Tennis and a little Italian Dinner...Yum!

Time to celebrate! High School tennis is in full-swing. No, school has not started for us, but activities have begun. 9 matches and 3 tournaments later, a nice medal is gracing our dinner table. I do like the design on this medal....oh, I think the ole medal looks distinguish and delightful, displayed sitting on the bottom of a fun glass, don't you?

My son playing through a lot of opponents and summer heat.

So, at the end of the day, it was time to celebrate a sweet victory and enjoy a family dinner. Truth be told, I bought an Italian cookbook and it arrived today. I read the recipes and family stories from cover to cover. This of course, inspired me to put on my apron and add something of the "Italian" nature to our dinner celebration menu.
Yum...I do love pork chops. So, I browned up the pork.....

....got into my pantry and pulled out a bottle of Italian, Sausage and Garlic Spaghetti Sauce. Hmmmm...seems like these two would combine and fit together well. So, when the pork chops were nearly done, in went the sauce. Boy oh boy, did it ever smell good.

And, one of my very most favorite pasta's....Angel Hair. It cooks in 3-5 minutes and is light as a feather. I do make noodles for chicken noodle soup, but, would love to learn how to make other types of noodles.

Lovely. Just pour the sauce and meat over the pasta.

Nice little dinner for the family.....crystal glasses filled with berry juice and our summer colorful plastic plates---ha! Love it.

And can't forget the dessert, no way! These are such pretty pears and oh so good.
They are ready to be sliced.

Well, this dinner was so fast and so easy....and tasted great. Give it a try, when you get the chance.

So, whats cooking at your house? xo

Entitlement!!!

Hey Everyone.....

We are racing through the month of August a little bit quicker than expected. It makes me a little uncomfortable, seeing all that is ahead, as summer comes to an abrupt end. Their is much to do and extremely busy days now and in the near future.

SO.......................

......... why not get in on a little last minute summer treat? Did you know that today is National Entitlement Awareness Day? I did not know this little fact until recently. As a college graduate in the field of Child Development and Family Relations (how I loved this major), this new book, soon to be released, interests me. It is called.....The Entitlement Trap: How to Rescue Your Child with a New Family System of Choosing, Earning, and Ownership. This is a Richard and Linda Eyre book. Have you read any of the Eyre books? Well, you are in for some fun. Not only can you pre-order a book and save BIG, but, they have some extra special and super offers.

Check it out here......http://entitlementtrap.com/giveaway.htm

Jenna and I are excited to read this book together....even though we live far apart from each other, this is something we can do together, as mother and daughter. Can't wait to read and discuss with her.

P.S. If you are really curious, check out the Eyre blog and their daughter, Saren's blog......much more info about this book, their lives, and The Power of Mom's.

More Family...in the good ole summer time!

One of my favorite summer pictures! My son-in-law taking a run through the rain. He even put his swim suit on for the occasion. He doesn't see much rain in his neck of the woods and just had to get out in it and enjoy it for awhile. He is such a fun guy!

My son joining in the fun. See how brown the grass became this summer? Hot, hot and hot days with very little rain.

HA! After their run, someone was even a little bit cold. Felt great!

Had to pull out the rocking horse from storage. Ride'm cowgirl. This little sweetie needs cowgirl boots...pink cowgirl boots, for sure.

We sure enjoyed celebrating the 4th of July together. We even braved the heat and ate outside.

Plenty of chefs on hand to do things up right!

I do love a good ole bbq......

...and all the fixings!

Time to eat and enjoy each others company!

The more, the merrier!

A favorite past time. Ha! Pushing one's own stroller around and around.

There was work to be done, too! We put in a little, lovely rose garden off of our back porch.

Everybody needs someone to supervise a ground breaking activity....and to eat snacks.

Just about done. Love seeing this rose garden each and everyday. I am loving the colors of roses this year...orange, yellow and lavender. The lavender has a beautiful scent....very different from other roses that I am familiar with. I have been clipping many a bloom. They sure do brighten-up our home and smell so good.

Keep on enjoying the summer everyone! xo

Hello, Me Beauties!!

