'round here and the best chocolate peanut butter pie recipe in the universe!

'round here we've been sleeping in and cuddling with little people who like to sneak into my bed.

'round here sisters have been getting along(mostly!) and spending time together.

this photo was not staged.  

amen.

'round here we entertain heroes at breakfast.

'round here i've been fluffing and cutting fresh blooms off of my bushes.

'round here i've been nursing a broken/disjointed pinky toe.  

i stubbed it on an old metal school chair one night and thought i was going to die.

#criedfordays

over two weeks later, it's finally healing!

'round here brothers have been playing well(for the most part)

and can you even believe how big they are getting?

i can totally see how they will look when they grow up in this picture.

little men in the making.

'round here we took a trip to our favorite thrift and it didn't disappoint.

$12 later, we had all this and much more.

maddie found the perfect vintage birthday gifts for her friend and eleanor found two 

long skirts(dad approved) that are super cute!

'round here(in an effort to rest my toe) and hang out with the kids more, we watched my favorite movie #ofalltime,
pride and prejudice.

can you say couch potato?

'round here the kids have been painting quite a bit.

a little summer art, if you will.

'round here we brushed up on our schoolwork.  

everyone is thrilled as you can see.  :)

'round here, i have been loving this IKEA mag.

i can find about 10 places i would put that fabric covered hanging lamp and so much more.

 

'round here we have been trying a whole lot of new recipes.

and some people don't appreciate the abundance of eggplant and summer squash in their soup.

#rude

so a few weeks ago, i went and bought a smash book with the intention to use it for a special recipe book.

then i saw carissa had done the same thing!

how cool is that?

my girls hunted down a recipe for silken chocolate peanut butter pie that was dairy free, so it met the qualifications to go in the smash recipe book....IF we made it and loved it.

well, we made it, ate it, loved it.

end of story.

now you have to, too.

SILKEN CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER PIE 

1 cup non dairy dark chocolate chips

1 package tofu(we used 12 oz. firm tofu)

2/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup evaporated cane juice(i'm going to try agave nectar next time)

1/2 tsp. vanilla

graham cracker crust

you can make your own which would be best using earth balance instead of butter

OR

you can buy one at the store like we did for times sake and just make sure you pick one with the least amount of ingredients(no dairy for us)

1.  melt chocolate chips on low heat...let cool

2.  place tofu, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla in food processor or blender until smooth.

3.  add cooled chocolate and blend again

4.  pour into crust and refrigerate until firm.

5.  garnish with raw peanuts

i kid you not, this pie tastes like the dreamiest reeses peanut butter pie EVER.

there will never be enough of it.

ever.

hope you try it!

xo, 

mary

it's all a blur

the weekend, that is.
with all the swirl of NBT(Neighborhood Bible Time) starting, Father's Day, and the general busyness of life, the weekend seems to have come and gone so quickly, leaving only the messes behind that there wasn't time to clean up.

i wanted to do a father's day post yesterday, but of course, i woke up late and got home late, too.

i am so very grateful for the fathers that God has placed in my life.
my husband and i both had the privilege of being raised in Christian homes.
although not perfect by any means, the Godly heritage of those who have come before us has made a huge impact on who we are today.
by the grace of God alone.

i am thankful for my father, who taught me not to ever forget 'who you are, and what you are',
and drilled psalm 19:14 into my brain at family devotion time every morning before school.
of course, i thought it was lame then, but years later i remember and i am changed because of it.
not having the freedoms that all the other kids had growing up protected me from so many potentially disastrous situations.
not that there haven't been any, because there have, but the effects were lessened because i knew right from wrong.
God's Holy Spirit was living within me, thanks to my dad leading me to the Lord at a young age.

my husband's father became a Christian early enough in his life to raise children in a good solid Bible believing church, teach them hard work, honesty, respect and integrity.
it has shaped who my man is today.
were it not for the pleading of nathan's parents to PLEASE go to Bible college for ONE year, and then consider the military, he may never had accepted Christ as his personal Savior and given his life to the Lord.
we may have never met!

it's humbling to think of the impact we have on our children and future generations.
what we do today, doesn't just affect today.

that leads me to the father of my children.
he is a man of prayer.  deep, intense, prayer, full of faith and believing.
he is a man of study.
he studies God's word and teaches it to our children.
he is a man full of grace, compassion and mercy.
just like our Heavenly Father lovingly chastens us, and likes to give us good things,
my husband does the same for our children.
he is a picture of a Godly father.
is he perfect?
definitely not, but he claims God's Word as Truth and clings to it with his whole being.
he and i didn't always follow the straight and narrow, no siree!, but by God's grace and Him ALONE,
we seek to serve the Lord together, and raise our kids to love and know Him, too.

i am a big planner.
i love to give gifts.
i do believe that gift giving is my main love language!  :)

we wanted to make father's day special for nathan, and so we started planning early.
the kids all made cards, and we created some fun stuff throughout the week.
i ordered some special gifts.  things that i thought would mean something to him.
he specifically asked for NO PRESENTS, but come on now!?
that wasn't happening!

i got this crazy idea to make a vintage tie banner.  

we bought 42 ties(for $5.00) and hung them on rope.

the lady at the thrift looked at me like i was nuts when i checked out.  :)

it was super cool that he actually wore one of them yesterday.

 homemade cards from adoring children.

i bought mine, because i ran out of time.

i wanted this flower arrangement to look sort of like it was in a trophy(#1 DAD!), so i dug out an old treasure i had.  

it is simply ferns, hosta leaves and weeds with some red dogwood and curly willow branches.  

i knew nathan would appreciate one thing about it...it was all free!

speaking of free...so was the banner we made out of vintage book pages, foam stamps, a hole punch and twine.

i love making these!

we made halvah, one of nathan's favorite 'healthy' desserts that i make.

my whole family goes gaga for this raw treat!

