pizza to the rescue!

we had pizza for dinner last night. after picking up the kids from pre-school, which ended with me literally carrying matthias out to the car over my shoulder, kicking and screaming, in the pouring rain, i decided that we needed something fun. so instead of leftovers and pjb, which would have been much easier, i opted for make-your-own-pizza night.

and, in a rare turn of events, it was just as fun in real life as it was in my head. as i drove the kids home from school in the rain, knowing they had not been outside to play, knowing that they both left school more upset than happy, and knowing that i had just lost my temper, i knew we needed something positive. so i decided, then and there, that dinner would be fun and relaxed.

when i told them they got to each make their own pizzas, their faces lit up. frustration melted away. i then proceeded to bribe them with the reward of making their own dinner if they cleaned up their rooms nicely and cooperatively (if only that worked with jason.....). i have never seen them clean so quickly.

after i finished making the dough, i gave them the choices of toppings: pesto, spaghetti sauce, cheese, black olives, chicken, bacon, and bell peppers. they both wholeheartedly rejected the peppers and were super excited when they realized that their toppings didn't have to match.

"i get this whole pizza, just for me?!?"

matthias chose spaghetti sauce, cheese, chicken, and bacon. and by "chose" i mean ate the majority of what i had available and then dumped the rest in a pile and called it a pizza.

mmmmm, meat!

hiba decided to branch out wildly and try adding bacon to her usual black olive and cheese pizza. she kept asking me, "will it taste good?". i told her to try the bacon and see if she likes it. "well, yeah, i like it, but will it be good on the pizza?". she's a little leery of trying new things, even if said new thing has the potential to be delicious. and, in true hiba fashion, she did not mix the ingredients up. just in case she didn't like it.

the pizzas went in the oven, came out cooked, and we actually had a nice dinner. matthias mostly picked the cheese and meat off of his pizza, but he did eat one whole piece in order to get the bribe positive reinforcement of candy promised to him. hiba ate her olive half. she didn't even touch the bacon side. and i didn't really expect her to.

life has been a little crazy lately. this year has gotten off to a rough start and it's taken a while to get anywhere close to normal. and now that we are "back to normal", normal is filled with lots of activities, life pulling us different directions, tough decisions, lots of whining, too much yelling, not enough rest. not what "back to normal" looks like in my head.

so, yes, we had pizza for dinner last night. no, that's not super exciting or interesting. but. it was an evening filled with kind words, smiles, excitement, patience, and grace. which is greatly needed in this normal life of mine now days.