Happy Birthday Emi!

I'm still recovering from a wild birthday weekend for Emilie.  She turned 2 on Thursday and then had a party on Saturday with some of her friends.  Adam's parents were on their fall break so they came down and brought Grandpa and Granny Huhnke with them.  It's always nice when they can make the trip, especially for Emilie's or Aubrie's birthday because Grandpa's birthday is right before Emilie's and Granny's is right after Aubrie's. 

My personal excitement started on Tuesday when I went to visit the chiropractor for the first time since having Kyle.  I've been having some chest and back pain and sure enough, my chest was out of line (gross) and so was my neck, mid-back, and pelvis.  Go figure.  After leaving my chiropractor's office, I felt like a million bucks.  I have been doing push-ups and tricep dips with our new cross fit workout and since my body still has an abundance of relaxin hormones (the hormone that lets your ligaments loose and makes you unstable and more prone to injury) I think I over did it and now have to modify some of my exercises.  If anyone is looking for a great Chiropractor, go see Dr. Knight at Crist Chiropractic.  She's amazing!!!!

Anyway, I spent a lot of time running around the house, getting things ready for company and hosting a party and it was all worth it because we had a blast!

Getting ready to open presents with Tia.  Aubrie is dressed as a lady bug because at school they got to dress up.

Yeehaw!  Thanks for the hat Gram and Poppy!

Granny playing with the girls while I made cake.

Emilie helping Gaga blow up the candles on his apple pie.  When he was a child, his mom would make him an apple pie for his birthday and if his siblings wanted a piece, he would sell one to them.  His mom said the pie was just for him and he could do whatever he wanted with it.  Nowadays, he gives away pieces for free. 

Blowing out candles with great concentration!!

We had a lot of super dads at the party.  Here's Luke enjoying a cake pop with his daddy, Tim.

Emilie's new favorite baby from Gigi.  Please note her adorable cupcake outfit from Lil' Bug Clothing!!

For my birthday, Amanda got me push pop containers and a cookbook, Push Up Pops by Courtney Dial Whitmore.  Aren't they cute!  I can't wait to try the other recipes!

I also made an apple cake to go with the push pops.  Thanks to Lana and Granny AND Amanda for your help with the cake measuring, icing, and coaching!

Super dad Sunny and baby Rhett!

Super dad Mike and Emilie's pal Trace who was a gentleman and brought her flowers.  What a guy!

Thanks to everyone who came!  We had such a good time!  Thanks to Marcie for grabbing my camera and taking pictures!  We can't believe that we now have a 2 year old, 3 3/4 year old, and baby Kyle who is growing like a weed.  You might notice that there aren't many pictures of him in the party pictures.  He went down for a nap as soon as the first guests got there and woke up right after our last guest left.  What a party pooper!  :)

Love to all!! Pin It Now!

Pumpkin Granola Bars

Get up.  Do it.  Right now.  Go check the pantry for these ingredients and go make these granola bars.  They are so delicious!!!  Good news.  It doesn't use a whole can of pumpkin so after you eat the first batch in two days (don't judge us), you can just make another batch.  Kids love it.  You'll love it.  Your kitchen will smell good!  Get up!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

from twopeasandtheirpod.com

3 1/4 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8 by 8 baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk oats, spices, and salt together. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk brown sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, honey, and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour over oats and stir well, until all of the oats are moist. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Evenly press oat mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. The pumpkin keeps the bars moist, so make sure they are golden and set-you don't want them to be under baked. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
5. Using a sharp knife, cut into bars. Remove from pan and let cool completely.


Things have been crazy busy around here.  Juggling the three kids hasn't been too bad.  Kyle is learning to go with the flow.  He had his well visit last week and was supposed to get shots, but he had an ear infection and his lungs sounded worse so he didn't get his shots.  He seems to be better and we will take him in with us to Emilie's 2 year well visit on Friday to get his shots then.  That's right.  Kyle AND Emilie will be getting shots.  But wait, it gets even more exciting.  Aubrie will be getting a flu shot that day, too.  That's right.  All three kids will be getting a shot.  Maybe mommy and daddy need to take a shot of something before we got to that appointment...just kidding. 

