Artwork/Photography in our Home!

When we moved into our current lake house almost 6 years ago, our family thought we were crazy. It has the exact same square footage as our previous house (not counting the basement), it is a 3 bedroom instead of 2, has a more open floor plan (lot's of windows), and it is closer to the water. The down side is that we lost our basement which had lots of storage and there are 22 steps leading from our parking area down the the house! Obviously, we had to get rid of tons of stuff. I promised myself that anything we kept would have meaning/purpose to either my husband and I or our family, especially if it went up on our walls. Let me begin with a photo of where our story began........

This was the wedding gift I gave to my hubby.

It is a photo of where we had our first date. In our old house it resided above our bed but now has a new home in our living room. You can see it as you walk through our front door.

 This photo was taken on a trip we made to Switzerland to visit my childhood friend and her husband.

It also resides in our living room.

As you head up the stairs, everyone in our family is represented on the wall.

 When you reach the top you will see

  a photo that we took while on our honeymoon in Ireland.

My hubby has owned this painting since we met. 

It hangs in our upstairs hallway and can be seen from my son's room as he falls asleep each night. It reminds me of a Jackson Pollock painting. I like it best hanging vertical but in our old house we had it horizontal. After all these years I still love it.

When I first met my husband he had a lot of black and white pictures. I decided to do a grouping of them in our bedroom when we moved. The top left picture is a self portrait of one of my husband's patient's, in the middle is our wedding invitation, a friend in town sketched the lighthouse and lastly the Asian symbol (meaning Tao or The Way/Road) at the bottom my husband purchased while visiting Korea. I still want to add two black and white photos from our wedding on either side of the Asian symbol and then I think the wall will be complete.

Of course the children have their art displayed in their playroom for more inspiration.

I would like to add a quote above the clothes line by Picasso that says "Every child is an artist". 

Lastly, this is a display in our upstairs bathroom.

My great, great grandmother made the picture at the very top and it fits right in with our cottage on the lake. It says "Dear house you are so very small, just big enough for love that's all."

I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the pictures that have special meaning to us.

Jen

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Taco Salad!

As you may have guessed by now, I love salads. My Aunt served this Taco Salad at her house once and our family has been making it ever since. It is a quick and easy lunch to make when having a few friends over.

Tear apart 1 head of iceburg lettuce (I used red leaf and romaine) and set aside.

In a skillet brown 1pound of ground beef, drain, add 1 package taco seasoning (I add 1/4 - 1/2c. water). Drain/rinse 1 can of red kidney beans and add to meat mixture then set aside to cool.  

Add chopped black olives (3/4 can), 1 small onion and 1 tomato to the lettuce.

Add 4-6 oz. grated Sharp Cheddar cheese.

Then add the secret ingredient......1 bag of crushed up Fritos. Finally, add meat mixture to salad.

Toss with one bottle of mixed Good Seasons Dressing (3/4 bottle or to your liking)

Once served in individual bowls I then put some Taco sauce on top.

I like this salad sooooo much that I could eat the entire bowl!

Jen

linking to: Tasty Tuesday

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Mother's Day Weekend!

Life has been exceptionally busy lately with Substitute Teaching, 1st Communions, Birthday parties and Chorus concerts. Regardless of our other commitment's every Wednesday and Saturday you will find our family and many other's in our community at the Baseball/T-ball fields:

We are so proud of Luke for trying a sport he has never played before!

Here he is anxiously awaiting a ground ball.

Take note of Luke's knees!

I don't know what kind of dirt they have on the field but it has an affinity for my children. Even after scrubbing with a wash cloth it does not like to come off!!

Excited for his first big game.

The Heron has returned to the Lake.

We always look forward to seeing him.

For Mother's Day hubby gave me this necklace. 

I absolutely love it and cannot wait to wear it this week!

The boys picked out earrings to match.

For dinner we had Salmon Burger's. Yum!!!

(Recipe to come in a future post)

I always look forward to my hubby making his "special sauce".

We put this on our hamburgers, turkey sliders and sandwiches. Shhhhh....I have even been known to dip a few pretzels in it.

Special Sauce

1/2 cup of mayo

2Tbsp. Ketchup (Organic)

1Tbsp. Finely grated onion

1 Finely chopped Chile in Adobo sauce (Goya)

1/8 tsp. Celery Salt

1/8 tsp. Kosher Salt

Mix well.

Lastly, here is a picture of the bright Super Moon we had this past week.

For all the mom's out there including my own, I hope you had a fabulous Mother's Day!

Jen

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A Special Party!

