Life lately...

So life around the Speights' household has been rocking and rolling lately...this week has been pretty much just as busy as last week, but not nearly as stressful, so I'll take that!  At RENEW last Sunday, this Bible study type thing for working women at my church, the woman speaking started with this quote about finding balance in an unbalanced world, that I just thought was so appropriate for our life right now. 

"Balance is about embracing the good, managing the bad, and keeping it from getting ugly."--Natural Health Magazine, January 2011

While we were having dinner last night, I read this quote to Landon and we both had a laugh, because I think life is just like that sometimes.  Last week we felt like we were just trying to keep it from getting ugly ha!, but this week things are evening out.  

And, since I'm at home sick today and still trying to convince myself to get up off the couch and do something productive (other than looking at baby stuff online :)), here's a little snapshot of our lives lately.

Last week, my 6th grade photography class put on a Valentine's Day photo booth fundraiser during the lunch periods.  It was almost chaos and kinda crazy, but my kids had a good time and learned a lot and the rest of the kids really enjoyed their pictures, so I'd say it was a success.  Yesterday the kids started asking if we could do another one for Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day, but I told them let me think about it....I'm not sure if I'm ready to do it again quite yet! :)

 Last Sunday after church, Ashely, one of my college roommates, and I met up at Ruggles Green for lunch and to catch up.  Every time we run in to each other at West Houston or chat online or something we always say that we need to hang out, but since our wedding almost 5 years ago, we've never actually done it!  So, I was so thankful when she texted me a couple of weeks ago and made us get a date on the calendar to actually hang out. :)  Lunch was delicious and it was so good just to sit and talk.  It's nice sometimes to hang out with people that knew you way back when. 

I brought my camera and meant to get a picture of us while we were there, but totally forgot!  So, I was looking through my old pictures from college to try and find one to post on here, and this one made me laugh!  I remember we were at the mall of Abilene, but for the life of me can't remember what we were doing or what was with the outfits, ha!  I also can't believe this picture was taken almost 10 years ago...

 This week we (ok, really just Landon) started moving some furniture around to clear out the nursery.  So basically we have everything piled into what will be our guest room/office (we have just left the door shut this week so we don't have to see it--we'll get to it soon!). 

And this is the room that will be the nursery.  We've ordered the bedding (yay!!) and are going to paint the walls (maybe over spring break).  This dresser/mirror was Landon's dad's when he was growing up, and then it was Landon's and now it will be his son's.  I love that.  We're going to paint it white and we bought some cute little blue and white knobs at World Market's going out of business sale for the dresser, so that'll probably be another spring break project.  We've got a lot of ideas planned out, and now I think we're both getting in the mode of wanting to get things done!  It's almost spring break and every year the school year absolutely FLIES by after spring break, which means I know it'll almost seem like no time at all before the baby's here. 

And speaking of baby things, Landon's grandma surprised us and brought us down a high chair she had at our house.  We had to laugh when we saw that it matched our dining room table almost perfectly! :)

In non baby related news (I promise we do have other things going on in our lives still), Landon and I are organizing a softball day for Four Corners, a lower income area near to us that our church works with, for the end of March.  I love it and I really feel like God was telling us to do it (because let me tell you, when we were first approached about doing it, both of us really wanted to say no, but God just wouldn't let that happen!).  However, this week, it has been a lot of work!  We've pretty much got it all figured out at this point though and are just needing volunteers to come and love on the kids (kinder-8th grade) and some to teach them about softball.  If you go to church with us and want to check it out (or just live in the Houston area and want to!) feel free to click on the link below.  We're excited--it should be a fun day! 

And, before I go and get up to do some laundry and (maybe) run to the grocery store, I just want to give a huge shout out to my sweet mother in law!  Last Sunday she had lunch with Landon and told him that she was bringing us dinner one night this week.  And let me tell you, God must have planned that, because she brought it last night when I was feeling awful and it was such a gift not to think about what to cook for dinner.  I felt bad when she brought it over and I found out she was sick too!

Thanks again for taking care of us Pam--dinner was delicious!  And, the banana pudding was gone before the night was over! :)

 

And, last but not least, this weekend is the Cowtown Half Marathon!  I'm excited--I'm just hoping I can kick whatever I've got by Sunday!  We're running (and walking) it with Raleigh and Kaleena, two friends from church, my parents and Landon's sister in law!  We can't wait--for everyone but my dad and us, this will be their first half ever, which is so exciting!  Our Mercy Project shirts came in the mail yesterday, the plans are being formulated for the weekend as we speak and we're just praying for cooler temps and no rain!