Sleepy Kyle with a pouty lip.

 Yesterday we worked in the yard while the kids were asleep.  I raked leaves and trimmed the front bushes.  Adam mowed the backyard and bagged up my leaves while I finished mowing.  We love our tree in the front yard. All of Nashville is beautiful this time of year.  I love going upstairs and seeing the tree through our big entry way window  This time of year is the best.  I love the cool nights and crisp air.  The other night, my friend Marcie invited a bunch of us mamas over for a deck party.  She had a fire going, hot cider, and cookies.  It was fun brushing the Sesame Street off my shoes and having some adult conversation with a great group of girls.  My brain was so stimulated and I felt so alive that it took me an hour to fall asleep when I got home.  It's amazing what adult time can do to you!

Picnic on the front porch

 Do you see Aubrie's adorable outfit in these two pictures?  It was an outfit we ordered for her third birthday last year.  I always get the girls a special birthday outfit.  The other morning, while I was limping downstairs (I'll get to that in a minute) I realized that Emilie's birthday is next week and I didn't order her an outfit.  What kind of mother am I?  I felt like trash.  I got online and searched for some outfits, but wasn't having any luck.  Everyone's turn around time was 2-3 weeks.  I really needed a favor!  So I messaged the shop that made Aubrie's outfit and asked her for her help and she agreed to make an outfit for Emilie and get it here in time!!!  She is making me look like a good mom who has her stuff together!  You'll have to check out her shop.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/LilBugsClothing

Kyle's not happy.

So I mentioned limping downstairs.  Last week, Adam and I started cross fit at home.  We've been doing workouts after the kids go down.  They only take 20 minutes and they looked pretty simple, but they kicked our rears.  The first day you start with 100 jumping jacks.  (There's about 9 different exercises you do) That didn't seem like much, but we both about went down after that one.  Our legs felt like rubber.  The good news??  Both our weight has gone up!  hahaha.  We hope that means that we are building muscle and not getting fatter.  We aren't taking any days off.  We even took before pictures of ourselves.  We are looking for results here, people.  I'm really enjoying working out with Adam.  I haven't worked out with someone since I worked out with Katie our senior year.  It's always better when you have a partner pushing you and making you better.  Tonight is week 2 and we are incorporating some running in our workout.  If you see us this week and it looks like we are walking like two old people, now you know.

I hope everyone is doing well!  Lots of love! Pin It Now!

Pumpkin Patch

We love apples.  Adam loves Honey Crisp apples and I have to buy him at least 5 every week at the store.  They really are delicious but he goes over the top.  I love apples, too.  I especially love baking with them and I found this recipe for Apple Cider Caramel Cookies.  (I just realized I mis-spelled caramel on the picture, but we are going to ignore it or else it will take 2 more days to get this blog out.  Let's keep rolling.)  While there are no actual apples in the cookie, just apple cider mix, they are still really tasty!

Apple Cider Caramel Cookies

from Scrambled Hen Fruit Blog

1 cup softened butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 box (7.4 oz) Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink mix -not sugar free- all 10 packets (I found this in my grocery store near the hot chocolate mixes.)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups all purpose flour

