Mommy can I help????

Most every weekend we have a pizza night at the Willin house.  I love making homemade pizzas.  It's fun, it's fresh, and tastes really good :)  I have a system for making my pizzas.  I like my systems.  Systems that get things done in the most efficient and timely manner.  I have a system for cleaning my house, doing my laundry, buying my groceries, fixing my meals, running errands....you get the picture.  Having a system for the daily operations of my household helps me stay sane while managing the very active lives of my boys.  However, I've also learned the importance of breaking away from my systematic way of doing things in order to include my kiddos in some of the jobs that I do.  This brings me back to pizza night.  Ever since Jack's field trip to Pizza King, he has developed a strong desire to "help" me with everything in the kitchen....while wearing his chef's hat. :)  Now there are times when it's just not feasible to have him help.  But more often than not, the reasons for him not helping come back to me.  Me lacking the willingness to break away from my system....a challenge for me indeed.  But I'm working on it.  And this past weekend when pizza night rolled around and Jack said, "can I help Mommy?", I put aside my desire to keep my kitchen somewhat clean...my desire to make the pizzas look pretty....my desire to get the job done in as little time as possible....and I said, "Sure, let's do it!!"  Little did I know that Chase would also want in on the action.  He is usually just interested in eating the food, not so much in the prep process.  But sure enough he went and got his stool and followed big brother's lead.  And what a great time we had.  Mommy bit her tongue when the sauce wasn't spread evenly and the cheese was in various clumps around the dough.  They were so proud of their creations and waited so patiently for the baking process to be completed.  And how excited they were to eat their very own pizzas!  It was so much better than my systematic pizza making.  I'm so glad I have my boys to break me free from my mold.....occasionally :)  Here's a look.....keep in mind this is after the rolling of the dough.  Now THAT was an adventure. 

And in other happenings I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the first day of spring tomorrow!  What a wonderful season.  My camellias started to open over the weekend.  I love to watch these lovely green bushes turn into a mass of bright pink blooms. 

Happy Spring!  May you be as excited about the arrival of the flip-flop season as I am!!!