Mercy Project meets JLMS

A little over a year ago, Landon and I found out about Mercy Project and it was something that I think God really put on both of our hearts to be a part of in some way.  We've done a number of different things with them over the last year or so, but this year, after hearing about Chris speaking at some other schools in the area about it, decided to see if my school would be up for inviting him to speak to our students. 

So, I did and a couple of weeks ago he came over to our neck of the woods and spoke to about half of our school body, all throughout the day.  Every year the 8th graders at my school do inquiry clubs and come up with a social action project--basically they come up with a question dealing with a social issue in our world today, read and discuss all they can about the issue and then create a project using their reading, writing and speaking skills that brings the issue out into the world--either by fundraising, teaching, handing out brochures etc.  So what was cool about Chris coming right at the beginning of this unit was that they got to hear his story of basically how he did this in real life, by starting Mercy Project.

He talked to them about life in Ghana, and what life was like for the kids in slavery.  He talked to them about why their society lent itself to the kids being sold into slavery and what they were trying to do to stop it.  He showed them a map of Ghana and how HUGE Lake Volta is and talked to them about their government and why it wasn't/couldn't stop the slavery.  I even learned some things about it that I didn't know, which was cool.

And, the kids (for the most part--you know middle schoolers :)) were in to it.  They were paying attention and asking questions and looking at the map and the pictures he was showing them.  And he not only talked to them about Mercy Project and about Ghana, but he also talked to them about doing good in our world and how ordinary people like him and like all of them can do something to change people's lives.  And my prayer is that they heard that--and that they can believe it--even if they don't right away.  I pray that they don't forget the faces of the kids they saw, and that they remember that there are people in much worse situations than they are.  I pray that his words of affirmation, that they can do something great with their lives, even with all the pressure around them to do bad, resonates with them and sticks with them.

 In the last session we went to, where I took my "challenging" class, they didn't seem to be quite an in to it as the previous classes, though I've learned that looks can be deceiving with middle school kids.  So, while some of them were a little silly and not quite as focused on him as the other classes, it was a group of kids from this presentation, seven of them, who came to him at the end of the presentation, and then have been talking to me about it every day since, about what they can do to help those kids.  

So cool.  So, on the first day of our inquiry clubs, they named themselves the Slavery Stoppers.  I love it.  The group is comprised of one boy, two teenage moms and four girls who get in trouble in a regular basis in my class, and tend not to do much work.  But, they're in to this.  They even set up a meeting with our principal to see if they could do a fundraiser and are planning to have a school dance around the end of the year to raise money for Mercy Project.  I love it. I want them to hang on to that feeling of being a part of something good, something not about you, something bigger than you.  

So, as I work with them, I have to keep reminding myself that the inquiries the other kids in my classes are pursing are worthwhile too, because that may be what they're passionate about and how they can do something positive, something good. 

Looking at the effects of violence on people, looking at the effects of technology on people's lives, asking why no one does anything to stop the slavery...I love it.  I could spend all day reading, writing and talking with my kids about these kinds of things. 

Galveston Daycation :)

This past Saturday was one of the best days Landon and I have spent together in a long time.  The previous week had been just exhausting in a lot of ways and as the week came to a close we joked about canceling everything we had to do on Saturday and just staying in bed all day!  I can't tell you how appealing that sounded. :)  But, we had workouts and obligations and things to do, so I knew that would never happen, as nice as it sounded.  And, everything we had to do was fun, we were just plain worn out.

The weekend began officially on Friday night, as we met up after work to have dinner with some good friends, Matt and Rachel, at Maggiano's by the Galleria.  We've been talking about going there with them for probably a couple of years now, because they love it and Matt kept telling me they have the best eggplant parmesan in town, which is one of my favorite foods ever.  Then, for Christmas and our birthday's this year, Landon's grandparents gave us some Chili's giftcards, which we found out we could use at Maggiano's, so we jumped at the chance.  It was such a fun night--the food was awesome and we had fun just spending some low key time with friends.  

