His Majesty

Doesn't he look very royal in this picture? He's a royal stinker!

Pizza Crust

*** This was actually about two weeks ago. Now we're going through another round of sickness this week.

Claire was sick all week. It started Monday afternoon with a high fever and headache. Her flu and strep tests were both negative. As the week went on, we figured out she was fine and dandy as long as we kept medicine in her to keep that fever down. I've had a horrible cold, so I stayed home with her on Tuesday in hopes that we could both rest. The now infamous snake dictionary that she checked out of the school library made an appearance that day. I can't wait for that thing to go back to school!

When she started perking up a bit, we decided to make some homemade pizza crust. Claire is an excellent helper in the kitchen and loves to cook!

These calzones look absolutely pitiful, but they tasted yummy. (PW Cowboy Calzones)

We saved the rest of the dough and made pizza on Friday night. It was delicious!

By the way...

I'm growing a little herb garden. I'll keep you posted on whether I kill them or not.

A New Kind Of Castle

Comfort Meatballs

I made Pioneer Woman's Comfort Meatballs last week. Brian and I really liked them. Parker tolerated them, and Claire said, "Yuck". That's nothing unusual though because Claire is definitely not the meat eater in this family. She just doesn't like much meat, especially red meat. They tasted a little like meatloaf, but different enough to be an interesting change. I think we liked them enough to make again sometime. On another note, I also made Pioneer Woman's chicken spaghetti. Here's the verdict:
Me: Just so-so...tasted better the second day
Brian: Pretty good (He's fairly easy to please)
Parker: Yuck
Claire: Yuck


*Don't plan to make again :)
** I only used chicken breasts...I NEVER use dark meat!

Great, Big, Exciting News!

We have some great, big, exciting news around here! Miss Claire got her ears pierced! She talked about wanting to get them pierced for a long time, but this time she was serious. It was totally unexpected though because she just decided as we happened to walk past the store last Sunday. We went to the mall to eat lunch with family, so they were all still there for the big event! The cheering section

The hands-on support team!

Claire holding the "Claire Bear"

Still smiling, taking pictures with her fans

A celebration Icee

Notice there are no pictures of me. I would have been on "the crying team". I'm not sure why it was so emotional for me. I guess it's just another reminder that my baby is really growing up. She didn't cry at all!

The final events of the day included pretending to be mannequins in the store windows. They are so silly!

Valentine's Weekend 2011

Parker had to go to school Saturday to make up a snow day. He handled it fairly well all things considered. The rest of us just stayed at home most of the day. Here is a sweet picture of Brian and Claire playing together on the computer. We picked Parker up a little early because we had already planned to go to a birthday party Saturday afternoon. Parker and Dawson have been friends since Kindergarten. His little sister Hannah was the birthday girl. Hannah and Claire became fast friends waiting for the big brothers every day after school.

After church today we went to lunch, then headed home to enjoy some time outside on a warmer than usual day.

Of course we had to get our Valentine cards all ready for tomorrow.

He is really concentrating...check out that tongue.

While Parker spent a LONG time finishing his Valentines, Claire and I made some cupcakes.

I think we're all ready for tomorrow!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Meet Dragonbite

DragonBite is Parker's award winning Pinewood Derby car. Brian and Parker worked really hard to build him and get him just the way they wanted. He is modeled after Brian's childhood Pinewood Derby car named SnakeBite. (SnakeBite was also award winning by the way!)

Parker's car got third place in his pack race. He was very excited!

DragonBite raced very well in the large den race as well but didn't place in the top three.