Make Your Own Ice Cream Sandwich Bar

Summer temperatures are pushing thermometers to the limit and we're looking for ways to stay cool. A fun idea is creating a "make your own ice cream sundae bar"? All you need is ice cream, cookies and toppings......does it get any better? It can be as simple or extravagant as you wish.  

We enjoyed chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and ginger snap cookies with toppings of mini chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, toffee bits and crushed peppermint.  I used chocolate chip cookies, chocolate ice cream with black cherries, and rolled it in the peppermint.

I love to display foods on my pretty trays

I found I had more ice cream scoops than I thought I had so I had one for each ice cream selection.

~I hope you have a great weekend and thanks for stopping~

Holiday Traditions

~Traditions~

December has arrived and suddenly we are busy writing holiday cards, decorating our trees, putting lights on our houses, and baking goodies. It is important to remember those who have played an important role in our lives, past and present. Holiday traditions provide comfort and meaning to families and individuals.    

Here are a few of our favorite traditions I'd like to share with you . 

Passing down the family recipes...this is the Christmas cake my mom in law always made when hosting, and now I make and serve every Christmas morning.  *Can be made gluten free if you substitute gluten free cake mix.

Attending the town tree lighting and singing Christmas songs.

The traditional family Christmas morning cinnamon coffee cake.  I bought this baking pan from wilton so my cake is shaped like trees.  Sprinkle powdered sugar on top for a snowy look.

St. Nicholas Day (Stocking Day)

grandgeneva in Lake Geneva sets up Christmas in the Country attracting visitors far and near for years.

The annual visit to take pictures in front of the house in the movie Home Alone with brunch after.
It's one of my favorite times of the year with my daughter Kaitlyn Kait-Lately

We like to visit the local zoo's Festival of Lights with our entire family.  From the time I was younger and our children were young to the present time, we have always loved taking drives in the evening to admire decorated homes for the holidays.

What are your family traditions? 

Special Moments

I am blessed to have 4 beautiful grandchildren in my life.  We have all had to readjust our lives in the past few months. One thing I've noticed is the appreciation of time families are spending together. Small gestures that make a big difference.  One of these moments happened recently while with our oldest grandson and granddaughter.  After sharing a delicious home cooked dinner prepared by our son and daughter in law, our grandchildren asked me to sit on the hill behind their house and cloud gaze.  We sat together to figure out what shapes the clouds were forming.  It's a moment I will always remember that is planted deep in my heart,. Take a breath and enjoy the small moments in life.  They make a difference in our well being.  

Gaze up at the sky tonight. What do you see?

Our Gathering Place

When we bought our home up north 23 years ago, I realize looking back we were living in the moment. Our son was to begin college and our daughter was ten.  We were dealing with our firstborn leaving home for the first time and our youngest living her busy preteen years.  The key word when we purchased our home was simplicity. We said no cable, no computers or phones. We will just enjoy time together as a family.  It did begin that way but throughout the years, speedy internet made it into our home, along with various fun toys like our boat and golf cart.  We added an addition a few years ago as we required more living space as our needs grew.  This home has seen get togethers of 35-40. We have had up to 16 sleeping overnight for weekends.  

Simplicity was out the window and I was on my way to learning how to achieve relaxation while planning meals, activities, get togethers, sleeping arrangements, and laundry for our growing family and friends.  

That's how Lakehouselyn began 8 years ago.  I wanted to share tips and ideas I had learned over the years.  I have so much more to learn and we look forward to sharing our home and create memories for many more years to come.  

Our home is now making memories for 4th generation of family and that warms my heart knowing we have been able to share our little house of love with so many dear to us. Our home is showing  signs of age but it's our safe haven and we love it. Our community continues to grow from the small town it was when we purchased our home. But I still love the way neighbors wave and just stop by to chat. I love knowing when you go into a restaurant, most likely you will have made a new friend when you leave. 

I always look forward to writing my next post and welcome ideas and thoughts from you.

