in the process but it led to flour everywhere and him eating cheese by the handful so we have resorted to movie time while Mom makes the pizzas.  We have been all about the Good Dinosaur lately, even though I could cry just talking about that stinkin sad movie.
It usually gives me just enough time to make little man's pizza and let him eat while I make the big kid pizzas.  By the time Dad gets home, the kids are bathed, full and ready for bed.  Mom is sweating and covered in flour but that it okay because date night commences as soon as the children are asleep.  The reason I hit the gym during the week is because come 7:00 Friday night I know I am stuffing my face with circle shaped Italian goodness with my fella by my side!

I really do hope this will be a tradition we can continue, even if it ends up being once a month.  This little party we have been enjoying is a nice way to keep things simple and inwardly focused.  There are so many pulls to be all over the place and trying to get out of the house.  I had hoped this would be less of a recipe post and more of a " how to have fun without leaving the house" post. The Lord has really laid it on my heart lately to just be a better steward over what He has blessed us with and to invest in my little family in new ways.  I know that the boys wont have any recollection of having Domino's delivered but my hope is that Friday Night Pizza Parties at home will be a sweet memory when they are big and grown(even though Im not letting them get big or grown!)

As always, I LOVE feedback!  Please feel free to share your favorite pizza recipe or your fondest family night memories.  Thanks for reading! 

Life Lately

My blog this month has become like  my relationship with my grandmother.  I mean to call once a week or at least once a month but life gets crazy and time just seems to disappear.  I really do love her and want to talk to her and update her on my life but the longer I put off the phone call, the more guilt I have for that call taking so long.  So here I am, shamefully dialing her number, feeling bad but knowing she loves me anyways :) Right?  Sorry blog, I promise to do better.

Life lately has been hectic but a little monotonous for the most part.  I feel like my family is in a "grind" season.  Every week we are working towards being on a better schedule, getting more accomplished and when Will and I do get a little bit of time on Friday night for a movie, we are both usually catching flies fifteen minutes into the new James Bond movie for the fifth time because we cant seem to get through that stinkin movie.

In our short time of being South Carolina residents, I have been reminded of how much I LOVE the south.  While I am a Jersey girl at heart, nothing warms my soul like some sweet tea and smocked children's outfits.  It just feels friendly everywhere you go down here.  We have moved about 30 minutes away from one of the most beautiful and historic cities in the country.  However, fun fact, not all of the surrounding areas of Charleston have the pastel colored beach houses and waterfront views.  There are actually some parts right around this amazing city that are just a little on the plain and not so fancy side, but are a very convenient distance from the Navy base.  While I knew we were moving into a very cookie cutter, suburban house, a good distance from downtown; for some reason I expected to see palm trees and cobblestone leading up to our neighborhood and was even hoping to get a whiff of the ocean from my driveway.  Yes, I was a little unrealistically disappointed on moving day.  Fortunately that feeling didn't last long knowing we weren't too far from that magical place everyone raves about.

Most days feel like the epitome of the early years of motherhood.  The race of meals, naps, toys and bath time.  The abrupt transition from catching a nap while my parents play with the kids, to praying that naps are in sync so I can catch a shower was a rude awakening for me.  Big Will has been way busier with school than any of us anticipated.  He ends up just being home a couple hours for dinner most evenings and then heads back to study till late.   This part of training has been a really big challenge for him and it has really made me feel the need to help him in any way I can.  School is more important than me getting help with the kids right now so I try my hardest to just greet him with a warm meal, some encouragement and a swift kick back out the door to go study more.

Even though we really don't eat out much in trying to save money and since two years old and seven months old is not really a prime age to be frequenting restaurants, we have been able to check out downtown a few times.  We took on King St while Wills parents were in town and let me tell you, the reviews were spot on.  Not only do you have all of the best shopping you could ever ask for but they are all nestled between the most beautiful old buildings.  The food, the shopping, the ocean, the houses; it is seriously the most breathtaking town I have ever encountered!! I am so excited to experience more of Charleston during our time here.  One of the few restaurants we checked out downtown was an upscale barbecue place and I am quite convinced that it was designed by Chip and Joanna Gaines.  I mean, what is better than shiplap and pulled pork??

