Pizza Night

We usually have take-and-bake pizza for dinner a couple of times a month. We use it as one of those easy dinners on the weekend; Friday or Saturday, when we’re tired and done for the week.  Although I do not get to join in eating with my family on this particular meal, I like that it’s quick and easy and makes my family feel just a teeny bit spoiled.

A couple of weeks ago I came across a very yummy looking pizza dough recipe in a library book (oh, how I love the library!).  I immediately started plotting and planning and keeping my eyes peeled for a great build-your-own-pizza opportunity.

At the time Anna’s sweet little friend, Emily, was staying with us for several days.  Pizza is one of her favorite foods.  Perfect!  So I whipped up some dough (my kids decided this is their new favorite pizza dough recipe), and set out some toppings and let everyone dive in.

They had fun.  They smiled. They laughed.  They talked.  They made their masterpieces . . .

. . . And then relished gobbling them up!

Elle and I ate the broccoli salad.  Yum!  She is my healthiest-eating baby I’ve ever had.  This girl loves veggies and healthy proteins.  Of course, as you can see, we can’t seem to keep her off the table.  We’re working on it.  She’s just so darn cute, it’s hard for me to keep my wits about me. 

New Year’s Eve 2015

I love New Year’s Eve.  Admittedly, some years more than others.  This whole past year was a great year.  A blessing I do not take lightly.

One of the things I really enjoyed about New Year’s Eve this year was my little ones were much more involved than they have been in the past.  My wonderful parents always come over in the afternoon and stay for several hours playing games and eating yummy food.  This year my in-laws were able to join us as well, which made everything even more fun.  And all of my kids dug right in playing games and adding to the fun (except Elle, who was sick and stayed quietly on laps all night).  In the past the girls would curl up in the living room and watch Tinkerbell movies for most of the night.  This was a welcome change.

We made the rounds with Jungle Uno, the animal game, Guesstures and the 100 dice game.  We laughed and laughed and ate and ate and I loved it.

Djeryd snuck out to dance the night away.  Anna insisted on taking masses of pictures of the fireworks show in London (a blessing of Youtube – everyone gets to see the extravaganza and feel like they rang in the New Year, but still go to bed well before midnight). 

One of my very favorite parts of the whole night was the food.  I have been on a pretty restrictive diet for several months now (because of some health problems I’m working through) and sometimes it’s hard to find safe things to eat at a party (or even for dinner).  But because I was in charge of the menu I could make sure almost everything was MyLiege’s-tummy-friendly.  What made me so happy was that everyone ate really healthy food and REALLY enjoyed it.  We all stuffed ourselves silly and still felt good after it was all over.  I really cannot tell you how fulfilling that was for me as someone who loves to feed people.

We’ve been celebrating New Year’s Eve with my parents for as long as Sean and I have been married.  In the early years it was just the four of us since Djeryd was a baby and went to bed very early (and sometimes my sister’s little family would join us).  It has been so fun to see the tradition grow with our family.  It just keeps getting better and better.  Last year was the best yet! I’m excited to see what New Year’s Eve 2016 will be.