I can't help it...

I love baking!! I would bake every day if I could and my waist line could handle it. I was browsing a favorite scrappy blog when I came upon her recipe for Banana chocolate chip muffins. Hmmm, I have ripe/icky bananas on my counter....Score!

So I whipped up some yummy goodness while the kiddos were "picking up" the living room (which actually involves just moving stuff around:/ ). The muffins were great! Both kids...Miss Eats Anything & Mr Picky Picky Its Not a Bottle....loved them. Success was mine!

Here's the recipe:

**I used mini chocolate chips and made the regular size muffins**

http://www.kerribradford.com/2012/08/09/banana-chocolate-chip-muffins/

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

3 large bananas mashed
3/4 c granulated sugar 
1 egg, slightly beaten 
1/2 c butter, melted 
1 1/2 c flour 
1/2 t salt 
3/4 t baking powder 
1/2 t baking soda 
1/2 t vanilla 
1 c chocolate chips

After mashing bananas, stir in sugar. Add butter, mix well, and stir in egg. Sift together dry ingredients and add to banana mixture. After batter is almost mixed, add chocolate chips. Spoon into muffin cups that are coated with spray or liners. Sprinkle tops with some additional granulated sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-23 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes, then remove from tins. Makes 12 muffins.

I bake them for about 16 minutes for the mini muffins–which usually makes a pan and a half to two 

thirds of a pan.

I didn't take a picture of them and I don't want to steal Kerri's muffin pic without her authorization SO even better.... a cute picture of Mr. Man exhausted in his high chair:) 

**This was several months ago but he's still adorable!**

I can feel it!

The crisp air in the evenings. The need for an actual blanket on the bed. Sweatshirts for the kiddos early morning or late evening. It is one of the great loves of my life....FALL!!

I absolutely adore fall and all that comes with it. Pumpkin Spice Lattes, honey crisp apples, sweaters, down vests, scarves, Uggs, fall foliage....oh the list goes on and on. So in honor of the oncoming fall season, I thought I would break out a tried and true (and favorite in our household) recipe. Great Pumpkin Dessert! I found this beloved recipe in a Taste of Homes magazine years ago and have never let a fall pass without making this at least 5 times:) So here you go...

**I don't add the walnuts because I've issued a nut free dessert policy in our house;) What a quick way to ruin a great desssert. lol**

***So sorry if your pants don't fit come Thanksgiving! Oops! It is THAT good:) Your house will smell amazing afterwards too.***

Great Pumpkin Dessert Recipe

Great Pumpkin Dessert Recipe photo by Taste of HomeGreat Pumpkin Dessert Recipe

Read reviews (13)

Rate recipe

In Fountain Valley, California, Linda Guyot relies on canned pumpkin and a yellow cake mix to fix this effortless alternative to pumpkin pie. "It's a tried-and-true dessert that always elicits compliments and requests for the recipe."

13

• Rate
• Print
• Grocery List
• Recipe Box
• Email

Great Pumpkin Dessert Recipe

• Prep: 5 min. Bake: 1 hour
• Yield: 12-16 Servings

56065

Ingredients

• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 package (18-1/4 ounces) yellow cake mix
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts
• Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Directions

• In a large bowl, beat first five ingredients until smooth.
• Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Sprinkle with cake mix and drizzle with butter. Top with walnuts.
• Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream. Yield: 12-16 servings.

Nutritional Facts1 serving (1 piece) equals 385 calories, 21 g fat (8 g saturated fat), 70 mg cholesterol, 326 mg sodium, 44 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 8 g protein.

I tried it...

it didn't work! I hate being tied down or confined so the new blog  and its format just didn't work for me. I tried Fargo Forum/Area Voices but you have too many restrictions on the way you want your contributors to have their blog. It didn't even look personalized:/

So... I'm back right here and now:) YAY!! I'm going to get back to blogging and I mentioned a give away to get things back on track the right way! My goal will be to blog 4-5 days per week...if I attain that goal this week then I will be giving a 2Peas in a bucket gift card away.

So to get things back on track, let me start off with a recap.... in photos:

Cutest Mr. Man turned 1!!

