She's the reason...

She's the reason I'm not rushing this miserably hot summer. I'm not a summer person. At all. And as I hear person after person wonder when it's going to get cooler, or say they're ready for fall, I can't help but wish for time to slow down. It's not the first time I've wished that, and I'm positive it won't be the last. At the end of this summer, she goes to kindergarten. So, bring on those 100 degree weather. I'm not ready for summer to end.

Vanilla mousse cheesecake

All I have to say is...YUM! I can't believe I've never made a cheesecake before. Well, I've made one, but not one you bake. Anyway, now I can say I've made a cheesecake, and I'm guessing it won't be my last.
Keith marked this recipe in my Real Simple magazine, and I thought Father's Day would be the perfect opportunity to try it out. It really was delicious, if I do say so myself!! :) (and I don't usually like cheesecake. i think it was the top layer that made it for me. and the fresh berries.)

Here's the recipe...

Vanilla Mousse Cheesecake

40 Nilla wafers, crushed (about 1.5 cups)
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
4 pkg. (8oz. each) cream cheese, softened, divided
1 cup sugar, divided
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. vanilla, divided
3 eggs
1 tub (8oz.) cool whip, thawed

Heat oven to 350. Mix water crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.

Beat 3 pkg. cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1 Tbsp. vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.

Bake 50-55 min. or until center is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool completely in pan.

Beat remaining cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in cool whip; spread over cheesecake. Refrigerate 4 hours. Remove rim of pan before serving cheesecake. Garnish with fresh berries if desired.

Dolphins!

We spotted dolphins twice while we were in Florida over Memorial Day weekend. I was excited to get a picture both times. You can only see their backs, but at least I got some sort of picture. We saw them jumping high out of the water at the beach, but unfortunately I didn't get that. It doesn't matter though, because I was just thrilled at seeing them.
I still have lots to catch up on, but not much time to sit and blog these days. I'm trying though!

Finally, something new

Keith is tired of looking at the goofy picture of Avery's agenda, and honestly, so am I. So, here's something else to look at until I find the time to really blog. It's been a crazy busy week and a half, and my house looks like a tornado hit it, so I'm trying to focus on getting it somewhat clean. We'll see how that goes, because I'm also trying to find fun things for the kids to do.
Anyway, this is the latest Stokes family picture. We went to Keith's parents' house for a long Memorial Day weekend. We had a blast, and I have many more pictures to share, but I just don't have the time at the moment to upload them. So, for now you get to look at this motley crew!
I feel like summer is officially starting today, just because last week was so crazy. We had three baseball games, three days in a row. Brady's team played for the championship. They lost, but they played a great game, and had a fun year! I'm SO excited about cooking regularly again!! It's just so hard to do with baseball games two or three nights a week.
Other than that, we had two different things we were supposed to go to on Friday, that we had to miss because of baseball, and a party on Sat. that we did get to attend. Then on Sunday Chloe had her birthday party, and of course last week I was busy making her cake. Anyway, that's the happenings around here lately. I'll add pictures later in the week hopefully.
I hope you're all having a great summer!!