Pizza Pockets!

So, I really enjoy making things from scratch. Especially bread. I am NOT a "bread person". I actually don't LIKE bread at all really. Unless it is homemade. Then.. I die. I could probably actually die of a carb overdose if I allowed myself. Well, I make these breadsticks that are soooo good, and I make them with spaghetti usually. We had spaghetti about a week ago, and my husband got permanently hired at his job, and out of his contract (yay for a 4.00 raise, and benefits! Hello doctor!), so he decided we needed to go celebrate. Well, here I am, this bread dough made, and he tells me this. I wasn't going to complain, because I knew we'd end up somewhere good! So, I have never ever refrigerated bread before, and I didn't want to throw the dough away, unless it got bad from refrigerating it, so I gave it a shot in the fridge. 

I opened it up the next day, and rolled it out, twisted and baked and they were perfect! I didn't use all of the dough though, because I always make too many breadsticks and they end up getting thrown away. I figured I could just make fresh ones out of the leftover dough if we wanted anymore! Well, days kinda went on, and I kept moving the dough out of my way in the fridge, so yesterday, I decided I was going to use the leftover. Breadstick dough + pepperonis & cheese? Of course. This is a really simple, quick thing to throw together if you pre make the dough, but the dough itself is very basic, and quick too!

I will shut up, and share the recipe for both! Let me know if you make them, plan to make them, and hey, what would YOU put in them?!

Breadstick dough Recipe


MIX:
▪1 1/2 cups of warm water
▪2 T. sugar
▪1 T. yeast

Let that sit for about 5 minutes. It'll get kinda bubbly and ew looking.

Then mix in:
▪ 3 1/2 cups of flour
▪1 tsp. salt

Mix until smooth, and let sit for about 10 minutes. Before you take the dough out, flour the heck out of your surfaces, and your hands, and have extra flour on hand. I add extra flour to the top, and my rolling pin! (This dough is veryyyy sticky!) 

Then roll the dough out. This makes a full batch of dough. You might want to split the dough into portions, and work that way! I used less than a 1/2 portion of dough when I made mine! You can roll this out as thick or thin as you'd like. Keep in mind that this IS yeast dough, and it WILL rise, so don't make them too thick, unless you'd like something like lightly stuffed breadsticks!

The next part is up the you! I cut my dough into rectangles, and added a slice of colby jack cheese, and some sliced pepperonis! You could add anything you could fit. I served sauce on the side, but you could put sauce inside as well! 

(BTW, there is flour on the cheese, not mold, lol)

Then I pressed the sides with a fork to make them a little prettier. Optional!

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes! Make SURE you seal them well! Mine started spilling out the cheese, this might work better with the fresh dough though! they were still good, and I learned Noah loves "crunchy cheese".

When they got out of the oven, a had melted some butter, garlic powder, and a little italian seasoning, and brushed the tops. I didn't have parmesan (well, I didn't think I did, but I actually have fresh.), but that would be good sprinkled on top!

Serve with sauce and enjoy! They were.. ahem.. toddler approved.. Oh, and my husband who devoured the rest!

Happy birthday, Noah!

This is only.. a month late, but it's better late than never, and I SERIOUSLY hope to blog a LOT more now that things are going {pretty} well in our new house now! This is just going to be a birthday photo dump for tonight, since I just did a makeover on my blog! I hope you all enjoy it!

Well.. uh? Hi there?

With Cody back school now, I really want to get this thing back up. I really need some more followers.. or something.. lol.

Cody started back to school this past Wednesday. I officially have a kindergartner! I'm such a lucky and proud mom. I love my boys so much. Since we currently do only have 1 vehicle until the beginning of next year, I mostly have to walk Cody. Nate starts work too early to take him, and "campfire" (like latchkey in my day) gets really expensive. There isn't any bus service, since the kids are close to the school. However, we have to cross 3 subdivision exits, and we walk along a really traveled road. I would never let my kindergartner walk there by himself. Ever. It is actually nice, more so in the morning when it's not so hot.

He was nervous at first, but warmed up pretty well when I brought him over to the other kids. He gave me a kiss, and off I went with Noah, in tears, of course. 

We've been leaving here a half hour before school starts, and both boys usually have about 15 minutes to play before the bell rings and it's time to line up. It's a great way to get Cody focused, get a little morning energy out, and get ready to start his FULL day of kindergarten. I pack him a lunch every morning. I think I pack him way too much to eat, because he ends up bringing back a good amount. I just want to make sure that he has options, and eats a good lunch. He eats breakfast, but he's really energetic and gets cranky when he's hungry. Plus, there's the walk back, in the heat. 

They both had checkups last Friday. Both growing like weeds. We have to schedule an appointment to get Cody evaluated to rule out a few things. I know that his behavior is good in school, but at home, it is not. And, it doesn't matter the amount of time you spend with him. He still does everything to defy you, and he gets SO emotional, and just can't control himself. Everything I've read points to ADHD, and if we need to get him on medication to make HIS days better, and ours, we certainly will be doing so. It's gotta get tiring for him to always be getting in trouble. Noah is slowly (but surely) entering the terrible 2's stage. Uh oh.

We leave in exactly a week from today for our Labor Day vacation. Last year, we visited around New Mexico. (Carlsbad caverns, white sands, Roswell, etc) This year, we are going to California! I'm so excited. We are going for my birthday and a family trip. My birthday is the 31st, and we're leaving the 30th. Our hotel is about a mile or two from the beach, and I'm so excited to go collect seashells and other things with the kids! We ordered a nice lightweight stroller since we downsized our vehicle from a Jeep, to a Hyundai Veloster. 