1 bag Kraft Caramels (14 oz)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment. (You really need the parchment!)
• In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
• With your mixer (or an energetic spoon) cream together butter, sugar, salt and all 10 packages of apple cider drink mix powder, until light and fluffy.
• Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well.
• Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Mix until just combined.
• Refrigerate for about an hour. (If you're really impatient you don't have to do this, but it makes it so much easier to work with.)
• When you are ready to bake, unwrap your caramels. 
• Scoop out cookie dough ball about the size of a walnut. (I used a rounded cookie scoop-full. My scoop holds about a Tablespoon.)
• Flatten the ball of dough slightly in the palm of your hand. Press the unwrapped caramel into the center of your dough and seal the dough around it, covering it completely. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets 2 inches apart.
• Bake 12-14 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges. Please don't over-bake! Once the cookies are done, slide the parchment off of the baking sheet right out onto the counter. Allow cookies to partially cool on the parchment. When cookies are cool enough to be firm but still slightly warm, carefully twist off of parchment and allow to finish cooling upside down (either on the parchment or on a rack.) If you forget about them and they cool too much and stick to your parchment, put them into the freezer for a few minutes and they'll pop right off.
• Yield: about 4 dozen, depending on how large you make your cookies (or how many caramels have been snitched out of your bag before you begin.) Store in an airtight container.

I had a bowl of honey crisp apples on the table where the girls were eating a snack.  I went upstairs to put Kyle down for a nap and they had taken several bites out of every apple in the bowl.  Lovely. 

 We went to the pumpkin patch this past weekend.  We always go out to Walden Farms in Rock Springs.  Each year they add more activities to the farm and the girls really enjoy it. 



Here are the girls playing in the corn.



Aubrie took a stab at milking the cow

Emilie had quite a day.  They had a section where you can pay 2 bucks and let the kids play on playground equipment and with all kinds of toys.  The girls spent a good 45 minutes in that section.  Emilie had a blast peeking through the windows of the little house.  But for her, it all went downhill from there...

Loving us some goats.  Hope we will have a new pet goat at Thanksgiving, Poppy.

Riding the train!



Here's Emilie on the tractor.  Please note her knees.  You can see a little bit of dirt on her leggings.  She lost control of herself about 4 times while we were there.  Each time she would get on all four and put her head down and cry.  At one point she laid on her stomach while she was working out her frustration and had her whole face in the dirt.  Adam and I walked away like we didn't know the child, letting her work it out, but the grandparents peeled her off the ground.



The grandparents were here for the weekend to enjoy the pumpkin patch.

Here is proof that Kyle was there, too.  He likes to sleep.  A LOT!  So that is what he did the whole time. 

Sweet Emilie smelling the sunflowers.  Sweet Emilie has taken up a new hobby.  She likes to play with the home phone.  One day I put on a cartoon and snuck upstairs to nurse Kyle and put him down for a nap.  I had my cell phone with me and my mom called to tell me that Emilie just called her from the home phone.  My mom asked, "Is this Aubrie?"  And Emilie said, "No.  Just Emi." and then managed to push the mute button and left it laying on the floor in the living room.  My parents got a kick out of that.  They don't believe me when I say I'm in control...

Ah, and here are the sweet angels exhibiting their other hobby.  Fighting.  Holy moly those girls can start pushing and arguing with each other.  We got Aubrie to walk away from this dispute to go pick out a pumpkin, but Emilie was once again man-down in the dirt.  This is the last picture you'll see of her.  She never did fully recover.

Kyle opened his eyes!  Loving him some pumpkins!

Aubrie's prized pumpkin

The girls have had a runny nose and cough lately and now Kyle has a cough and has been sleeping a lot.  After talking to my lactation consultant, she convinced me to take him in to be listened to by the doctor.  It was 4:15 and the appointment they had for me was 5.  So I ran and threw on my nicest sweat pants (snicker and snort) and ran out the door.  Adam met us there and we had him looked at.  He weighed in at 14 lb, 6 oz and his lungs sounded fine.  We're so thankful for good health.  We ended up eating Taco Bell for dinner (yuck) and got home in time to run wild around the house before baths.  I hope everyone else is staying healthy!
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Stuffed Cheese Rolls

It's all about survival at my house.  Kyle still gets up twice to eat.  I'm able to keep up with laundry and housework and I even get a shower every day.  But half the time the laundry doesn't get folded until 3 days after it has been dried.  I nap when the opportunity arises and that is always helpful.  I've enjoyed being able to do some housework that was difficult to do while pregnant.  I've been on my hands and knees scrubbing floors and it made me happy.  Adam thinks I'm weird.  I've also been enjoying cooking for the family, I just haven't had time to share much of it with you.  But here is a recipe I thought I would share. 

