Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday to All!  

Here we are back to a new week already! This summer is sure flying by around here. It was a busy soccer weekend for us, as my daughter had a tourney out of town. It's an amazing tourney and teams from all over the world (and refs too) come to play in it and it's truly a wonderful experience!! I think she had a lot of fun. It was nice because her cousins were in this tourney - just different ages and on different teams. So we watched some of their games too. And they came and cheered on Annie! It went fast, but it was great!

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Sunny and in the 70's. Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

A piece of toast and a cup of vanilla iced coffee.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Beautiful blue sky! I just saw the garbage truck come by and grab the garbage on our block. Yep, back to real life and a new week. ;) 

RIGHT NOW I AM:

In my office, listening to Christian music on Pandora. Planning out my week ahead and what I have on the agenda today. Ruby is snuggling at my feet. I think she missed me this weekend!

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

I feel like my house has been missing me too! The teenager was home this past weekend if that gives you a picture of things. Lol! My Mom spent time here too. I definitely need to catch up on laundry too. I did get a jump start on things around here when we got home yesterday. I felt so good to be home I even made a pan of brownies. Made a loaf of homemade cheese bread to go with jambalaya dinner - and got some cleaning and laundry going then. I just need to tackle a few more daily cleaning today. But my house is getting to the point where I want to give it a deep clean again soon!!

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

Laundry, cleaning tasks, pick up kiddos from their summer hockey clinic (brought them this AM and they'll be done this afternoon), help my Mom with some of her flower planting she still never finished for this summer. Too busy with training her new puppy!! ;)  I'm also so looking forward to getting some blog catch up time this week! I've missed visiting you my friends!! xo

CURRENTLY READING:

I've been catching up on magazines and I'm planning to start the book Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand.

ON THE TV TODAY:

I still feel I need to catch up on some shows. I haven't really looked at what I had taped from the weekend yet. I like that about summer though - less tv time. 

 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: ravioli with leftover cheesy bread, salad

TUESDAY: breakfast for dinner most likely

WEDNESDAY: tacos

THURSDAY: grill night - but not sure what yet?

FRIDAY: maybe out for dinner or leftovers

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

Scrapbook catch up. Working on some cards.

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

The cheesy bread was from an old recipe I had found, but I tweaked quite a few things and made it my own. I'll probably share that on Thursday.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

I thought this one seemed intriguing. Could be a fun challenge especially for kiddos!

FROM THE CAMERA:

Annie played great in her tourney! She even played goalie for a while and did wonderfully. She didn't let in one goal!  

Annie with one of her cousins. ;) 

They had a lot of other fun things to do in between games.

My hubby even bought tickets for her team to go to a semi-pro soccer game at a stadium nearby! It was a great game and I think they had fun. You can see that storm clouds were rolling in. But we made it through the whole game before the rain really hit!

The sunset before the storm.

Her team!  They played great!! 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

A Quick Update

Hello My Sweet Friends!! 

I know I've been absent recently - but we have been having such a full and fun week with my special Uncle Don's visit. We've covered things from walks in the rose garden, to museums, state park visits and even shopping and went to the movies! (by the way - BFG is totally adorable!!) We even got to see President Lincoln's funeral car...which Uncle Don really loved - and all of the trains!!

We have a busy weekend ahead too. I miss posting and visiting with you and should be back to my regular routine beginning Monday! Hope you've had a wonderful week and have a very blessed weekend. Here are a few photo highlights:

See you next week!! xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday dear Friends!  

How are you? Did you have a wonderful weekend? We were gone for a family reunion of sorts. Every summer members of my Dad's side of the family gather at the house where they grew up (he's 1 of 9 kiddos). When my Grandma couldn't live there anymore, my Aunt bought it so it has remained in the family and we're so grateful. It's a beautiful and special place on a lake in the heart of a different northwoods a bit over 3 hours from where I live. We had fun visiting, playing games, swimming in the lake, eating great food...you know all those fun things family do. ;) 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Cloudy and gray and in the 60's. I woke up to thunderstorms early this AM. I love that, though, when you know you can still snuggle in bed as you listen to the thunder and the rain. Makes me feel snuggley. Supposed to have some nice sunny days in the 70's this week too.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

A piece of almond kringle and a cup of coffee.

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Cloudy and overcast. Lots of puddles in our driveway. When it's gray like this, though, it sure makes our trees and grass look really green.

RIGHT NOW I AM:

In my cozy office. Sipping my almond joy mocha coffee and I've got my water bottle too. Ruby is snuggling by my feet and I can hear my daughter talking on facetime to one of her friends. We brought back my special Uncle Don with us from the reunion. He comes to visit us for a week every year - sometimes in the summer, sometimes in the Fall or Winter.  He's in his 60's and he's mentally challenged and lives with a foster family as he wanted to remain in the city where he grew up, even after my Grandma couldn't live there anymore.  All of the relatives take turns taking him on trips or visits all throughout the year and he just loves it! He's such a sweetheart and we always have so much fun when he visits!