Thanks for reading💜

Gift of Christmas

What do you remember about the holidays when you were younger? Was it expensive gifts and extravagant meals?  Or was it spending time with the ones you love?  More and more each year, I realize it's the experiences leading up to the holiday that I will remember. I remember driving with my family in the evening looking at houses decorated with a cup of hot chocolate in hand. Each year we attended Christmas morning mass, then rush home to open our gifts before going to my Grandma and Grandpa's for our Christmas meal and to share my Grandma's birthday who was born on Christmas. My Dad taking each of his children (5 of us) on our own to buy Mom her Christmas gift from us.  One year I still remember he let me pick out bath oil beads for Mom at Walgreen's and at the time, our store had a small restaurant in it with red leather booths.  My Dad and I each had a hot chocolate topped with whipped cream. 

 My favorite ornament on our Christmas tree growing up was the church pictured above, though it used to have a small dome over it.  Each year after my husband and I were married, my Mom would show me where my favorite church was on she and Dad's tree.  My Mom passed away nearly 10 years ago, and my Dad still has all of his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren to celebrate Christmas.  My husband and I now have my favorite little church on our tree where I pack it away safely each year until the next Christmas.  It warms my heart seeing it and fills me with memories of Christmas's past.  

We have a beautiful artificial tree now, but growing up until nearly 10 years ago, we enjoyed the ritual of finding the most perfect Christmas tree.  I consider my memories a true gift and remember them more vividly than anything else.  Spending time with your family and friends and visiting those who have lost a loved one or spending the holidays alone will be the true gifts of Christmas.  

Birthday Pancakes

Celebrating Birthdays and Special Moments

 Our daughter has always loved pancakes, chocolate chip being her favorite.  As she got older, she surprised me one year with "funfetti" pancakes topped with whipped cream. They were both delicious and festive.  Our daughter in law makes these for our grandchildren on their birthdays, always topped with whipped cream and a cherry.  Simply mix in 1/4 cup Pillsbury funfetti cake mix into your regular blended pancake batter, stir together and place on your hot griddle sprayed with cooking spray, flip when rising and slightly brown, and serve. 

It's the simple ways we celebrate our special moments that have the most impact in our lives.  Happy birthday to our daughter Kait-lately.blogspot.com and wishing you happy years filled with laughter, love, smiles and joy you bring to us. You are loved all the love in the world!

All You Need to Make a Memory is Comfort

These are pictures of my grandparents house.  To others viewing these pictures, it's simply a house.  To me, it's comfort and a smile.  My memories aren't heart warming because my grandparents were wealthy and had extravagant furnishings.  It was the small things that gave comfort.  Walking up the walkway with the tiny stones that gave way under your shoes.  The smell of homemade chocolate chip cookies when we walked in the door.  Knowing there was a small basket of our toys in the dining room closet waiting for us.  The way the stairs creaked when we went upstairs.  The hot dogs and shoestring potatoes Grandma made us for lunch when my sister and I took our children when they were growing up and we went to visit Grandma in the summer when school was out.  The hot chocolate topped with mini marshmallows Grandma made for all of us when we would sled on her hill each winter and we came in to warm up.  Grandma taking all of the grandchildren to the woods near their home around the corner, "Skunk Valley" to show us the lilies of the valley when they were in bloom. All of the family picnics in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard.  And Grandma waving good bye to each of us as we would pull our cars out of the driveway after our visits from the bedroom window.  A tradition my Mom did each time all of us would leave the driveway, I have done with our family, and now our children wave to us when we leave.  

In today's world of social media and the pressures that come with it to show the world we are happy and have lovely homes, cars, vacations, etc., I can assure you simplicity and love is all that's needed and will give more memories than anything else money can buy.  Relax and enjoy the moments.

