Who needs Chef Boyardee...

when you have these 3? Tonight Daddy had a board meeting at church, so I decided to enlist some help with dinner. Their favorite thing to do is eat; second favorite thing to do is cook. So...I decided that we'd get our cook on. And the grand menu: homemade pizza and fruit salad. (yummy yummy) All you Wiggles fans out there will most def. appreciate that last parenthetical number.
Here she is...the almost finished product. I put the pizza crust on the stone. The boys spread the sauce (almost independently). I shredded some fresh "farmer's cheese" from Miller's Cheese House. If you're a cheese fan like the Martins are - you simply must go to Miller's. Farmer's cheese is a white cheese, it's a milder version of their butter cheese. DEEEEEEE-LISH. Anyway, I shredded some for them to add to the "pre-shredded" colby/monterrey jack that we had. Add some garlic salt and voila....pizza. Of course, we had to make 2. Growing boys eat a ton. Plus we had to have something for Daddy-o when he got home.

Now for the fruit salad (yummy yummy). Here's the deal-e-o. My boys love some fruit. LOVE IT. You know how most kids love candy...that's how my boys love fruit. We made our own version of fruit salad (yummy yummy) and they learned many lessons in the process. We washed the strawberries, sliced them (yeah, they even used a "real knife" with assistance), used a can opener for the mandarin oranges, learned the hard way how and why to drain a can, peeled and chopped an apple, and added Keith's favorite - dried blueberries. I wanted to take a picture of the fruit salad (yummy yummy) when it was finished because it was so beautiful. I see all these pictures on many blogs of people's wonderful dishes, step by step. I could probably do that, if I didn't have 3 apprentice chefs beside me giddy with excitement. Picture it in your mind; it was a lovely side dish.


I don't remember the 1st time I used a can opener, but I imagine it was hard. Zack just couldn't hold the handle AND twist the top (in the right direction), so Keith had to help out. Look closely and you'll see Griffin's hand. He is VERY ANIMATED and talks with his hands, eyes, eyebrows, etc. Here you can see one of those sweet hands while his is telling "his bwuddahs" how they should open the can.

Finally we ate. By candlelight, mind you. Here Keith and Griffin are toasting with their apple juice, and Zack is showing off his pizza. Would Little Caesar's hot and ready have been easier? You bet. Would it have been better? Probably. Would I trade tonight for yummy pizza and easy clean up? Not for a million dollars. I'll take "homemade" pizza and fruit salad (yummy yummy) by my 3 boys any day.