Every weekend our spacious kitchen counters are constantly full of dishes.  Weekend cooking takes every dish in the house.  We fill the dishwasher and there’s still at least two loads worth sitting on the counter.  Why not wash by hand, you ask?  I forgot you  could do that! 

Funny story, my friend said she had the missionaries over for dinner one night.  She needed to wash some pots and pans so she put them in the dishwasher.  Everyone had to wait for the dishwasher to finish before she could cook dinner!  I would do something like that! 

Last night Heath made pizza for the kids and calzones for us.  The kids don’t like calzones even though it’s the same ingredients.  Heath used his new pizza stone.  The one we bought from Bed Bath & Beyond for Christmas.  He used it before Christmas then put it back in the box and I wrapped it up.  We were so surprised when we saw it under the tree!  Well, I guess the consequences of that decision came back to haunt us as bad karma. 

Let me explain.  Heath saw some pizza recipes online and he wanted to try them.  They talked about using a really hot oven to bake pizza.  One guy actually cut the pin in his oven so he could use the self clean setting to bake his pizza.  Heath heated up the oven as hot as he could; 550 degrees.  The pizza and calzones were fantastic.  After the oven had finally cooled down, Heath went to take the pizza stone out to clean it off and put it away.  It had cracked in three different places.  Not just cracked, we have three small pizza stones now.  So now we’re on the lookout for a better quality pizza stone than what Bed Bath & Beyond sold us two months ago.  Any suggestions? 

I actually did some cooking over the long weekend.  Once you pick your jaw off the floor I’ll tell you that what I did may not even qualify as cooking since these were things I learned how to make as a child!  Gavin wanted some Valentine treats found in Family Fun Magazine.  So I made it last night.  We didn’t get around to eating it yet but it looks good.  Jell-O is pretty easy to work with. 

I also made camel eye toast for breakfast this morning.  I considered making pancakes but I didn’t want to take the time.  I have to dig out the can, add the water to the mix, mix it up, then cook it.  Who wants to invest that much time into breakfast?  But it was a day off today and I was feeling like I needed to boost my mom points with my kids by not pouring another boring bowl of cereal. 

For anyone who doesn’t know, camel eye toast is where you use a circle cookie cutter or a mug or something to cut out a hole in the middle of a piece of bread.  Then you fry an egg in the middle of the bread making toast around the fried egg.  Gavin ate the whole thing and could have eaten more.  Parker absolutely hates it.  I think he doesn’t like having his food touch.  So I made toast in the toaster and fried an egg separate for him.  He ate the toast.  Gwen ate the little circle from the center of the camel eye.  I think she picked up the camel eye toast but decided it was poisoned or something. 

I’m so glad I cook for my kids!  Their appreciation sustains me for months at a time.  When I miss that appreciation I cook again. 

After the kids were given such a hearty breakfast, we took their growling tummies to the Chabot Space and Science Center for a day of fun.  We paid for an overpriced lunch there.  The kids had so much food but they ate it all to get the cookie.  We went home maybe an hour after finishing lunch.  Both boys said they were hungry for snacks!  Heath said we should ban snacks in our house.  I agree.