Pumpkin Blitz

 Boo....Happy Halloween!  I know if I don't get this posted tonight Halloween will be over, so I'll call this the great pumpkin blitz, and soon you'll see why.  We carved pumpkins this week with Callie...I must start with saying again how much she loves pumpkins and points them out everywhere we go (sounds more like "pa-pa").  So we thought she would love carving one just as much, but ironically she was a little afraid of the pumpkin!  This is about as close as she would get...

  We started out our little "family night" by reading The Pumpkin Patch Parable, and great gift from grandma (my mother-in-law always has the best gift ideas).  It's a good way to tie in a secular holiday with a Christmas perspective.  Reading this book just may become part of our family tradition.  If you're interested in getting one for your family, you can find it here.

So on to the carving...how do you cut the top of the pumpkin?  For some reason I thought if you cut a circle it would fall in the middle.  But my "star design" was pretty difficult to match-up.  Bad idea.

(This drives me crazy...she now has realized she can push a chair up to the counter and help herself.)

Here's our munchkin pumpkin in her costume, all ready to go!  Guess which of the five pumpkins is my favorite?  :)

 The cutest trick-or-treater out there if you want my opinion.  :)  You've gotta love Babylegs!

And of course, the loot.  She got to pick one piece before she went to bed, and she wanted a sucker.  Um, that would have been my last choice.  :)

Speaking of sweets, have you made pumpkin bars yet this year (recipe follows)?

Or have you ever made your own pumpkin puree?  I might try PW's homemade pumpkin puree this week.  It looks like fun and I like the idea of freezing it, just in case we face another pumpkin shortage next year.  :)



And here's the best recipe for the best Pumpkin Bars (thanks again mom!):

2c flour

2t baking powder

1t baking soda

1/2t salt

2t cinnamon

2c sugar

4 eggs

2c pumpkin

1c oil

Combine all ingredients.  Pour into sprayed 10 X 15 jelly roll pan.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Cool  Frost with cream cheese frosting (divide recipe in half for a 13 X 9 pan).


Cream Cheese Frosting


1 8oz package cream cheese
1 t vanilla
4-5 cups powdered sugar

What are your favorite pumpkin recipes?

Pumpkin Butter

Just in case you are in the mood for celebrating fall, or for cooking, or just for making your house smelly yummy, I have the yummiest pumpkin recipe for you...and it's safe to say that I will be making this every year!

Just combine the pumpkin and water and bring to a boil; add remaining ingredients and simmer 1-2 hours on stovetop -or- place in slow cooker for 6-12 hours.  The first time I made this, I did it the long way over the stove...next time I think the slow cooker will be much easier!

Tastes like pumpkin pie...except you can eat it for breakfast!  :)  I found the full recipe here but made a few slight changes. Put it in little jars and give to the neighbors!  

Sorry this is such a short post! To see recent pics of my little munchkin, click here!

Nursery Diaries, Part 1

Callie and I are just sitting around on this rainy day eating air-popped popcorn and organizing/cleaning the laundry room {a scary place in our house}.  :)  Yes, air-popped popcorn...something about the microwave version tastes so fake to me, and I found this air-popper for six dollars so I thought I would give it a try.  It's well worth the six-dollar investment, I must say.  

I've gotten a lot of questions lately about how the nursery is coming.  The good news is it's actually coming along... few weeks ago I wasn't so sure that it would! It's taken me awhile to get started, but now I have a plan and here's where we're at:

I bought a second crib...this was a dilemma for me whether or not to have two in the house, but I found this one on Craigslist for about $60, and I figure I'll leave Callie in her crib as long as she'll stay there. 

Here's a little look at my inspiration for the nursery - it's safe to say I'm pretty much obsessed with the color combination in this room! It's from Lotus Bleu Design, in case you are wondering.  I also did our girls' bathroom similar...I'll share some pictures of that another time.  :)  For now, the nursery inspiration:

I painted the room this shade of blue quite awhile ago with these pictures in mind if we had a girl, and the blue would work of course if we were had a boy.   I  bought a bunch of fabric online (left to right: Premier Prints cadence in pink, blue bees by Waverly I think, hot pink satin, Amy Butler modern floating buds and Amy Butler Modern Honeycomb.  Kind of a hodge-podge, but I'm hoping it all comes together.  The pink bamboo fabric is for the roman curtains I am going to try to sew myself {wish me luck}.  My amazing mother-in-law is going to sew the crib bedding in the next few weeks.  It's exciting yet overwhelming to choose all my own fabrics!  Let's just say I spent way too many hours at the computer trying to decide.

