Pumpkin-Spice Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin-Spice Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is the recipe that my Betty Crocker Cookbook

naturally opens up to. it's a loved one. :)

It makes up a big batch..perfect for gift giving (with plenty leftover for "sampling")

These would be a pretty addition to a party's dessert table!

Easy, delicious crowd pleaser!

PUMPKIN-SPICE BAR INGREDIENTS

Betty Crocker Cookbook (Bridal Edition..thanks Tricia!) Pg. 144

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup raisins (optional)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Cream Cheese Frosting....recipe at bottom of post.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly Grease bottom

and side of jelly roll pan, 15 1/2 x 10 1/2, with shortening

Beat Eggs, Oil, Sugar and Pumpkin in large bowl until smooth.

This is where a little assistant comes in handy..
mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ginger and cloves.
Stir in to wet mix.
(Stir in raisins now if you want)

Smells AMAZING and it hasn't even gone in the oven yet!

Spread in Pan. Bake 25-30 minutes or until light brown.
Cool completely before frosting (about 2 hours)

Frost with the deliciousness that is Cream Cheese Frosting.
Cut into bars and enjoy!

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
Betty Crocker Cookbook (Bridal Edition) Pg. 145
1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter or stick margarine softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
(I ended up adding a dash more vanilla, teaspoon or 2 of milk..and a tad more powdered sugar)
--Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla in medium bowl
with electric mixer on low speed until smooth.
--Gradually beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, on low
speed until smooth and spreadable

Our Valentine's Day Sugar Rush

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!
Here's a glimpse into our sugar rushed day...
with some embarrassing videos of me with the girls at the bottom.
You will see what a dork I am..and see me in mommy action. ;)
It's worth watching just for sophia's giggles and singing.
LOVEEE my iphone from ben.. Still learning it.
any apps that I MUST get? share the wisdom.

Ben and I each got something for the girls for valentine's day..

I grabbed up at Target 2 little dolls for their dollhouse..

and ben got them little princess purses with candy necklaces inside.

Sienna was walking around all morning going...

 "happy happy.. happy happy" :)

Sienna was being wild at breakfast..thus no photos.

I only took one and it was a blurry shot of her trying

to wiggle/throw herself/escape the high chair. 

Friend Camille the mod mama blogs here and sent me a valentine!
I thought it was so cute..and so did the girls!


I made eggplant parmesan for the first time last night.. my husband turned vegetarian on me and I've been trying to.. feed himmm. haha. ((Still learning what to make)) but ben is loving it and feeling great so I'm supporting him! (I made chicken parm for the girls and me...but I actually ended up eating the eggplant and had the chicken on salad today.. the last time I had eggplant parm was when I was pregnant and overdue with sophia..the doctor's orders. ;)....
fyi: didn't work. 5 days late.

If you haven't tried out the Fresh Homemade Mozzarella "Sticks" recipe than you HAVE TO. right now.. make a note of it to grab some fresh mozarella and panko bread crumbs up at the store and make these.. all time favorite salty treat...amazingness. you will love.

And now..for your entertainment..silly mommy with silly babies!
I have a feeling this iphone is going to be dangerous. haha.......

Mama's Losing Her Mind

Been a crazy exhausting 2 weeks..

We all were sick last week with the flu bug that's going around.
not fun. and it took another week to get everyone back to normal.
and by normal I mean just able to function.

I went to put something in the microwave and put it in the freezer.......

That's up there with getting into the shower, partially dressed....

During the Super Bowl I asked what Inning it was......

My brain is a tad fried lately.

:::SCENE :::Two very sweet but very tired babies
taunting each other in the car and "crying":::

Me: "I don't feel human anymore"

 Ben:  "I think I'll walk home" 
hahaha..ahhh. I can laugh now. ;)
Ben and I have this ongoing joke where we will be talking to each other or something and then suddenly be slumped over snoring. haha. (dorks)
The girls are finally sleeping through the night though!
I could count on one hand how many nights sienna in her LIFE has slept straight through the night. And sophia went through this "i'm scared!" phase.
so..we are feeling AWESOME about that.
for those of you who have babies who slept through
the night since they were born..
lie to me. ;)

Don't get me wrong..I LOVE being a mom..

Each stage of parenthood has it's challenges..

Each stage gets easier than the stage before..

The other day I found myself thinking..

I can't wait till they are in high school and they will go out and do stuff on their own..

and then I realized...

WHAT AM I THINKING?!???