Then, while we were heading out of the restaurant, Landon got a phone call from the woman we bought our crib from, asking if we wanted to come and pick up the mattress that went with the crib that night, as opposed to the following morning, like we had planned.  Since we were out already, we headed over to get it and then went home and crashed, with plans to sleep in a little, go look at bedding at Pottery Barn Kids and then head home to get everything done we had on the calendar for that day.

Which is (kind of) just what we did. :)  Since I've been pregnant, I seem to have lost the ability to really sleep in, so by about 8am I was wide awake, which was sad because I woke Landon up and he couldn't go back to sleep either.  So a little while later, we were up and getting ready to head over to look at bedding.  In hindsight, the fact that Landon came out of the bedroom dressed in his hawaiian shirt and jeans does seem a little odd to me, but at the time when I asked him about it and he told me it was just that kind of day, it didn't seem that weird.  And, I knew we probably wouldn't see anyone we knew at PBK, so I just went with it.

We had a fun morning hanging out and talking and dreaming about baby nursery things (though PBK didn't have the bedding we wanted to see, which was a bummer) and then Landon told me he was going to take me home a different way, to show me a back way into our part of town.  I guess if he was really trying to show me a new way to our neighborhood, I probably should have been paying more attention to how we were going, but obviously I wasn't because the first time I really looked around me (aside from when we were nearing U of H and I thought it was a little weird that we were on that part of town) was when I looked up and saw the sign that said Stewart Beach and realized we were in Galveston and not anywhere close to home!  He had driven us all the way across town, over the bridge with ocean on either side of us, without me even realizing where we were.  I felt crazy--I must have been really into what we were talking about, ha!

After I realized we really were in Galveston, I freaked out a little because it dawned on me that I was supposed to be having lunch with a friend in 30 minutes.  And that's when he told me that he was skipping his long workout that day and had basically cleared our schedules, and rescheduled my lunch with my college roommate for the next day.  It was an awesome feeling to think that we suddenly had a day away to do whatever we wanted!

We pulled in to a little parking lot across the street and he opened the trunk and showed me all he had packed the night before (all after I went to sleep!).  He had a change of clothes and workout clothes and snacks and towels and reading materials and the camera and basically everything we could possibly need.  It was perfect.

We decided to grab some lunch first and then he told me he would do my 10 mile walk with me, since that was what was on my training plan that day for my half marathon.  So, after a sandwich at McAllister's Deli, we changed into our workout clothes and headed down the seawall.  It was wonderful.  Because of some crazy fog that had rolled in to town, the weather was actually nice and cool and it wasn't super crowded.  We just walked and talked the whole way down the seawall (and didn't talk about any of the craziness that had been going on this last week!) and it was absolutely perfect. Three hours just to talk to him, without anything else going on--I was in heaven, ha! :)

After our walk, we grabbed a little Frosty at Wendy's to reward ourselves and then headed down to the beach--which we basically had to ourselves.  It was awesome.  We spread out our towels and pulled out our books and magazines (and the Girl Scout cookies Landon surprised me with) and relaxed.  Even though we were only an hour away from home, it really did kinda feel like we were somewhere else on vacation, which was so needed.  As we lay there, we didn't even really talk, we just read and listened to the waves crash on the shore and let the stress fade away (or at least into the background for a while).  How different life would be if we really, truly took a Sabbath like that, where we literally did not work for a whole day, but rested and focused on God, every week. 

Landon, I love you more and more as the days and years go by.  You know me so well and lead our family perfectly.  Thank you for knowing what we needed and for making it happen--one day I'll learn how to surprise you like you always manage to surprise me. :)

And to our sweet baby boy--I think the ocean lulled you to sleep just like it does to your momma.  I hope you liked it, because I guarantee you it is only the first of many trips we'll be taking to the beach in your lifetime! :)

23 Weeks

This week our little boy is about the size of a large mango and about a pound and a quarter--and moving all over the place!  Sometimes I feel him on one side of my stomach and then pretty quickly I can feel him moving around somewhere else.  And, most times when Landon put his hand on my belly to feel him move around, he can--our little one's squirms and kicks are definitely getting stronger.  Yesterday afternoon, as I was lying on the bed typing something, I looked down and could actually see little movements through my shirt.  I was mesmerized and so wished Landon could have been there and not at work.  It's crazy to think that just a few weeks ago I wasn't sure if the movement I felt was really the baby moving or not!  

