Friday Flashback!

September, 2007.

Peter was entering second grade and Drew K4.

Michael was just 2 years old.

We start school in a month and all 3 of my boys will go off to school.

It all goes VERY fast!

What are you flashing back to today? Grab the code from the bottom of my blog and come back to link up!

Recipe Swap Thursday Freestyle!

Rosemary Pork Roast

1 pork loin roast

2 T olive oil

2 T fresh rosemary chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

salt

black pepper

Combine olive oil, rosemary, garlic salt and pepper. Rub over roast and place in roasting pan. Cook in 325 degree oven until internal temp reaches 160. Slice and serve with sides of choice.

Now it's your turn!

Have a favorite recipe to share?

Leave the link to your recipe post below:

Wordless Wednesday

Recipe Swap Reminder

Tomorrow is Recipe Swap Thursday around here!

Come on over and share a favorite recipe!!!

(freestyle this week-no set theme!)

This weekend

Our parish festival was this weekend.

This was Michael at about 7 PM last night.

We still had fireworks at 9:30,

so this little nap helped.

Today?

Utter exhaustion!

Seven years ago (on the 27th), my Drew was baptized. Hard to believe it was seven years ago!

What are you flashing back to?

Grab my button at the bottom of my blog, then come back and link up!

Recipe Swap Thursday Summer Fruit

Welcome to Recipe Swap Thursday!

Today's theme is:

Summer Fruit!

Berry Smoothie

1 C milk

1 C Strawberries, frozen

1 C Raspberries, frozen

1 C Vanilla yogurt

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Enjoy!

Now it's your turn! Share your favorite summer fruit recipe on your blog and come back to link up here!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

My sweet baby girl has started taking steps on her own!

I am so NOT ready for this!

She is growing way too fast!

Recipe Swap Reminder

This week's theme is:

SUMMER FRUIT!

Come back Thursday with your favorite summer fruit recipe and link on up!

Toilet Paper

Toilet paper is quite a hot commodity in our house, as I am sure it is in yours. Yesterday, I realized that we were down to our last roll. Yes, that's right, the.last.roll. I was in dire need of a grocery trip, but I figured I could wait until after Alex finished her afternoon nap. We did a Sam's run, and they are remodeling the store. I could not find the toilet paper. On the way home, I called Andy and asked him to pick some up on the way home.

Here is the way things went in the last hour before Andy got home. Michael went to the bathroom upstairs and screamed down the he needed t.p. I told him to use the downstairs bathroom. Did he? No...he took the t.p. on up without my knowledge. Then I had to use the bathroom. I sit down to no t.p. I yell up, and Drew brings down the last of it. Maybe a third of a roll. A few minutes later, Drew informs me that he needs to use the bathroom. A little while later, he yells out that he needs more t.p. Seriously, we were out. No t.p., no tissue, nothing...I gave him a couple of napkins...then Daddy came home!

Festa Italiana 2010

The city I live in has many ethnic festivals each summer. My favorite, of course, and really the only one I have ever gone to is Festa Italiana. I have great memories of going every year on Sunday to attend the Mass an procession. It's usually like a mini-family reunion. We haven't gone since my parents were alive. In a way, it was too painful to go without them there. This year, we decided to start the tradition again.

This was taken after the Mass. They were all so hot! It was 95-Festa Sunday always seems to be the hottest Sunday of summer!

Alex in her red and white-all dressed up for the occasion!

This is Fr. Tom (a Polish priest at Festa!). I have known him since I was 3. He married Andy and I as well as officiated at the weddings of 3 of my 4 siblings. My Drew is Andrew Thomas, the Thomas being for Father Tom. You can't see Drew here but he is sporting a HUGE smile at seeing the man he is named after!

The procession through Festa is traditional as you would see on the streets of Italy.
Our Lady of Fatima!

St. Therese!

Madonna del Lume!
This one has special significance for me as it is a replica of the painting from my family's
church in Porticello, Sicily.

Blessed Mother, pray for us!

Friday Flashback-Friendship!

In 2008, I was able to get away for a weekend with these lovely ladies! One of them had a milestone birthday, so we went to Chicago to shop and see Wicked. Lisa, Sydney, and Michelle-I love you all. Thanks for always being there!

What are you flashing back to? Grab the code for my button at the bottom of my blog and link on up!

