Halloween Friday

Happy Halloween Friday! I love when Halloween falls on the weekend. That means two days of sweet treats and spooky eats. Last night we whipped up a batch of spooky rice crispy treats for Annalee to take to her friends today. I'm a sucker for class treats... and let's be honest, I was just waiting for our first holiday to have an excuse to make something. Truth be told... the hubs actually make them last night, while I fed little bit. He did pretty good!

Annalee was excited to see her friends today!

We are trick-or-treating downtown this afternoon and are excited for a beautiful weekend at home... with lots of candy and treats.

Cheers to the weekend!

Carbs & Coffee

Not sure if this started with my pregnancy, or it's always been my weakness, but I love me some carbs with my coffee. It's almost become a must.  Any sort of carb will do... teddy grahams, graham crackers, pop-tarts {defiantly from my preggo days}, granola, cherrios... pastries, doughnuts and muffins.

O, pastries, doughnuts, and muffins... fall is truly your season. Apple Cider, Pumpkin Spice, Cinnamon Sugar... that pretty much sums up my fall mornings.

It's probably my greatest downfall of loosing this post-baby belly. But, my jeans fit and they say this breast-feeding thing burns some serious calories.... so for the meantime, or at least this fall, i'm going to enjoy my coffee & carbs.

Looking for a quick recipe for muffins?

Look no further than good ol' Martha White! I always keep a pack or two of these on hand for my carb craved mornings. Multi-grain blueberry and lemon poppyseed are both good, but apple cinnamon is my favorite.

An easy way to add some healthy crunch:

1 Martha White apple cinnamon muffin mix
1 small gala apple, cubed
1/2 cup of raisons
1/2 cup skim milk

Combine all ingredients and cook as directed on muffin pack.

My favorite pumpkin muffins:

1 box spice cake mix
1 can pumpkin
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

Add in's:
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup raisons
OR
1 cup chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients and cook as directed on cake box.

As for coffee, I picked up an easy way to make your own pumpkin coffee at home. Simply add pumpkin pie spice to your coffee grounds {1 tsp. per 2 cups of water}, brew at home and enjoy! It's delicious... and an added bonus - how great your kitchen smells at 6 a.m.

Cheers to coffee & carbs my friends!

Send me your favorite breakfast treat recipes.

Annalee Estelle | Five Months

Dear Annalee,

What a fun month it's been. Every day you are growing so much and developing quite the personality. You are full of laughter and you smile with your hole face - just like your daddy. You are the light of our life. Every morning you wake up and love to play in your bed, giving us the biggest smile when we come to get you. You are still working on tummy-time, but haven't rolled over yet.  You are pretty good at moving around on your back though and finally found your feet. You have discovered the sun roof in the car and love looking out at the colorful leaves. You still love walks and runs, lounging in your Boppy, sleeping on your back in a half swaddle {with footie pi's only}, and hanging out in your frog seat. Your first trip to the pumpkin patch was so much fun and we are loving celebrating one of our favorite seasons with you!

Five Month Highlights:

• 14 lbs, 25.5 inches, 16.4 in head circumference, bright blue eyes and blond hair
• Wearing 3-6 month clothing and 6 month pajamas \\ Pampers size 1 diapers
• Nicknames: Anna Banana \\ Sweet Pea \\ Pumpkin \\ Little Bit 
• Tricks: Holding your head up \\ Following us and objects around the room \\ Almost sitting on your own \\ Talking and laughing up a storm \\ Holding onto toys...including hair, jewelry and clothes
• Favorite toys: Ellie rattle \\ Pumpkin rattles \\ Baby Lamb \\ Frog seat \\ Books \\ Wubbanub
• Favorite books: Busy little squirrel \\ Baby loves Fall
• Food: Momma's milk
• Trips: We took you to the pumpkin patch for your first pumpkin picking! 
• You attended your first wedding, and slept most of the ceremony and reception. 
• We have loved enjoying the fall season with you, watching you gaze at the colorful trees and soak up the cool nights. 
• You are an amazing sleeper - sleeping 10 hours at night and napping a couple times during the day. 
• You are laughing so much and talking up a storm!
• We are a constant droller, because you love to laugh, smile, and talk all day. 
• You have started holding your bottle... sort of.

Five Month Favorites {Items We Couldn't Live Without}:

The Bob Stroller \\ Wubbanub \\ Paci clip \\ MommaRoo \\ Swaddle Blankets \\ Footie PJ's \\ Baby Bathtub \\ Sound Machine \\ monitor {for mommy} \\ Frog seat \\ Playmat \\ Humidifier to help with congestion \\ Bibs...lots of bibs \\ 

Pictures from this month:

It's fall y'all!

Holding my bottle.

Game day with the crew.

Getting fancy for church.

Found my toes.

Bath time.

My pumpkins from Auntie Karen!

Date night at Haywood's

Porch chillin'

Look how big I am Aubie

Talking... and drooling.

More talking.

Pumpkin patch!

All smiles and drools. 

Daddy-daughter Day in Lex

Game day PJ's

One // Two // Three // Four

Mom's first Getaway!

And Daddy survived! Mommy had her first weekend away and Daddy soaked up 48 hours of daddy-daughter time. I had a little girls weekend in Franklin, TN.... we ate a lot, drank lots and even enjoyed a some time at Pumpkinfest. What a beautiful city with amazing food, great people and adorable house! I miss Nashville and Franklin... and the abundance of nice people, good food, and shopping. We stayed in the Historic Rhodes House right on Main street in downtown. 

Enjoyed our time at Pumpkinfest 2015

....and Daddy had fun while Mom was away. Just a sneak peak at the baby bar crawl and weekend without pants {dad thinks pants are just too much trouble}. 

Mommy had a great time, but I was so happy to get home last night to this smile. 

Pumpkins, a Fall Wedding and Apple Cider Doughnuts

It was a glorious weekend in the Shenendoah Valley! The leaves are full of color, their is a crispness to the air, and the fall festivities are in full swing! We had a big fall weekend, soaking up every ounce of daylight we could. On Saturday we celebrated the wedding of our good friends Meredith and Stu at Mulberry Hill. It was a picture-perfect day for a fall wedding, and not a single detail was left un-noticed. Beautiful flowers, gorgeous China, scrumptious food and a sweet ceremony to top it off.

Pre-ceremony cocktails with the girls.

Dinner with the hubs.

Sunday we headed to Crozet for lunch at Crozet Pizza and pumpkin picking! The last few years we have braved the crowds at Carter Mountain, and this year we just decided that it wasn't worth the hour drive in inch-bug traffic up the mountain to eat some doughnuts and call it a day. This year we decided to try Chiles Peach Orchard and it was awesome! Low-key, just the right amount of busy... Pick-your-own pumpkins, cute places to snag pics, apple cider and doughnuts. Yum! Just few pics from our Sunday adventure.

Of course no pumpkin picking is complete without apple cider doughnuts. Maybe this is a Virginia thing, or a new thing {I haven't been here long enough to know}, but these doughnuts are a tradition when it comes to orchard outings. They are hot and delicious and covered in cinnamon and sugar!

We did bring home a half-dozen for ourselves, but I thought it would be fun to try them at home too. Below are a few recipes that come close. 

via Eat-Drink-Love.

...or for a popable version.

via The Domestic Rebel.

Happy Monday!