Wonderful wonderful pumpkin

Fall is my most favorite time of year! I love the cooler weather, the changing leaves and ALL things pumpkin. Speaking of pumpkins, here are two of mine from a few years ago. I think this is one of my all.time.FAVORITE. pictures of my middle son. The face is just priceless...oh that grin.

I picked up a new cookbook about a month ago with some holiday recipes in it and have been trying out all sorts of new goodies. I made these fab pumpkin bars for a girls night in and they were a huge hit!!

So do yourself a favor and make these ASAP!!!

Pumpkin Bars
* Adapted from Southern Living Holiday 2011*

Ingredients:

- 1 (18.25 oz) box spice cake mix
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (I left these out)
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
- 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup finely chopped white chocolate (I used Lindt white chocolate bar with coconut)
- 1 Tbsp butter, melted
- 1/3 cup uncooked regular oats
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- Powdered sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine first 4 ingredients, mixing well with a fork. Reserve 1 cup crumbs for streusel topping. Press remaining crumbs into 13" x 9" pan.
2. Bake until puffy and set, about 13-15 min. Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 min.
3. Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer 30 seconds or until creamy. Add brown sugar, pumpkin, egg and 1 tsp vanilla; beat until well blended. Pour filling over baked crust.
4. Stir white chocolate, 1 TBSP melted butter, oats and brown sugar into reserved 1 cup streusel. Sprinkle over filling.
5. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until edges begin to brown and center is set. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar (if you want to). Cut into bars. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

So go embrace this wonderful season and go and make these...you wont regret it!!! YUMMMY!

I'm going to try and post some more good eats here now that life is somewhat into a routine. Yes, we moved back in June, and school has been in for a few months now, but I'm just starting to feel caught up. Everything in good time. Until then...

Breaking up

...is hard to do...or so I've heard. But not in this case.

I'm breaking up this blog. Kels Dish will still be around, but mainly just for my crafty/cooking stuff. I really want to make my blog more family centered so that my extended fam and friends all over can keep up with our crazy everyday moments. And because I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, the name of the blog needs to reflect that. SOOOOO...jump on over to Our Life Beyond and check it out...if you want to.

NOTE: There is currently only one post there, and it's the same one I did over here, but I'll be making another sometime today.

heart.overflowing

I can't believe it's been three weeks since she arrived into the world.

She is an absolute blessing and a gift from God. I can't stop admiring her tiny feet, chubby cheeks, and everything in between. I am in awe of the overwhelming love I feel for this little one, just like I feel for my boys. My heart is overflowing with love and happiness. How could it not be?
Life with three has been an adventure - and I've had help. Whoever said going from "two to three" wasn't a big deal must be an expert at managing chaos. I'm stumbling through the learning process, but love every second. I am so blessed that my parents were here for almost 2 weeks and now my in-laws are here for another. And I've got these two.

Of course no one can replace Daddy (we sure do miss him) but they have been so wonderful. Next week should be interesting - sort of a crash course in having three kids, one parent and no helpers. Pray for us!

However, even in the midst of all the craziness, dirty diapers, 2 am feedings and very large cups of coffee, I wouldn't trade it for the world...or even a full nights sleep. It's all worth it.

Welcome to the world my sweet baby girl.

the one and only

Prepare yourselves folks. You are about to see the one and only picture of me from this pregnancy. I decided I should probably take at least one to document the occasion. So here it is, me at 39 weeks and change.

Taken this AM before church.

This is going to be short and sweet. Tomorrow I go in to deliver our little one via c-section. Please pray for me, and our little girl, as well as the doctors and nurses that will be taking care of us. We are SO excited to welcome our little one to the world, but surgery, no matter what the occasion, is always a bit scary. God is so good, and I know He will be with us every step of the way, but a few extra prayers is never a bad thing. Thanks :).

I am off to finish up the last of my hospital bag packing, throw in another load of laundry, and then enjoy the rest of this beautiful Sunday with my boys. I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Until next time...

tick tock

This week is crawling by.

I figured it would - it's like being a kid again counting down the days until Christmas. But we're enjoying the wait. These days our time consists of the following - in no particular order.

1. Games, games and MORE games. Two of our favorites - Wii bowling and dart guns (my favorite being the dart guns). Seriously. SO.MUCH.FUN. We all end up rolling on the floor laughing - it's that fun.

2. Prayer: this one is mostly just me, but I sure am doing a lot of it. Mostly because I am so thankful for all this precious time I have been given to just sit back and ENJOY my family. Of course I am anxious and excited for Monday - who wouldn't be? But this time right now has been such a gift from God - I am so thankful.

