To wrap up the week.....

What are you up to this weekend?
We will be...celebrating a birthday and picking up Tyler from the airport!
{Can't wait to hear about his trip.}

A summer song.

Aren't these fun?!  My state {Illinois} smells like violet, grains and lavender..interesting.

Happy Friday.
XxOo

If you wouldn't mind, we'd really appreciate you....

.... voting for the best sweet corn in the stateline area, which of course is OUR SWEET CORN!!!
We have won the past two years in a row! Help us make 2016 the third.

You can watch a fun interview we did on the radio station this afternoon with Mark Charvat.
If you scroll to the bottom of the page there is a second little video...true story!
I recorded it myself.

*It seems people are having trouble voting on the actual website...
if you aren't able to, hop on over to their FaceBook page and cast your vote in the comment section.
Scroll down until you see the sweet corn contest.

Thanks so much!
XxOo

Over the weekend....

....we had two girls and one boy home.
......two of our boys were up north fishing.
...one boy is still in Mexico.
......we went swimming.
...the garden grew.
.....it was confirmed in my mind I will never live in the south.
{I HATE humidity!}
...Jeff preached in church and I really liked his sermon.
.....it was very hot.
...we made pizzas.
.......I tried my first Boba Tea. I had NO idea those "blueberries" are really tapioca.
{Try a Boba Tea...you'll know what I'm talking about.}

Hope your week was off to a great start.
XxOo

To wrap up the week...a song, a new coffee shop,a broken post and a baby who drank rootbeer out of a glass bottle.

First....a song.

One of the posts from my clothesline cracked. I'm not happy about this.
Tell me, how am I supposed to live without line dried sheets?

Is it legal to give a 1 year old rootbeer? Out of a glass bottle?!
Anyway my little brother thinks so...and Frankie thought it was the greatest.

My friend opened a a coffee shop! 4 minutes from my house. {Dangerous!}
She is brewing locally roasted coffee. and...she has custard too!
Guess who will be making and baking her pastries and cookies and muffins and biscotti?
My sisters and I. How fun is that?!
(I'm sure you will be hearing more about this. ;)

Savino's Brick Oven  ...have you liked our Facebook page yet?
If not, you better go do that. :) Tell your friends, tell your family, tell everyone you meet on the street.
We cater, so if you're getting married or having a birthday or celebrating anything..
...we'll make you pizza {and a million other foods to go along with it.}

We've eaten a lot of blueberries this week. and last week.
I love blueberry season.


...and finally we will be making pizzas in the Kenosha market this weekend if anyone is around!
Homemade sausage. Hand tossed dough. Fresh from the garden basil.
It's supposed to be HOT...but we're across from the beach, so you can eat pizza and swim, okay?

Have a wonderful weekend.
XxOo

The end of the day....

...in my kitchen.

....in my town.
{the wagon was a boat, and it's hard to see the fishing pole in the picture...
...but he fished through town}

....at the church on the corner.

....as the sun goes down.

....when the chickens get {terrorized chased by Frankie} put away for the night.

....when books are read. prayers are said. kisses are given. and weeoh trucks are hugged.

Goodnight.

XxOo

*weeoh truck ~ a firetruck that goes "weeoh, weeoh, as it sounds it's sirens on it's way to a fire.

Sharing things like fancy "Super Healthy Mochas" and my kids don't eat sugar. Both true stories.

Okay...maybe I stretched the super healthy part a little, but for a sugar lover like me, this IS healthy!
I try...I really do. In my head, I don't want to be a sugar addict..but in my mouth...well..yeah.

My kids are awesome eaters! My boys don't eat sugar {by choice} and my girls count their grams.
{maybe not the youngest...she has a lot of her mother in her, but she tries..}
...it's not like they never eat sugar..it's just not an everyday thing.

I stood in the bakery line like a fool and asked the kids what they wanted and everyone said nothing because they don't want sugar and the only one who ended up eating a doughnut...Yep!
The pig mother! The pig mother never has a problem saying Yes to 7,000 calorie filled doughnuts!

Jeff says I am a perfect example of "Do what I say and not what I do" parenting.
He said I'm genius for figuring it out....now if only I could make that happen in other areas....Hmmm.

Maybe it's the sugar documentaries I made them all watch in the name of homeschool health class
when really I was trying to be inspired. and it worked! for about a second in me.
It stuck in their little heads though...Thank you Netflix for instilling healthy values
in my children while I ate brownies.

Anyway...the real reason for this post is to tell you
I figured out an {almost} sugar-less way to drink fancy coffee!
Hence the "Super Healthy Coffee" title.