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Still pretty tidy since we were gone all weekend. Catching up on laundry though - of course!!

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

Laundry, some tidying up, and need to run some items to my kiddos' school...including a book my son forgot to return the end of the year. That stinker!  We also plan to have a lot of fun with Don throughout this week. Some things we have planned include: a trip to the library, go see a movie, go out for some fun lunches, go on a trip up the north shore and do some light house touring, go to the train depot, do a pontoon ride, have a fire and make s'mores....I could go on and on.  We're going to have fun!!

CURRENTLY READING:

I've been catching up on magazines and I'm planning to start the book Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand.

ON THE TV TODAY:

I haven't even looked at what I have taped yet.  I'm sure I have cooking shows among others. Probably won't be watching as much tv with Don here this week. I know I have the Outlander finale taped and haven't been able to watch it yet!! I need to make time for that one as I'm dying to see it! 

 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: BLT's, grilled cheeses, tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons, veggies, fruit

TUESDAY: spaghetti hot dish, garlic toast, salad

WEDNESDAY: probably out for dinner

THURSDAY: not sure- might be leftovers or clean out the fridge night

FRIDAY: ???

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

I recently found some new scrapbook organizers I like and I plan to pre-prep some pages to get more of  head start on the books I'm still to working to catch up.

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

probably nothing new this week

TIP OF THE WEEK:

This is a great one for me right now as it's high mosquito season here in the northwoods!!

FROM THE CAMERA:

I took a lot of photos at our reunion, but I took them mostly with my good camera and I haven't uploaded them yet. Here's a few I caught with my phone:

Where the reunion is held they are known for the mythical creature called The Hodag. It's a legend that was made up by some lumberjacks in the area long ago. Here's some more info:

Hodag

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the tree-planting tool, see Hoedad.

Hodag "captured" by Eugene Shepard, 1893

The hodag is a folkloric animal of the American state of Wisconsin. Its history is focused mainly around the city ofRhinelander in northern Wisconsin, where it was said to have been discovered. It is also mentioned in several Paul Bunyanstories.

You can read more about the Hodag here.

Photos from a lovely walk in the northwoods and along a creek not far from the family property.

A shot I took of my boys sitting out on the bench looking out at the lake (it looks like they were checking their phones - sad I know). I took this while standing in the giant screened in porch of the house. 

This was a GIANT hydrangea outside our hotel!

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Due to my lovely Uncle's visit I'm not sure how well I'll be keeping up with posting this week. So I will play it by ear and post when I'm able to, but if I don't post much you'll know why. ;) 

I'll be linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Five on Friday: Summer Moments

Hello and happy Friday my Friends!! 

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been loving our weather and great fun so far this summer. So today I thought I'd share some wonderful summer moments we've been enjoying so far.

ONE

First there was this amazing strawberry pie I made a few weeks ago. I had picked up a pallet full of ripe truly wonderful, right from the farm, strawberries and made them into jam and this pie! I found a recipe on pinterest and it was fabulous! Here's how I made it:

First I took an 8 oz block of cream cheese (softened) and blended it with 1/2 a jar of marshmallow cream, 1/4 cup of sour cream, and 1/4 cup of powdered sugar. I mixed these until they were well combined and poured the mixture into an already prepared graham cracker crust (sometimes shortcuts are nice when you don't want to turn on the oven). ;) 

I cleaned and cut up my strawberries, but then I also cheated by tossing them in a ready made store bought strawberry glaze. Because sometimes you just want to get to the pie! But if you'd like to see the recipe(wth glaze part) I found on pinterest by the sincerely jean blog you can find it here.

Then ta da!! Absolutely mouthwatering strawberry pie. It was so darn good - go find some great berries and make it today!!

TWO

Ruby and I have enjoyed amazing sunsets and lovely walks. I've taken my daughter and her friends to the park. And I've helped to take care of and walk my Mom's new puppy Angel. 

THREE

I've been enjoying going through my summer scrapbooking stuff and making some summer related paper crafts. 

FOUR

We've enjoyed some beautiful days out on the pontoon. We recently went with some close friends of ours and their kiddos and the kids had such fun jumping off and swimming the day away. My son has has his driver's permit and has been practicing driving now...and that's even carried over to designating himself pontoon driver as well! Lol

FIVE

And of course we just had the recent July 4th holiday and I love the tradition that goes along with it. We go to our local city parade and watch with relatives and friends. My kiddos have fun with their cousins and the annual outing to their house to swim, BBQ, have a campfire and they shoot of wonderful fireworks over the water. And then more fun back at our house...that included a big game of pickle ball in the driveway, and sparklers and glow sticks fun. Here are a few fun July 4th videos. One is of the beautiful lanterns we send off into the sky at my bro and sis in-law's house. And another is of Annie with her sparkler and I played around with it so it's in slow motion. ;)  

I'm linking with Amy of Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.