This past weekend was full of celebrations. We traveled to see our nephew make his First Communion on Saturday and then our oldest son Jack made his on Sunday. Like most of our parties we spent a bit of time preparing food, but before I get to the menu, I thought you might like to see a few pictures of the children all dressed up.

Congratulations 1st Communion Class of 2012!

Best Buds!

These two have known each other since birth. My husband went to college with Nick's parent's and we are all the best of friends. In fact, Nick's parents also happen to be Jack's godparents. Since the boys were making their 1st communion at the same time we chose to do a combined party. 

Thanks Amy for hosting!!!

 The Cake

I finished it an hour before the ceremony!

Lesson  learned: never try a new frosting recipe the day before an event! What was I thinking? Hubby had to run out to the store to buy frosting in a tub at 7:00am.

The Flowers

I love the simplicity of having just one type of flower in the vases.

Menu

Ham

Rolls

Ziti

Broccoli Slaw Salad

Fruit Salad (seen at Lulabelle's view, sidebar)-

I chose not use mint in the recipe and changed the fruit based on the children's taste. I used cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries, mango, pineapple and grapes.

Potato Salad

Garden Salad

Homemade applesauce (Courtesy of Amy's mom)

Pasta veggie salad

Cake

Chocolate covered Strawberries/Pretzels

Moon Cookies (Courtesy of Amy's mother-in-law)

I had seen the idea of putting dip in a carved out pepper on Pinterest and couldn't wait to try it.

It was definitely a hit. 

Banners

The boys made these on their retreat the week before. It was really lovely to see them all hanging during the service in church. Bravo to my friend Amy who had the foresight to hire a local college student to be at the house while we were all at the ceremony. That is the trickiest part of hosting an event when you are not there prior to the party. She helped set up the food, put things in the oven, brewed coffee etc. When we arrived at the house our guests were starving and they did not have to wait to eat.

It was a busy weekend but a great one!

Jen

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Happy Easter!

This past week our house has been a whirlwind of activity trying to get ready for Easter!

The kits were purchased.

Eggs were dyed.

Easter Baskets were brought out.

I received the Easter basket on the left for my baby shower when I was pregnant with Jack. It was one of the best and most memorable gifts I received. I love that they are hand painted and each have a personality of their own.

Luke really likes his brown bunny! I think he is my favorite too.

We made these cupcakes for our Easter celebration on Saturday.

The kids really enjoyed getting in on the icing and decorating.

I transported them in our muffin tin to the party but Bakerella has a really cute way to package them.

 Finally, the Easter Bunny arrived!

We get a lot of morning sun and Luke's melted rabbit is proof of that.

 He now has a great new home in our refrigerator!

These two items were big hits in the boys Easter baskets this year. As a family we are huge Harry Potter fans. One note: most of these jelly beans end up being spit out but the kids really did like the adventure of tasting them. Can you believe they have soap and earwax jelly beans??

Happy Easter!

Jen

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Snapshots on the Lake!

These pictures are from last week before the sun rose one morning. I think both kids were home sick so I  was able to get some good shots.

There was a beautiful fog/mist hovering just above the water.

I love the reflection of the trees from the point on the water.

Yes, as you may have noticed, docks have started to go in.

Have a nice weekend!

Jen

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Mushroom Quesadillas on Whole Wheat Tortillas!

O.K. I admit it! I have a love for Jennifer Aniston. What isn't there to like?  She is beautiful, in great shape, successful and has a killer wardrobe. When Oprah featured Dinner at Jennifer Aniston's: Jewel and Jill's Healthy Festive Menu, I knew I just had to try some of the recipes. The Quesadillas from the menu are wonderful and it is now a recipe I fix often.

Mushroom Quesadillas on Whole Wheat Tortillas

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. olive oil

8oz. assorted mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 sprig of thyme (I used dried thyme from a jar)

Kosher salt

4 whole wheat tortillas

4oz. assorted cheeses (cotija, jack, and ranchero) crumbled or grated

3 cups baby spinach (or less)

Cilantro for a garnish if desired

Heat oil in skillet on medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and thyme. Cook stirring mushrooms occassionally until golden and crispy 6-8 min. Season with salt and pepper.

In another skillet heat on medium-high. Sprinkle salt in pan (must be kosher or other coarse salt) and put 1 tortilla on top-the salt: this will keep the tortilla from sticking to skillet and help crisp it up without oil. Then add 1/4 of the cheese, spinach and mushrooms on bottom tortilla. Top with 2nd tortilla and cook until bottom is golden and crispy approx. 2 min. Flip and cook approx. 2 min. on other side.

Serve and enjoy.

Jen

Linking to: Tasty Tuesday

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