Pumpkin-y Deliciousness!

I don't know about y'all, but I am just so stinkin' excited about fall this year! Probably because I'm back home home in the midwest and the leaves are turning gorgeous colors, the weather's cooling off, and we're headed to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend and then to a small town to celebrate Halloween the weekend after that! Have I mentioned I LOVE Fall? Well I do. Last Sunday, Bri was cuddling with my sweet baby on the couch and I had a hankerin' for baking something pumpkin-y and delicous! While perusing the web, I came accross a recipe for Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping and Maple Glaze over at Tasty Kitchen. My mouth was watering. I decided to simplify the recipe by using my Great-Grandma's pumpkin bread recipe, found HERE, modifying it by adding Pumpkin Pie Spice instead of cinnamon, and then adding a Pecan Streusel Recipe by modifying a few I found online. Thus, this doosy of a recipe was born...

Here's what you'll need...

Pumpkin Spice Bread with Pecan Streusel Topping                                                                                                                           Your's Truly

Batter:

4 eggs

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 Tsp baking soda
3/4 cup canola oil
2 Tsp cinnamon (This time I used Pumpkin Pie Spice)
15oz pumpkin
Streusel:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup roughly chopped pecans
1/3 Tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp cold butter
Pinch of salt

Grab a small bowl and beat your eggs. Then add sugar and oil and mix well.
Mix the dry ingredients and add to previous mixture. Add pumpkin, mixing well.
Pour batter into greased and floured aluminum pans. (I used 2 medium non-stick pans)
Bake the batter at 375 for about 30 minutes...

Meanwhile beat together all the ingredients for the streusel until pea-sized crumbs appear.
Add over the bread after the 30 minutes and then bake for an additional 15 min or so until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Now grab a hot cup of coffee, or a Pumpkin Spice Latte (YUM!) and enjoy!

Happy Fall!

Picture Project: weeks 9-12!

Our Sweet Lovebug is doing great! She talks all the time now... in her own little language. She loves to grab her toys and puts everything in her mouth now! She's still such a tiny little thing. At 15 Weeks, we tried to switch her up to size 1 diapers from the newborn ones.... yeah, she's swimming in them. When I'm out in public with her, people often mistake her for a baby whos a few weeks old, not over 3 months. She has great neck control, and we got her a Bumbo to sit in now! She's working on rolling over and likes to sleep on her side now (of her own free will.) She's been eating every three hours for the past 2 months, and nurses like a champ! It's so nice that she'll take a bottle if need be, but she definitely prefers the other... making life so much easier for Mommy! She's a very cuddly baby and doesn't like to be left alone. She giggles when you kiss her feet, and smiles all the time! We love her so very much and are enjoying every minute of this precious time with our little girl!

Here are her 9-12 week pictures!

Getting this SAHM organized!

A while back, (Sorry about the total lack of blogging from this lady!) I posted a bit of encouragement HERE. Even with a pretty easy baby, there are days where I feel like I get NOTHING done. Between changing my clothes that have been spit-up on, trying to keep up with laundry, cleaning, cooking, feeding lovebug, and having somewhat of a social life, it was starting to feel overwhelming. Now, I totally understand that I am VERY blessed to stay home with my beautiful little girl everyday... so this in no way negates the fact that I am one HAPPY Mama! I just need a little help getting back on track and having some order in this house.

I had seen a few ideas on Pinterest for Household Management Binders... even though I am a total orgainization freak, I wasn't sure I wanted to go that far.  So instead of a whole binder, I thought I'd start with a daily/weekly schedule to keep me on task and to break up the menial tasks that can pile up and feel like TOO much. I found a template online and personalized it according to what works around here. I've already tweaked it according to what worked the first few weeks.

The template is from moneysavingmom.com

It may seem like some of the things I put on there are very menial, but with a newborn, sometimes if I don't remind myself to do things, they just don't happen. It also feels so much less overwhelming to break it all up. There are a lot more daily outings that I haven't added to the daily schedule, but I feel like that leaves room for flexibility. Money-saving Mom is a wonderful resource as well as THIS one.

So how are y'all staying organized? How to you keep your household running smoothly? Until I can get a few more hours of blog-post writing, I'll be doing this...

Have a great weekend!

Picture Project: Weeks 4-8!

Our little lovebug just loves to wiggle... making her weekly picture a bit difficult to get without a very blurry hand or foot! We just love her sweet little face and those cheeks are finally filling out! She had her 2 month appointment yesterday... she's 9 weeks and weighs 9lbs! She smiles and laughs and talks to us now! If she gets any cuter... I may never get anything done (which is fine by me for a little while.) Here's her most recent pictures...

Have a great weekend y'all! 

Finding Encouragement...

Just stopping in to tell y'all that we're doing okay! Lovebug is 9 weeks old.... boy time flies! We're getting plenty of rest... up to 8 hours most nights! She's really a dream baby. So sweet and happy. Her little smiles melt my heart! I was really encouraged by two blog posts recently and thought I'd share. They definitely brightened my day and helped me to realize that soon, very soon I'll be feeling a little more like myself and that things will start to come together. Maybe I'll even have a few weekly posts on the ol' blog! For now, I'm rereading THIS post from AllisonO and reminding myself of this...

Thank you Julie! (From Joy's Hope)

The Best Cookie EVER.

Well folks, there is certainly no dieting going on around here yet. In between cuddling my sweet Lovebug, cooking, cleaning and shopping for teeny tiny clothes, I've found time to keep the baked goodies coming out of the oven!

I don't know about y'all, but Pinterest is definitely where any freetime I find is spent, and if you aren't following me yet... there's a button on my sidebar. I have an entire board devoted to baked goodies... oh goodness is it causing trouble! I'd seen this little doosy floating around the web for a while and I finally decided to whip it up... dun dun duuuuhhh...

Double Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies                                                                                                             By Picky Palate

2 sticks of butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
10 oz bag of chocolate chips
about 24 Double Stuf Oreos (eat the rest while you bake)

First you'll grab your mixer and cream the sugars and butter. Add the eggs one at a time and then mix in the vanilla.

Then grab a bowl and whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add to the wet ingredients in your mixer. Add the bag of chocolate chips and give it a good stir. The dough will be nice and thick!

Now grab your cookie scooper (tiny ice cream scoop) and grab two balls of dough. Sandwich your oreo in between and then gently seal it up inside and give it a little roll... they will be the largest dough balls on a cookie sheet you've EVER seen.

I like to use parchment paper on my cookie sheet... my cookies come out so much better that way! Bake them for about 9 minutes or so and then let them cool completely before diving into that deliciousness!

Grab a large glass of milk and a cookie and then die of happiness. Enjoy!

Our Picture Project!

I'm sure many of ya'll have seen the amazing weekly picture project that Young House Love has done? Well if not, HERE ya go. There are a whole lot of copied versions all over the blogosphere, and weekly number stickers you can buy to stick on onesies too. I wanted ours to look a little different, and since I get to dress my little girl up (total dream come true!) I thought I'd put her in different outfits and use something handmade by Mommy. (Notice how I seem to speak in 3rd person lately? It's a lovely new habit) We've decided to take a picture of our sweet Lovebug on her quilt each Saturday, and then put the pictures all together in a beautiful coffee table book for us to treasure forever!

Here's Lovebug's first FOUR weeks!

I'm so in LOVE!