Friday Night

As our lives get busier and busier, we are finding it necessary to make a very conscious effort to find family time.  A couple of weeks ago, we decided to start a Friday night tradition of homemade pizza and a movie.  The boys LOVED it.  They were so thrilled with every moment, from making the dough to watching the pizza bake to eating it to watching a movie, ALL FOUR OF US!

This past week, Cameron and I started the pizza preparations on Thursday.  We roasted tomatoes, onions and peppers and then, we made fresh mozzarella cheese.  Seriously.  We did.  I can hardly believe it myself, but it was fun and it was easy and Cameron was soooooo excited about it.  The only not-so-fun part was keeping my milk-allergic preschooler away from the whole mess and very thoroughly cleaning up afterward.  But, the end result was totally worth it.

Here's Cameron, just a tiny bit excited about cheesemaking.

 The next night, Matthew got his turn.  He loves to help make the dough, especially using the rolling pin.  Then, we all got to top our pizzas -- cheese was left off  until the pizza was done, Matthew's portion removed, and the remaining pizza returned to the oven to melt the cheese.

 The end result was so delicious that I was left thinking it isn't much of a sacrifice to live without Domino's or Papa John's.

We are all anxiously awaiting next Friday and loving our new family tradition!