My baby's Birthday...

My Baby has turned 3......

I just cannot believe how fast the past three years have flown by for us.

There are times I wish I could just hit rewind!

He was a a sweet blessing to our family 3 years ago, He is a peanut now, but don't let him fool you, he started out life as an almost 10 pounder! We round up a few ounces, since he was so close...

~~~

I am so grateful he is healthy and growing into a little boy. This child tells me he loves me 10 times a day, will wrap his arms around me at the drop of a hat and if you ask him, he will tell you he is Momma's baby. I know that will always be true but I also know that his displays of affection will probably not last as long as I hope it will, so I want to remember every bit of him being this way. Because I know someday the urge to rewind will be even stronger....

He asked for a monster truck cake. This was the best I could do on an hours notice! I thought we were going to be putting the little monster trucks ontop of the cake. Nope, he wanted it to BE a monster truck. So, with knife in hand, off I went. Cake a flyin' every which way!

Here is what I came up with.....it looks more like an old pickup, but he was pleased as punch and that is all that really matters. He ate one of the tires and upon putting the first bite into his mouth he exclaimed he now had a flat tire! Ha! Pretty good for a 3 year old, his lips were black for hours!

We had a houseful for family birthday night,

he was all cozy in new birthday jammies,

they were covered in cake before the night was over....boys!

Racing his new cars around the kitchen with his daddy and uncles...
they are all like little boys when all together, playin' with all of those toys, lol.

He climbed into my bed for storytime, since his room is undergoing some big boy changes right now. He soon fell asleep with his new truck from his pop-pop and grammie! I had to snap a few pictures to show them!

When I moved him into his own room that baby woke up for a few seconds, grabbed that truck in his clutches and carried it all the way to his bedroom half asleep!

He woke up the next day for his real birthday and a gift from us.....

He has wanted this for sometime and was so excited when he opened it,

he kept saying thank you and how he loves it.

You have got to love Fisher Price.....he still hasn't stopped playing with it.

And here we are hours later still playing.......

anything that can occupy a 3 year old this long is good!

Happy Birthday my sweet boy,

I love you so much!

Autumn's Grace......Part one.....

Well September has arrived and summer has been quietly wisked away. My children started back to school this week and all is now quiet in the farmhouse. It is a bittersweet quiet. I miss them when they are gone but I can get so much more done in a day. I do still have my little man here at home with me though, and he keeps me quite busy!

I am so happy that I still have him here with me, he is such a blessing!

~~~~~~

I had my husband take out the boxes of fall decor from our barn last week....oh boy does he hate that chore! I go a little overboard with the decorating from now until chirstmas but I absolutely love it. We host a halloween party, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner at my home and I love making it totally festive for the seasons. I have collected my decorations for a long time and use them in different ways each year. I have to say that no matter how big or little you decorate for the season the simple fact that you rejoice in the changing seasons, you are showing your family your love....and that is beautiful.

~~~~~~

I have only completed my living room and entryway so far and I plan to post everything in parts, it makes it more fun than rushing to get it all out at one time! I like to take my time and allow my home to gracefully change seasons exactly the way mother nature allows our world to gracefully change over......

When you enter through my front door, just past the pumpkin filled porch of my home, you are greeted with.....an autumn sign and festive wreath, the pumpkin spice candle burns in the early evenings encompassing you with cozy smells of the season upon your entry.

Down the center hall you come to the living room, the everyday tones of this room have already set the stage for an autumnal atmosphere, the warm yellow walls, red sofa, and sage greens all somehow blend in.

A wreath, instead of being hung on the wall, is laid on the table and an antique bowl popped into the middle creates a base for a candle holder....

Those peely and chippy panels in the back of my bookshelves are the real deal...I picked up a set of them at an antique store years ago to give my bookshelves more personality. I like the textured backdrop they provide for my collectibles.

I hope that you are feeling comfortable here now...have a seat and look around, here is my favorite well worn chair. A make shift end table made from an old peely chippy (love that) crate lifts an old picnic basket up to exactly the right height for me to place a warm cup of tea, a quilt right at hand for snugglin in the colder weather drapes across the chair. This room has a woodstove that when fired up in winter warms this room just right, it is in the process of being painted right now for the coming cold months so I will show that when there is a roaring fire going in it.

On that table beside the favorite chair is a pile of old books.....love the 1931 diary, an interesting read picked up in an antique store. I am amazed at how simple their lives were then and the things they held dear were simple and pure. The color is what attracted me though, they are tied in a pile to keep them safe from my young son's hands and artwork!

A simple pumpkin colored spice candle picked up at a chain store is placed upon my toileware dinnerware, I like the simplicity of this and it will be changed out for a green candle at christmas time. It cost me $2, and the plate would just be sitting inside my china cabinet all the year through anyway......a simple, inexpensive touch for the season.