And, apparently this week, he's beginning to practice breathing and  can feel my movement and hear our voices and other loud noises too, like the dogs barking.  That's still so crazy and incredible for me to think about. 

Sweet little boy, we cannot wait to meet you and hold you and see your sweet face.  You are already so, so loved.

It's starting... :)

 This weekend the baby shopping officially began! :)  On the way to my parent's house to celebrate my dad's birthday we stopped and bought our little boy's crib.  We're going with a blue and white color scheme for the nursery and found a white crib we both loved and that we could use for a boy or a girl (should we be blessed with a baby girl at some point in the future :)).

We bought it off Craigslist from a woman from England and it's made by a European company, so it's different than any other crib we'd looked at, which we kinda liked. And of course, even though it was close to midnight when we got home from my dad's birthday, we brought it in to the room that will soon be the nursery and set it up.  We couldn't wait to see how it looked all set up!

 

And, a HUGE thank you to all of you who shared your experiences and wisdom with us regarding baby stuff and registering (both on the blog and in real life! :)).  It was a huge help and gave us a starting point at least!  We started registering last night (there's still some things that we want to do a little more research on before we decide on what to get) and while it was still a little overwhelming, it was so fun!

Obsessed

This past weekend Landon's parents moved in to a new house, and in the process of cleaning out the old house and packing, his mom came across some of his old clothes and blankets that she gave to us for our little boy to wear.  I love it!


I love this sweet little outfit.




And this one too.





But these shoes.  Oh my word. 

I'm officially obsessed with them.

They're so cute and tiny and blue and they were Landon's when he was a little baby and I just cannot get enough of them.

They're currently on display in our living room, until we can put them on our sweet little baby's feet. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

On our last Valentine's Day as just the two of us, the day was filled with sweet notes and emails, (beginning to) register at Babies R Us, good conversation over good food at Pei Wei and a fun little (low cost) gift exchange, since all our spare money right now, is already going towards the baby!

Though it wasn't anything fancy or terribly special, it honestly couldn't have been more perfect. :)

I hope your day was spent with someone(s) you love!

22 Weeks

Only 18 weeks left--in some ways it feels really far away, but in some ways that just doesn't sound like very long at all! :)  Our little boy is moving around like crazy now--and I can especially notice it after I eat or drink something, which is cool.  This week he's a little over a pound and supposedly looks like a real little baby, which is so fun to think about.  Everything looked good at the last doctor's appointment, so we're just thanking God for this huge little blessing and praying that he continues to grow and stay healthy! :)

brokenness and teaching at an inner city middle school

I teach at a school where 98% of the students are ESL or former ESL.  Some of them were born here in America and are still, in 8th grade, in ESL classes.  About 85% of the students are hispanic and a number are from various countries/continents around the world.  A smallish percentage (though it grows each year) are refugees from different countries in Africa and Bosnia and can tell you incredible, horrific stories.  And most of the refugees know Spanish as well as English, if not better, probably as a survival method in their neighborhood.  98% of the students qualify for a free and reduced lunch.  More kids than we know about, I'm sure (though we know about a lot), are abused at home--both in the past and ongoing.  Every year I have students who have been raped.  And students who are pregnant and have their babies during the year.  A good chunk of the students are in a gang--and every year I find out after they've left that some of my sweetest, best students were in one of the gangs.  I'm not even going to guess what percentage, but it's high because, if you live in their neighborhood it's almost a matter of protection in a lot of cases.  A lot of them were taught bilingually (which really means in Spanish), until 5th grade.  And which means that English is still hard--hard to write in, talk in, think in.  And that makes learning hard when they get to middle school, because there are no more bilingual classes.

This year, academically, I've got the spectrum of kids.  I've got the Vanguard/GT class, though this class in and off itself has a wide variety of students--some are GT kids, some are ESL and GT, some are just ESL and some are Special Ed.  Overall, they work hard and are sweet kids.  And then, I've got a transitional ESL class.  All but 5 of them failed TAKS last year, and pretty much every year they've taken it, but have been passed on the the next grade.  The average independent reading level is somewhere around 4th grade.  They would rather talk and be silly than learn anything, probably because there's no risk of failure in that.  They push back whenever someone tries to push them academically.  They are sweet kids and obsessed with my baby--if it's moving yet, if it's growing right, what we're going to name it.  They always want to touch my belly and talk to the baby.  But, any time they are called out on anything they're doing wrong, their first (and seemingly only) response, is defensiveness and disrespect and rudeness.