Roasts

Every once in a while, my mother-in-law sweetly stocks my freezer. It is very generous of her, and obviously helps our grocery budget.

She did this last month, and I went this morning to pick something to cook. There was one package labeled "arm roast", arm roast?

I had seen this when she came back from her butcher but had not thought about it. I have come to find out that it is a chuck roast, similar to what you would use for pot roast, but seriously, do we have to call it arm roast? I love a variety of meat and cook with many different ones, but when cuts are labeled with body parts-I kind of get grossed out. Remember this discussion on pork butt? We will just be calling it beef roast around here, thank you very much!

Recipe Swap Thursday-Summer Entrees!

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

2-4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts

Fat-Free Wishbone Italian dressing

Romaine lettuce

Roma tomatoes

Croutons

Caesar dressing of choice

Grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Marinate chicken breasts in Italian dressing for anywhere from 4 hours to overnight. Grill to cook, and slice. Combine other ingredients and top with chicken. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Enjoy!

This is one of my favorite go-to summer recipes-especially when I don't feel like cooking! So easy and so yummy!

Now it's your turn! What is your go-to summer recipe? Grab the code from the bottom of my blog, post your recipe and then come back here to share!

Almost Wordless Wednesday-10 months old!

My brother and his family came to visit from Texas last week, and on their last night here we went to a baseball game. Baby girl was wiped out!

Long Days of Summer

Anyone feel like we have hit the hard part of summer? Don't get me wrong, this has by far been the best summer we have had since the kids started school. We are much more organized and in a routine, but I am sensing a bit of boredom around here.

I am getting a lot of "Mom, what can I do now?" I am really proud of the boys for doing so well with their chore charts and reading minutes. Peter has even taken to doing extra things that he knows needs to be done. I am so proud of him.

On the other hand, perhaps I am the one getting bored. Without my usual school routine, I am in a rut. I am not doing my usual couponing and grocery shopping like normal. My blog posts are not flowing as I would like them. I feel like I need a project, have a thousand things to choose from, yet get nothing accomplished beyond the normal cleaning and laundry.

I think the slower pace on the blogs this summer has me down too. Fewer comments, fewer participants on Recipe Swap and Friday Flashback is making me feel lonely and sad in the blogosphere. Anyone else feeling this way? What are you doing to pick up this time of year?

Recipe Swap Reminder

The theme for Thursday's Swap:

Summer Entrees!

I'm in a cooking rut this time of summer, how about you?
Come on back and share a favorite summertime recipe
and I'll share one of mine!

Words

So I thought I'd throw out a topic that came up with my nieces last week. This particular group ranged in age from 15 to 20. We talked about how certain words were not pleasant to say or hear.

There is a story behind mine. About 10 years ago, my Dad had cataract surgery. The nurse was telling my Mom and I about the drops my Dad needed and the frequency to keep his eye "MOIST" (yep, that's my word!). I shuddered, looked at my Mom and said how I loathed that word. She repeated it about 10 times just to annoy me!

So, that's my word (as well as about 3 of my nieces' word as well, and they admitted to it before I said it was mine!). So, what's your word (and let's keep it clean!)

Field Trip Friday-Summer Reading

Over on BlogTrotting, we are sharing our summer reading lists. I decided to share mine. I am not making much progress thus far, but am hoping to find more reading time.

1. A Scattered Life by Karen McQuestion. This book is being published by AmazonEncore next month (already on kindle if you have one). It has also been picked up for a movie option. I know Karen in real life, and she is an amazing author! To read more of her story, you can check it out here.

2. Dragon House by John Shors. I started this book last night as I have book club on Monday. So far so good!

3. Fatherless by Brian Gail. I actually started this a while ago. It is a great book about the spiritual battles raging in the Catholic Church.

I could include a dozen more, but if I can finish these by the end of summer, then I will be a happy camper!

Friday Flashback-Family Edition!

The date-July 4, 2008. Most of my family attended a Brewers game. It was a lot of fun. This picture was taken right before my nieces and I realized we were on the Jumbotron! I was SO embarassed! I wanted to flashback to this beacuse my brother and his family came in from Texas this week. We had a ton of fun and we went to another Brewer game-all 30 of us which is most of us. I may post pictures from this years game next week!

Now it's your turn! Please grab my button from the bottom and play along! What are you flashing back to?