Although this room is used primarly for reading and quiet time, we do still have a television in here that my husband and I occassionally watch, when our children are occupying the family room with games or friends. I decorated the top of my entertainment cabinet with some seasonal accents too.









The picture is of my husband with our two daughters. Our middle child then the baby inside a back pack, they are standing in the middle of a pumpkin patch. Placing your seasonal memories in frames is a great and inexpensive way to decorate your home, I change them out for the seasons too. They were so little then....sweet memories!

A simple autumnal colored bowl from your kitchen can inexpensively be filled with real acorns, and things from around your yard or nearby park or you can pick up some faux mini pumpkins from the local craft store for $1 a bag as I have done here.

I patched together some autumn colored fabric squares....this can be made with scrap fabric or old clothing. It is just a basic straight stitch, I hope to finish it into a mini quilt it one of these days.

Another seasonl figurine under my cloche has been changed out for the season....my favorite decoration right now, the small children praying over their harvest, reminding us to be ever thankful for all that we receive. I covered those paper mache boxes in some calico to raise up the cloche and display the piece, giving it a little more importance.

I like to decorate in different scales in my home, raising and lowering things to grab your attention and surrounding it with different textures, the soft fabric, the rough cornstalk, shiny glass gives displays interest.

That completes part one of my autumn tour.......here is a peek at part two coming next week, a small hutch in the corner of our front parlor. I will have the front porch, kitchen, dining room and family room posted soon as well.

~I hope you have enjoyed my first tour .....Be back soon!~

Take Care,

Dee

May God Bless America...9/11

~~I pray the families that have suffered so greatly from our nations tragedies have peace and contentment. May all Americans pray for our country and it's people in this struggling world. There has never been a better time to do so.~~~

The reveal.......

Autumn Joy Sedum has finally made its appearance and announced the arrival of autumn at the farmhouse.

The bees are getting ready for winter too....

I have to say~my oh my girls! 106 comments and many of them quadrupled because you kindly posted the give away on your blogs. I am so happy that so many of you liked this sign. I love it too, it is very simple and can really go with any type of decor.

I enjoyed reading everyone's comments, all the descriptions of fall really got me into the mood. The new blogs I have found through this giveaway were also so exciting and I can't wait to have sometime to go back and look at all of the new blogs.

Some of my favorite things about the fall season are:

--I was born in the autumn of October so it is only natural this is my favorite season.

--The warm colors of autumn, pumpkins overflowing on my front porch, corn stalks, the jewel colored mounds of mums.

--We light a fire in our outdoor firepit, and gather round for smores and cocoa. Later in the season the wood stove and fireplace be lit when the evenings are a little chillier and we will all snuggle up with a good movie.

--I love the comfort foods of autum, my great aunt Anna's round pumpkin bread recipe, homemade caramel dip, baked apples, spice cake, chicken and dumplings, mulled cider.

--Putting the quilted throws out on the furniture for snuggling. Adding the down comforters to our beds and snuggly flannel sheets

--Sweaters and jeans, out with the jean jackets and boots.

--All the fall festivals we have in our neck of the woods, The Decoy Show, Fall Antique Sale, the Cranberry Festival, Country Living festival, and the Pinelands Jamboree all so much fun!

--Hay rides, mazes, apple and pumpkin picking with my family.

--Carving our jackolantern, and making our costumes.

--Thanksgiving, we host at our home with my in-laws.

--The scents of the season, baked apples, cinnamon, spices....mmmmmm.

We are getting our harvest decorating underway at the farmhouse now, my husband dragged out the 10 totes (he wasn't happy bout' that) full of autumn decor from the barn on Saturday and my plan is to have it all up by the first of September.....I will be sharing some photos hopefully by next week. School starts on the 8th for my children so I may have some time before then. We are enjoying our last few days at the lake this week. Summer certainly went by too quickly but

I am now happy to welcome fall thanks to everyone's inspiring comments!

With all of that said, I want to announce the winner,

but first, I want to explain to you all how I had to do this. Since I said that I would quadruple anyone's chances if they posted about it the giveaway on their blog (and so many of you did) we jumped from 106 comments to 182 entries.

I am a libra and if you know anything about us libra's it is that we are fair. Everything has to be balanced...EVERYTHING or it drives me crazy. It drives my family nuts but they get me. I kept a list of anyone who added it on their blog and gave them 3 more chances added onto the end of the comments in the order they entered.

I then used a random number generator to select one number between 1-182...these things are really neat considering the alternative (writing down ea. persons name and pulling it out of a bowl). Anyhoooo, the number that was pulled from my list was and what does that mean? It means that comment #24, Erica, from Simply Country Chic is the winner of my HARVEST giveaway!

