Another Wall Hanging

I love personalized items-note cards, pillows, key chains, wall hangings...and even if I have not made a personalized wall hanging for my son yet, I have made a few as gifts.  Above is the most recent one that I made for a newborn baby of a friend.  (Isn't Felicity a beautiful name?)  It is really basic with just paint for the background instead of scrapbook paper.  (I didn't want to clash with nursery decor.)  For the lettering, I used a brown behind a green print that had brown and pink in it, though you would need to click the photo to enlarge it to see all of that.

You might notice the shiny glare...the Mod Podge I used was glossy.  Next time I will use regular matte finish.  The photograph shows just how imperfect it is...if you have any tips for keeping lettering straight while using Mod Podge, please share!  I'm glad it was appreciated despite the flaws!

If interested in how to make a personalized wall hanging or changing it to a barrette holder, you can click the links.

My BEST Homemade Pizza

For well over a year I have been on a quest to find a homemade pizza that we really can enjoy.

Let's see.  To have good pizza, you must have good crust.  That's basic, common knowledge.  I have also learned that freshly shredded mozzarella cheese is important.  Do not purchase shredded cheese for pizza.  And the third thing for our family is homemade pizza sauce.  I have an easy recipe.  I like to double it, and then freeze it (once cooled) in baggies in the freezer.  An extremely important tip is to put the sauce on very, very lightly!  Many swear that the hot oven and pizza stone are crucial.  They probably are.  Since the oven is SO hot when I use it, I have learned the hard way (repeatedly) to keep my oven light on while cooking the pizza, and to check it after just five minutes.  Seriously, we have eaten too much burned pizza.

In the past, I have shared about grilling pizza.  That was very good.  I also wrote about pizza buns.  Not Derek's favorite, but still good.

When time is short, and it usually is, I use this recipe for my quick pizza dough.  It only takes about half an hour.

I know the best pizza dough should ferment overnight.  (I'm not sure if ferment is the right word, but that's what I'm using.)  I had tried this recipe a couple times.  I know I burned it once, and I think I did something wrong the other time, too, even though it was still good.  Well, this past week I wanted to keep at my pizza attempts.  AND I remembered the day before that I wanted pizza the following day.  It was time to try a brand new recipe!

The winning recipe that Derek and I both really liked comes from 101 Cookbooks.  It is amazingly detailed!  I truly think all those details are what made this recipe a success for me.  It gives instructions for hand-kneading and for using a stand mixer!  There are nine steps total, and wow, are they detailed...perfect for someone like me who really isn't a very capable cook past the basics.  Find the Best Pizza Dough Ever by clicking the link.  You'll have to scroll down a ways to get to the recipe, but it's well worth it.

Some things to know.

• For this recipe, you need to prepare the dough a day in advance.  
• It makes a large amount of dough.  The directions tell you specifically how to freeze the dough, too.  The directions suggest you divide it into six equal pieces, but I divided it into four.  We froze two pieces for future use, and used two pieces for our family, and that was perfect for us, with just a snack left over.
• I have found that 500 degrees is hot enough for our oven and pizza stone.  If it's hotter, I seem to burn the pizza.  
• I made both pizzas on the stone.  With only taking a bit more than five minutes to cook, it was just fine.
• We're rather boring.  We prefer cheese and sauce on our pizza.  Nothing else.  (Though ham can be a nice treat on occasion, according to me.  Derek doesn't mind pepperoni and some other toppings.)  When testing recipes, try to be consistent in your toppings (or lack thereof) so you can fairly gauge the pizza dough.
• We've only made this pizza one time.  It was very good.  It was also sticky.  Though I had learned to "knuckle" pizza dough when I was a teen working in at Roman Pizza, I struggled with using my fists this time.  Next time I will thoroughly cover the backside of the dough in cornmeal...it still stuck to my pizza peel a bit, and my pizzas were NOT circular.  Despite the funky shapes, we agreed that this recipe was a keeper.
• Is all the effort worth it?  Yes, I think so.  I would like to eat pizza every week.  Take out gets pricey, even with coupons.  And really, take out just isn't practical for us to do each week.  This is good pizza, and worth the effort...and though very good, nothing compares with pizza from your favorite pizza joint, though this is close!

If you like thin crusted pizza, I would definitely suggest trying this recipe.  Let me know what you think!  

