Cherry Pie

I'm 32 and suddenly southern. 

And yes I've lived in Georgia my whole life, but my family is from New Jersey, so we didn't grow up eating pies unless they were ice cream pies in a pre-made Oreo crust. 

I also didn't try fried chicken or learn what a "meat and three" restaurant was until college.

So when I say that this is the first pie I've made, maybe you'll forgive me.

This recipe was inspired by a book that Matt and I read to Ryan and Natalie before bed recently called Farmer's Market Day. In the story, the family buys cherries to make a pie, and Ryan thought it would be a great idea for us to try it ourselves. 

So our almost 3-year-old receives the thanks for *I think* making me officially southern and inspiring this yummy dessert.

Ingredients:

2 Jars Trader Joe's Dark Morello Cherries in Light Syrup (look like this)

2 Pie Crusts (I used Trader Joe's frozen- looks like this)

1/2 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

3T cornstarch

1T butter cut into small cubes

2T Egg Whites

Directions:

If using frozen pie crusts, be sure to allow enough time for crusts to thaw completely.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Sprinkle flour on pie crust and carefully line into 9 or 10 in pie dish, flour side down. Press together any breaks in the crust and ease into the corners of the dish, pressing firmly against sides and bottom. Refrigerate while preparing the filling.

Drain the cherries and reserve the juice from only one jar. (I set the colander on top of the sauce pan I planned to use.)

In a separate bowl, combine cornstarch, sugar and salt.

Add the cornstarch mixture to the saucepan with the cherry juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently with a whisk until thickened, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat. Gently stir in cherries and vanilla extract.

Pour filling into pastry lined pie pan. Sprinkle in butter cubes.

Roll out the top crust and use a sharp knife to cut into strips for a lattice crust. Weave lattice crust overtop of filling. (Video tutorial here).

Trim the edges of the top and bottom crust to 1/2 – 1 inch beyond the pie pan and then fold under. Either press around the perimeter with a fork or crimp the dough with your fingers.

Brush the crust with egg white and sprinkle sugar on top.

Cover edges with aluminum foil or pie crust shield. Bake 25 minutes. Remove foil or shield and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until center is bubbly and crimped edges are brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 3 hours or so before eating to allow the filling to gel properly. 

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Gray & Yellow Nursery- Baby Girl's Nursery Reveal

We are two weeks out from meeting Baby #3 and are so, so ready to see her sweet face!

Her room came together so much easier than Natalie's did, mainly because my sweet friend Andrea handed down her daughter's bedding that perfectly matched the walls that had previously been painted for Ryan's room when we first moved in. 

When we decided to move him to his big boy room and make his old room the nursery, I thought for sure we'd have to repaint the walls and the furniture that my mom and I had refinished 3 years ago for Ryan's nursery (you can see that fun post here). But then Andrea saved the day and all the time and money and made decorating this sweet girl's room a breeze!

I am so happy with how it all turned out. Now, the only thing missing is HER!

As always, if you have any questions about anything in the room, feel free to leave a comment below or email me at {notesftn@gmail.com}.

Rug- IKEA

Crib- Wayfair

Bedding- Pottery Barn Kids

There will also be a monogram over her crib when she arrives. We're keeping those initials a secret for now! ;)

Monogram from MiaPreciousMemories (Etsy shop found here, specific monogram here)

Shelves- Amazon

Frame- Home Goods 

The frame is a collage of:

1- The day I found out I was pregnant

2- Announcing our family of 5

3- Ryan and Natalie announcing they'd be having a baby sister

4- Blank for her newborn photo :)

I Am His Sign- Smallwood Homes

Elephant prints- Home Goods

Glider- Amazon

Floor Lamp- Home Goods

Book Basket- Home Goods

Bench- Target

Baskets- Target

Set of 3 Mirrors- Target (similar product here)

Pillows- Home Goods

I go in this morning for my 38 week appointment and will see if Baby Girl has made any progress in making her appearance. :) We're ready when she is!