Within the last few days, I've had one little girl have her baby boy and make it home safely to begin her home bound studies for the next few months, found out one of my students was violently raped last year and the man who did it was just put in prison for many years, watched out my window as 2 sixth graders were caught and suspended for smoking cigarettes, found out that one of my colleagues sweet 7th graders has been being abused by her father since Christmas and had 4 of my students (8 eighth graders total), suspended and arrested for selling/using weed and handelbars at school. 

Maybe it's because it's my last year teaching and I'm starting to feel sentimental, or maybe it's something else, but just recently it's been hitting me just how broken these kids are.  As one of my colleagues said yesterday, so many of our students that walk in to our school are just so damaged.  The little girl who we just found out has been abused by her dad cringes whenever she acts out in class and he even sternly tells her to stop, so he's having to figure out how to work with her, as a male, as her teacher, as someone who knows what she's dealing with.  And it's the same story with my little boy who's being physically abused by his father and emotionally abused by his mom and tried to commit suicide for real earlier this year when I called him mom in for a parent conference.  Normal rules don't apply.

And more and more, I'm having days where I sometimes could care less about their reading levels and if they can write poetry and define what a simile is.  I find myself caring more about how they react to me and each other, the rules they think don't apply to them, how they can be as rude and disrespectful as they want, to me or the principal or the cop or whoever, and not think there is anything wrong with it.  I'm disturbed by the things they talk about and the language they use and the terrible things they find normal, the brokenness they find normal. 

I think over the last few years, both in teaching and in working at The Mission, I'd almost become immune to it.  Not totally, but somewhat.  Somewhere along the line, the disrespect and the drugs and the broken families and the gangs and the cursing every other word and everything else, just became normal.  But yesterday, between hearing about another kid being abused (and CPS being called and called and nothing being done) and something really disrespectful that went on in one of my classes that made me just stop teaching and stop to think, I think God is opening my eyes and softening my heart again to the brokenness.

I don't know what the next years of my life will look like, but I feel like God is confirming that the inner city is still where my heart is and still where I'm called to do something, but maybe in a different way.  Maybe in a way that can help fix some of the brokenness, to help speak God and truth into their lives, to be someone who cares about them and loves them and doesn't have to care more about whether they're reading or writing.  Because those things are important, and in America almost essential to being able to live the life of your dreams (whatever that may be) but they're not the end all, be all.  Jesus Christ is, and for so many of my kids and families, that's what's missing.  And they're trying to fill it with everything the world has to offer and, just like when I try to do that in my life, it just doesn't work.

Registry thoughts or ideas?

Thanks to our snow/ice day off of work on Friday, Landon and I had a nice, semi-relaxing weekend.  We spent some time just hanging out and some time working out and spent a lot of time talking baby.  Now that we know it's a little boy, and after looking at the calendar and seeing that June really isn't that far away,  I'm starting to get in baby mode--and thankfully Landon's getting there too!  We spent some time cleaning out some storage cabinets to make room for baby stuff and began the process of reorganizing the guest room and office to combine the two and make room for a nursery.  We're not done yet, but we definitely made some progress, which was fun!

Then, yesterday after church we stopped by Babies R Us, just to look around.  We looked at some strollers and looked at some bedding (thought we pretty much already know how we want to decorate the nursery) and just kinda looked around--and left almost just as confused as when we walked in, ha!

So, I just thought I'd ask--any moms out there reading this who have any advice?  Anything you have for your baby that you love, that is a must have?  Anything that's a waste of money that we shouldn't register for?  Any opinions about car seats and strollers?  Do you have a brand/kind you love?  Did you get a travel system?  I'm planning to use a sling, but I'm wondering if getting a travel system would still be worth it?  High chairs? Pack n plays? ...

I'd love to hear your thoughts! :)

21 weeks

I think I could be pregnant at this stage of pregnancy forever.  Aside from not being able to remember things like I used to, I have energy and feel like I'm starting to finally look pregnant, which is fun.  I am so thankful that I feel great overall.  And, I can feel the baby moving (and some of the time Landon can too!), so I don't find myself worrying about the baby as much as in the beginning.  It's reassuring to feel him moving and kicking around during the day.  And, while overwhelming, it's been fun to begin thinking about decorating the nursery and picking out a name and registering for baby things.  Sometimes I just find myself smiling as L and I are talking about the baby because for as long as I can remember I've wanted to be a mom and it sometimes seems too good to be true that in a few months it will be a reality!

