Maggie Marie

Our Maggie is one! Her actual birthday was two weeks ago but we finally celebrated it last weekend. It has been so much fun watching her grow and learn to crawl and walk (almost!) and now she's saying words all over the place. This little girl is adorable and I'm so glad that we live so close and get to hang out and all the time. Plus it is always entertaining to watch her crawl over Charlie :)

 Looks like somebody is going to be a reader :)

What a sweetheart of a baby.

 Grammy with her kids and grands

Harvest House

The great grands were just in town for a quick visit; but mostly to celebrate Maggie and Line's birthdays. One of the days we decided to go to Green Bluff and pick some apples. We went to the Harvest House which was celebrating the Apple Festival (which is pretty much every weekend) and so they had some guy singing karaoke, hay rides, pony rides, and this huge blob thing for kids to jump on. The kids loved looking at the pumpkins and eating their apples right from the tree. We all sat down and devoured pumpkin donuts, apple cider, and caramel apples in about 5 minutes. They were wonderful. Seriously.

 Trying to lift the pumpkins.

 He obviously wasn't impressed.

 Great Grandma Esta is the best!

Pumpkin Pound Cake

Now, neither Andy or I are huge fans of pumpkin things. I decided to get a can of pureed pumpkin to see if Charlie would eat it and also to try my hand at a few things pumpkin. Well, it turns out that Charlie was not a big fan of it so I ended up with a whole can of pumpkin to try and use up. I did make some Pumpkin Oatmeal cookies that were delicious and then I found this recipe for Pumpkin Pound Cake. It turned out great! I didn't have an hour to bake the cake so I ended up putting the batter in two pans rather than one and baking for half the time, but it still tasted wonderful. I also made some Pumpkin Pancakes this morning and they turned out quite delicious as well. Maybe I've been missing out on something wonderful? 

Pumpkin Pound Cake (Adapted from this recipe)

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1/2 cup Fat Free Vanilla Greek Yogurt

3 Egg Whites

1 cup Canned Pumpkin

1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Whisk together the sugar, egg whites, and yogurt until well combined. Then stir in the pumpkin.
3. Once that is combined add the dry ingredients. Mix well.
4. Pour batter into a greased bread pan and bake for 60 minutes. (I didn't have an hour to bake the cake so I split the batter into two pans and baked for half the time).

• 
  

Walking Tour of Browne's Addition

One thing that I've wanted to do for a while is take a walking tour of Browne's Addition. The Museum of Arts & Culture has a handy walking map with information on about 50 of the historic homes in the area and a little bit about the area in general. I heard about the guide last year and it has taken us up until now to actually do it. The information was more about the architecture and the names of the people who lived in the homes, which is nice, but we were hoping for a bit more information about the people in particular. Or weird facts about the homes, such as one of them had a ski hill, which is pretty fascinating. We only got through half of the homes and are planning on going back to finish the rest. 

 For lunch we went to the cafe inside the MAC and it was pretty delicious. I got a gyro pizza and it was wonderful.

On our walk we ran into 4 deer that were just wandering through the neighborhood.

 The Patsy Clark Mansion was our favorite house of our walk.

8 Months and Counting

Technically he is a few weeks past being eight months, but I don't think that we need to get THAT technical about it. I just can't believe that it has been eight months since we were in the hospital with that little frowner of a baby. I still remember the first night and how he would only sleep snuggled up to me. It was uncomfortable and I didn't get a ton of sleep but I wouldn't change it for the world, it was so sweet. I do miss having a newborn but I'm so glad that he is older and can do much, much more. 

You can see his teeth a bit better here.

It's Getting Chilly

As of late it has gotten a bit colder around here and I'm sad to say that we have not been outside enjoying it. Mostly because Andy just worked all weekend and I didn't feel like venturing out myself and also because I get cold easily. I did just find some really good hikes to do in the fall around here and I think we'll give one of them a shot. We shall see if that happens.

 Working hard on pulling himself up. He has pulled himself up on a few things now, just to do it on a regular basis.

 Also, we've scored some awesome sets of Duplos at the thrift store and I'm pretty stoked.

Charlie likes to pick them up, inspect them and then throw them. It's very entertaining to watch.

Lemon Bars

I made these lemon bars last week for a girls spa night with Arbonne. It was a very nice and relaxing time with friends and eating delicious food. This recipe was from my mom and is super simple and you probably have everything to make this in your kitchen now.

Lemon Bars
For the crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
For the lemony goodness:
2 eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
dash of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350. For the crust blend the flour, butter, and sugar together. Press into an oiled      9x9 pan and make sure you put it slightly up the sides. 
2. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
3. When the crust has finished baking mix all the ingredients for the lemony goodness until smooth. Pour over the crust.
4. Bake for 25 minutes. When cool sprinkle with powdered sugar.