Miss Thang turned 3!

 Hi! My name is Kelly and I'm a Pinterest addict! BIG TIME!!! lol 

I also love baking and making dessert tables:) I must say this is my best party EVER!

 I add some serious fog build up on my camera UV lens so I took it off and cleaned it. I like this picture anyway though:)

 Always the diva!! I made the shirt and had a heck of a time keeping her in her overalls and out of the zebra fleece pj pants:/

M & J with M's favorite peeps (minus Uncle)...Madi and Jaye:)

 I will keep giving you updates as to what has been going on here....I'm running (who in the hell would have thought that?!!), not riding or scrapping nearly as much as I'd like too, working too much but really enjoying the summer with the kiddos.

Until tomorrow.... :)

7 years!

NO... it has NOT been 7 years since my last post:/ lol

It is our 7th anniversary! This is the 1st year, since our wedding in 2004, that we haven't had snow. There are a few flurries floating around but nothing that is accumulating! Love that:) We aren't doing any thing fun or romantic...just hanging out at home with the kids. I'm making Christmas cookies, we're going to decorate the tree and Makenna & I will probably go ride:) A nice day!

I'm a little behind on my JYC already but I'm going to catch up!

• 2nd- the weather outside is ________. Well normally in MN its frightful but this Nov & Dec have been fabulous!! The longer we can be without snow the better.
• 3rd - Christmas cards - Mine are ordered and should be here this week. My labels are printed and ready to go and I just need to write our Christmas letter. I had a hold up as our professional photos took forever to come back.
• 4th (today) -The Perfect Christmas. Hmmmm, I'm not sure what my idea of a perfect Christmas is? Let's see....softly snowing big fat flakes, just finished attending a wonderful Christmas service at church, picking up a large Pumpkin Spice White Chocolate Mocha (non fat no whip) at Caribou, going home to a wonderful supper, cozy pajamas, beautifully lit and decorated tree, snuggling with the fam by the tree while Uncle entertains us all with his antics. Snuggling sweet Jax to sleep and enjoying having him with us this year. Wondering what we did without him and Makenna for that matter. Relishing in the joy that the bring to us. Then falling asleep (out cold) from the said blessings wearing us out! lol

Stationery card

Hearts So Bright Christmas Card

Creating Christmas cards has never been this easy.

View the entire collection of cards.

Soooo behind:/

Why yes there is someone who still lives over here! Yikes! It's like I've been on vacation but not in the good way. Too much life and not enough living and enjoying. I will be here EVERY DAY in December though!! I'm doing the Journal Your Christmas again so I'm going to use this blog to help me remember everything:)

I will have lots of babe pics too because Mr Man is going to be 6 months old! Holy crap! Miss Thang too:)

So December will see a lot of action over here and I hope to keep it up from here on out. See ya later November! You've been great to us in MN... we have no snow! WOOT WOOT! Please inform your brother December that we'd like to keep it that way for another 20+ days;) May Dec 1 bring me less pain since I'm seeing the chiro tomorrow after work. I'm also bringing Jax to him on Friday to see if he can help him to sleep. Getting up 4-6 times a night STILL is NOT ok!! This momma needs some relief! Oh and I also started my diet with Weight Watchers online. Yes, I know...why before the holidays? Because I don't want to lose anymore than I already have too. Today is day 3 and its going well so far:) 30 lbs to go.....

Cows & tigers & unicorns, Oh my!

Happy Halloween everyone! There will be pictures to come after 1 & 2 get up from their naps and we head out on our 1st trick or treating experience. It's going to be a brief one since the wind has quite the bite to it and I don't want to freeze my herd;)

It's been a long few weeks here. Lance was gone for 2 weeks and Jax is teething + got his 1st cold which = not sleeping. Plus I was asked to teach another class at work with 37 students in it. I'm going to be grading until I'm blue in the face and then some! Oh well:) I love fall. I love Halloween. I love pumpkin. Now if I could just get some of that lovely sleep then I'll be good;)

We haven't...yet....