Friday Flashback Contest Winner!

Sorry it has taken me a bit to post the contest winner, but we have had family visiting from Texas! For the record, the pictures were Alex, Peter, Drew, Michael. Now on to the important part-the winner is:

Vicki!

Recipe Swap Thursday-Vegetarian Edition!

Welcome to Recipe Swap Thursday where I post a recipe, and ask you to do the same! This week's theme is vegetarian, and I have one of my all-time favorite recipes going up today! It's yummy, and super easy!

Pasta with Broccoli

1 pound spaghetti

1 16 ounce package broccoli florets (I use the frozen as a time saver, but you can also do fresh)

Parmesan cheese

Boil water and add salt once it boils. Drop in the pasta and the broccoli. Cook until al dente. Drain off most, but not all of the water (the pasta will absorb it). Plate pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan to your liking (I do a lot of parm on this dish). Enjoy!

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This dish can be used as a side or a main meal. Growing up, we had it as a main meal. It was and still is one of my favorites! I always asked for it on my birthday!

Now it's your turn, what vegetarian favorite are you sharing? Leave the link to your post in the linky below!

Wordless Wednesday-Standing and Letting Go!

Happy 7th Birthday, Drew!

Drew, you are such a joy to us! Your smile brightens each and every day! We love you!

BlogTrotting

Welcome to everyone coming over from BlogTrotting! I am always happy to share some of the highlights of the great state of Wisconsin! I have lived here my whole life (except for 4 years of college), and love what we have to offer!

In August, we have the Wisconsin State Fair! If you head over, you have to indulge in a cream puff! Lots of yummy goodness! Our State Fair even has a drive thru for picking up these gems. I was 8 1/2 months pregnant last year so we skipped the fair and my hubby brought these home instead! YUM!

In the center of the state, we have the Wisconsin Dells, home to many indoor and outdoor waterparks. We love going up every summer!

We also like to indulge in something called frozen custard around here. It is so much better than ice cream! If we check out Kopp's, the flavor of the day is Red Raspberry...MMMMM!

These are just a few of the things you'll find in Wisconsin.

A little bit more about me-I am a Mom to 4 (3 boys and a girl, ages 10 and younger). I also work from home, teaching online in the evenings after my hubby comes home. Around this blog, I like to write about my family, my faith and cooking. I host a Recipe Swap on Thursdays, and Friday Flashbacks on, well, Fridays. I would love to have you come back for both! The buttons and code for both are at the bottom of my blog! And if you check out last Friday's Friday Flashback, you will find a giveaway, which runs through 11:59 CST tonight!

Thanks for visiting! Please leave a comment so I can come visit you!

Recipe Swap Reminder

For this week's Recipe Swap, we are going:

Vegetarian!

Check back on Thursday to see what's cooking!

Happy 4th!

We are absolutely wiped out!

More about our weekend to come,

but in the meantime,

it's not too late

to enter my giveaway

here!

Friday Flashback-Pasta Edition

1.
2.

3.


4.

So, we know that these are my 4 babes-some saucier than others! My question to you is who is who? The winner of this contest will get a special Italian prize pack!

Here is how you earn entries:

1. Leave a comment listing who you think each picture is (Peter, Drew, Michael and Alex)-only correct answers count.

2. An extra entry for writing your own Friday Flashback post and placing the link to the post in my linky. Remember that you can flashback to ANYTHING you want to!

3. An extra entry for following me or if you are already a follower (leave a comment).

4. An extra entry for blogging about this contest on your blog (leave a comment).

Contest ends at 11:59 PM Tuesday, July 6! Good luck!

Friday Flashback Reminder!

Make sure you come over for tomorrow's Friday Flashback

which will include a giveaway!

Recipe Swap Thursday-4th of July!

For today's recipe, I am sharing my Mom's Pound Cake recipe, which makes for a lovely Strawberry Shortcake-perfect for 4th of July!

Mama's Pound Cake

3 sticks butter

3 C sugar

5 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond extract

3 C flour

3/4 C white soda (like 7-up or Sprite)

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla and almond extract. Alternately add in flour and white soda, careful not to over mix. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 325 for 75 minutes. Once cooled and on a serving platter, dust with powdered sugar.

Serve with berries and whipped cream. Enjoy!

Now it is your turn! What do you like to serve on 4th of July? Add your blog post link below: