Photo Walls

So I was all excited that I am going to start blogging again and then my laptop breaks. So I didn't have it for a while and was not motivated to use our desktop since it is a bit of a dinosaur and slow for uploading pictures. Not to mention that the photo drive doesn't work.

 I got this great idea today on hanging photos and making Photo Walls. I got it from this website: http://bakersdozenandapolloxiv.com/2013/05/14/3-photowall-ideas/#comments

I can't wait to start this fun summer project. I am going to start loading photos from my phone and camera and place my Shutterfly order. I will post photos of my Photo Wall as soon as I have one done. It will probably not be until June since we are leaving for NY and PA next week for vacation.

Please share any photo projects you complete on my comments so we can take a look.

On May 25th, Tom's brother is being ordained a Priest in the Catholic Church. We are so excited and my son Luther(20) will be flying in to NY for the Ordination and to visit with us. We haven't seen him since last June so almost a year! He's in the Navy.

Well that's all for now. Will post photos as soon as I get some loaded onto this new laptop.

 

We are looking forward to jumping into our pool very soon!! Have a Happy Summer!!!

Juliana turned 3

Our little Juliana is three now. She is such a sweetheart. She is a talker, sweet, playful, curious, stubborn, smart, knows what she wants and how to tell you, and most of all adorable. She makes us all smile and like many people like to say, "We can't imagine our lives without her."

Today was cleaning day. So floors and baseboards got swept, mopped, and wiped down. I just love my little floor vacuum. It works so well. Sweeping just doesn't cut it. Dog hair just gets kicked around. But the Bissel feather weight bagless broom sweeper sucks it up and it is so light to use, compared to a regular vacuum. Also, the little kids can push it around and lend a hand.

I did some freezer cooking a few days ago. I made 18 burger patties, 2.5 pounds taco meat, 48 meatballs, and a family pack worth of chicken strips. A couple of weeks ago I made three trays of stuffed shells, and two trays of rigatoni, a family pack of chicken breast into grilled chipotle chicken and lemon pepper chicken, and another family pack of chicken breast I turned into baked chicken nuggets. Of course the nuggets were gone in two weeks!

It is  so handy to have some quick meals in the freezer for crazy days like yesterday. We had our homeschool meeting, then errands, then dogs to let out, and Nic to pick up from school. I put a tray of stuffed shells in the oven at 3:30, then went to the post office and the print store to get my household planner bound up. I am actually using a daily household planner this year and it is great. It spells everything out for you. All I have to do is check mark what I get done and write in what my menu plan is for the week. I got it from a website called theconfidentmom.com . Check it out! It has lots of tips and information to help you do a better job as mom.

I am not going to beat myself up if I can't get everything done on the list in my planner, although the list is not long, but some days get crazy, people get sick, and life happens, so whatever doesn't get done one day can be passed on to the next. The Confident Mom is just making helpful suggestions that you don't have to follow to a T. You may want to do something different that day and there are blank spaces on your planner to add those. I like that. It keeps me thinking and a little more focused on what to do each day. Sometimes I do too much one day and burn myself out, and then don't get to too much done on the next day and feel defeated. This should help me to find a better balance and seeing it on paper makes me feel so accomplished. I am getting to like this more organized me! I have a ways to go, as many of you who know me will know.

Well I plan to add pics very soon. I tend to post from my laptop, but most of my pictures are in my desktop.

Have a happy, healthy, and blessed New Year in 2013!!!!

Sourdough bread and Crochet

Yesterday I finished crocheting a dishcloth and started on a second one. I do this as I watch tv. I feel like it makes the wasted time a little more worthwhile if I am making something useful.

My friends gave me a King Arthur sourdough starter and they also served us some delicious sourdough bread that they baked at home and it was better than any store bought I have ever had. It was nice and sour and delicious. So I will be making my own. I started the batter today and need to let it sit overnight in the fridge. But tomorrow I will be able to bake two loaves. It is a process but it is so worth it.

I promise to add pictures of the loaves and the dishcloths in my next post.

Okay, on a side note, Juliana is being as stubborn as Peter was in terms of wanting to potty train. She has no desire to do it. It's been so difficult to teach her. I have to "police" her constantly. Well, we took a break over the holiday and I told her we would start again after Christmas. I offered to show her the potty movie today and she said no. So I am not sure that she will cooperate. She is turning 3 in January and it would be nice to not have to change diapers anymore. Her older brother Peter was also stubborn and didn't give in to being potty trained until he was 3y4m. UGH! My older four children were all trained by the age of 2y2m or 2y6m. So these last two children are certainly cut from a different mold :)

Today we are stocking up on meats and I will be shaping hamburger patties to freeze. I like buying my ground beef in bulk at Sams and making my own, because I can choose how much or how little fat to put in them and we get a better quality burger. I am also starting to bulk cook again. But that will be another post. In the meantime I want to suggest the book "Not Your Mother's Make Ahead and Freeze and Cookbook". It's got wonderful freezer recipes and ideas to make it easier to freeze lots of meals in very little time.

We are enjoying the last few days of 2012. I hope you are too!

I'm Back! For a while at least :)

I'm back!!! I've had a long hiatus. There are many reasons I haven't posted in a while. First I have been so busy with the children. The newest one being Juliana who is getting ready to turn three in January.
The other reason was frustration with blogging here. I have had issues with uploading pictures and it would take so long to do that I just gave up. I am going to give it another try. If you don't see many pictures, it's because of the long upload time and you can see photos on my Facebook page if you'd like.
Today we had Mass said in our home. We have a wonderful priest who is also a dear friend and he often offers up the Mass in our home. When I say often I mean about 6 times a year, at least that's how many times in this past year. What a blessing for all of us!! We need all the graces, lol!

Speaking of graces, both my oldest children were in car accidents this past week and they both were spared any serious injuries. Praise the Lord. But unfortunately, both cars were totalled.

Let's see what more shall I share on my return to blog land? Here are the children last Christmas. This year only five of the six were home for Christmas.

I am feeling ever so blessed this Christmas. I didn't get nearly as much knittin, crocheting, sewing, or crafting done as I would've liked, but I am not down about it. I will still do more of those things, just not at the timing I had hoped I would. I will continue to crochet and knit and craft as I find the time.

So in the new year I plan on one big goal, and that is to get this family moving. Especially myself! We just don't exercise as we should. In the summer we are in the pool almost every day. In the winter none, and so we have to do something.  I have the garage set up with the treadmill, bike, weights, and the exercise ball. I also have a radio and fan. So we now have the Riello Family Gym! I don't exercise on a regular basis and I would like to get back to doing that. Paying for a gym membership has all ready proven to be a waste of money. I don't go out of my way to drive to the gym. I thought that the cost of the membership would be an incentive to go, NOT!
 So the convenience of having it in the garage is helpful. I also have a Kindle fire that I received from my lovely husband last Christmas that I can use to listen to upbeat workout music, or watch a show while I workout. I find I exercise longer when I am distracted. My goal is to workout 6 days a week, but realistically I will probably get 3-4 days in. I am going to make better food choices, but the main thing I want to make a habit of is exercise. It has proven to be the best at helping me to lose weight. My kids usually play in the garage while I exercise and then the older ones like to get in on the workout so it gets them moving too.
 I plan on posting at least once a week, but probably more in the beginning. I will be sharing some of the things we do for school, and at home. Hence the name of the blog "Our Home and School".
This blog is mainly to keep my family and friends in touch and updated somewhat on what's going on in our lives. I also like the idea of having a family diary of our life here at home while these little ones are still at home.

This is my wonderful hubby with Juliana, 2 years ago. Updated pictures will be coming soon.

This is Juliana a few months ago.

Thank you for joining me and I hope you enjoy your time here.

 

Uploading headaches

Well, it's been quite a while. I have to confess, I haven't made time to update my blog. My bad! Part of the reason is that it seems to take forever to load a couple of pictures. I don't have much patience to wait and then to have failed uploads and having to keep starting over. I must be picking bad times to load photos. I don't know. But I just tried to upload a bunch and tried again and still it's not working. So I will try again another time. It is late and I am off to bed. You may find some photos on my facebook, so try that if you want to see recent pics.

Field Trip To Fort Toulouse

Last week we went to Fort Toulouse for Frontier Days. It was so much fun! There were many stands and at each one there were people dressed in costume educating us on Frontier Life. Here are a few pictures of us on the frontier!

This is Sara posing at our first stop. This is a yearly happening and our first year attending.

Luther, chomping down on a big old turkey leg.

Nicolas and me posing in front of a frontier home.

Fun Family Fotos

As many of you know, we are bad about getting family photos at a studio. So when we saw an opportunity to get some photos done at the local Sam's Club, we took advantage. LOL! Here is a sneak preview.


Family photos will be sent in the mail soon.