So we didn't put an offer in on the farm....yet. I'm still trying to decide exactly how much I can do by myself since Lance is gone so much.

Questions I ask myself...

1. do I really want to tackle a hobby farm with 2 little kids?
2. do I really want to have to do chores (horse) twice a day? With 2 little kids? In -40 degree weather?
3. do I want to start renovating an old farm house in the winter in MN?
4. do I want to lose out on this awesome farm?
5. how great would it be to have my horse live at my house?

The list goes on and on. I'm still undecided. There are currently no offers on the place except a super low ball offer (like they offered half the asking price:/ like that's going to happen?!) Also...since it is a foreclosure, the bank won't take or entertain any offers with contingencies. In this housing market, that doesn't sit well with me. I do NOT want 2 mortgages!

Ideally, I'd like to obtain the farm in the spring but then what problems are we going to have after the place has sat empty over the winter? It has been winterized if that helps at all?? Decisions decisions... 

Anyone have any helpful insight??

Should we???

We went and looked at a place in the country last weekend. The house is tiny compared to our house (but our current house is freakishly large) but the location and outbuildings are perfect! It's only 7 miles outside of B'ville so we would still be in the Bville school district which is also what we want. It is a foreclosure property so all offers have to be in by 2pm today.....we're thinking of putting an offer in and if we get it then great and if not then that's fine too. We ultimately want to end up in the country and this is the perfect location for us. It's right off the interstate which is great for commuting + no gravel roads. There's a barn with 11 stalls in it and an indoor arena. LOVE! The place needs a lot of work and cleaning up and out but give us a year or 2 and it will be fabulous. It all depends on how much work we want to do.....

I'll let you know what we decide..... :)

Ha Ha Ha

Happy Tuesday (my first day back at work!)

I'll show you mine....

if you show me yours...

scraproom that is!

I'm trying to find the disk that my mom gave me of the pics she took at the hospital when Jax was born. I can't imagine why I can't seem to find it??

 Looking in the doorway. ~cringe~

 There's suppose to be a desk under there. Some where...

 Crap everywhere!

 The closet... more crap everywhere!

Again with the crap....

I seriously need to spend some time cleaning this pig sty up! With Jax's baptism coming up, it probably won't happen before that but hopefully soon! Thank God the rest of the house does NOT look like this! lol :)

Score!

What an amazing time we had at Scrapfest! I did some SERIOUS shopping. Just scrap shopping except for the Ikea run and sneaking into Sephora with Marie.

I went to Scrapfest with my normal usual scrapping buddies. We all have such a great time. There is Anne, who is our moral spending nazi! She is very frugal and does not like to spend money. She tries to keep Marie and I in check and we try to corrupt her;) Anne has had a successful shopping trip if she hasn't spent anything. Stacy and Sarah are usually right in the middle of spending/shopping...they almost always buy but hardly ever a ton of stuff. Then there's Marie and I.....lol....thank GOD for Marie or I would always be the one who brings the most stuff, spends the most, ect. Marie and I like to spread all our loot out and take pics of it. Marie's pile was huge... although some of her stuff was from her classes and since it was her birthday, she also scored a bunch of free stuff. 

Here's Marie's loot (I swiped the pic from FB). Look at all that great stuff!!! Now, this comes with a disclaimer that literally had my LMAO!!!

 Disclaimer** Stop crapping yourself Steve Ackerman, I paid full price for VERY little of this stuff (like extremely little - it was amazing!) and a nice portion was actually free stuff/prizes/class extras.


Ha Ha Ha! Apparently Steve (who is Anne like) was not so impressed with Marie's loot. Now the good friend that I am, I too took a picture of my loot. (please excuse the horrible photos as it was 9pm)

 Momma, where did all this stuff come from?? Did you buy me some bling?

Now you obviously can't even tell what I bought because the picture is so crappy but there is A LOT of it there! This made Steve feel so much better that he isn't married to ME!! LOL  Lance just shook his head:) In my defense, its been a LONG time since I've done this kinda damage. It was bound to happen cuz I'm finally not pregnant/anti-shopping. I also took 5 classes at Scrapfest and won prizes in 2 of them so that is about 1/4 of the stuff. Maybe even 1/3. When I was packing my stuff up to big downstairs to the command center, I found my bag from Crafts Direct Clearance center...oops! There's even more than what is pictured! Ha:) So add 3 more QK dies and about 10 more pieces of pp.

