More Shenanigans

I mentioned in my last post that my sister was in town for my birthday.
I didn't post about her whole visit because that would have made for a very long and picture filled blog entry.
So, here's the scoop on the rest of the time we had with the lovely Aunt Kimmy.

On Tuesday we sent the kids off to school as usual but we picked them up at lunch time. I had arranged it with the teachers ahead of time so that we could have a fun day together.
We drove out to Pleasant Prairie for a visit here...

Why do both my kids have their eyes closed?!

The Jelly Belly candy company has a warehouse in our area and they offer free daily tours. The kids have been wanting to go there since before we even moved to Wisconsin, so they were super excited that the day had finally arrived.
We took a ride on the jelly bean train around the warehouse and learned about the history of the jelly bean.

As you can see, our Aunt Wendie drove up to join us on our adventure. She also lives about an hour away from the warehouse, so it was a good meeting point for all of us.

The kids made fast friends with the sample man. We tasted all sorts of jellied confections (many, MANY times).
The kids could have stayed there all day and eaten their weight in candy. However, the adults wanted some real food so we went out for an early dinner at one of our favorites.

Mama loves good BBQ

Sadly, the next day I had to send the kids back to school, and it was a miserably cold and dreary day.

The sunshine didn't last long after this shot

When they got back home there was lots of this going on...

Every little girl needs a pretty manicure

what better to do on a rainy day!

And some of this...

More Fancy Nancy!

This was our last night together so Aunt Kim had to soak up all the girl time she could get!
She flew out the next day. I was certain the kids both understood that she was leaving while they were at school. Well, Giuliana came home from school, tossed her back pack and asked "Where's Aunt Kimmy?". The sad look on her face when I told her she went back to New York was enough to break a moms heart.

We had a great visit and can't wait to do it again.
Let's hear it for Girl Power!

The Birthday Extravaganza

I celebrated my 41st birthday last week. Admittedly, I haven't exactly been thrilled with the idea of officially being 'in my forties' instead of being 40. Turning 40 was fun and exciting, and I embraced it wholeheartedly. Leaving 40 wasn't something I was looking forward to.
However, my family being who they are, made my birthday special, fun and exciting for me. I almost forgot that I was getting older.

We kicked off the weekend by going to the Family Dance night at our local elementary school. We got all dressed up and put our dancing shoes on. We were so overdressed it was funny, but the girls loved the attention compliments we were getting. They were on the dance floor until we dragged them off because it was past their bed time.

Saturday was the day I had been waiting for. For months I've said all I want for my birthday was to go to McD's and get a Rolo Flurry. I remember having Rolo's as a kid and they were always my favorite. I was so careful all week with limiting my sugar intake so that I could fully indulge in the ice cream treat.
Believe me, it was WELL worth the wait!

After our delicious treat we headed out to a local arts and crafts fair and walked around for an hour and hopefully burned off some of the calories!
That evening we went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant that we wanted to try. The food was great and Tia, my very picky eater, tried some new things. That always makes me happy!

On Sunday I got the best birthday gift EVER. My sister flew in from NY to spend a few days. She is awesome. She knew that D.R. was going to be out of town for work on my actual birthday, so she decided to come spend it with me!
D.R. left on Monday morning (my actual b-day) so big sister and I headed into Milwaukee for the day. We had lunch at the Public Market.
Then we went here...

We took a really cool tour and did some tasting. It was fun and I'm pretty sure I'll be bringing more visitors there in the future.
When the kids got home from school we had an early dinner then we took them out for ice cream. I couldn't eat mine because I was too full from dinner. Tia had no problem finishing my share!

So even though I was dreading turning 41, it really turned out to be a great birthday with lots of celebrations. I was surrounded by family and love through the whole birthday weekend, and that's what's important.

Here's to another wonderful year!

Family Fun Day and A New School Year

We started a new family tradition last year of having a "Fun Day" on the last day of summer vacation. The kids tell us what they want to do, and we follow orders.
This year the masses voted for a trip to the Milwaukee Zoo. No Problemo, I love the zoo...

We had a gorgeous day for it.
Then of course there had to go out for an ice cream cone after the zoo. What kind of family fun would it be without ice cream?!

The next day was a big day in our house. Not only the first day of school, but the first day of Kindergarten for my little one. I think I was more nervous and sad than she was!

They decided to dress alike for the first day which I LOVE and know won't last as they get older.
Tia was very nervous all morning. Of course little sister was not nervous at all and was just ready to get her school career started!
I decided to follow the bus to the school just to make sure they knew where to go and what to do when they got there. I'm so glad I did because Tia was in tears and couldn't find her teacher. I made sure to get them to the right place, along with one of our neighbors kids who also couldn't find her way.
Here they are headed into the building...

