pizza, playdate, & poor little birds

Can you smell that? It's pizza...Mmmmm! Pizza is such a normal thing for us to eat, and it's something that we take for granted every time we eat it. I mean, when you want pizza the biggest concern you have is which toppings to get. Am I right? Well, Tim has been on a gluten-free diet for about six months. So, not only has he had to live without buttermilk biscuit ( it pains me just to think about it), but he's also managed to survive without one single slice of pizza. Amazing! Okay, so he has been know to steal the toppings off of any unguarded slice he sees...but it's just not the same. Well, oh happy day...I found gluten-free pizza crust mix and made Tim a pizza. We all had a little slice but the rest was for him. He devoured it. Really it was quite good. It ain't pretty, as you can see by the picture, but for a first try at making pizza with this incredibly sticky dough, it turned out alright. Next time I'll make two pizzas so that the crust will be thinner, and per his request, there will be more cheese! Thank goodness for Bob's Red Mill!

Yesterday we had a play date. Our friends came over and brought their 18 inch dolls so that I could make them some cute dresses...while the girls watched. The goal was to see how interested the girls were in the sewing process. I think they really enjoy it. Although the most fun part was probably choosing just the right fabric :o) I made a couple of dresses for Miss O and Miss E's dolls last week... they got to help with the sewing while I was in charge of the pedal. I wish I had taken pictures, but sewing and taking pictures at the same time that a 5 year old and 3 year old are helping me sew is just a little much. I did, however get pictures from the play date. It helps having another mom around...thanks Heather! Okay, so while I finished up the doll dresses the girls had lots of fun playing dress-up. I didn't have a doll pattern so I just drew a picture of what I wanted the dress to look like...a wrap-around dress...then I measured the dolls and made a pattern on some of our school paper. It seemed to work pretty well. I'd do it again :o)

Okay, now for the sad part. Last night we had a pretty bad storm. Lots of wind and heavy downpours. Although the storm didn't last too long, while it was happening, it was pretty rough. This morning when I got up, and like every other morning, I made my way to every room and opened the blinds. When I got to the kitchen window and opened the blinds I peeked down into the bush to check on our cute little birdies...the nest was gone, or at least most of it...and there were no little birds in sight. I opened the window a crack to see if I could hear them, thinking maybe they were deeper in the bush or on the ground. The only sound I heard was the mama bird squawking angrily from the power line. I watched her for a while and she finally flew down to the ground by the bush. When she finally flew away I opened the window again and raised the screen so I could look down on the ground. Sure enough, one little broken bird. So sad. I didn't see or hear the other two birds, so I am assuming they survived. I never got the perfect shot of the three little birds in the nest, but I did get a few more while I was making dinner yesterday before the storm.



This last picture is my favorite because although this little birdie is sleepy, he is obviously still hungry so he's keeping one eye open so he can be the first to see the mom coming back with the food!