Look Who's Back?

The girls were up at 6:30.  They came downstairs dressed and ready to take Bonnie for a walk!

If you're familiar with the book The Trumpet of the Swan,

you'll understand why this picture is so funny. Kids and their imaginations! Ha!   

{Easy} Calzones

 I started with frozen, unrisen dinner rolls and let them sit for a few hours.  Fun to watch them rise! 

The filling is just ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, salt, pepper, and an egg (not pictured).

Mix the whole thing up and add some fresh basil.

Roll out the rolls!

Pretty thin.

 Then fill it with the cheese mixture and a few slices of pepperoni.

 Or some turkey sausage... or a combo of BOTH! (which is what I did for half of them)

 Get the kids involved, too!

They loved "painting" on the egg wash.

And crimping the edges.

Ready to bake!

At an Italian restaurant, I never order a calzone.  Not because I don't like calzones but because I'm never sure how thick the dough might be.  I'd rather taste more of the filling than have a heavy bread dinner, if you know what I mean. 

These Easy Calzones fit the bill nicely!  I loved how thin the dough came out!  The dough was super stretchy and moldable, too.  Plus, I love it when the girls ask me, "How old do I think we'll be before we can make this all by ourselves?" 

That's the reason why I post these recipes!  Someday soon, I know they'll be blessing us with their cooking!  And God willing, I pray these recipes will be used to bless their future family's as well.   

Anyway, aren't these cute?  The girls thought so.  They said they looked like half moons.  It's also fun that everyone gets their very own dipping sauce!  I should have taken a picture of this guy cut in half so the insides could've be seen but at this point, we were hungry and READY TO EAT! 

I would definitely make these again and try lots of different fillings.  Next time, I'm thinking spinach and artichoke.  Ooh, YUM!  A family winner, for sure!

Bake at 400 for approx. 10-12 mins.

Thanks for the inspiration, Pioneer Woman!

Amazing Grace

After 3 piano lessons, Faith has learned to play Amazing Grace by ear and memory.  This was a piece that was assigned to me but she insisted that I teach her the song as I was learning it, too.

We are truly amazed and BLESSED by the music in our home these days!

Lord's Prayer

Every summer, I make a list of "Summer Scriptures" for the girls to memorize but last week, I found myself without a plan or a list of verses to meditate our hearts on.  I guess that's what a 2 week vacation at the beginnning of summer will do to you!  Ha!  

Anyway, as I began thinking intentionally about this, I thought I'd have the girls memorize the Lord's Prayer instead of individual verses this summer.  Little did I know, this would only take them 2 to 3 days, not the entire summer, like I had envisioned. 

So much for my plan!  I guess they're not 3 and 4 anymore and their brains can hold so much more than I can even imagine!  Wish mine could!

Next up...  maybe Psalm 23?

A quick shout out for Sing the Word from A to Z.  I put it on the other day and it was such a blessing to hear how quickly the kids remembered all the verses from last year.  Love it!

These are the days

Playdates with friends... 

Building castles.

 Celebrating special occasions.

Saying bye to dad as he leaves for work...

Reading stories to her eager "children."

Sharing a smoothie with your best friend.

Listening to dad as he plays us a tune.

Buying a new pool.

These are the days of the endless summer
These are the days, the time is now
There is no past, there’s only future
There’s only here, there’s only now.

-Van Morrison

The wisest people I know are those that realize the brevity of life and therefore, live in that reality. Although as believers, we long for Christ's return to take us home, today is a gift!

Our children are a gift– an incredible one, at that.

Thank you, Lord for this amazing life You have given me! 

“Teach us to number our days, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” ~Psalm 90:12

Gone Fishing

Halmoni & Hapajee met us up there.

Catching her first fish!

Daddy helps her bring it in.

The ultimate in "teamwork."  Grace reels it in and Faith scoops it up for her.  

6 rainbow trout.

The Catch of the Day was this 12 incher by Faith.

Yummy fresh trout for lunch!

We also celebrated Halmoni's birthday!

We had such a fun day up at Oak Glen!  We've been wanting to take the girls fishing for some time now and we finally did it.  I have so many fond memories throughout my childhood fishing with my dad.  It's definitely something I wanted the girls to experience with Hapajee, too. 