THAT SOUNDS SCARY AND STRESSFULL AS HECK. :)

So I was content the rest of the day with chasing babies..being chased by babies.. being tackled and then comforting the smaller one who got smooshed by the bigger one during the tackling. 

But I have to admit..
and I'm guessing I'm not the only one..
but there are days as a mom you are being touched non..stop.. someone is pulling on you jumping on you crying on you spitting up something not sure what it is on you...
Luckily..there is such a thing called grace.
and God gives it to you to get through moments like that!
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest.
[I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.](Matthew 11:28, AMP)
We just need to ask for it. and I do... I beg for it some days.. haha..
Because my sweeties have way more energy than me..
and also veryyyyy high pitched crying/laughing sounds. ;) 

Since being featured in Etsy's Newsletter and all over Pinterest I've been swamped with Printable Orders for Valentine's Day. (VERY THANKFUL!) Not a bad problem at all!
But orders were coming in every few minutes for chunks of time....and
working from home has it's advantages
and dissssadvantages.
Example:

She's cute but trouble. ;)

Sometimes you have to give up..and PLAY.
I overheard the girls playing with their daddy...Sophia:" You're the fairy Godmother.. I'm the angel..no you're the angel..I'm the fairy Godmother..Sienna is the princess."

I would like to consider myself an expert hide and go seeker.....

And tickle monster.

I should add this to my resume.

I also should add.. makes cute babies.
Sienna is a snuggler right now.. and hugger.
I LOVE their hugs.
Even if they do it with a mushed banana in their hand that is getting alllll
over my back/shoulder and I don't realize until the end of the day and no oneeee told me about it.
LOVE them. :)

This post was meant to make you feel AWESOME about your parenting...
or make you realize you are not alone in the beautiful insanity that is motherhood. :)

My Girls' Super Hero Lollipop Valentines

I made these up the night before a valentine's day party that my moms' group was having!

I had seen this idea around and made up my own version of it for my girls..

Sophia loves being a "super girllllll"....so it fit her perfectly.

These were zooming around the house and having conversations.

I was happy with how they came together and thought you might want to make them...

I listed them in my etsy printable shop for $10 if you want to

grab some up for your own valentines!

Choose pink.. blue.. or BOTH!

Super-Hero Lollipop Valentines- Printable PDF......$10
I left some space below for your kiddos to write their names..or scribble..:)

The Valentine's Day Party was fun.

My friend put together a cute photo booth..love her sign!

The only photos I got of sophia were of her covered in powdered donut sugar... lovely.

And that is the best shot of me and the girls.....it's an action shot...haha.

They decorated little bags to fill with valentines from each other. :)

That headband stayed on sienna all of 2.5 seconds............

trying to cutesie up the mullet.

DIY Cardboard Castle Tutorial - Cost:$4

I have been getting lots of questions about how I made

this Cardboard Castle for my daughters' Storybook Princess Party..

So here's a full tutorial on how to make it yourself!

If you get free boxes, use paint you already have..

then you'll only spend $4(pack of zip ties) to make this castle!

I went into my dollar store and asked them if they had any extra boxes..

They were nice enough to let me choose the sizes I wanted and let me load up my car!

It always doesn't hurt to ask! You can also try places like Target or Home Depot..

(That's where I found boxes for my daughters' Sweetopia Village the year before!

Luckily I stopped by the day their trash compactor broke. :)

CAREFULLY cut out doors & windows using a utility knife.

I used extra cardboard to make a template..

and then traced that on both towers for my windows.

I cut out the drawbridge but left the bottom part connected so it could swing up and down.

You'll notice the stacked boxes...I cut out part of the bottom of one and top of the other so that they kids could fit in that space. (hope that makes sense!

photos below might help explain that.)

CONNECTING THE BOXES:

I would poke a hole with a pen through both layers of the boxes or sides of them if I was connecting that way.. and then thread a zip tie through it..and zip tight!

Just mess with it when you are putting the boxes together..

You will be able to sense where you need to add a zip tie to make it sturdy.

I didn't zip tie all 3 big pieces together (2 towers and 1 doorway)

because I wanted to be able to one day move it out of our play room....haha.

it's in the basement and ready to be moved up whenever we

decide it's time for a castle play date!

PS. I bought my zip ties at Target.

But you can buy that at any hardware store too.

Using scissors I roughly cut out rock shapes.

have fun with it! do more..or do less!

