The TX Doolittle's: Audrey's Back to School Projects

So, while I completely love summers with my kids there are certain things that I give up. Like, clean living spaces for instance. Anyways, with the kids back in school I was excited about all the extra time I had on my hands. So the first few weeks I had a lot of projects going on.

Here is the first one. The Shaker Hall Bench that we got from Harry & Dianne's when we were in Utah this summer. We have always wanted one of these! However, the color of the wood did not match the house and I was in the mood to be a little more daring with paint. I figured I could always cover it with cream if I didn't like it.

Before:

I love this pic. Grant wanted to help and he was awesome! He was in charge of un-screwing all the screws to take the mirror off the back before painting. Thanks again for the tool kit Grandpa, it came in super handy! It kept him occupied for about 45 minutes and he felt very proud of his work.

During:

The front is with the teal paint only and the side is pictured with the paint and glaze.

After!!!

I love the way that this turned out! And it looks extra cute now that it has more decorations on the top. This was the first thing I had ever glazed so I was a little nervous but I ended up being very pleased with the effect

Next I moved onto the boys room. With almost an entire gallon of teal paint left over I couldn't resist. I just knew it would look so cute with that dresser and those awesome curtains that Dianne made.

Before:

After:

S and G felt so cool that they got a blue room. I think they also felt very special that they got to sleep on mom and dad's bedroom floor at night while it was finished.

Project 3: some new landscaping behind the trampoline. Now, I don't know if any of you have ever experienced this, but I pretty much always, in any house I've lived that has a yard, had a fairly nice backyard with one "scary" spot. You know, that spot where grass just won't grow. It has a lot of weeds and gets neglected in the mowing. I'm always a little scared of what living thing or painful thorn I might step on. Well, this house has one of those places. It's called: Behind the Trampoline. It's ugly. And scary to back there and retrieve toys. So, I ripped out the grass and the kids helped me put in some plants. Woo hoo! Unfortunately I didn't get any before shots. Just picture ugliness. Oh, I also did this project with stuff that I had on hand plus 4 bags of mulch I had to buy. We found some bricks that match our house behind the super attractive green electrical box and used those for the border.

Here it is all dug out.

He he, okay so I didn't really get any after pics either. I contemplated waiting until morning, taking them, loading them on to the computer, but I realized my butt is too comfy in this chair and I just want to get this blogged. So, imagine 2 little purple asters here. They will grow into big mounding flowering bushes. I got them on clearance, and it's fall. So we'll see if they survive the winter.

More during pictures:

Here the kids are planting 2 black eyed susans that one of my primary kids gave to me. I really hope they stick around because I thought it was so sweet of him. Thank you Hyrum, you are one of the most thoughtful 6 year olds that I know!

And here is my Esperanza over in the other corner. I've had this one planted for awhile in the grass. I feel very satisfied that it's finally landscaped now. Also, this picture was mostly to capture the fact that is has finally bloomed! I've had this thing for a year and a half now and it

finally decided to please me with it's gorgeous yellow blossoms!

My kids love to plant. I love that we plant stuff together!

And lastly Cheesecake week. I haven't been baking a lot at all this past year. My health thanks me. But I got into the cheesecake groove a couple of weeks ago. I owed my friend a cheesecake for keeping my kids for the weekend. The it was L's teachers birthday and cheesecakes are what we do for teachers birthdays. With all that cheesecake going on I was a little jealous so we made one for FHE dessert.
I'm not normally one to take pics of my food, however, my baby sister Allison is a culinary major and is always sending me pics of food. And I'm jealous that I'm 2,000 miles away from her and don't get to eat it! Now, these are nothing compared to Allison's but still, I wanted to document mine and Grant's hard work:

Pumpkin Cheesecake:

Definitely the healthiest option. This one was ours.

Chocolate Milky Way Cheesecake:

This one had to stay in the pan for transport. Also delicious!

Caramel Fudge Brownie Cheesecake:

Holy Buckets.

I got this recipe from Allison by the way.

This was the first time I made this thing and let me tell you it was intense. It's got 5 different layers of completely homemade yumminess. This one went to Ms. Lopez so I still haven't tasted it. But here's what it is: Chocolate crust, chocolate ganache, cheesecake (plain), brownie, homemade caramel, topped with more ganache. I cannot even begin to imagine how many calories are in a serving. I don't think I want to.