Congratulations to you, I hope that you enjoy your win. Here are the goodies coming to you.......

I so wish that I could give all of you who took the time to comment on this giveaway each a sign, but I am not independently wealthy, well I'm not any kind of wealthy! I have instead decided to take 15% off the price of this sign for anyone who left a comment for this giveaway until September 22nd. So, if you are still interested in it you can head over there in a day or two to pick one up.

Happy autumn to you all!

Let the fall festivities begin!

Technical Difficulties.....

Yes girls, I am having some technical difficulties as you can see. Nice blog right? All my cute pictures replaced with an ugly lil' bandwith message.....ARRRRGGGHHH!

I opened my blog to do a post this morning and gasped...what! Who took my pictures, what in the world is going on here? Ummmmm.....hellllooooo, lil help please? This is a learning process for me and being as naive as I was I actually thought that by sharing the link for the giveaway it was perfectly acceptable! Well turns out that I am limited on the number of views that I can have on my account (in my own non-technical terms), and my account exceeded that limit....by a lot, well a real lot.

To make a long story short it turns out that there was 8,000 + views on that giveaway....???? Yup thats what they told me. Who'd a thought! There was a grand total of 182 entries in the giveaway due to all the wonderful bloggers who posted about my giveaway on their blog. Thanks gals :o)!

My photo account will reset after the 4th and everything will restore back to normal.......in spite of the alternative methods of fixing my account immediately I have decided to patiently wait it out until then.

Of course this HAD to happen on the day I was ready to announce the giveaway winner, yes, by the way, I do have a winner picked by a random number generator. Hang in there until Friday because I will be announcing the winner on the 4th, I want to show everyone just what is included in that giveaway and I won't be able to do that until my account is back to normal....arrrgh! So please check back then! Sorry for the technical difficulties!

Wise Words

Wise Words of Advice.....

My sweet husband sent this to me and I wanted to share. I highlighted a few that I especially liked. It is long but worth the time to read it......

___________________________________________________

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends & parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it. Then lean on him anyway.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't mess up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special

occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone for everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young. Rejoice!

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

_______________________________________________

Do you have any in particular that you just love?

I hit some garage sales last weekend and picked up some the goodies you see here in my photos....a chicken feeder missing the top repurposed into a flower vase....there's those daisies again!

I will be switching them out for sunflowers for the fall!

I also found this old flour sifter....only cost a $1. Some black eyed susans from my garden popped into a small mason jar that fits perfectly inside, another flower holder.

I guess I just have a thing for flowers...I will share the other goodies I found in another post. You all have a great Thursday, I'm off to make some of the goodies for my merchantile I was supposed to post about on Tuesday!

Take Care,

Dee

Bakin with my Boy.

It was just my lil man and me, yesterday morning since my girls were out with friends. He told me he wanted cupcakes but it was still too early to make them. I knew that if I made cupcakes he would be having them for breakfast since this lil guy takes after me in the sweets dept.!

I found a chocolate chip muffin pouch from good ol' Betty Crocker in the pantry and

to work we went.

If you have a lil one in the house that likes to bake with you these are the perfect mix to use.
You only have to add water, mix it up, and then bake. Not to mention that they are great when you are in a pinch too. The only ingredient required is water, it is good to have on hand.
Most toddler's attention spans are pretty short, so in about 12-15 minutes they are ready to move onto something new!

I made this same muffin mix a few weeks ago and my lil guy wouldn't touch them, said they were no good (what?!) so I was hoping that he would eat these because we were out of his favorite blueberry muffin mix.

He is 2 and they can be sweet and sour at that age, need I say any more?


Our mother & son baking dialogue.......

Lil man: "I want to do it mommy...by myself."




Lil man: "Ummm, this doesn't look very yummy...ewww, what's that black stuff in there?"

Me: "Those are choc. chips. Did you make them yucky? Cause if you make them yummy,
they will be yummy.

You will have to blow some kisses in there
to make it yummy."



Lil man: (Blows some kisses inot the bowl) "I did make them yummy...."
Me: "Oh good, cause I only like to eat yummy muffins."


(I was surprised that he even tried the batter, once this guy says ewww to something, that usually means good luck, I'm not eatin it!)




Now they are yummy to him and I had to tell him to
save some of the batter, we need to fill our muffin cups!



Patiently waiting (well, as patiently as a two year old could be!)

Lil man: "Are they done yet? Mommmmmmmmy are they done yet? Okay, I will lick this spoon and bowl clean for you and you won't have to wash it, isn't that great?"