HALVAH

*********

1 cup almond meal

1/2 cup tahini

3 T honey

1 tsp vanilla

shape into balls and roll in unsweetened coconut

VOILA! 

hello healthy, delicious treat.

i cannot even tell you how much these kiddos love this man.

i custom ordered a leather Bible cover for his Bible that is falling apart.

it even has his name on it! 

it is beautiful and the man that made it does amazing work.   

you can find him, here. 

i highly recommend him.

i'm so thankful for this guy.

and today starts a new week.  

i can feel it in my bones that it's gonna be a blur, too.
want proof?  i left the conditioner in my hair in the shower today because i was in a hurry.
did i go and wash it out?  noooooo.

can you all say a prayer for me?

Neighborhood Bible Time(VBS) is this week and i am teaching the pre-schoolers and kindergarteners.

it is quite the ride, i tell ya!  

16 kids last night, and there will be more tonight.

pray that i can say mephibosheth a million times without getting tongue tied.

#kindness #kindness #kindness is the lesson i am teaching and i need a lot of it myself.

and patience.  

a LOT of patience.

hope you have a great week lovelies.

xo,

mary

:::it's a beautiful day:::

i'm sitting here at our computer desk inside our bedroom closet.
it houses the computer and all of it's weirdo cords, tons of my husbands books,
and most importantly, it is my secret dust stash.
the bi-fold doors hide all of this nicely.  :)


the house is totally quiet, and the birds are chirping outside my bedroom window.
i am feeling full.  like my cup runneth over full.
i'm savoring it, because as we mommas know, it doesn't happen everyday, even though it probably should.
my sweet husband drug my butt out of bed early this morning.
like, he literally had to pry me out of bed.  for real.
he and i  agreed that we need to get out and start running again.
last year, i found the couch to 5K running program online and completed it!  then i quit running.
i love running.  {so, why did i quit?  good question.}
it is like a happy pill for me, and i love it even more when my husband comes with me.
i may or may not have huffed and puffed up several hills, and been majorly out of breath, and had serious itching problems on the way home, but we did it.  and together!  why was i itching?
day one. DONE! yay! 
he promised, through all of my moaning and groaning this morning, that i would feel great and thank him later. he was right.
thanks, sweetie!

he and i  haven't been able to spend very much time together, alone, lately.
between work, kids, church and visitation, i have been pouting a little about not being able to see him.
one thing is for sure, though, if he can't be home, there's no other thing that i would rather have him doing than serving the Lord and encouraging others.
he is so good with people.  he has a servants heart and i admire that about him.  he loves deeply and people can see that, i think.
we just miss him a lot, too.

 

don't you love our professional running shoes?
i took this picture last year, and those tennies he's wearing are literally from 1996.  no joke.
mine are thrifted pumas and they hurt my toes.
we are quite the pair to behold!
he has since been given a pair of reebok zigs.
something we would never buy because they are so spendy, but yay! for free brand new shoes!
i am petitioning for a new pair.  got any suggestions?

while you think on the shoe question, i have a delicioso recipe to share with you!
can you just hear dora singing, "yum, yum, yum, DELICIOSO!"
you're welcome. i love having dora in my head, too.

>>>--->black bean/sweet potato chili<---<<<

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>you will need<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2 medium carrots, sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped (optional)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 15 ounce can black beans
• 1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes or tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

i omitted the cayenne{WHOA! hot!} and added a bag of frozen corn, just for kicks!

i also doubled the recipe for my growing tribe.  :)

 

Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil for a minute or two, then add sweet potatoes, carrots and bell pepper until onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium low, and add remaining ingredients, stirring to combine well.

Simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, for 20-25 minutes, until flavors have mingled and vegetables are cooked.

Makes 5 servings.

and then!!!  just to mess with my head{and gut}, because i'm trying to stay away from breads and such things, my daughter came up with the brilliant idea to make cornbread.  SWOON!   

i love cornbread.

 

i didn't want to hurt her feelings, so i let her make it.
and then i ate it.
THREE pieces. oy.
it was so, so, so good.
find the recipe here.
it's not healthy.  :)

 

as much as i try to fight to keep 'my space' in the kitchen, i know i need to let the girls cook and bake, too.
they are really good at it, and i need to let go of some of that control.
it's hard, though!
they are growing up...sigh.

i hope you make this, because you are going to love it!

oh, and isn't this great?

"It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him."

Lamentations 3:22-24

have a wonderful weekend, sweet friends!


xo,
mary

linking up with Becky again!