And here's this gigantic mirror I found at a thrift store I am painting hot pink, along with the little scalloped end table I also painted pink {also found at a thrift store}, seen in first picture but it's partially cut-off.  

So wish me luck!  I'll try to keep you updated.  Here's a little sneak peak of another little project I've been working on lately....

Easy Weeknight Dinner

I think the picture is pretty self-explanatory, but tonight I somehow combined some random ingredients to  make a pretty decent weeknight dinner.  Combine 2 cans Progresso Creamy Chicken Wild Rice soup with 1/2 c canned pumpkin, 1/2 c half and half (or cream), and some chopped rotisserie chicken.  Add a little fresh-ground pepper to make it taste "homemade."  What do you get?  Pumpkin Wild Rice soup.  Just thought I would pass it on!  Sandra Lee would be proud.  :)

Favorite Things

Suzanne at So Stinking Cute tagged me for a "favorite things" quiz.  I answer eight questions and then tag some other bloggers to do the same.  Here goes...

1.  Favorite Flower I have three, just in case you all ever want to bring me some. ;)  Pink peonies, white hydrangeas, and sunflowers {hint, hint, honey!}.

2.  Favorite Color Combination Black and brown, at least in fashion, believe it or not.  I love the look of brown leather paired with black.  Maybe that's just because it makes my life easier and I don't have to buy two of everything?  I no longer buy black leather and just wear my black clothes with brown!  Think a pair of brown boots and belt w/ a black dress. Or black leggings with brown shoes. It's cute, trust me. Is anyone with me here?  Just don't do dark brown with black; it has to be light-to-medium brown.  Here's an example, thanks to LC.

3.  Favorite Celebrity Couple Jake and Vienna?!?!  Bristol and Levi?  ;)  Oh wait, they're over. What was I thinking (I hope you note the sarcasm)?

4.  Your Theme Song  Kind of random, but I love Wouldn't It Be Nice by the Beach Boys.  Puts me in a good mood every time.

5.  Favorite "I had a terrible day" Food  I absolutely love donuts!  Especially ones with powdered sugar or sprinkles.  My husband makes fun of me because it's kind of a stereotypical junk food.  Mmmm... I also LOVE good macaroni and cheese.

6.  Lipstick or lipgloss  Plumping lipgloss.  It works, just ask Callie the day she got into my purse.  :)



7.  Favorite Magazine  Lately I'm loving Martha Stewart Living.  I love the creative holiday ideas, recipes, and homemaking tips.  Have you read her recent article about her top 50 kitchen tips?



8.  Favorite Thing About Fall I love just the feel of fall. Changing leaves. Pumpkin everything.  Holidays around the corner.  I also love getting out my fall wardrobe (minus when it's all maternity). I recently replaced my "Uggs" with these.  They make me feel indestructible.

Now I will tag...

Steph at Flies Blend...a cute blog with great "what's cool" tips and ideas
Kristy at KiKi's Crowd...a humorous dose of the reality of motherhood
Kiley at Our Minnesota Family...my beautiful sis!
Beth at Sophia Makes Three...have you seen pictures from her daughter's first birthday?

Okay, have fun!

Thoughts

Pumpkin recipe coming soon!  In the mean time, I here's a few random things I've been thinking about.

• Baby Names.  We're still working on this.  We may be coming a little close to choosing a name, but we still haven't decided for sure.  However, I recently discovered a great baby name website called Baby Name Wizard.  There's a name trend graph that's fun to see how popular different names have been over time.  My favorite names are the classical ones that were popular a century ago and are starting to make a comeback. For instance, the name Callie (our first daughter's name) was most popular in the 1880's, and has gained more popularity more recently.  We love that we're related to another Callie with our same last name that lives in Sweden, too.  This is a fun website - check it out if you're in the market for baby names, or if you're curious about the popularity of your kids' names.