It was a great weekend! Now, I have a week filled with trying to get the house and everything else ready for Jax's baptism this weekend. Oh and the scrap garage sale on Saturday. I rented a table again so I need to get all my stuff priced and ready to go. Hope I sell a lot so I can buy some new lines at Scrap Pink the 2nd weekend in Oct.
~Really who am I kidding though?? I'm buying those lines whether I sell anything or not;) lol~

Happy Tuesday!

I've scrapped!

Well wonders never cease!! I was able to bust out a couple of LO's + some cards + have the hub on the road and both kids at home with me:) Woot Woot!!! Here's what I did:

Could Doodlebug be anymore perfect for me? Purple + glitter galore = Kelly!!!

This is the sign I made for the door to my scraproom aka The Command Center as my family lovingly refers to it:) Again Doodlebug is perfect for me!

While browsing at my LSS, I was looking at the BG Oxford line. I really like plaids and since I now have a boy, I thought this would be a great line to pick up. Then I saw the sticker page with the microscope on it!!! LOVE! I made this card for Dennis for his birthday. We bought our microscope servicing business from Dennis and his wife, Joanne, so the microscope is perfect! I need to pick up another sticker sheet so I can use that same microscope sticker for a LO with Lance on it:)

The 2 LO's I did are for Scrap That Baby's design team so I can't show those yet but I will soon:)

The girls and I are heading to Scrapfest in 10 DAYS!!! I can't wait!! It's my first time attending Scrapfest. I'm taking several classes too. I got into all my favs except for the Doodlebug mini album class:( Oh well! Next year! There will be loads of pictures + shopping pics from that little trip!!

Mr Cute!

Jax is seriously a fun baby! He is such a smiler + he's a hard core Momma's Boy!! Oh I love that:) He lights up for me like no one else. He'll smile, give me the eyebrow raise and "talk". It totally melts this Momma's heart! He just had his 2 month appt. He is 14 lbs (73%) and 22.5 in long (20%) so he's going to be short and wide! The first thing the pediatrician said when she walked in was "So Mr. Jax has another chin I see!". LOL!! He does:) He's chubby and it's so precious!

Makenna is a wonderful big sister! He calls him Cute.

Anyone: "Makenna, what's your brother's name?"
Makenna: "Cute"
Anyone: It's not Jax?
Makenna: No. Cute.

So we all call him Cute! I'm sure this is going to go over REAL well when he's a NFL linebacker;)

 Excuse my shadow!!

Ode to the Potato!

We survived another Potato Days! We have had carbs up to our ears & it's SO good! I always have the mashed potatoes, gravy & meatballs. Yum! Lance always has the Potato Sausage wrapped in Lefse. Makenna loved the potato sausage too. Then I went with the Grefsruds and Chad (the trainer) to have potato pancakes on Saturday morning. Again...Yummy!! Good thing we walked through all the vendors to work off those pancakes.

Later in the day was the parade. Makenna wasn't too sure at first because Momma has told her not to run into the street and now she's saying its ok and even encouraging her to do it and chase candy. After about 2 mins, she had it down. We wound up with a ton of candy! EEK!

Jax slept through most of it! He's a wild one:) Makenna also got to ride in Poppa & Grandma's 57 Chevy. Anything to do with Poppa is a HUGE thing for Makenna.

He's almost as popular, in her book, as uncle (my brother) & Madi (our daycare lady's daughter).

I'm starting to gear up for my 1st ever trip to Scrapfest in Minneapolis. I'm so excited to go:) It's going to be like Christmas morning for us girls!!! If anyone has any tips, please hook me up:) Thx!

What a day of errands! (baby-free!)

Both kids went daycare on Thurs so I had the whole day to run ALL of my errands that have been piling up. I got everything on my list done:) Here's some photos to document!

