Sweet Pumpkin Muffins with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I was looking for a snack to take to Bible Study last night {no one told me that my Bible Study friends had planned to bring cake for my 30th!} when I came across this pumpkin recipe. It's just the hint of fall here - is it cool for you? Fall is just my {absolutely!} favorite season.

sweatshirts.
baked potato soup.
sweaters with leggings and boots.
cool mornings at the park.
red and golden leaves.
apple crisp.
brisk weather to run outside.
pumpkin spice coffee.
pumpkin pie.
Thanksgiving.
Pottery Barn's fall catalog.

{Back to the pumpkin cupcakes}.

They turned out SO FABULOUSLY. I think they're more of a sweet muffin than a "cupcake" - the texture is a bit dense for a cupcake. Semantics aside, they're just fabulous. I think they'd be perfect for a fall brunch. They bake so beautifully - one friend at Bible study thought I had bought them.

Recipe: (I halved this recipe and got exactly 24 mini muffins).

2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, room temp
3/4 cup milk
1 cup pumpkin

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375*. Line 24 mini muffins with paper liners.
2. Mix flour, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda together. Set aside.
3. Beat 1/2 cup butter, the white sugar and brown sugar together until mixture is light and fluffy (it will be noticeably lighter in color). Add the room temp eggs one at a time, letting each blend well before adding the next one.
4. Stir in the milk and the pumpkin.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups. (for mini muffins, I fill mine almost full).
6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 11-13 minutes, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched.
7. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

I halved this recipe, too, since I halved the muffin recipe.

{this stuff is GOOD. so good}.

1 8-ounce package reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar a little at a time until smooth, then add the vanilla and cinnamon and beat until fluffy! Frost the cupcakes when cool!

Think you'll like them? Let me know what you've been baking for the start of fall!

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

So, do you see the {most-of-the-time} disclaimer in the description of the title? That's where this recipe falls! Sooo yummy, but not entirely healthy. But, hey, everything in moderation, right? {although I'm not so sure how much *moderation* we all practiced when eating these last night! :P}

This what the first time G1 has liked any mashed potatoes - so, actually, this recipe got made 2x within the past week! {more than I've made mashed potatoes in the past 3 months!}

The Process:

1. Dice about 6-8 smallish red potatoes. G1 absolutely loved helping me with this process! I had to score the potato sections for him, and then with his kid-friendly knife he could "cut" the rest.





2. Place in a small stock pot. Cover with water, bring to a boil.




3. Boil for about 7-8 minutes, until the potatoes are fall apart when you pierce them with a fork.

4. Drain and then dump them back in the same pot.

5. Sprinkle the top with garlic powder.




6. Add about 1/4 cup milk, 4 tablespoons butter, and about 1/4 cup sour cream. (see, I told ya about the {not-so-healthy} disclaimer! :P

7. Sprinkle with kosher salt {about 1 teaspoon} and pepper.

8. Using a large serving fork, mash them in the pan. I just stir and stir and stir and press the back of the fork into the potatoes - depending how smooth you like them. We like this style of potatoes kinda lumpy!




Enjoy! My husband, myself, and both Gs ate ALL of these!

Caramelized Butternut Squash

Thanks to Ina Garten for this fabulous recipe!! It was a little prep-time-intensive (probably took me 30 minutes to get it in the oven), but it was SOOO worth it. Our whole family ate it, and G2 was using *both* of her cute, chubby little hands to get it in her mouth as fast as she possibly could! {seriously - shoveling in squash! who woulda thought?}

So, cut the ends off of and peel a medium-sized butternut squash. A veggie peeler is super easy! Spoon the seeds out, and dice into about 1" - 1 1/2" cubes.



Line a 9 x13 pan with aluminum foil (easy clean-up!) and spray with cooking spray. spread the squash cubes out on the pan.

Mix 3 tablespoons unsalted melted butter, 1/8 cup brown sugar, 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Withe clean hands, mix together the butter mixture onto the squash. Spread the squash out on a single layer on the pan again.

Bake at 400* for about 45-50 minutes, or until squash is fork tender and the sauce begins to caramelize.

Enjoy! {we ate it with green beans and brown rice!}

Can't find Steel Cut Oats?

I've had a few people say they can't find steel cut oats for my crockpot oatmeal recipe. In Meijer they're in the speciality flour/grains section - in the baking aisle.





In Target they're by the regular oatmeal, just way up on the top shelf. Hope this helps some - it's a fabulous recipe, and I'd love to hear if you like it! :D I'm making this again tonight for the Preschooler's first day of school tomorrow! :D

Incredibly Easy Fresh Green Beans

These are easy and yummy! I told The Preschooler that they'd make him strong like Mr. Incredible, and he actually ate them! ;P SO much better {so much!} than frozen green beans!

The Recipe:

(everything can be adjusted to your taste!)

1/2 pound fresh green beans, ends trimmed
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Boil green beans 6-7 minutes. Drain.
Add lemon juice, zest, and olive oil.
Sprinkle with kosher salt!
enjoy!