• We heard a great sermon on Sunday that I was really challenged by (our current series our church is going through is called One Month To Live).  Don't you love it when a sermon or book comes just at the right time, when it's something you've already been thinking about?  Lately we've been so busy and I'm feeling like I'm just hardly keeping my head above water.  I've been reflecting on where I'm choosing to spend my time, how and where I can be most effective, while trying not miss the important things in life when I am busy doing all the other things.  I easily tend to focus my time on what's "urgent rather than what's important."  Our friend Ben (aka Savannah's dad) is a very gifted and talented preacher, and this Sunday shared some of these thoughts {click here to hear his talk}.  He asked the question are you busy doing the right things?  And reminded us of the verse in 2 Corinthians "so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  I am challenged to do better at focusing on the eternal things.  Like quality time with my family, time praying and journaling, reaching out to neighbors, reading my Bible.  And teaching Callie to do the same.

• Have you seen the movie Eat Pray Love?  You've probably been under a rock if you haven't!  I love Julia Roberts and just about every movie she's been in has been good, which in itself makes me want to see it.  However, this popular book-turned-movie (thanks to Oprah) seems to send a somewhat dangerous message.  A message that what makes you happy is what life's all about, and living selfishly {displayed by leaving an unhappy marriage} are the answers to life's problems. This is just something to be aware of if you see the movie...I'm not saying you shouldn't, but just giving you something to think about if you do.  There is an interesting article about theology and Eat Pray Love here.  {I'm not of the opinion that we should not see movies if they don't coincide with our beliefs, because rarely do Hollywood movies ever do that, but that we can use those exact movies to make us think about and strengthen our beliefs}.  What are your thoughts on this?  

Pumpkins Galore

We're alive and fall has been keeping us on our toes!  We've been enjoying this gorgeous fall weather while it lasts.  I think living in this part of the country makes you extra thankful for a beautiful fall day, because we know snow could be right around the corner.

We've been drawing lots and lots of pumpkins, talking about pumpkins, and eating pumpkin too (recipe follows).  We even got a pumpkin delivered to our house from grandma and grandpa!  :)

We also visited some chickens at the farm.

I could hardly tear her off the swing (her new favorite place) to go see the chickens, but when I finally convinced her, she loved the chickens!

{Did I mention Callie got a new pair of Nike's, and they are her FAVORITE pair of shoes; she never wants to take them off and wants to wear them around the house!  Must be a little more comfortable than her fancy ones.}

We fed the chickens some grass, and they also eat corn cobs and, you guess it, pumpkins!

 Yes, we've been eating our fair share of pumpkins too. Like pumpkin muffins.

Callie's such a big mess help in the kitchen, it's fun to teach her how to "cook."  I think a toddler's apron should be officially added to her Christmas list.  :)  Anyone know where to find cute ones?

We made some pumpkin-carrot-bran muffins, including blended-up carrots.

Recipe taken from my mom's famous cookbook.  The recipe is called "big batch," and let's just say that was no understatement.  We will be eating these for a long time...and we may even be bringing you some too.  :)

 

 Big Batch Pumpkin Carrot Bran Muffins

1 large carrot, shredded

1 16-oz can pumpkin

2 c milk

1 1/2 c oil

3 eggs

4 c flour

2 1/4 c oat bran (I use oats)

1 1/4 c sugar

3/4 c unprocessed wheat bran

3 T baking soda

1 1/2 t salt

Combine first 5 ingredients and stir.  Add remaining ingredients and stir utnil just blended.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until done.  Cool on wire rack.  Makes about 3 dozen muffins.  

I like to add flax seeds and some cinnamon.  

* * *

Coming soon?  The yummiest pumpkin recipe EVER.  It's definitely a keeper so make sure to check back again soon!

Fabric

I finally made the final decision about what to do in terms of which room to put which girl.  The baby's going to get the "new room."  Probably because the less transition for Callie, the better.  And it's just easier.  I also made the decision that she is NOT near ready to move from a crib to a bed, and I highly doubt that will change within three months!  I'm sure we could make it work, but I think I'll just pay a little extra for a second crib for the peace of mind that she's contained.  :)  

I've been looking at fabrics lately because I want to find some fun designs for the new baby's room.  It's painted this color.  I'm still planning to go with the pink and blue theme. 

I am loving the fabric at Premier Prints.  So many fun fabrics to choose from, so little time to sew anything (and I'm a horrible seamstress)!  Here's a few examples of some of the cool fabrics by Premier Prints (obviously not necessarily for the baby's room). The best part is, most of the fabrics are around $7.99 per yard. 

Also if you are interested in other fun fabrics, there's a great store in Minneapolis called Crafty Planet that my friend Jill introduced me to.  And of course you can't go wrong with Amy Butler which I used for the girls' shower curtain.