21. Make pizza from scratch: 2nd time's a charm!

Fun fact about me: I'm the oldest grandchild on both sides of my family. Ok, maybe that's a lame fact, but it's my blog, so shut up. Anyway, all my cousins are younger than me, and most of them I don't see all that often, except for my Cool Aunt Sarah (as she is in my phone) and her family. I have been close with Sarah for as long as I can remember. She is my dad's youngest sister, so she's the closest in age to me. Almost ten years ago, Sarah gave birth to amazing triplets: Maddie, Alex, and Sam. I can't even begin to explain how awesome these kids are. I just love them...they are so great! About four years ago, Sarah had one more awesome kid: Gaby. Since Sarah's family lives in Minnesota, I only get to see them a few times a year, but I'd like to think I've developed a strong bond with the kids. A few weeks ago, I invited the older three to come stay with me for a weekend. I'd never been responsible for any kids for that long, and they had never been away from home for that long, but I thought it seemed like a good idea. So, two weeks ago, I drove three and a half hours to their house.  Let me just say this: if my house and job could relocate to LaCrescent, MN, so would I. Not only would I get to see some of my extended family more often, but the area is just beautiful! I got there around dinner time, so we ate, chilled on the couch for a bit, and then I got roped into playing Just Dance on the Wii for two hours. I'd never used a Wii before, but let's be honest: I kicked some serious ass. It was a good night.

The rest of the weekend was just as good.  We had breakfast with our Grandpa the next morning, then set off on our adventure. We went to the zoo, tried Lagomarcino's ice cream, visited the John Deere Pavilion to look at all the tractors, watched movies...it was so much fun!

My sister, Mal, was even able to come for part of the weekend. Saturday night, Sarah and Gaby joined the party. My Uncle Paul had to work so he couldn't make it, but boy, did he miss out. We made dinner, I introduced them to Whitey's ice cream, and then, because I'm such a good cousin, we took the kids to the science museum in town to see the giant animatronic T-Rex in the parking lot. Why does this make me a good cousin? Well friends, I'm terrified of all things animatronic, but especially dinosaurs. I wish I was kidding, but I'm so not. A few summers ago, the museum I work at had a dinosaur exhibit.  The employee entrance just so happened to lead into the travelling exhibit (where the dinosaurs were.)  I got special permission to use a different entrance. Seriously.  Most of the time, my co-workers teased me into cutting through the gallery, which I usually did...at a sprint. Anyway, I assumed the T-Rex would be off since the museum was closing, but alas, it wasn't. There was lots of screaming and I'm pretty sure I may have peed a little. The kids loved it so much that they requested we go back the next day. Gaby wasn't a huge fan of the dinosaur either, so we just hung out by the car.

All in all, it was a pretty great weekend and I can't wait for the kids to come back.  One of the highlights of the weekend that I haven't mentioned was...making homemade pizza!  If you haven't heard about my first pizza making experience, you can read about it here. This time, I was extra prepared.  The previous week, my mom had bought me a new pizza stone and a pizza peel, which I didn't have the first time around.  I also stocked myself with extra flour and cornmeal.  I used the same crust and sauce recipe as last time.  According to Sam, it was the best crust he has ever had and he wanted to know why his mom's pizza didn't taste like that.  (Sorry Sarah!!!) I divided the crust into four pieces and let each of the kids make their own pizza.

Yummy toppings!

Sam, topping his pizza

The kids LOVED making their pizzas! They were each very particular about which toppings they chose and the order they put them in on. They were so excited that we decided to take pictures with the finished product before going into the oven.  You know, just in case I ended up with a pizza puddle like last time.

So, much to my excitement, the pizzas turned out wonderfully.  All three kids said they were "perfect", although I don't know how much of that was attributed to the fact that they were all hopped up on Mountain Dew.  I was so happy with the results that I forgot to photograph my own pizza, which could only be described as "perfect."

I guess now that I've made successful pizza, I can finally cross this off my list. For those of you keeping track, next month is the halfway point for my list...6 months down, and 6 more to go.  Officially, I've crossed seven things off the list. I have also been working on seven, although there are two I have not blogged about yet. Those will be coming in the next few days. So technically, I guess I'm on track.  Thanks so much to those of you who have been following my journey, whether you are brand new to my crazy or you've been well-acclimated over the last five months. I appreciate all the love and support!