~Happy Summer~

Memory Filled Road Trip

We have just returned from a trip 400 miles north of our home to attend services for my Dad's brother who was my uncle and Godfather. We drove my Dad and his Sister up with us where we were greeted by nearly 50 of my cousins and their families who had traveled in from across the country to say their good byes. While the reason for the trip was a sad occasion, it was actually quite an uplifting trip and journey.  The gathering of family for the occasion gave us all the opportunity to share story upon story of our childhoods together where we realized the appreciation we have for our parents bringing us into the world and making us all a family.  Instead of grieving for my uncle, we celebrated his life as we viewed a tribute video his family had made including his trips to Australia to visit family, pictures of him riding a camel and embracing a koala bear.  He enjoyed golf both in Wisconsin and Arizona where he spent a couple of months each winter to visit another of he and my aunt's 5 children.  He loved going out on his pontoon boat with his family and fishing with my Dad. He and my Dad enjoyed friendly competition when they golfed, taking it to another level and making a small trophy with a golf ball on top the winner kept until the next golf game together.  As we walked around his home on the lake where he and my Dad shared many great times together after my Mom and my Aunt passed away, many stories were shared of the brothers dealing with their grief and loss at the house on the lake.  Each night after a day on the lake fishing, they would enjoy a Manhattan cocktail before dinner sometimes consisting of the daily catch of the day or an occasional supper together at the local supper clubs.  To have had the opportunity to share these memories with my Dad and Aunt over the past few days and cousins is something I will always cherish. I'm not sure Dad or my husband and I will travel up there again so I spent a lot of time taking pictures to capture in albums for Dad, my Aunt and myself.  My Dad is in his mid 80's and is in good health, living in the house he and my Mom raised their family of 5 children. I watch others close to me going through the heartache of losing parents and feel gratitude for the time I spend with my loved ones every day.

~Cherish your moments and thanks for reading my story~

Reflecting and Giving Thanks

Every now and then, a memory of my childhood years pops in my head.  I come from a family of 7 and each year for Easter, our Dad made sure his daughters and our Mom had a beautiful corsage to wear to church.  When we grew up and got married, he hand delivered our corsages to our homes, not only for us but his grand daughter's and daughters in laws too.  It was a true act of love.  I'm blessed to still have Dad and I picked up the phone yesterday to tell him how much that meant to me and he seemed so pleased to hear that.

Our Mom stayed home and raised us while Dad worked 6 days a week as a floor installer for he and Mom's business, having to do his own work estimates at night .  Mom knew how to sew and beautifully to save money.   I'll always remember how excited she was making matching Mom/Daughter dresses for herself and my sister Jill and I. Sewing is a craft I didn't inherit from Mom or ,my Grandma.  When I was pregnant with our firstborn, Ryan, I proudly bought a pattern and material to make myself a maternity top. Let's just say I give myself a pat on the back for trying.  The opening for my head wasn't big enough to fit an orange through.  However, I was able to sew a large bear for Ryan that we still have to this day.  I inherited Mom's love for cooking and baking and being a creator in the kitchen.  Hearts are full when we look at our dinner table to see family sharing stories and breaking bread together.  Its not important what you are serving, but that it's being shared with those you love.

Celebrate each day and surround yourself with positivity and joy when you can.  May you all have a Blessed Easter holiday.

Thoughts with a Side of Positivity

~Welcome the New Year~

2019 is knocking and many of us find ourselves reflecting over what was and what's to come. That's what we do after Christmas is over and we begin to look ahead.  Each year around November, my list making begins.  Lists of gift ideas for our family and friends, lists of meals to be made, lists of scheduling when to put up the tree and trim, decorate the inside and outside of the house, when is the family together for our holiday card picture.  Each year I vow to simplify.  This year I may have succeeded.  As I write this, it's the day after Christmas.  I'm going over the past 48 hours in my head and instead of feeling overwhelmed, I am counting blessings.  Blessings for the family I have. We have a genuine love for one another and support each other every day.  My father is a blessing.  As our immediate family of 38 gathered in the home I grew up in, my heart swelled watching my Dad sit back and take in Christmas Eve as Santa arrived for our youngest family members.  He later told me he's a lucky man.  We're the lucky ones Dad.  Because we are witness to you still enjoying the family you and Mom started many years ago celebrating the holiday together. 

Christmas morning family brunch has been in our home for the last 28 years since my father in law passed away.  This year our son and daughter in law Balancing Lisa graciously offered to host.  Their home was welcoming and beautiful. We were greeted by our grandchildren running to greet us in their Christmas pajamas, the house smelling of delicious foods, and the sounds of our favorite classic Christmas music playing.  I might never forget the comfortable feeling as we sat together and enjoyed being together in the glow of the tree, sharing prayer and being thankful for being graced with these moments.  

 I realize so many people have had unfortunate circumstance and the holiday season is met with grief or despair.  We have had years of loss and grief as well.  Losing our Moms,  my sister in law losing her husband and raising a young child on her own, our young niece or friends to illness made it seem the holidays would never be the same.  Truthfully, they aren't the same.  But over time, we gathered strength to go forward and realized we can take the precious memories from Christmas past and inject them into Christmas present and future.  I no longer take for granted the things I did when I was younger and I feel grateful for what I do have.