Stuffed Cheese Rolls

from Yammie's Noshery

1 cup of warm water

2 tablespoons yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons garlic powder (I didn't put this in my dough mixture, wasn't necessary)

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup olive oil

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

At least 8 oz. of cheese, I used Mozzarella

A few tablespoons of melted butter mixed with a sprinkle of garlic powder and some fresh herbs if you want. 

Mix together the yeast and water and let it sit for a couple minutes. Add the sugar, garlic powder, melted butter, and oil. Add the flour a little and a time, mixing in your stand mixer with a dough hook. Add the salt. Knead for 10 minutes, in the stand mixer or by hand. Let the dough rise in a greased bowl (I used the same bowl) covered with a wet cloth for about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375º. Divide the dough into about 20 pieces or so (you can make them as big or small as you want). Put about a 3/4 inch chunk of cheese in each one and make sure you pinch all the edges back up tightly. Put the pinched side down on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle the buns with more shredded cheese and some Parmesan cheese. Bake at 375ºF for about 11-15 minutes until the bread is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. Brush with the melted butter and serve warm.

The girls are enjoying being back at school.  Both girls have wonderful teachers that do an excellent job with the kids.  Emilie has been coming home singing bible songs.  Aubrie is learning how to write her name and enjoying having more responsibility at both school and at home.  The other day we were in the kitchen and she comes in and says, "Guys!  Guys!  Settle down!  Here's my problem...."  We figure she probably hears that at school from her teachers.  :)

Aubrie met Holden in the parking lot and he escorted her to class.  Please note that not only are they holding hands, but their fingers are inter-twined!

We are gearing up for Emilie's birthday and Halloween.  Aubrie chose to be Ariel, the little mermaid, and Emilie picked Snow White.  We got Aubrie a wig to wear and it's kind of a big deal.

We are also gearing up for family pictures.  We went shopping a couple of weekends ago and the girls were getting restless and Kyle was waking up and I was almost done.  So Adam took the kids out to the car while I wrapped up.  He pulled the car up to the curb at the front of the store and Kyle was still crying, so he got out of the car and took out Kyle's car seat and was standing on the sidewalk, swinging it.  Meanwhile, the windows were down and the girls were watching a movie but started yelling at him because it was over.  While all this was happening, a woman walked up to Adam and told him he was such a good father.  He wanted to tell her, "If you see a woman in there who just got her first smell of freedom, tell her to wrap it up and come get her kids!"

The girls have both been under the weather.  Emilie started first with runny nose and she always has her fingers in her mouth.  I think her 2 year molars are coming in as well.  Now they both have a cough and Aubrie is going hoarse.  Kyle even is congested but that's because Emilie loves giving him kisses.  I can't leave him on his play mat with her in the same room because she likes to lay on him and bounce her head on his belly. 

But when dad is around, we can just wrestle with him. 

And there is always time to play with our friend, Higgs.  Love these kids.

Adam is a Notre Dame fan and therefore, I am too.  We are really enjoying this season.  I took this picture of the girls in their jerseys while they were playing in my closet.  At school, Aubrie gets a stamp on her hand if she stays on her mat and is quiet during nap time.  She's all about it.  The other day we were eating out and she kept asking me, "Why does that man have so many stamps?"  I couldn't figure out what she was talking about.  Then she started pointing and asking louder so I turned and saw a very large man with a bald head and lots of tattoos on his arms and figured out that she thought his tattoos were stamps.  I quickly told her not to point and those were stamps.  Daddy explained that those were tattoos in hopes she wouldn't rub someone like that big dude the wrong way and get daddy's butt beat.  :)

I'll share some pumpkin patch pictures next time.  Love to all!

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