"I love you, Mother", today they said...

Spring Break is soooooooooo wonderful! I am very relaxed for the first time in months:)

Yesterday I painted over all of the handprints and smudges off the flat paint in the stairway and halls. I love the easy clean up of semi-gloss paint! BUT, I will miss the little, low smudges on the walls that are remainders of Maddy's stay with us. I love the phone calls when she is giggling in the background or she sings to me. I am sure she is missing me ever so much because I give her special grandma privileges.

See! Told you so! She misses us.

Well, the little fingerprints are gone. Only the big boy fingers are making marks on the walls now and soon enough they will be gone, too. On days like today I am glad for the time we have left together in our home. They have been helpful and kind to me and each other, making our home a little bit of heaven. Here's a poem Mom used to recite to us growing up....

"Which Loved Best" by Joy Allison

“I love you, Mother,” said little John;
Then, forgetting his work, his cap went on,
And he was off to the garden swing,
Leaving his mother the wood to bring.

“I love you, Mother,” said little Nell;
“I love you better than tongue can tell!”
Then she teased and pouted half the day,
Till Mother rejoiced when she went to play.

“I love you, Mother,” said little Fran;
“Today I’ll help you all I can.”
To the cradle then she did softly creep,
And rocked the baby till it fell asleep.

Then stepping softly, she took the broom
And swept the floor and dusted the room;
Busy and happy all day was she,
Helpful and cheerful as she could be.

“I love you, Mother,” again they said,
Three little children going to bed.
How do you think that Mother guessed
Which of them really loved her best'

Masoulli's Pizza

I made the most amazing pizza for dinner tonight. Remember Masoulli's? The best pizza in the whole world. It came in two layers with a piece of waxed paper between the layers to separate them. They weren't baked that way, only boxed up to save space. It was loaded with mushrooms, green peppers, onion, black olives, pepperoni, cheese and I don't know what else. As soon as I bit into my deliciously supreme pizza tonight my mind immediately teleported back in time to our family room and sitting around eating pizza together. Sweet memories!
Well all of my prizes gave this pizza an "amazing" rating and requests to make more another day. It was so easy! It is a great together time, fun cooking activity. Are you wanting some? Here you go, you make some, too.


Thaw and let rise Rhoades white bread dough loaves(I go for quick and easy in my life). I used three and we made a lot of pizza. After it rises, squish it down into your baking pan, cookie sheet, pizza stone, that you are going to use. I didn't even let it rise again due to starving teenage boys desperate to eat. Top it very sparingly with sauce. I used canned spaghetti sauce (remember the quick and easy rule). If you use a lot of sauce everything will slide off when you pick it up. Next put on anything you want. Josh sticks to animal products, only pepperoni, Italian sausage and cheese. Joey will add green peppers. Christie and Becky will add anything edible, and a few things that are questionable.
For the Masoulli's taste I put: sliced tomatoes, green peppers, sliced fresh mushrooms, onions, Italian sausage, pepperoni and mozzarella.

Wish you were here, I'd serve you up a slice of the past.

P.S. Church was very good today. I was uplifted and fellowshiped. Whew.

Getting Started

Wow...I hope I am not too old to blog, since every blog I read last night and this morning was written by young, wonderful mothers!
I just hope to 1) keep in contact with my sisters, 2) my friends, 3) keep a record of my goings on.

Soooooo, why crackerjack and the prizes? My dearly beloved sisstas will know. Daddy dear called me Crackerjack growing up, for reasons unknown to me. Sometimes it was just Cracker (not to be confused with the slang term. I know it is something derogitory, but I don't know what it really means, so maybe someone can kindly clear that up for me.)

Moving on. So Crackerjack, I am. Then I come with prizes. Some days they feel really cool like the lick on tattoos that you could cooly display and not ever want to wash off. Other days they feel like the dud joke "prize" on a cheap piece of paper and the joke is on me. Or is me. Okay, I know my prizes are not duds, and they are valuable in Heavenly Father's eyes, and even mine, but you know some days...I feel like a total looser with a dud prize. Not today, though. Josh got an "A+" in English and has really been working hard at school. I wish I could paste his report card to my forehead (or his even) and wear it around for everyone to see.

One more comment before I wake up the prizes for church. Well, my grand prize just came in, we got to talking and I forgot what I was going to say.
I hope you all have a blessed sabbath. Don't you hate coming home from church feeling like a looser, overwhelmed, failure of a saint? May you feel fellowshiped and loved and uplifed...come what may.