 Todays world brings social media that brings a connection among all of us.  It also brings a new pressure to try to have the beautiful life that many on social media try to project to others. No matter who you are, it's important to remember life is never perfect 24/7 but it's about realizing the positive moments.  I do realize my positive moments and feel grateful.  And I'm grateful for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you and appreciate you taking the time to read my blog💗 

Outdoor Twister

Do you remember playing the game Twister when you were younger? Or are you still playing this laugh packed game?  

Now you can play it outside and here's how.

Spray paint rows of circles on the lawn.  No worries about the Twister mat slipping when you use this method.  Either make a spinner or use the spinner from the original Twister game........

Right arm yellow, left leg blue!  So much fun for all ages😄

Our baby grandson is turning one this weekend and he is such a blessing to our family.  His laughter, giggles and never ending smiles are heart melting.  We love you sweet Peanut and wish you a special and happy first birthday with all of our love forever and a day💗

Happy Weekend!

Weekend Sledding Party

~Let's Go Sledding~

We wait all year long for the snow to fall! This morning I read ALL 50 states have snow on the ground today.  So bring on the gloves, hats, parkas, scarves, boots AND sleds!  Our home is in the woods with a hill in the back yard that's perfect for all age sledders, and just steps away from the house so we can step inside to warm up by the fireplace.  I know winter isn't for everyone, but it truly is a favorite season of mine. I love the way the snow looks on the ground in the sun, glittering like diamonds.  I love the way the world seems to be still and quiet before a snow fall.  One of my favorite memories is my husband and I taking a night walk just after a big snow fall under a bright moon.  The fresh fallen snow had no tracks other than ours and the snow crunched and crackled under our feet as we walked.  It was peaceful and serene.    

Embrace the day and make it a positive weekend. 

Riley's ready for snow play!

Here we go!!!!!!!

After reaching the bottom of the hill, we're back on our feet on our way to the top again! 

After we warmed up by the fireplace, our family headed to our favorite lakeside restaurant, gordysboats "make your own hot chocolate bar" where they have more toppings than you can imagine!  The perfect finish to our snow day. This is a fun idea you can do at home too.

Happy Weekend!  How are you spending yours?

Appreciating Where We Are Now

~Appreciate the Day~

~I love the rush of the waves of lakelife~

~Blankets of snow bring tranquility~

~Fall Seasons offers gorgeous color changes~

~Spring brings brilliant colors that bring smiles~

My family and I began a conversation today that has had me thinking all day.  We live in the Midwest and it's by choice.  All my life I have loved the change of seasons.  Each season brings with it it's own beauty.  Slowly over the years, the predictability of the seasons has been changing and we can no longer be assured the Winter will have snow, the Spring giving us gentle rainfall, the Summer heat will be long lasting or not, and will the Fall season fall short with early snows? Because of the Winters and gray skies lasting at times 6-7 months, we anxiously await the Summer sunshine so we can bring our shorts, sundresses, sandals out of storage and happily pack away our heavy coats and boots.  We Midwesterners are so anxious to live out the perfect days after what appears everyone on Social Media is doing, that we forget to enjoy the moments.  Let's stop worrying we are missing out and enjoying our special moments...😊

Back Yard Brunch this weekend

Celebrate Summer in the biggest way this weekend by inviting family and friends to brunch in your back yard.  

Here are some easy ideas!

Easy french toast with a side of fruit.

A fresh fruit individual serving for a healthy choice.

Easy Make Ahead Egg Casserole. Cube bread and place on bottom of 13x9 pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Mix 10 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar, chopped cooked bacon, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper in a bowl, pour into pan on top of bread, cover, refrigerate overnight and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the eggs are cooked. Serve!

Make Your Own Bloody Mary is always a fun idea!

Pre cut and slice limes, celery, cherry tomatoes, pickles and place in pretty bowls.  Don't forget the stuffed olives.  My favorite is Blue Cheese!

I love my Bloody Mary in a mason jar with a lot of ice.

Serve up Hot Biscuit in a pretty basket with a linen napkin for nice presentation.  Offer a nice seletion of jellies, jams, butters, cheeses, deli ham and/or turkey.  Yum! My niece served this to us recently at a get together and it was a huge hit with everyone.