Me: LOL

Lil man: "Are they done yet (a whole 1 minute later)?
10 minutes is an eternity to my two year old!

Lil man: "What, wait a minute! But they are done...mmmmm, they look so good! I want one now, pleazzzzzzze."

Me: "You will have to wait until they are finished cooling or you can burn yourself"

This is the part were lil man decided he was going to help me cool them down. After they were put on the plate he proceeded to blow (lightly mist) on just about all of them. Another eternity for a 2 year old!

I was so relieved that my girls were not there to witness that.....they would never have eaten again!

Lil man: "Okay they are good now, I was like a fan!" "Mommy can we send Daddy a picture to work of my cupcakes (he still thinks they're cupcakes)?"

Picture for Daddy, Yummmmm....these are really good.

And 4 muffins later.....

I asked him why he didn't eat these the last time I made them and he told me they are better when he mixes them!

That is how you get a two year old to eat, you let him help make it!

~~Love you, my lil puddin' pie! ~~

Farm Fresh Corn

FARM FRESH

CORN

I hope you are enjoying the last of summer's fresh bounty!

The Farmers Market

had the

sweetest fresh corn!

I certainly am making the most of it, since it will all be over after this week.

Oh, the new, old, enamelware pot?

I picked it up at our Country Emporium...cute and useful.

Take Care now!

Hugz,

Dee

Family movie night at the Farmhouse with the Waltons...

The Waltons will be our feature presentation on Family Movie night each week here at the farmhouse over the next couple of months. I picked up seasons one and two the other day at the wholesale club and need I say anymore? The title should be enough. If you don't know anything about this program, you will have to catch a rerun on the hallmark channel..I think they still play them on there. It was a television series that ran during the mid 70's into the early 80's. The episodes are based on the author, Earle Hamner's, personal childhood memories of his boyhood growing up on Walton's Mountain in Virginia during the Great Depression.

I was so excited when I came across these videos, the complete series, seasons 1-8 all on DVD's! I hope to pick up the rest of them over the coming months each time I am shopping. I am not a big television person but I used to watch this show as a young girl with my grandpa each week. He just loved it since he could relate to it so well. He grew up one of eight children during the same time period in upstate NY. Throughout the show each week he would regularly comment

"yup, that's the way it was".

Oh how I miss my grandpa, and this show brings back fond memories of him.

Even as a young girl, I admired that white clapboard farmhouse the family lived in, I loved every detail of the kitchen and how the family all sat around the radio each evening for entertainment. I just knew that someday I wanted a farmhouse just like that one.....with a nice country kitchen, a long front porch, and lots of children to fill it.

It is so funny now watching the program as an adult I think about how many seeds this wholesome show planted in my brain so long ago. In addition to loving the set, the message each show sends is just wonderful. I wish there was a modern day equivalent running now. We watched The Yearling, episode one in the first season. My children loved it too, so we have decided this would be our regular show on Family night, I was so happy! We are going to have voting for our favorite episodes at the end of each season.....Anyone have a favorite they would like to share?

My latest project.....

On another topic, I wanted to share a project I recently finished. We needed a new entertainment center for our great room. Our old one had seen better days and it was time for something new. I have been searching for something that I liked throughout the furniture stores but couldn't seem to find anything that I liked or if I did like something, it didn't fit into my budget, so I ended up picking up an unfinished and simple stand at our local country emporium.



After a light sanding, I painted it a creamy white, glazed,
and distressed it until I liked what I saw. Distressing is great since it will naturally occur in my household with a two year old, I don't mind it at all!




Once I was happy with the finish,
I rubbed in a paste wax to seal it, let it dry then buffed it to a matte shine.

Ta Da! Here is our new television stand hard at work in our family room.

It cost me a fraction of the price of anything else in the furniture stores

and it is exactly what I wanted.

I love a good deal and the satisfaction of doing it myself!

I scream, YOU scream,

WE all scream for Ice Cream!

Getting back to our movie night, we decided to make some

homemade vanilla ice cream

to end the evening with.

.

If you are in the market for an ice cream maker, check out a Cuisinart, I love mine. I picked this up at the end of the summer last year for almost half the normal price.

It is so easy to use and no rock salt is required.

Fresh milk, heavy cream, sugar & vanilla.....

You simply pour the ingredients into the frozen bowl and let it do all the work...no hand cranking involved.

(I do still love the look of those old fashioned ice cream makers though....)

In about a half an hour you will have The best homemade vanilla ice cream

with caramel topping.....Yum!!

Don't forget to sign up for my Harvest sign giveaway if you haven't already,

it is the last week to do so!

Take care now,

Dee