A Night in the Woods

A few weeks ago I took the kids camping overnight with some friends of ours. Owl Poppa was working, and to be honest, he is not overjoyed at the thoughts of packing up our stuff to go to the woods and pretend we don't have a house. So, it was just me, the three little owls, and another family.

I used to camp alot as a kid, and it is something I always wanted to do with my children. I had great dreams of hiking through the woods, teaching the kids about nature, cooking over a campfire... ahhh, memories. But, like I said, Owl Poppa... well, not so much. My awesome artist friend Brendy was kind enough to share her family camp out with us, and to overlook how neurotically nervous I was about the whole deal :) I just really wanted everything to go well, both for me and for the little owls.

And it did! YAY! With help from Brendy's husband, we got the tent pitched, got gear unpacked, set up camp. We took the kids to play in the river, cooked dinner over the campfire, made s'mores, and spent our first night sleeping in the woods...

which is much harder than I remember it being. First of all, all four of us were sleeping in a 7 x 7 tent. And it was hot. And quiet. I had alot of trouble falling asleep. There was the racoon in the middle of the night who was trying to open our coolers (which had to be moved to the cars). There was the guy a few campsites down who kept coming and going on his motorcycle. Then K's eczema was super bad that day (before we even left, not due to the trip) so she scratched and itched all night long. And W is still nursing over night, so there was that variable to consider.

But we made it!!!! We were up before 7 am, excited at surviving our first camp out! (I think the other campers were not so excited about us being up SO early) After a yummy camp breakfast, we packed up and spent the day relaxing by the river.

I could say more (of course) but I'll just leave you with a few cool pics from our trip:

Isn't this place beautiful?

J doing what J does

My water baby, W

And of course, J and K with their first S'mores!

Super Shout Out

My friend Dawn is the super coolest person ever... she made this awesome blog layout just for me. YAY! I promise I will make some super cool thing on my blog to honor her... but not tonight. W is sleeping in my arms. He is sounding awfully croupy and is very unhappy.

I also promise I will update my sad little blog soon. Really. We have had so much going on lately. Just hang in there... I'll have updates soon (because I know so many of you are on the proverbial edge of your seats waiting to hear what else I have to say, lol).

In the meantime, just keep checking back to admire the super awesome owl theme.

Schooling Never Stops

Owl Poppa and J are watching the basketball game... at least the game is on. Right now they are involved in a deep discussion about advertising and how it tries to trick you into buying things! I love it!

More On Mother's Day

Hope all of y'all had a great Mother's Day. With the kids at MILs, Owl Poppa and I took W out to lunch on Saturday. The weather was beautiful, the food was good, the company was terrific. The bigger kids brought me home paper flowers they made for me. :)
On Sunday, we woke up late, had a lazy day, went to lunch at my favorite Tex Mex place. Nothing says I love you like chicken burritos!

It's back to our regular school week this week. Today also starts my first week of trying not to leave the house on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Though this week we need to adjust for the fact that K has her final ballet practice on Wednesday.

Busy day ahead... hope everyone had a restful weekend and a happy Mother's Day. Here's looking forward to this week!

My Mother's Day Present

My house is soooo quiet (or at least it was until Owl Poppa turned on the basketball game). My mother-in-law took J and K overnight as a present to me, and W fell asleep at 7:15.

Family Night Pizza Recipe

When we have our weekly Family Night, we almost always make homemade pizza (the other default is taco party... letting the kids assemble their own tacos at the table). Homemade pizza is fun, because we can either make one big pie, or several small ones, and can change the toppings around as we feel like it! Oh, I love versatilty. So... here is the recipe for quick and easy homemade pizza crust. This is a no rise pizza crust... yes you read that correctly... no rising... no need to start thinking about dinner in the early afternoon (who has time for that, anyway?)... no getting to 5pm and thinking, "oh no! I forgot to make the pizza dough, we'll have to order out!"
:)

Ingredients:
1T (or 1 packet) yeast
1 T sugar or honey (we use our yummy raw honey from the farmer's market)
1 C warm water
2 1/2 C flour
1 T olive oil
1 tsp salt

In a medium mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar or honey in the cup of warm water. Wait until the whole mix is frothy and bubbly, about 10 minutes. This step is otherwise know as "proofing the yeast."
Add remaining ingredients, and mix with your hands until it forms a ball. Dough will be somewhat sticky. Knead for about 5 minutes (this is a great job for the kids).
Let the dough rest in the mixing bowl while you assemble the stuff to top the pizza, about 5 minutes.
Sprinkle a baking stone (it really does taste better cooked on a pizza stone, but you can use a baking sheet if that's whatcha got) with cornmeal, and roll out the dough. Drizzle the top of the dough with additional olive oil before adding toppings.
Add desired sauce/cheese/topping combo and bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for around 15 minutes.

NOTE: This recipe comes out really well with whole wheat flour. You can substitute some or all of the white flour for whole wheat. For each cup of whole wheat flour, add about a tablespoon of water to the dough before kneading. And don't skip the drizzling the top with olive oil.

Favorite toppings at the Owl Nest:
shredded barbecue chicken and sliced shallots
riccota cheese dropped on in big blobs
canadian bacon
pinenuts
whole cloves of garlic (they roast right on the pizza and cook up super soft and mellow... yum!)
leaves of fresh spinach
sliced baby portabella mushrooms

Buon Appetito!

Chocolate Jam Thumbprint Cookies

These were the May Day cookies we baked! This is a fun recipe for getting little hands (and thumbs) helping in the kitchen.

Ingredients:
1 C butter, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 C flour
2/3 C cocoa powder
3/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
strawberry jam

Directions:
Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Stir in vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients (does anybody really do this step?) and combine with the sugar/butter mixture.
Roll dough into walnut sized balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Using your thumb (or your kids thumbs, lol), make an indentation in the top of each cookie ball. Using a teaspoon, add a small amount of strawberry jam to fill each indentation.
Bake for 9-11 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.
Yield is approximately 2 dozen cookies