3. Laundry: never have I ever stayed on top of my laundry like I have been these days...it's incredible.

4. Breakfast: The hubs has been on leave so once a week, after the boys have been taken to school, we head to Panera and enjoy breakfast together. We talk, drink coffee, and just enjoy being together with nowhere to be. Again - one of the many things I've been thanking God for this week. What a gift!

5. Outdoors: Before it turned cold again (and decided to snow) we were taking family walks and making frequent trips to the park. Sadly this hasn't happened in the past few days because who wants to play outside in 30 degree rain/snow?

6. Stories and Snuggles: I've been soaking up the bedtime routine. We all pile in our king size bed to read to the boys at night. Even though they are "big boys" they still let me snuggle them during story time. It's pure joy.

7. Harry Potter. Don't laugh. Hubby and I decided it would be the perfect time to work our way through the movies in order thanks to netflix. This is how we've been spending our evenings after the boys go to bed.

There is more, but you get the general idea. We're all looking forward to Monday, but very much enjoying our time waiting.

and I'm DONE!

My massive "to-do" list is done! This baby can now arrive and we will be set. My delivery is all set up for a week from TODAY!! We are very excited.

Let's see...well the hubs is officially done with his school, so now we are working on stuff and soaking up every second of family time we can before he heads off to his new job.

We've had a really great weekend here in our little world. For some reason I can't remember much of Saturday...probably has something to do with the fact that my brain is shrinking - seriously y'all...it's true - something to do with the last trimester of pregnancy. Sunday we went to church, and then to a St. Patrick's Day parade. We met up with a few friends, and it was a lot of fun. The kids had a blast and really...who knew there were so many bagpiper groups?? Today the big kid had the day off school, so we took them to this indoor playplace/cafe and let them run around for a few hours. Good times. It was also cold and rainy so after that we spent the rest of the day lounging around the house, watching movies, and goofing around. So nice.

Last weekend I finished up my last sewing project. I decided to make this cute playtime mat that I came across awhile ago. Master seamstress...I am not. But at least it came out looking the way it was supposed to, and if you don't look too closely at the stitching it's not too shabby. I'm hoping my little one won't be too critical of it :). But I do love the fabrics that I found, and to me it just looks "happy".

Here are a few pictures, but you might want to check out the link...their pictures come complete with cute toddler eating a snack on her mat...I currently have no such toddler.

All rolled up

unrolled

With that, I'm off. We're getting the boys to bed so I'm going to go join in on story time, and get some snuggles from my favorite little guys. Hope you all have a great week!

so much to share

I wish I was sharing baby pictures, but she is still "baking" as we say. I'm just now at 37 weeks, so I wouldn't have really wanted her to come any earlier than now, BUT now that I'm here, and considered full term, I wouldn't mind if she decided to make her appearance! But, for now I'll share some things that I think are just too good not to pass on.

FIRST: I've been following a new blog, and LOVE it. It's a Christian blog for women, and I've read so many wonderful posts - they really do lift my spirits and encourage me. There is a button on my sidebar but you can also click HERE to go there. I call it a blog, but it's really a lot more, because they have other resources there as well, like a book club! How fun is that??

The next thing I have to share is an idea I got from Ali's Blog, and I thought it was such a great idea that I wanted to pass it on. It's a daily "list" you make - 3 things you're THANKFUL for, 3 things you WILL do that day, and 3 TO-DO's to get accomplished. She explains it much better than I could, so go on and click HERE to go to the post. I think it's a great way to start the day, and be reminded of all the blessings we have around us that we should be thankful for!!!

And finally, a little project that I finished up yesterday. I got the inspiration for this from a link that Sam posted on her blog - click HERE to check it out. At first I was going to do the project that this gal does, and make it for my recipes and menus, but then I remembered we're moving in few months and my stove top doesn't have cabinets that would work with something like this, so I'm going to put that one on hold until I get down there. BUT I have been looking for a system to keep all the forms, book orders, etc. that the boys bring home organized and in one place (read: not all over my counters or stuck on the fridge). So I took her idea and made it into something that would work for my needs. Here is what I came up with.


For the magnets, I found cute buttons and used my glue gun to attach them. The lettering on the folder was cut with my cricut machine - note to self: use that more often!

Here it is hanging up in it's final "home". Sorry for the bad light, it's in our laundry room by where the boys hang their backpacks.

I have some fabric washing for my next project, don't know if I'll get to it today or not, but I really hope so because I can't wait to see how it turns out. I hope you are all enjoying your weekends, doing fun weekend-y stuff. We still aren't sure what we are doing with the rest of our day...but for now I'm off to fold some laundry and maybe go on a walk to enjoy the beautiful spring weather we have.