 All my loot minus the groceries that were on the other counter!

I'm participating in my LSS's garage sale again. I've done this 2 other times and have sold almost everything I bring:)

 My mom got J & M some basics on clearance at Wally! 

Clothes for M from Once Upon a Child

Clothes for J from Once Upon a Child

Stuff from M's & HL. M's had all their glitter fabric pain on clearance...$1.79 instead of $5.99. I bought 1 of every color except gold because that was $2.99. If you look way in the back, you'll notice some candy/chocolate for the purple fridge! 

OK, this is a horrible picture! You can't tell at all what is in here:/ Its black fluffy trim for a project I'm doing for a design team call and its brown minky for a turkey shirt that I want to make M & J for thanksgiving.

This was in the mail when I got home!! I LOVE the fall issue!!! It's my very favorite:)

That's my day in a nutshell or actually a shopping bag;) 

What girl doesn't need a....

purple saddle?!!!

This is Makenna's 1st saddle! Yes it is a barrel saddle. Yes it has a purple ostrich seat and accents. Yes its tiny and going to look so funny on my big fat horse!

I wanted a barrel saddle for her first saddle because they are higher in the front and back so it will set her in there more securely. When my mom sent me a text that she found a PURPLE tiny barrel saddle on tacktrader.com, I had to check it out. I contacted the lady IMMEDIATELY and its ours! YAY:)

I will take pics when this fabulous saddle finally makes its way from Georgia to Minnesota and onto Faith's back. We're definitely going to need the BIG GIRL cinch to get it all the way around Faith:) Now I need to shop for some boots and a helmet.

(Yes I'm going to be one of those parents who insists on the kids wearing a helmet. Did I wear a helmet? Hell no! Would I wear a helmet now to ride? An even bigger HELL NO! BUT I know how to ride + I know my horse. I do know that accidents can happen but I'm pretty good at tuck and roll + there's not a whole lot of action in the indoor arena. I'm just saying...)

Oh where oh where...

has this blogger been?

Definitely AWAL! I'm still working on that post about Jax and only Jax or Just Jax (insert jazz hands!). I decided  I really wasn't busy enough with 2 kiddos + a hubby that is gone 4-5 days per week so I added in a 5 day horse show the end of July, an Allison Davis 5 week Sketch Support class the middle of July (HIGHLY recommend) + no daycare at all. EEK! The daycare wasn't planned but our provided and good friend had a family emergency so she had to head to Mississippi to be with her family. I'm hoping she'll be back this week but haven't heard.

The 5 day horse show went AWESOME!! I was only able to ride my horse once before the show but she was with the trainer so she was all ready to go. I was definitely rusty but we won a huge showmanship class out of 23 and that made my whole weekend since the show was huge and the competition was fierce. We also won several halter classes and did well in all the riding events too. I'm done showing for the summer now! LOL! I want to go out with a bang! j/k I actually have 2-3 more shows but I've chosen to do scrapping events instead since I'm not aiming for anything horse related right now. Its just really nice to ride my horse...although that is coming to a screeching halt since a certain 2 yo joins me at the barn most of time. If she had it her way, momma would help brush and saddle the horse but not ride at all! Stinker:) I try to ride 1st but it usually winds up with us both riding poor Faith and that leads to "Momma off!" and she's riding alone. I think we need 2 horses;)

The Ali Davis class I took at My Creative Classroom was awesome! I love her sketch books so I knew I would love the class. I was able to mostly stay up to date with the class even though I was gone to the show right in the middle of it. Here are 4 of the 5 assignments I did:

Please excuse some of the crappy photos as I was in a hurry to get them posted and some had to be taken at night. Definitely not the best time for picture taking.

Speaking of picture taking, I have recently started shooting in the RAW thanks to a push and help from Stacy. It is SO much better and easier to adjust my photos. I was scared to try it but am so glad I did! Thanks Stac!

I WILL have the Just Jax post this week. Also there will be a scrap room sneak peak as its almost put together. When I FINALLY have it all finished, then there will be a big post + giveaways to say thanks for hanging in there with me while I haven't been blogging:/

Happy Monday!