Ryan's Big Boy Room Reveal

When we first moved into this house back in September, we kept one room in the upstairs completely open, knowing that eventually we'd have another baby and use it for one of the kiddos. Little did we know at the time that we'd get pregnant right away and be filling it within the first year!

And maybe it's that prior to buying this house, we've only ever known living in a 980sf apartment and then a 1640sf ranch in the city, but we knew moving into this house that however many kids we ended up having, we wanted them all sleeping upstairs with us and would plan to use the other bedrooms as a guest room and play room.

So when we found out we were pregnant, we asked Ryan if he would like to move into the big empty room upstairs or turn his current room into a big-boy room. He was so cute walking around the empty room and only thought for a few seconds before saying he'd like to move into the big room and give his baby sister his old room.

(before picture of Ryan's big-boy room)

The previous owners used this space for entertaining and as a playroom, which we never really understood. There was/still is a french door as the main door to the room, and there was a rack left on the wall for a large TV, and the now-closet space was a wet bar with granite countertops, cabinets, an ice maker, a mini-fridge and a microwave.

We don't ever plan to move from this house, but we couldn't really imagine a time in any stage of life where we would actually hang out with people in the upstairs room, nor did we want any of our kids' rooms outfitted with a wet bar ;) ...so we asked our new favorite contractor and handyman to help us turn the room and mini-kitchen into a bedroom with a closet.

It was fun having the contractors here working on Ryan's new room and showing him his future closet and getting him excited about the move.

I wish I thought to get a picture of Ryan with them, they are seriously the best and were so sweet to let Ryan watch them work! If you're local to Atlanta and want their info, I'd be more than happy to share it- just shoot me an email! {notesftn@gmail.com}



After the closet was finished and Ryan's furniture was delivered, we made some trips to Home Goods and Hobby Lobby to pic out a few new things for his walls, and I tried to talk up the move to his new room and big boy bed as often as possible to get him excited.

Side note, it was pretty funny when we took one of our trips to Home Goods looking for things for the walls for his room... he kept finding new toys and saying, "I think this would be great for the carpet in my room!" and "I think this could be fun in my new room!" Sweet buddy. That's when I remembered he's 2, and buying things for the walls of his future bedroom doesn't really resonate or hold his interest, ha.

I'll try to link as much as I can, and if you have any questions about where anything else came from, feel free to ask. You can either leave a comment below or email me {notesftn@gmail.com}.

"R" Sign- Hobby Lobby

Shelves next to "R"- Target

Rug- IKEA (no longer in store but available on Amazon)

Book case (used as a bench) and baskets- IKEA

Pillows- IKEA (gray covers also from IKEA, car cover fabric from Hobby Lobby)

Duvet and Insert- IKEA

Basketball, football & baseball wall art- Hobby Lobby

Teepee- Target

Bean bag chair- Target

Climb Trees Sign- Home Goods

Baseball lamp- Hobby Lobby

Toddler bed rails- Amazon

Ryan's furniture came from Sander's Furniture in Winder, GA. I highly recommend using Tommy Sanders to help you find whatever furniture you need for your home! He has helped us make our house feel like a home over the last several months. He is great!

Ryan loves his new room and has been taking some of his books into his new baby sister's room for her to read when she arrives. :) He seems to totally get that this is his new space and that his old room will be used by her soon. I'm glad we made the shift early on in this pregnancy so his old room didn't still feel like "his," and I'm so thankful that he has seemed to love his big boy bed and room as much as he has. 

Also, one of my favorite parts about still having the french door on his room is being able to peek in and see him sleeping at night. Some nights he likes to read with his lamp on and then turns it off when he's ready to go to sleep, so stepping out of his room and seeing him flip through books with the light from his baseball lamp melts my heart. Sweet buddy is growing up so fast but still seems so little too. :)

Next week I'll share the pictures from Ryan's old room which is now set up as Baby Girl's nursery!

We can't wait to have all 3 of these rooms filled in just a few short weeks!