A little teary eyed

So ready!

When they got off the bus in the afternoon (8 LONG hours later), they were full of smiles and stories of what a wonderful day they had. I knew they would love it!
Of course Mama had to make a big day about this huge milestone in their lives so I made them each their own mini-cakes. They thought the personal size cakes were awesome and I get points toward my goal of being Mommy of the Year!

Chocolate smiles!

Overall I'd say it the start of the new school year has been a big success. We are so blessed to have two kids who love school and look forward to learning new things every day.

School is Cool!

Breakfast?

It's 8am. and this is what my kids have chosen for breakfast...

What, you don't let your kids eat pop-sicles for breakfast?

Well, typically I wouldn't either, but guess what these are made of?
Plain Greek Yogurt (loaded with protein)
Bananas (potassium)
Blueberries (Vit C and antioxidants)
a splash of grape juice

How can you go wrong? And they're purple which is a huge bonus for my girls!

My oldest loves popsicles and would eat them all day if I let her. However, they're loaded with chemicals that I'd rather she not consume.
I've been getting creative with making our own and the results have been yummy!

What did your kids have for breakfast today?

Living Life

I realize it's been about 6 weeks since I've posted anything here about our adventures. I'm not usually such a bad blogger but quite frankly, we've been living life!
We've had a fantastic summer. This is one summer I will be sad to see come to an end next week when the kids go back to school. I'm sure I'll be able to find plenty of things to do to keep me busy while the kids are gone for 8 hours a day, but still my days will feel empty without them around.

So, since they'll be starting back at school next week and I'm sure I'll be posting about that, why don't I do a quick catch up of the last six weeks...

We had a crazy, long heat wave and drought in our area. It was tough on everyone, especially the farmers. Even with the oppressive heat, we managed to get out and do some fun stuff around town.
Our favorite was the local Lions Club Carnival. It was fantastic, good old fashioned fun.

Even in 100+ degree heat and drenched with sweat, they're smiling and being kids!

Both girls took swim lessons at the beach which was a great help with the heat...

Every day we brought our lunch and stayed at the beach after lessons and enjoyed the fresh air. I'm a firm believer that we should be outside as much as possible in summer because before you know it, the snow will be flying and we won't be able to go out!

Gia took soccer for the first time this summer. I can't say she loved it but it was a good start to learning about team sports, and not quitting what you start. She really started to get good at it towards the end...

Tia's summer sport was bowling but I don't have any pictures of that to share with you. She also didn't care for her chosen sport but went faithfully every week. We told her that Salerno's are not quitters!

D.R. and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary...

We chose to go out to dinner with our kids because they are an important part of our union. It was such a nice evening and I do believe we have started a new tradition. The kids LOVED getting dressed up and going out with us. They were very well behaved.

Then we spent quite a few days at the beach even after swim lessons were over...

Lots of fun in the sun

Last week D.R. participated in his first obstacle mud run. He had a great time, and the girls loved cheering on their Dad...

All dirty and glad to be done!

Then, my absolute favorite part of summer was going 'home' to Rochester for my family reunion. It was a near perfect week visiting family and friends...

The Aceto clan

Girls Night, with one boy!

A trip to our local amusement park

I think that should pretty much bring us up to date. Phew, that was a lot of stuff and so many pictures!
I promise to post again very soon with stories and pictures of the first day of school. My 'baby' will be going to kindergarten all day this year. Someone please send me a box of tissues!

Do You Cook When it's 100 Degrees?

I don't know about you but when I encounter several days in a row of 100+ degree temps, the last thing I want to do is turn on the stove or oven.
I'd been running out of 'no-cook' dinner ideas. There's only so many times you can let your kids have cereal and fruit for dinner without starting to feel guilty.

My kids aren't really big on salads so I figured I had to make it fun if I was going to get them on board. We had done 'make your own pizza' and 'make your own taco' night before and they were both a big hit.

I decided to do make your own salad this time since it required very little cooking, and qualified as a healthy meal.

Here's our salad bar...

We had lettuce, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, cucumbers, dried cranberries, avocado and grilled chicken. Yeah, I had to cook the chicken but it was fast and didn't heat up my kitchen like cooking an entire meal would have. There were also croutons and sliced almonds, not pictured.

It was interesting to see what the little ones would choose to put on their plates. Oddly enough, Gia who loves chicken and avocado, chose to just do a fruit salad.

She treated it like a piece of art. After this was gone she did have some cucumbers and some shredded cheese. At least she got in a little protein.

Tia, my little (mostly) vegetarian made up this masterpiece...