Hints: Take 10 minutes during naptime, or the night before, or during your Sunday veggie prep, or whenever you get 10 free minutes (between 2-4 in the morning? :P), and clean the green beans and put them in the fridge. I usually mix the lemon juice, olive oil, and lemon zest together ahead of time, too!

Then during supper prep you can just boil the water, toss the green beans in, drain them, and then mix in the lemon juice mixture! Easy and fast!

This is how yummy they are - when I was snapping the picture, The Preschooler grabbed a few more. :P

I'm a glass-half-full, eternal optimist kind of mom. I'm a laid-back, easy-going kinda mom - not a lot ruffles me. I try to CHERISH my time with my kids, because they grow oh so fast. I dumped a bag of rice out on the kitchen floor for Grant to play with his dumptrucks and bulldozers this morning...and I let Grace empty a container of wipes because she was having SO MUCH FUN doing it.

I let Grant play in the kitchen sink and get the counter a little wet. He can sometimes eat a popsicle before dinner. He's allowed to jump from the couch his beloved Pottery Barn chair and tumble over it laughing. He's only 3, and full of so much energy and enthusiasm...that all-too-soon will be grown and gone.

I stopped doing the dishes and held my tired baby girl this morning. I played peek-a-book with her and danced around the living room as she was full of giggles.

I am NOT a perfect mother...far from it. I just SO desire to be *intentional* with my kids...cherishing each moment, because my heart LOVES these days. I feel like in 30 years Matt and I will look back on these days and feel like they were some of the best days of our life.

I try to speak gently, love fully. I want JOY in this journey of raising little kids into adults that love God passionately - never do I want to wish away these little kid days. I love them. I love them so very much. Even when I'm tired, I want to make it a point to stop, pause, pray, and love on my wonderful kids...they're such treasures. Treasures!

Time Savor Tip!

Overall, I'd say my kids eat well.

Well, minus the random drive-through lanes where my son immediately starts asking for a hamburger with cheese when we're barely in the parking lot.

everything in moderation, right?

Anyway, I'd say that they really do eat well - the Boy is not {that} picky (for a 3 1/2 year old!), and the Baby Girl, well, she eats *everything* (except bananas and nuts, the first for taste and the second for allergies).

I love feeding them fresh fruits and veggies (don't all of us moms?), but sometimes the prep work is just too much in the middle of the day. Because, my kids get hungry right.this.instant. and don't want to wait the 2 minutes to wash and clean some strawberries.

So, on Sunday afternoons, I spend about an hour in the kitchen cleaning and cutting fresh fruits and veggies for the week. I put on some peppy music and just clean and cut and store! (My OCD organization freak gets a tad too excited at all of the matching tupperware containers in the fridge! :P)

That way, when they're hungry for lunch during the week, I can easily portion out "light saber sticks" (a.k.a. carrot sticks), strawberries, and grapes.

They eat SO much better when I do this, and it keeps our produce from going bad, too! Try it, and let me know if it helps you!

Crockpot Oatmeal

I am not a morning person. At all. Seriously, not.at.all. So, when I came across a recipe for crockpot oatmeal, I decided it was definitely for me.

So, at 10 o'clock on a Sunday night I haul out our crockpot, steel cut oats, water, an apple, and some half-and-half. SO EASY.

Results? It isfor sure going into our recipe rotation. and I am now on a mad hunt for more breakfast crockpot recipes! Our preschooler is starting, well, pre-school, in the fall for the first time and I so want to give him a nutritious, delicious breakfast (that he'll actually eat, ya know?)...he LOVED this oatmeal, and the Baby Girl ate her fair share, too.

Crockpot Oatmeal

3 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 cup steel cut oats
1 diced apple

Mix everything together. Place in crockpot on WARM for 8-10 hours. Serves about 4.

Recipe hints: You can replace the half and half for non-fat milk for a lighter option. It serves about 4, depending - for our family my preschooler at a good-sized bowl, the Baby Girl had a bowl, and the husband had a generous portion...AND we still had what was left for the picture.

Definitely put it on WARM on the crockpot, or it would have started to stick. I did turn it to low for about an hour when I got up this morning to help it thicken - and, it was definitely thick! Depending on how you like your oatmeal, you can add more milk to your bowl and just stir it up to thin it a tad.

Enjoy!

Sweet Boy

A very sleepy Grant just called me into his room. He was sitting up in his bed, covered with his blanket, and told me that he wanted me to raise the blinds in his room so he could see "daddy ride home on the airplane". Melt.my.heart.

Love

oh the cute!

Vacation Day #2

Spent at home, playing. :)

Vacation Day 3

At the Splash Park! Grant LOVES it. LOVES.IT.SO.MUCH. He just runs around laughing and squealing, weaving in and out of the different water structures. The splash park is FREE, and has TWO playgrounds, too! So one water area and two huge playgrounds - it's so fun! Plus about a dozen tables with under the shelter, so Grace and I sat in the shade for a majority of the morning watching Grant play.

pictures, of course!



