We celebrated our very first official "Women's Day", while on vacation. A tradition we hope to continue each and every year. We have got 4 generations of lovelies in this picture. So nice.

We went to my very favorite quilt shop, The Ice House. Here is my mom in the Ice House attic, looking at all the different holiday splendors.

I just love stopping by this place.

Jenna...a serious shopper-ha!

Alyson and I, outside the Ice House, happy with our little purchases. We each bought fabric to use to cover a picture frame or to use as background---or whatever we want to do, to frame our Women's Day photo.

And, we just had to stop in for a little snack before dinner...ice cream being the keyword here.

Truth be told, we ate plates of fries and then had ice cream. What a celebration. This is a fun, old fashioned, restaurant, with such personality. We all discussed our highs and lows of the year, while being surrounded by the biggest collection of coca-cola memorabilia I have ever seen.

Walking past the "Jerky" shop and found this funny sign.

Love, love, love this water pump hand rail.

Oh, the Rialto. We have seen many a movie in this very old, old and i do mean old theater. It reminds me of the theater my family use to go to when I was a little girl. If you have ever seen the movie The Majestic, you will have a clearer picture of what it is like inside the Rialto.

I love to see this mural. Hand painted and framed, on a shop wall.

We discovered that the sidewalks (shops) closed up pretty much by 5pm and had to cut our exploring in town a little short. We missed a few places like the art museum, book shop and yarn nook. Instead, we invited the men folk to come into town and eat a little dinner with us gals. For you who bow hunt , this restaurant has tons of memorabilia of Fred Bear. Did not know he had roots in Michigan.

Sorry to catch you with your eyes closed, Jenna. But, just had to show off our pizza. Wow was it ever good. This just might be our new favorite pizza place, up in northern Michigan.

All in all, we had a fabulous time, spending a little time together as women and exploring and seeing new things. We are off to a great start in our new tradition. Until next time.....xo

Summer Days!

Someone has been here this summer and how she loves to play peek-a-boo!

Went camping in northern Michigan with lot's of our family. We all hiked into one of our most "favorite, favorite and I do mean favorite" lakes for fishing, reading, picnicking, and basking in the beauty of Mother Nature...Wakely Lake. The early group hiked in and hit the fishing with the sunrise. The late group came in a few hours later with a picnic and all kinds of fun doings!

My daughter, Kristen, was with the early group. Here she is holding up a little pan fish. For all you fishermen and women, this is an artificial lures only lake----you can only hike into the lake (no cars, trucks, etc) and no motorized boats. So, you wade, paddle your canoe or belly boat it out into the lake.
K----looking good in my wadders!

Jenna and my son figuring out something on the camera. Don't you just love Spencer's makeshift doo---I believe it was to keep the sun off his neck, and to help keep mosquito's and black flies away.

Someone had a ball exploring all the wonders around her...and under our favorite shade tree's.

She loved discovering the beautiful flowers and then taking a closer look....picking the flowers apart....she was very busy for a very long time. This is hard work for a girl who just turned "one".

Hubby came up with a nice wide mouth bass catch!

My pretty mom enjoying everything. She is a delight ----and you would never have known she had a terrible and I do mean terrible gash on her leg that took us to the ER late one night. Many stitches and pain meds.....i must confess...it was so bad i saw her bone. I did not like it one bit. It was awful and she was so brave.

Fishermen....L to R, my super son-in-law, my husband, and my dad----dad was born to fish and has fished his entire life. He taught my son-in-law how to fly fish a few years ago...and actually, he taught my husband many, many, many years ago how to fly fish. We love to fish.

My son was so sad that he had left his ID at home. He could not get a fishing license without his ID. So, what-cha' gonna do? He had fun. He and Alyson have taken pictures like this for awhile, now. So funny how big Spencer is and how it makes Alyson look so small.

Can you hear the peace and quiet? Can you feel the gently breeze? Can you see the dragonflies and butterflies lighting gracefully here and their? How about the loons? How I love hearing the loons.

A great adventure and lovely rest at OUR Wakely Lake.

What has everyone been doing this summer? As you can tell, we have been so very busy with lots of company and extra activities. So much to share and fun pictures ahead....tis a good ole summer time! xoxo