Rhiannon's Room

Rhiannon's room is partly finished. The curtains are finished and most of the decorations. Still trying to figure out the best way to store her little bit of toys. I also have some material that I am going to make a headboard out of. Most importantly, I need to find a bedspread for her bed. I've gotten two, brought home, hated them and promtly returned them. After putting up the pom-pom's and hanging the pictures, I think I need to paint it white. I have added that to my never ending to-do list.

Here's a sneak peak of her room -

I made this picture by cutting out butterflies from scrapbook paper.

I covered the back of a picture from from leftover material from
her curtains. Then painted the letter R and glued it to the glass.

I stapled wire to the back of this old window pane, and
painted it. Excuse the missing trim around the window. We are
having our windows replaced and had to measure.

This is the material for her headboard.

 Since this post is about Rhiannon's room, I thought I would post a couple pictures of her that were taken recently. She is getting so big. She'll be two in October. A few things about her - she loves her babies and their blankies, she doesn't like to get dirty, she loves new clothes and shoes, she always wants her hair fixed, she is quite the tattle tail already, VERY bossy with her brothers, and LOVES to do whatever I'm doing.

Her first braid.

One of her favorite things to do, look at books.

We are so blessed to have her and will be even more blessed when she can do the dishes. :)

Christine

Arts and Crafts Festival

Last week my little darling and I went to the Arts and Crafts Festival at Amish Acres.

she may not be as big a fan as I am of festivals:)

The front of the property is full of little shops, a restaurant and a live theatre and then the festival is held in the back around a pond.  

the fudge shop, this may be my favorite shop:)

it wouldn't be amish without a wagon shed:)

the inside of this place is amazing!!

We stopped here to take a few pictures. My friend and her little girl were able to come with us. Random place, I know, to take pictures but their porch is adorable!

We had a great time together!!

Lyla and Delayna

isn't she precious!!

Our area is full of festivals so I will share them with you as we go!! 

Do ya'll enjoy going to festivals?

Which ones are your favorite?

Mary Elizabeth

Friday's Treat

Reese's Peanut Butter Cheesecake

"No Bake" 

Doesn't this look amazing?! It is full of yummy layers....cake, gnoche, cheesecake and of course Reese's Peanut Butter cups! 

This was so easy to make. Start with a layer of chocolate cake. Bake it as normal and then cut it into squares and press into pan to form a crust.  The actual recipe called for brownies but I think the cake is better because it is a little bit lighter.

Next, you make gnoche ( chocolate and heavy cream)....I love gnoche! 

I would put it on everything if I could:)

Then you combine them by pouring the gnoche on top of the cake layer.

Now, I didn't take pictures of the next step. I apparently was too focused on the gnoche and chocolate cake, can you blame me though? I mean, really.....gnoche and chocolate cake!!!

So, you mix cream cheese, peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk together until smooth. Then fold in whipped cream ( you must use heavy cream and whip it yourself....so worth it ). 

Then you get to add more layers!!! Chop up some Peanut Butter cups and sprinkle a few of those onto the gnoche. 

Pour about half of the cheesecake mix on top of that. Sprinkle with some more chocolate cake and peanut butter cups and then pour the rest of the cheesecake on top of that......we aren't done yet:) 

Add some more chopped peanut butter cups....

 Now if this were something I would be serving at home I would drizzle some more gnoche on top and as if that weren't enough I would probably drizzle some peanut butter sauce as well. Why not?! It's not like you are trying to be healthy if you are eating this:) You may as well go ALL OUT!!!  Hahaha....

After all that you let your husband pretend he is just going to stuff his face into the whole thing because he can't wait for you to cut it!! ( don't worry, I didn't let him get much closer) 

This side picture shows off all the layers

I told you this was amazing! and yummy!! If you are chocolate/peanut butter lover you must make this. It really is so simple to make...Here is the link for the actual recipe that I used. As you will be able to tell I adjusted it just a bit because, why follow a recipe exactly?