After a recommendation from Wills speech therapist, I knew as soon as we moved here I wanted to get Will in some sort of mothers day out program.  For some reason the north has not caught onto the whole idea of MDO.  It seems to be that it is daycare or nothing.  A real travesty if you ask me.  My Mama heart was not ready for this but I knew the socialization and structure would help his speech.  Frankly, I also knew he was getting a little bored with Brother and I, and was dying for some play time with other kids.  Fortunately after a little searching we found a fantastic Mothers Morning Out program at a local church that was just the perfect fit for us.  We were able to ease into it with just two days a week.  I was not sure how he would handle this new environment for four hours a day but he tries to ditch me as soon as we get in the building and dart off to his class.  He also insists on going back and blowing kisses to his teachers as we are leaving.  It is just the best feeling seeing someone else love on your baby so well!!

The past two months have been all about finding our new "normal", not only being in a new area but also getting used to living as a family of four.  Its been all about trying to get back to the gym, getting a little more frugal, meal planning, cleaning and all that fun stuff.  Some might call it boring, but Im not going to lie, I love a good to-do list and a little cleaning.  However, laundry, I could do without.  While it is exciting to have new adventures to plan, it still has us a bit out of our comfort zone.  God has really tugged at my heart to trust in His timing when it comes to the getting plugged in and the overwhelming parts of being in a new area. I know this is a season and with that is just more challenges that make me realize I need to stay hungry for God and His word.  He is the only one who NEVER lets me down.  On the tough days I can remember that He is molding me and shaping me.  This transition has not been super easy but I really do think the Lord has just been comforting me and coming in exactly when I need it.  It also helps that I have a mom and three sisters that I can call and talk their ear off when I need someone to drink my nap time coffee with!

This update was little all over the place, but I guess you could say I am a little all over the place.  Thanks for being patient with me and my little blog! Stay tuned for our next update or crazy adventure!

Early New Years Resolutions

As the holidays and new years resolutions are quickly approaching,  I have been thinking on how I would like to do things differently in this next season of life.  After Christmas, my boys and I will head to Charleston to start our life with the hubs in school.  We won't be living with my parents anymore and I won't have 6 extra pairs of hands to help out with the littles.  I feel like a coach before a game trying to get a plan together to conquer the tasks ahead of me.  Other than my life changing drastically, this post has been inspired from seeing so much chatter on social media about married life and mommy life.  I feel like I have read so many blog posts and articles about being a wife and raising children.  Its had my little brain going on this topic for a little while now and I just really feel the need to pow wow about these thoughts in my noggin.

My Mom would always talk about how my grandmother would take her 4:00 shower every day.  Even if she had spent all day in her jammies cleaning and changing diapers, she occupied the kids for thirty minutes to make sure she didn't greet her husband with three day old hair.  Even if it was something as simple as spaghetti and red sauce, there was always a warm meal on the table and my grandfather was greeted with a clean house, dressed children and a smile from his wife.

She really fit the profile of a typical 50's housewife or that June Cleaver stereotype if you will. The goal was to have your husband come home to a quiet and tranquil setting where he could be heard and given a chance to unwind after a day at work.  Back then it was a woman's sole focus to submit to her husband and to keep an organized ship run at home.  Gahh don't all of these things make you want to roll your eyes and think "overachiever"???  At every turn I am seeing this mindset not only be steered away from but even looked down upon and laughed at in our society today.  In the feminist era we live in, women are constantly being reminded that we need to be redeem our womanhood in all sorts of different ways.  For the most part it seems that we have stepped away from this go getter attitude as wives and moms.