Eleanor the Hippo Learns to Tell the Truth

About the time my daughter turned four, she started to occasionally lie.  Not about anything big, but a lie is a lie. And lying is wrong.  Though not everyone likes to call it a sin, that is exactly what it is.  In our home we discuss sin as sin, and the worst part is that sin separates us from God...whether my sin or my child's.

When I saw that Andy McGuire had created another book, similar to Remy the Rhino Learns Patience (linked to my review), I was eager to share it with my children.  In this newest story, Eleanor the Hippo Learns to Tell the Truth is just as well-written as Remy, but it's a brand new story!  

In the African Savannah, Eleanor likes to tell stories about all the other animals to make herself look good.  Really, the other animals like to listen to her tales, even though they know they may not all be true.

This all worked to Eleanor's advantage until she made a grave mistake: she told a lie about the king of the jungle!  She told the new zebras, "Our lion is a scaredy-cat..."  Wow!  What a dangerous lie!  Of course, Eleanor had to deal with this, but I won't give it away...it was just too good how her friends found out that she had lied to make herself look good.

I love how Andy McGuire sums it all up at the end.

"The truth had overcome the lies,

Which shouldn't be a big surprise.

Since truth is strong and fibs are weak,

Eventually all lies spring a leak."

The illustrations are dear, as you can see from the cover illustration!  I love the rhyme and the story.  There is no Scripture (or God) reference, but the story is clear that lying is wrong. 

Thank you, Harvest House Publishers for providing this book for review purposes!

Mother's Day Flowers and Butterflies

Spoiler Alert: If you are a grandmother to our kids, you will want to skip this post.  

I just love hand print and fingerprint crafts.  Today I have a hand print butterfly and fingerprint flowers to share with you that could both be used for a preschool or school-aged Mother's Day craft.

For the fingerprint flowers, I simply cut some white cardstock into smaller pieces (approximately 4x5).  My four year old practiced on paper first, but really wanted to complete her flowers independently, which means no or little guidance from this mom.  Her flower is pink.  My 2 year old son's is blue.  He thought this project was great fun and allowed me to help him.  Of course, afterwards, both children painted with paintbrushes.  After the paint was dry, I added grass and stems and a personal message on the back.

 To make hand print butterflies, you could actually use two children's hands, but in this example, only my daughter wanted to participate.

We traced M's hands.  While I cut them  out, I had her cut out two "bodies" for the butterfly.  We arranged the hands between the two bodies.  Then she drew a face on it.

 

Ours is displayed in our window by the front door.  With it being two sided, it makes a great window display, even if the colors fade quickly.

I can't believe it's nearly Mother's Day.  It's just a few days away since it is "early" this year. 

Books to Enjoy with Mom and Grandma

Was anyone else taken by surprise that Mother's Day is May 8th this year??  I was a bit shocked...and will not complete a certain project by that deadline since I don't have the supplies, nor am I able to get them.  However, a little project by the kids will be shared soon for the grandmas in our lives.

My children have FOUR grandmas (one is a great grandma) that they see on a semi-regular basis (meaning at least a couple times a year).  We call each one "Grandma LastName."  By age 3, my daughter knew who each one was, despite the long distance between us.  We use visits, photos, and just talking about them.  Now that my daughter is 4 1/2 we sometimes send emails to those who use it.  We make cards and such too, to keep the grandparents close to us.

Well, now we also have The Grandma Book.  It's a cute book by Todd Parr that celebrates grandmothers-and yet doesn't really stereotype them.

"Some grandmas like to make you eat a lot.  Some grandmas like to make you things.  All grandmas like to hear from you."  (Punctuation added.  That's right.  There is no punctuation in this picture book until the final page which is a bit like an author's note since it says "Love, Todd".  The lack of punctuation is my only dislike.)

The illustrations are bold and bright and have the bold black outline that is also popular in our beloved Maisy books.   I definitely recommend this book to families who want a little reminder of the love of grandmothers and how special they are.  One of my favorite sets of pages says, "Some grandmas live with a grandpa.  Some grandmas live with their friends."  (Once again, punctuation added.)  It lets kids know that a retirement home or even a nursing home is still a home for grandma!  The back cover even has a  place for the reader to place a photo of Grandma!

I think The Grandma Book is great for a wide range of ages!  I highly recommend it, and just wish that author Todd Parr had used periods in his writing.  

My 2 1/2 year old son was quickly drawn to You Are My Little Cupcake.  It's written by Amy E. Sklansky and illustrated by Talitha Shipman.  The illustrations are cute, and the text is all about how the baby is like a cupcake.