 I figured if I was going to start my day out with coffee....
..it needs to stop being the sugar filled, fancy creamer coffee I WAS drinking.
Now I start my day with super healthy coffee.

2-4 tablespoons of half and half creamer {buy organic..you will feel even healthier!}
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
1-2 packets of stevia {again...orgaaaaaaaniiiic!}
{I heat these three things together on my stove...stirring constantly}

Pour into mug, fill the rest of the mug with your freshly brewed coffee.
Top with fancy whipped cream.
Sprinkle a little cocoa powder on top for a dramatic, coffee shop effect!
Make hot or iced.

It has around 50-100 calories depending on the 2-4 teaspoons of  creamer
and how much whipped cream you top with.

Your coffee will have under 5 grams of sugar if you drink it this way!
AND...you won't have that sugar high/crash.

There you have it..Healthy Mochas.
They're fabulous! Try one!
XxOo

He....

...thinks he's big stuff.

.....will sit forever if you read him a book.

...would eat "faffles" {waffles} and blueberries all day everyday.

.....thinks chasing the chickens and making them run is big fun.

...somehow ends up coming into our bed around 3am {almost}every night.

.....is the snuggliest, cuddliest little thing in the world.

...is very loved.

The toddler years go by so fast.
You feel like they will go on forever, and then one day,
you turn around and they are all grown up! sniff, sniff.

It's bittersweet really...I loved when all my kids were little...but I love them growing up too.
Each stage is so much fun.

However, I am thankful we get the chance to have a toddler in the house again.
Because toddlers are adorable and it's the best and I love every second of it!

{except when he cries during church so I take him up front with me to lead music and he whips his little body and tries to get down half way through a song....then I just want to throw the precious little toddler out the window!}
Ha!

Happy Monday.
XxOo

To wrap up the week.....

It's been hot and cold. Bathing suits and sweatshirts.

We are about to fire the groundskeeper....goodbye pretty celosia flowers.

Chicago I love you so much. Your brick walls. Your urban flower boxes.

Finally...this is what happens when all of the brothers leave
the little brother home alone with sisters for two days.
A princess crown leading to adulthood therapy.


Have a great weekend.
XxOo

The weekend of.....

....gorgeous weather.

..finding a splash park we didn't even know existed!

......farmer's markets.

....making pizza.

..eating pizza.

...an impromptu beach stop after Saturday's market. The waves were huge!
{please don't laugh at that last line West Coast people..we're used to calm, flat water, okay?}

......getting hardly any sleep.

.....dropping off our son at the airport.

...driving around Chicago in the wee hours of the morning. The sunrise over the lake...gorgeous!

.....finding a new house for us to live in!!!
{It's for sale...asking price is only $2.5 million...Jeff said No. He's so negative.}

.....trying out new donuts. I think we've made it to every place in the city now. Ha!
And...as much as I love you Doughnut Vault...I may have found my new favorite.
{However, the coffee...Doughnut Vault, you still have my heart with your homemade syrup!}

...getting together with our church family.

......getting an "I got here and everything is great" text 20 hours after we dropped off Tyler.

...having my family around me. There is nothing better than that. Nothing!

Hope your week is off to a great start.
XxOo

Remember those old "Friday Photo Dumps" people used to do....

.....I'm doing one.
Pictures from my phone, dumped onto my blog.

What are you up to this weekend?
We'll be in Kenosha making pizzas Saturday. Come and see us if you're around.
It's a great market..right on the lake!

Sunday Tyler leaves until August....he'll be on a missions trip...he's traveling to Mexico.
He'll be hiking through the mountains and changing water filters with team.
He's excited.

I'm happy and sad. excited for him, but scared.
Funny how it's great when other people's kids go..or your siblings, but when it's your own child leaving the country without you.....well, that's a whole different story!

Happy Friday.
XxOo

What's with the pencil aisle?...and a different kind of Fourth of July!

Why is it, when we now go to the grocery store,
all of the back to school aisles are filled with pencils and folders?!
Stop it retailers!!! The summer has just begun and you're trying to make us feel like fall.

We always spend the Fourth of July at my parent's house.
This year we spent the weekend making pizzas at Celebrate America instead.

 Although we missed all the fun at my mom's....we still had a great day out in Kenosha.
The weather was gorgeous....perfect really.

We....
...sponsored a pizza eating contest.
.....met so many nice people.
...were right on the lake and able to see the fun water sports going on.
..ate our weight in ice cream and pizza.

Even though we are around pizza all of the time...we never, ever get tired of it.
I could eat brick oven pizza every.single.day.

Even though it's late...Happy Fourth of July!

Hope your holiday was great and your summer is even better.
XxOo