Let me be perfectly clear before I move on.  All the attributes I described about my grandmother are NOT things I practice.  If I am able to accomplish ONE thing on that little list, I chalk that day up as a total success!  Some evenings my husband returns from work to somewhat of a war zone.  He finds his wife in the same clothes he left her in, with some spit up added to the grungy shirt.  On any given night the children could be naked and screaming as one continues to tear apart the living room that no longer has a visible floor.  He is greeted by tired, unshowered wife saying 'Today has been a wreck, Im exhausted.  I need you to take the kids, so I can have a minute and then lets order take out".  Okay…not many days are THAT rough but you get the picture.While there are some days where productivity is winning, there are also others where we are lucky to have everyone in one piece.  Maybe a few of you can relate??

I don't know about y'all but underneath my exhausted "oh well" attitude on my failures as a homemaker, my hearts desire is to be all of those things.  When I see a movie from back in the day or hear about my grandmothers routine I get a little giddy on the inside and think "why can't I do that?".  It may just be my type A personality talking but I really think it is God tugging at my heart for things that he hopes for me to be more passionate about. I know that on days that I manage to throw something together for dinner and have a doctors appointment so I am forced to shower and put on real clothes, I sure do feel a lot better greeting my husband at the end of the day.

I am not saying my new years resolution is to try to be more perfect but rather take on the role God has blessed me with with a gracious and joyful spirit.  I want to give my "job" 110%.  Rather than staying in survival mode (because some days you're just trying to survive), I want to do the BEST with what I am given.  In this day and age I feel like I am constantly being reminded of all the things I deserve as a woman. I deserve a man who brings be just because flowers, and I deserve to look like a wreck all day as a mom because raising little ones is HARD,  I deserve to have some "me time" at the end of the day and I most certainly deserve to complain about any of the hardships along the way. This is such a far cry from that June Cleaver portrait earlier! Are we missing something?

I want to look at this lady of the house title through another set of goggles, the biblical kind.  As a Christian woman I ultimately am a daughter of Christ before a wife and mother and my life goal is to fulfill God's purpose for my life and to become more like Him.

"Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."(Gensis 2:18)

So, according to the bible we were put on this earth to be our husbands helper.  This could either sound really degrading or really empowering.   God is wanting us to do everything we can to support our husbands in providing for the family.  In many situations that means letting our husbands feel good about going to work each day knowing his counterpart is happy to contribute at home.  I think this mentality is overall a way to honor your husband by doing more than biting our tongue in an argument.  Taking on our role as homemaker with a loving spirit might just be what sets us apart from so many and makes God want to bless other areas of our lives.  The topic of this post was mainly sparked from me reading Wife School this year.  It gives such a refreshing view on the opportunities women have in marriage while teaching such biblical yet relevant values that I think every wife could benefit from.  I could not recommend this book enough!

Luckily this is not a blog post about all the things I am doing right.  Ultimately, at the end of the day I do not think that checking tasks off of a lists or having a clean house will make you a better person or  better your walk with the Lord.  However, I think there is definitely something about the attitudes wives had back in the 50's that just worked.  I know it couldn't have been easy to put a smile on your face when hubs walks in the door late or your day has been something awful but I think there is something to it.  and…Well… I'll just say it, DANGIT! I want to be like June Cleaver! I want to be the ultimate housewife and make my husband happy!

So what if we just gave it a try? What if we made dinner on week nights? What if we made sure our husbands came to a house somewhat put together? What if we put on a little lipstick at 5:00? What if we had a standing date night each week?  Would anyone be worse off for it? Yeah sure, we might hit the pillow a little harder at the end of the day but we just might end up feeling a little like superwoman!

I know there are so many different family dynamics out there.  Being a working mom makes everything look a little different in the way you run your home(I have been there).  No one marriage or family will function the same way but the underlying message of humbling ourselves to give all that we have is the point I am getting at.  I can only speak on behalf of my experiences and those who are in similar situations around me, but the goal in mind is just doing the best with what we are given!  I don't expect everyone to agree with me or have the same aspirations but that is okay!! However, if any of you out there have tips or tricks for getting through the week or if you remember things your mom or grandmother did that you think really worked, please let me know!  I love getting ideas for ways I can do things better.  Who knows maybe a future blog post will be a collaboration from some June Cleaver wannabes of the 21st century!