"Your smile is as sweet as frosting.  Your snuggle can't be beat."  

The text is rhyming.  Our copy of You Are My Little Cupcake is in boardbook form, and the cover even has a cupcake liner texture.  Very cute.  Though the book illustrates a baby, even older children can enjoy this book!  It is definitely a good cuddling book for parents!  I can't wait to share this with our baby come October!  (Our son ate a lot of our board books...Probably I should be more accurate.  Our son chewed the binding and ruined many of our board books.)

I thank Little, Brown for providing these great books for us to enjoy for review purposes.  We think their books are fabulous!

Friendship

Making friends can be tough.  Over a year ago I had reached out to some ladies from a Bible study, and I'm happy to say that we try to see each other about once a month.  With our church being far away, I always feel guilty inviting folks to our home, and it is even harder to get together for just a morning or something like that.

At church, preschool, and even in our neighborhood, it's easy to just be "friendly" with others.  It is so much more work to develop friendships with these people who are friendly.

I remember when we first started attending our church we would say "hi" to a handful of people.  Even when we started attending Sunday school we still didn't get past the surface.  It wasn't until (thank GOD!) a couple felt led to begin a Sunday school class for "young marrieds."  This class had two purposes (in my mind at least) to offer a fellowship time during the Sunday school hour so relationships could develop and to teach us to be better God-honoring spouses, though we eventually branched out into other subjects other than marriage.  (Many of the couples had been married for 5-10 years, so they weren't exactly newlyweds.)  I really appreciate the fact that our church encouraged this special Sunday school class.  It did not "disband" until all of the adults of the church were to take core classes to make sure that all of the church had a similar foundation.  I miss the class, but it is also good to get to know others, of course.

Just like at church, at my daughter's preschool I was friendly with a handful of moms.  I have not reached out to all, but I have invited a couple of M's friends and their moms to my home.  Some would say it's a playdate, but I don't.  I want to get to know the mom.  And it's great that my daughter and son can play while I do.

I tend to rely on email too much for communication these days.  (But with small children, it is so nice to not be interrupted or to interrupt...) I have a handful of friends who I telephone semi-regularly, but not many.  This past weekend I wrote two letters that were friends.  Now,  I should also share that these still need to be stamped and addressed, but it's a start.

Though I deeply appreciate my blogging friends, I know that it's important for me to develop my in-person friendships, too.  I have a couple of in-real-life friends and family members who also blog, and I have to say that by reading their blogs I definitely get to know them much better!

Of course, friendship is not one sided.  I've recently been blessed with the generosity of a neighbor...actually, I should say neighbors!  One shares from her garden; another saw something that made her think of me and gave it to me while encouraging me to get out the sewing machine.  Kindness is amazing in how it grows and spreads.

So, how do you reach out to others?

Today I'm posting to encourage you and would also suggest that you visit Miller Moments.  She has written about her own Operation Friendship...very honestly, too.  Her first post is here, and today's post here.

No Safe Haven, by K & K Woodhouse

This past weekend I finished reading No Safe Haven by Kimberley and Kayla R. Woodhouse.  I really loved this book, though I must say the first few pages I wondered if I would get into it.  At page 35 I reminded myself that I needed to give it 50 pages (my self-imposed rule), especially since I had seen several great reviews for this book.

Widow Jenna and daughter Andie's small airplane is sabotaged, and it goes down on a mountain in Alaska.  Their one passenger, Cole, says he is trying to save them, but they just are not sure if he is trustworthy.  Jenna's leg is seriously injured and develops infection, which at their altitude is even more dangerous.  Andie has a very rare, but very life-threatening condition that does not allow her body to regulate its own temperature-when you are braving the elements in Alaska, it's even more dangerous.

The suspense builds in No Safe Haven as the reader understands the dire need of the situation.  The fact that no one will be finding them except the people looking for them-to kill them- and they don't even know it.

Kimberley and Kayla R. Woodhouse, a mother-daughter team, used Kayla's own nerve disorder that prevents her from regulating body temperature and sensing pain to make this book very real and the suspense very real.  I really enjoyed this book.  The only thing that was predictable was the bit of romance that developed.

I found the twelve year old, Andie's faith to be incredibly bold-yet realistic.  This book has a clear message of God's love for the worst of us while providing a very good suspense novel!

Thank you, B&H Publishing for providing me with a copy for review purposes!