Since we wanted to make it an "easy" catch for their first time, we went to the trout ponds up at Oak Tree Village in Oak Glen.  They had just stocked their ponds the day before so it was pretty much a guarantee catch. 

The girls loved it and had SO MUCH FUN! 

It wasn't a cheap experience by any means ($1/inch for each fish).  We let the girls catch 3 each so we spent over $60 on six fish.  I have to say, it was worth it for a first time experience.  They were great about helping us out, showing the girls how to clean the fish, and then packing the fish on ice. 

Hapajee thought of everything and even brought mine and my brother's old fishing poles so we didn't have to rent poles.

We followed our exciting fishing adventure by celebrating Halmoni's birthday with a fabulous trout lunch and picnic at Los Rios. 

Good times and GREAT memories!

Happy Birthday, Halmoni!  We love you!

Summer Reading

I can hardly believe June is almost over!  Aside from the extreme heat in our neck of the woods, for the most part, I adore summer!  Mostly, I enjoy the more relaxed mood (and schedule) in our home. 
I love the fact that each new day is met with the possibility of doing something grand or absolutely nothing at all! 

However, as the hot days pass quickly, I also want to be careful not to let idleness get the better of us.  In other words, I believe the "summer state of mind" can co-exist with an intentional plan. 

Thankfully, the girls have never met a book they didn't like.  In fact, while we were on vacation, I think the thing the girls missed most was being surrounded by their beloved books! 

In addition to the Summer Reading Program at our local library (as well as Barnes & Noble), we'll also be working our way through a list of Read-Alouds this summer.  Although we read quite often throughout the year, summer seems to be the perfect time to gather round, cuddle up, and discover a whole new adventure, together. 

We love Read Alouds in our home and we're usually working on two different books at one time (a mommy book and a daddy book).  Surprisingly, the kids have no problem keeping the stories straight and thankfully, the parents don't have to!

So far, we've already read several of the books in the Boxcar Children Series, Because of Winn Dixie (which we loved!), The Trumpet of the Swan... another superb classic!  And Little House in the Big Woods, the first of many in the Little House Series.

Some other Read Alouds on our Summer Reading List...

Little Pear is a young boy who lives in a small village in China. Although his story takes place long ago, he is much like any little boy today--always on the lookout for excitement and adventure!  Little Pear is just looking for fun, but he has a knack for finding trouble without even trying! A delightful glimpse of life in China at the turn of the century.

With scarcely enough money for his own family, George Muller sponsored a "Breakfast Club" for orphans that eventually filled five large houses and cared for 10,000 children. Muller's faith and generosity have set a standard for Christians of all generations. A gripping true story.



Gooney Bird dazzles (and inspires) her classmates with "absolutely true" stories, while they learn what makes a story good or bad.
"Everyone has all sorts of stories to tell," says the feisty, friendly heroine of this laugh-out-loud book from a two-time Newbery Medalist.




Why do the storks no longer come to the little Dutch fishing village of Shora to nest? It was Lina, one of the six schoolchildren who first asked the question, and she set the others to wondering. And sometimes when you begin to wonder, you begin to make things happen. So the children set out to bring the storks back to Shora. The force of their vision put the whole village to work until at last the dream began to come true.



A teacher from England connects with the hearts and minds of students in a one-room Athabascan school in Alaska in 1948.




Eighty-four favorite children's poems old and newer, whimsical and thought-provoking.




Wolves, weather, a black lamb, a trusty dog--all are part of Peter's life on a mountain farm. His best friend is Benj, a wise old shepherd, and Benj teaches him to care for the sprightly lamb that becomes his own special pet, his cosset. As Biddy grows into her place as leader of the flock, Peter grows too, learning the skills and joys of the shepherd's life.

You gotta love a good book!  What's on your SRL? 
(I've got a few on my own that I just might share in another post). 

“Give your children books and read them yourself. Flood your home with their presence so that every soul in your sphere of influence has no choice but to drink in the truth, goodness, and beauty of life.”
-Sarah Clarkson, Read for the Heart