I hope you enjoy, let me know if you try it!

Mary Elizabeth

Vanilla Beans

Ok, I know I'm starting to get obsessed with vanilla beans. What can I say I LOVE vanilla beans. My newest use for the beans is vanilla syrup and vanilla sugar. I use the syrup in my coffee and homemade icecream. The vanilla sugar is great in any recipe that calls for vanilla (replace it for the white sugar). The uses are pretty much endless. I made the sugar by processing sugar with a vanilla bean that split and scraped. So easy!!

Everybody had to help with the sugar.

The syrup was easy too. In a saucepan over low heat, disolve 2 cups of sugar with 2 cups of water. Once the sugar is disolve split and scrape your vanilla bean into the mixture. Bring to a simmer, remove from heat and let cool. Pour into your container and enjoy!

Let me know if you make one these and how you like it.

Christine

Friday's Treat ( and Homemade Blueberry Syrup )

What a busy few weeks we have had around here! I can't believe it is Monday already!!  Luckily I was still able to find time for  Friday's Treat and also the main thing I want to tell you about...Homemade Blueberry Syrup.

This week I made Chocolate Chip Cookies, nothing special really but always a favorite! I have made some similar cookies that you can read about here but this week I opted for just the traditional no frills chocolate chip cookies:) Which are my favorite, by the way, and apparently everyone else's. My husband said they were gone within an hour!! I don't have a special recipe, no secret ingredient. Just the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag. No matter the brand the recipe is still the same:)

Now the main thing I want to tell you about today is my Homemade Blueberry Syrup. As I have mentioned before I LOVE blueberries.....I could eat them everyday, but I don't really like blueberry jam. Or, at least eat blueberry jam....or any jam for that matter. So, I freeze some and this year decided to make syrup! I used the recipe from Simple Bites. It is sooo good:)

You start by bringing to a boil the blueberries with some water

Continue cooking for 15-20 minutes. The blueberries really cook down. Now the next step you could leave out if you want to have "chunky" syrup. I think I will do that next time....

Now you pour the cooked blueberries into a colander and mash until you get all the juice out of them.

Once your pan is empty pour in a little more water, some sugar and some lemon peel. Bring to a boil and then add the blueberry juice and some lemon juice.

As it cooks it will start to get this foam on top. Just continue to let it cook and then let it sit for about 5-10 minutes before pouring it into your jars and it will look like this

Pour it into your jars and then boil the jars full of syrup with the lid on for about 10 minutes to seal the jars.

 Why have I never made this before??? It really is amazing and you will love it on your pancakes, waffles or french toast!!

Enjoy

Mary Elizabeth

Front Patio

I have been working on my to-do list all summer. I have finally have almost completed one of the main projects I had listed - the front of our house. We took the old pavers and flower box. We made the area a little bigger. The plan was to replace with new pavers, but after adding up the cost it was more than we wanted to spend. So,  I  we decided to go with gravel and make a pebble patio. It's finished except for the chair. I'm waiting for some patio chairs to go on sale. I like this chair here but it's not an outside chair. Since, it's been raining a lot here lately, it's a pain bringing it in and out. I know I have some pictures somewhere for a "before" shot, but I can't find it. So, here a few "after" shots.

I am planning on making another layer of stones, filling with dirt,
then filling it with ferns.

I think two black iron chairs and maybe a little table will look better.

I thought I would take a couple of pictures of the backyard while the weather was nice. The boys like playing under the tree.

I planted two small raspberry bushes in my planter. They completely
took it over this year. I need to thin it out. I'm just not sure where to
plant them.

As I was taking the pictures I hear, "Mom, come look at us!" This is what I see as I round the corner. I'm just waiting for the day somebody breaks an arm or leg. As you can see they don't like to be penned in.

 Now, it's on to the next project. Painting!! Not my most favorite thing to do. Probably why it's not finished yet.

Christine