No protein here!

I was a little disappointed that they didn't venture out a little more and try something new (like some protein!), but overall the idea was a hit. The kids liked having control over what was on their plate, and creating it themselves. Everyone got in a substantial amount of fruit and veggies, so that's always a plus.

Oh, wanna' see my plate? How could I forget!

This Mama's no fool. I know the health benefits of lean protein, avocado, and of course berries! It was dee-lish.

Thankfully today the heat wave has broken. I guess that means I'm back to cooking regular meals at the stove.

Happy Summer eating!

Another Sweet Treat (of the healthy variety)

The girls and I have made these 'cake batter energy bars' TWICE this week. They're so delicious, you'll never know you're eating something that's actually protein packed, and good for you.

We've been following "Chocolate Covered Katie" and her blog for some time. We've made many of her recipes and have loved them all.
I do have to say though that all of her recipes are teeny tiny. We are a family of four. She is single and lives alone. I ALWAYS double or triple anything that I get from her site.

That being said, here's the recipe as I have adapted it to satisfy our family...

2C rice krispies
1/2 C oat flour (grind oatmeal in food processor until it turns into flour)
1/2 C protein powder (I use 100% Whey vanilla flavored)
1/2 t. salt

1/4 C honey
1/4 C agave nectar (or just more honey)
6 T nut butter (I use natural peanut butter)
2 t. vanilla extract

*optional-handful rainbow sprinkles.

combine all dry.
combine all wet.
add wet to dry and mix well.
press firmly into square baking pan.
refrigerate for at least an hour
cut into squares.

All mixed and ready to go in the pan

The mix kind of looks like Fruity Pebbles!

line the pan with wax paper or parchment for easy clean up

And here's the gloriously yummy finished product!

I cut off and ate all the rough edges. I'm sure those calories don't count at all!

We LOVE these and can't stop eating them. I must say that we don't call them 'cake batter energy bars' like Katie does. They are absolutely delicious, but they don't taste like cake batter to me (and I've had a lot of cake batter in my lifetime!). Maybe because she used cashew butter and we used peanut butter? I don't know. We just call them rice krispie treats in our house.

These will definitely be on our road trip snack list for next months drive to NY state.

I hope you'll make them and enjoy them as much as we do.

Have a great day!

Refreshing Summer Treats

It's been hotter than I don't know what here in the mid west. I liken it to walking into a blast furnace whenever I go outside. We've gone out for the occasional ice cream cone, but mostly we make our own 'ice cream' at home. Nope, I don't have an ice cream maker, but I do have a food processor!

A friend of mine found a blog of someone who had been making banana fake-out ice cream, so I gave it a try at home. The blogger calls it "one ingredient ice cream". We've gone far beyond the single ingredient. We've been trying all different flavors, and have never been disappointed.

Here's what we do...

Peel, slice, and freeze a bunch of ripe bananas.

Bananas have been priced about .39/pound here, so I've stocked up and keep lots of them in the freezer for whenever we get the urge for some ice cream.

Place frozen bananas in a food processor and blend. After a minute or two scrape down the sides and blend again until you get a creamy texture with no lumps. That's it! You've got banana ice cream.

I like to add a tablespoon or peanut butter to mine to make peanut butter ice cream. Who doesn't like peanut butter and banana?!

My kids and husband are partial to berry-banana ice cream. I just add a handful of frozen wild berries and the mixture becomes bright pink!

The possibilities are endless.

Dairy free, fat free, no added sugar, full of potassium.
That's a sweet treat you can feel good about.

The Grandparent's Visit

The grand folks came up to Wisconsin to visit for 10 days. It was the first time they'd seen our new home.
With all the craziness of changing jobs and moving to a new state, we hadn't seen each other in 6 months! That's not the norm for us.

Needless to say the kiddos were beyond excited to see Nonna and Papa. Here they are headed off to the airport to pick them up...

from our own yard!

We celebrated Nonna's birthday when they arrived (we missed it by 6 days)...

We celebrated Father's Day at one of the many local beaches...

We had a few picnics...

concert in the park

We toured a cheese factory (Yum-O!)

no hair in the cheese, please!

We checked out a hundred year old church and monastery, and climbed up to the top of the tower...

it was a long climb!

We even found a town named after Nonna!

even though they spell it with an 'H'

And on our last day together we went to the Milwaukee Zoo...

Not to mention the soccer practice, ice skating lessons, bowling, dinners, marshmallow roasting, gardening, walking...
We did a lot in 10 days. It was a fantastic visit and went by way too fast.

Now the count down begins for our trip back East to see them at their house. Six weeks until we go 'home'!