Right now, according to our baby books, Baby Speights is about 3/4 of a pound and about the length of a carrot.  However, at our ultrasound a week ago, she had him measuring at about 15 oz (almost a pound) already, so I'm curious what my doctor has to say when we go on Thursday.  So, maybe our baby is about the size of a big carrot. :)

Superbowl Sunday

Last night we met up with some of friends from church for a little superbowl party--and to hang out and eat and talk! :)

We loaded up our fruit and veggie tray (I LOVE that we're getting in to the season there is so much good fruit again!!), jumped in the car with some friends  and headed out to Sam and Christel's.

Over the course of the next few hours, some football was watched,

some cute little kids were played with,

 and there was a lot of talk about babies!  Just in our little group last night, there were two sweet little ones and four more on their way, so needless to say, it's what consumed a large majority of our conversation!  It's crazy to think about what this group will look like in a few months with all the babies coming.  It's so fun though--we're so thankful to have a group of friends to go through this time of life with!

4 Recipes

The last few days in Houston it has been unseasonably cold,(even though we were promised snow, but only got some ice on our houses and on the roads), which has made me want to try out some new cold weather recipes.  So, I thought I'd share--all of these were keepers in our household! :)
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Crock Pot Black Beans (adapted from a recipe from www.thefeastwithin.com)

This is the first time I've tried cooking my own dried beans, rather than buying them canned and it was so easy and good and SO much cheaper--for about $2 I bought 2 pounds of beans and it made the about 10 cups of cooked beans.  I used some of it to make beans and rice for us for dinner, with leftovers for another night, and then froze the rest of it in 2 cup portions to use later.

• 2 pounds dried black beans, picked over and rinsed.
• water to soak
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups home made salsa (or 1 jar canned salsa)
• 6 cups broth- chicken or vegetable to cover soaked beans
• a couple shakes of Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
• a couple shakes of Taco Seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste

All you need to do is pick over the beans for small stones or any other foreign matter, rinse them and soak in about four times the volume of water to beans for about eight hours. If you do this before you go to bed you can throw the beans in the crock pot in the morning to cook away all day. Once the beans are soaked, drain them and put them in the pot with the other ingredients.  Cover the lot with the broth- the beans will soak up a lot of the liquid as they continue to soften and cook. Set the pot to whatever time you want the beans ready- or if your pot doesn’t have set times use high for about three hours or low for six.  

White Bean Chicken Chili (from www.allrecipes.com) 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 (18.75 ounce) can tomatillos, drained and chopped
• 1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (7 ounce) can diced green chiles
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed--left out, because I did not have any
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin--left out, because I did not have any
• 2 ears fresh corn
• 1 pound diced, cooked chicken meat
• 1 (15 ounce) can white beans
• 1 pinch salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat oil, and cook onion and garlic until soft.
2. Stir in broth, tomatillos, tomatoes, chilies, and spices. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add corn, chicken, and beans; simmer 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
4. Optional--top with a sprinkle of cheese, some crushed tortilla chips and some salsa.

 

Basic Pizza Crust (from Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon Instant Or Active Dry Yeast (I used the kind specially made for pizza dough)
• 1-½ cup Warm Water
• 4 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• ⅓ cups Olive Oil

Preparation Instructions

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes.

In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together in a sticky mass.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until you need it.

Note: it’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.

When you are ready to make the pizza, grab HALF the pizza dough (recipe makes 2 crusts) and squeeze the dough toward the bottom to form a nice, tight, pulled ball. You can roll out the pizza with a rolling pin if you’d like, but sometimes it’s just as easy to throw it around and pull and stretch till it feels right. And when the crust is nice and thin, lay it on an oiled baking sheet or pizza pan. Drizzle a little olive oil on the dough and spread it with your fingers. Very lightly sprinkle some salt on the crust.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Top your crust with your toppings of choice. Then bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.
                                                                                                                                                     

Cajun Yam Fries (from www.chefchloe.com)

 photo from chefchloe.com

Serves about 3 people
Ingredients:
1 large yam, peeled and cut into ¼ thick fries (I had some regular potatoes too so I used one of those as well, following the same recipe, and they were delicious also!)
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil,
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning

Procedure:
1.    Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2.    Toss yam sticks with oil, salt, and Cajun seasoning. Spread out evenly on a half sheet tray. If multiplying the recipe, use a separate sheet tray for each yam.
3.    Bake for 15 minutes then flip fries with a spatula. Rotate pan and bake for another 10-15 minutes until nicely browned and crisp looking.