I will leave you with some pictures via instagram!

Addicted to Pinterest lately. (Oh, and Starbucks, which my husband has been graciously getting for me almost every night!)

The night before Cody started school, I could not sleep, so I sat up, filled out paper work, and made a to-do list for the morning.

I got an organizer last night, and organized all of my makeup and nail polish. This drawer is just my Essie's!

Playing before school!

Recently, I switched from MAC to Urban Decay. I'm in so much love with all of their shadows, I wish that I could use them all at once. I bought this stuff from their recent sale! 

Birthday update... just a few days late!

That's right! I'm a mom to a 5 year old now! I'm a few days late updating this, but late is better than never, right?

Let's see.. Nate has 1/2 days on Fridays, so we planned to take Cody out to lunch for his birthday. He's been wanting to go to the "pop place". The place is called Frontier, and they have the Coca Cola freestyle machine, which allows you to customize your soda flavors. It was actually pretty neat. He had a plate of fries and a soda, while playing with his new iPad.

We let him open his iPad early, since we planned a small get together at Chuck E Cheese later, and didn't really want it left at the table. I asked him what he thought his gift was, and he said "a robot, cuz it's wrapped in robot paper".

I think he was pleasantly happy, and probably even surprised to get an iPad instead of a robot, lol.

..However, Noah was not very happy that gift was for Cody, and not him.

I didn't get any pictures at the "pop place", because it was really busy, and I didn't want to lug around the camera.

But, we took him to the popcorn store, so that he could get some of his favorite cheese popcorn, and of course, I got some Green Chile Caramel popcorn. Yum!

And, here's some pictures from ChuckEcheese with his friends :)

Of course, they get a good picture together, and they pick a girls' card. -facepalm-

We stayed there until around 10pm. They all had a blast. 

Another Birthday Boy!!

That's right, it's my first boys' birthday today :) He turned 5! I can't even believe it! It seems like we were just celebrating his 4th birthday!

My morning (yesterday) started with coffee, and pulling out all the baking ingredients onto my tiny counter. Cody told me a few days before that he wanted chocolate cupcakes with color swirled vanilla frosting. I got started before I am usually even half awake, since the kids were playing really well together. In between doing stuff, I got them breakfast, changed Noah, and while the cupcakes were cooling, I took a shower with Cody. We went in on an iPad with my MIL, so Nate got that all set up, and downloaded a bunch of learning apps for him, so it's mostly set up when he opens it. We invited a couple boys from his class to Chuck E Cheese with us tonight for a small party. I felt bad for not inviting certain, or more people, but it just gets expensive.

I wrapped up his gifts last night, and Nate blew up a bunch of balloons to cover his floor with for when he woke up this morning. I know he is going to have a blast tonight :)

Cupcakes!

Isn't he just the cutest?! He looks so much like Cody, it's unreal.

Balloons and present wrapping!

Perfect start to my day!

Hai??

It's been.. 20 days since my last post. I need to change this, because I plan on having this blog for a long time, and want to actually be able to look back on these things, which, is impossible if I never blog!!

Anyways, things have been pretty great around here. I've been spending tons of time on instagram, buying nail polish and other stuff I don't need, and trying to get little Noah walking. He isn't really interested in walking; or standing unassisted. Actually, he doesn't even want stand assisted. He had his 12 month checkup last Friday, and the doctor isn't worried, so I'm not worrying too much. He will walk when he is ready!

Cody is going to be... 5.. yes, FIVE in just over 2 weeks. Where has the time gone?! ): I've got all of his papers filled out for kindergarten, I have to drop them off on Wednesday. This Friday is his last day of school, then I have a kindergartner. He's so smart. He doesn't really listen to us, but he is excellent in school. I'd rather him be a crazy kid at home, and so good at school. His teacher told Nate that Cody is the best student she's ever had. She is ALWAYS raving about Cody. I am so so so proud of him. He got glasses last Thursday. He doesn't like keeping them on, at all. Hopefully, we can work on that. 

Here are a few pictures from the past couple weeks :)

 walking with the family!

 I never noticed the difference between cheap nail polish, and ones like Essie and OPI. Essie wins.

 My boys got me this for mothers' day :)

 We got these for Noah, and went to 3 different walmarts to find matching ones for Cody. 

 Cody and his glasses!

Oh hai!

I have to start on dinner very soon, but wanted to update quickly.

The weather has been staying nice, finally. I can't wait until they open the pool up here.

I have really just been doing a whole lot of crocheting, so that I can open up my own etsy store very soon! I have a few orders that I got the past couple of days. So, I have been a busy bee.

Cody had an eye appointment last week, and we found out that he is VERY far-sighted, and needs glasses. We are going to order those Friday after he gets out of school. He is going to be 5 in just over a month, and I'm thinking of doing a party at Peter Piper or Chuck e cheese. Not my ideal place, but he loves it at places like that. It would really be only friends, since our family is back home, but I really feel like he is getting to the age where he would really enjoy a birthday party with kids his age.

I really need to be starting dinner now, but here are some instagram pictures of the past week. (I really need to pull out my Nikon more)

 about everything we can do on a balcony. Sandbox, garden, and there's 2 birdfeeders. Only 1 is pictured. We also laid out carpet on the concrete.

 homemade broccoli cheddar soup in homemade whole wheat bread bowls. Yum.

 New clothes for Noah from Gymboree!

 Making his own pizza for lunch!

 Taco salad