Pizza!

Pizza at our house is a bit different than most other homes. Instead of a box from the delivery guy, or a frozen package, ours is home made. Not really because I want to, because pizza night is supposed to be the night you don't have to cook. Not here. We can't have wheat. Or yeast. Or dairy.

You may be asking how in the world you can have a pizza without wheat, yeast or dairy. Well, it's actually really easy. And it tastes better than you would ever imagine.

Behold the secret, Daiya. It's the most amazing non dairy cheese on earth. Literally. Life. Changing. The best part about Daiya, beyond that is is soy free (!) is that it actually tastes and feels and melts like cheese! Crazy!

Beyond that, it's pretty much just a cup of GF flour, salt, baking powder, oil and water. And BAM! you've got some crust. The tricky part is getting the right consistancy and then rolling it out. It looks and works a little different than "real" dough, but when you've gone without pizza crust for so long, you really don't care. Just top with your favorites and some Daiya cheese.

 

And then after you bake it, it ends up like this:

 

...gone.

 

Gluten free dinner at Biaggi's!

 

It was so good to see my brother, Derek and Dawn. My parents and I met them at Biaggi's in Fort Wayne where we had a wonderful visit and meal.

 

 And to our surprise, they have a  Gluten Free menu! With Luke's dairy allergy, they even had goat cheese! So, for the first time, he had pizza at a resturant! Nate had spagetti and meat sauce! Not to mention gluten free bread, which means they got to have the wonderful olive oil dipping sauce too. It was so nice that they actually had good choices and good food to eat right along with everyone else.

 

 

 

Thank you Derek and Dawn for a wonderful time and Biaggi's for the good choices and food.

 

Christmas 2012

This year, we did things a little different. We shed most of  the lights, distractions and noise from our celebrations. Because I think we've lost sight of what Christmas is really all about. We are celebrating the coming of our King, in the from of a baby. A Savior for the world. We celebrate the fact that he GAVE everything, for us. Which is why we give at Christmas. We like to give of ourselves, what we can. Whether it's a toy airplane for your child, a new sweater for you grandma, or a pocket full of change for those in need. We give, like He gave.

So, after shedding almost all of  the "normal traditions", we started putting them back a little different. Taking time for the season to settle in,  we spent time talking about why we do things instead of looking up toys and filling out I want lists.

Instead of asking for toys, we asked of ourselves, what can we give? The boys have lots of good toys that they don't play with, so we are cleaning up the best, wrapping them and delivering them to a boy who might not get a Christmas. So Christmas eve, we delivered them right after Christmas Mass! It was a good feeling and the boys can't wait to do it again!

We also are spending time helping out others, like holding a door, saying, "thank you" to our cashier or anything to make a day brighter. Making cards for those we love and asking what can we do for you instead of what am I getting. *Now, we live in reality and sometimes, kids are just kids. So we aren't trying to restore all the love in the world, just one day at a time, lol!*

The boys colored and cut out our new tradition this year, a Jesse Tree. It follows the "family tree" of Jesus with stories of the bible ending with the birth of Christ. They caught me off guard when they were excited each night to read a new story! I love those boys...

We waited to put up the tree until the 23rd, putting it up as a family and learning why we put up a tree in the first place. It was a change from what we have done, but it's one of those good changes.

We had a visit from Grandma Donna and Ray, visited Nana and Popi, and are looking forward to seeing the rest of our family soon. Thanks for all the gifts, treats and time.

~ Three guys and the girl

Our Family Blog!

Yes, you read it right. We are starting a family blog! A little late on the ole' blog bandwagon, but since I have a slight aversion to facebook, this seemed the best option!

I hope to update it as regularly as I can, with some posts from the boys eventually! With the holidays in full swing, it may be a bit. But nevertheless, we'll get it done.

Come over and check it out, we'll be adding more as we can.

~The girl