Matt got a tad wet, too! lol! Next time we'll both wear better clothes so we can really play with Grant! :)



Snack time!





This is how Grace spent the morning...and drank all of her brother's drink!





and then tonight Grace showed us how she can CLIMB into her brother's PBK chair! (she did this pose ALL herself!)



She just might climb out of her crib before her brother does! lol!

We have a beaver

So, she's a gnawer!

This girl....





is doing this to her crib!




with 2.5 teeth!

our noah's ark rainbow that reminds us that god keeps his promises!

a special treat for my pancake loving kiddos.

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mommy daughter dinner date!

Monday Morning

It's raining here. and, of course, it is Monday.

But you know what? I don't really care! It's a beautiful day! I continue to pack up our house, excited and full of anticipation with what lies ahead for our family. A new chapter, a new start, with a bigger house, closer to church, closer to family.

Grant is coughing, Gracie is sleeping. I'm wearing comfy clothes - a yoga-style skirt that makes me feel half-way pulled together while going on little sleep (and, a skirt means I don't have to squeeze myself into pants!)

I'm off to give them more medication, make myself some more coffee with {more than a dash} of half-and-half, and enjoy the day.

you enjoy it, too.

Yesterday we made scrambled eggs for breakfast. Grant and I were in our comfy clothes and I had my favorite apron on. I was doing my normal breakfast stuff {in between playing with playdough, making a crane go way up high, and digging in sand}.

As we ate our eggs together, {he gets the full-fat version, I get my whites-only omelet!}, we talked about how our hearts our dirty, and Jesus died on the cross to make our hearts clean.

Somehow, I think we did more than make breakfast together.

{and, yes, I cringe at how horribly non-green our paper bowls are! eek. recycling will continue at the new house!)

Oh the sweetness!

Gracie fell asleep nursing at 7 a.m. this morning, after being awake since 5 this morning. We happily played downstairs (me with some coffee, her with her favorite toys - her brother's!) for a couple of hours, and when I picked her up to nurse at 7 she {finally} fell asleep almost instantly. As she was finishing eating she rested her head against me, and then laughed in her sleep. Oh the sweetness of holding my sleeping baby girl! so much LOVE!

In Memory

2 years ago today I had my 2nd D &C.  Although time has {mainly} healed my heart and hurt, the pain of pregnancy loss will always be there. A part of my heart will always reflect, always hurt, always wish that the road to having children could have been smoother for us.

I wanted to share this with you this morning:

This is a message I sent to a friend of mine shortly after our loss 2 years ago. My friend loved me, supported me, and prayed for me well during this loss. 

---

Three months ago today I found out I was pregnant with our fourth baby. We were on vacation in Dallas, and it had been a wonderful trip. We visited with some of our best friends in the world...friends that had loved on us and supported us during our first 2 miscarriages and the succeeding infertility. We sat around with our friends, catching up, chatting, laughing, drinking delicious coffee...it was refreshing for our souls.

The morning after an especially wonderful visit with some friends, 

{whom themselves dealt with infertility and conceived through IVF}

 I took a pregnancy test. 

It was positive, and I was so deeply thrilled. 

It seemed to be the perfect ending for a perfect vacation.

We told our parents after Matt's surprise 30th birthday party. Everyone had been sitting around and talking, and in closing the evening Matt said some nice words for our parents, and then said that Grant was going to be a big brother. They were thrilled, we were thrilled.

I spent one delightful month dreaming over Pottery Barn Baby catalog's, envisioning pink walls and fru-fru clothes...Matt and I were so very, very excited.

Here's an entry from my prayer journal, when I was 6w4d pregnant:

I am so so so incredibly excited about this pregnancy. Still not believing it's true, but excited at the same time!! I'm more excited that I was with Grant, even - I think because I *know* how wonderful being pregnant is (hyperemesis and pre-eclampsia and all!), how wonderful having children is, and I am so in awe that the Lord has allowed me to experience it again.

That said, I'm trying to just savor every moment of this pregnancy...take in everyone's reactions, remember the moment I told Matt. It's just so wonderfully surreal.

On Tuesday, May 30th our world changed.

at 13 weeks, the ultrasound showed there was no heartbeat.

Josie Hope Walker blessed our lives for the short time she was with us. Josie means "God will enlarge" - which I just love, because in this pain and grief, my only prayer is that somehow, in some Divine way, God can enlarge this tragic situation 

and use it for His Divine purposes. 

And Hope, because for the 6 weeks I knew I was pregnant, she gave us such incredible hope...hope that my body can actually do this quickly!, hope for a sibling for Grant

...hope for the future.

Thank-you, for being excited with me when I told you I was pregnant, for crying with me when we got un-anticipated news, and for listening as I've grieved, mourned, cried, and have started the road to healing. I am touched that you have cared for me so much. Thank-you for walking through this with me...thank-you for letting me share her life with you.

So...in loving memory of Josie Hope. May her life be a blessing, in whatever way it may be.