Random: For my church's VBS I made a roman village like this..
and used a darker share to shadow all the rocks when I painted them (with a sprayer)

For the drawbridge I poked two holes.. threaded some rope from my craft box and double knotted it on the outside. the strands lay inside for the girls to pull up to shut it!

I made up a flag design on my computer..with different patterns and colors.

then just printed them out..cut them..and sewed them together with white thread.

I now have 3 of the garlands hanging over the girls' play kitchen in the corner of their room.

I REALLY wanted to make clouds.

The quilting batting material was always calling my name!!

I kinda made it up as I went along.. but really just roughly sew them together. the looser the better.. and then just puff them out once you turn them inside out before stitching it closed.

I think these clouds would be so cute for a baby's nursery..

or for a variety of party themes.. toy story..noah's ark..etc etc.

This castle hosted plenty of tea parties and baby doll nap times.

The drawbridge was used a lot by the 3 yr old to keep her 1 yr old sister out.........

glad I didn't put a lock on the castle door. ;)

Here's a video of the cuteness in "action"

Hope that answers your questions..
just leave comments below if I missed something! :)

Etsy Newsletter Feature! Printable Love.

This feature has been keeping me BUSY.

like...busy busy. awesomely busy.

Thanks to Etsy and everyone who supports small businesses! 

(and thanks to my readers/customers who wrote me

letting me know they saw my sweet sienna's face in their inbox! :)
To view the full newsletter and check out all the items click here.

A new stage of my Grief.. Regret.

I just got sienna to bed.. ben is working on getting sophia down..(snuggle bug.)

I have a few minutes before I need to hustle up and finish some design work for clients..

but I have so much on my heart right now I thought this would be the best way to get it out..

and refocus on what I need to be doing tonight..

I remember when we first lost shannon..I would ask ben..or my mom..

Will I ever not feel "this" way... just so overwhelmed and broken.?

(Ahhh the tears are flowing now. If i just say the word broken I cry. ;)

I feel funny sharing this.. but at the same time I know many of you are going through sufferings of your own.. grieving through your own loses. And maybe you have felt similar....

Last week I felt so sad...because I looked up past conversations on facebook with Shannon... so many of the last ones were short.. they were usually ended quickly with a "ah I have so much to do girl I'll call you later!" or "The girls just woke up I gotta run"......

I know we both had our responsibilities in life.. 

but I was having the hardest time feeling like I wasn't there for her enough. That I didn't make myself available to her enough.. I was one of the few in our high school group of friends who left the state for college..and then I ended up meeting ben there and never going back! We got jobs up here..we bought a house up here..we started having babies! and life was.. busy. And I kept feeling like even though I know I was doing what God wanted of me in my life... I wondered if I had stayed in atlanta if I could have been more present...and stopped her from being killed. It sounds crazy typing it..like so stupid to think about something so pointless..it cannot be changed..........but it weighed so heavy on my heart. And I prayed for peace on this. And strength to just not even go there. But I need to pray more. I have felt stronger this past week though... And I'm trying to remember that God has a plan for each of us......and that all of us wish we could have done something said something to change what happened.......but we can't go back. we can only go forward. 

If you know of someone going through something like Shannon was...

please don't hesitate to say something...

I will always wish I had said more.

Find information on Domestic Violence here.

Call this number if you need help..1-800-799-SAFE (7233). 

I'm healing..but will never be the same. 

I think of shannon every day. and almost every night while I walk sienna around in her room to sleep..
thinking of her  2 beautiful babies who lost their mommy. praying for them.
I hold my daughters a little bit tighter these days, wanting to get everything out every last moment with them..

Losing shannon I have become very aware of how precious the time we are given is..and how we should use it wisely. Not that we should be filled with anxiety that we could be gone any second....but when we are in the moments with friends and family, to soak it all in.. to invest in relationships.. to work hard, play hard and most importantly pray hard. This month I am going on retreat for the weekend.. and I'm so looking forward to it. I almost didn't go because I felt bad about leaving the girls.. but ben was like no you are going. I needed that push. sometimes it's hard to make that choice on your own.. but I know it's going to help me to be a better mom. to focus on healing.. and my relationship with God. How can I help my girls and husband get to heaven if I'm not working at getting myself there too!

via

Please post, pin tweet facebook the messages in this post..

HELP bring awareness to this issue.. You could save a life.

And save children from losing a beautiful mother..

To read all posts related to Shannon you can click here.

Please share her story..donate if you can.

If you have been touched by her story and would like to 

visit her Memorial Page you can visit here. 

Please Pray for peace in our world 

and for all those affected by Domestic Violence.