Happy eating! :)

How we found out we're having a boy...

About a month ago, a few weeks before our 20 weeks ultrasound, Landon and I were browsing the internet and came across the idea of a gender reveal party on someone's blog--where they used a cake to tell their friends and family if they were having a boy or girl.  Immediately we though that sounded like fun and tossed around the idea of having our own--except we thought it would be fun to find out at the same time as everyone else. 

Over the next week or so we began brainstorming how to do that--because we wanted to do something different than a cake.  We tossed around the idea of Sprinkles cupcakes (mainly just because they're amazing), but they don't come in any shade of blue and they're kinda expensive when you're talking about buying them for 25 people.

And then, my genius husband came up with the idea of buying a king's cake (since it's king cake season) and having a blue baby put in if it's a boy and a pink one if it's a girl.  So, we found what was said to be the best King's Cake bakery in Houston (Acadian Bakery, if you're wondering--and yes, they really were that good :)) and went with it.

And then, before we knew it, we we'd had our ultrasound and it was time to get ready to find out if our little was a boy or a girl.

So,we cleaned the house, picked up the cakes and called some of our best friends, Blake and Morgan.  The bakery wouldn't actually put the baby in the cake for us, because they didn't want to be sued if someone choked on it or something, so we had to figure out Plan B.

And, Plan B was so fun. :)

 

 We Skyped Blake and Morgan and, with our eyes closed, showed them the card from the ultrasound that said if we were having a boy or a girl and told them not to react.  Then, we showed them two more envelopes--one with a little pink baby in it and one with a little gold (we couldn't find blue :)) baby in it and they told us which envelope had the baby we needed to put in the cake.  So, Landon took the baby out (without looking, because that that point we were more anxious about accidentally seeing it after we'd waited for so long already to not find out before the party) and closed his eyes and put it in one of the cakes.  Then, I came in and moved the cakes around so that neither of us knew where in the cake the baby was or which cake it was in.

We both breathed a little sigh of relief when that was done and then finished getting set up for the party--a little cooking, a little more decorating and making some party favors to hand out to our guests.

And then finally, the guests began arriving.  We hung around and talked and ate and mingled for a while until everyone arrived, and then it was finally time. :)  First, we took Team Blue and Team Pink pictures. 

After the photo op, Landon talked a little about King's cakes and what we were doing with our cakes and then Matt cut the cakes into 24 equal slices for us so that all of the pieces would be taken.

 Everyone grabbed a piece and began looking through it to see if their piece had the baby!  For what seemed like an eternity, no one said anything.
  Then, Matt and Rachel (below :)), tossed a little gold baby onto my plate and I screamed a little and said something really cool like " you're supposed to yell what it is!" and then a couple of us shouted "it's a boy!"  It was a VERY surreal moment.  I kissed Landon and we couldn't stop smiling!  We were thrilled, but it was crazy to find out something that big in front of 20 of your closest friends and family.  SO fun, but crazy at the same time. :)
  After we could think straight, Landon went and got the envelope with the card from the nurse, just to make sure Blake and Morgan told us the right baby.  They did. :)

Our first baby boy gift, from my parents.

And, there was more fun to come.  When people walked in, we had them fill out a little piece of paper where they said if they thought it was a boy or a girl and then they had a place where they could suggest a name.  Some were serious and most were not! :)  Landon and I read off the names and we all got a good laugh!  I think my favorite was Rufus.  Rufus Speights--it had a nice ring to it, right?

And, we spent a few minutes introducing everyone, since all of my family and Landon's parents were there, along with a lot of our close friends.  We thought it was time for all of our favorite people to officially meet each other. :)

And then, we all just spent the next few hours hanging out and talking and laughing.  It was pretty much exactly how we'd hoped the evening would be.

Thank you to our friends and family to come over and celebrate with us.  We couldn't have imagined a more perfect way to celebrate finding that our little baby is a boy!