Halloween Happenings

Last year for Halloween we stayed close to the house and Amelia Grace wore her costume for all of 15 minutes before she decided she'd had enough of being a little chickie. This year was way different and has me even more excited for the future! Our little strawberry had more fun than I can express in these simple words as she went to a few houses and then hung out with her new pal, Addie. She even got to enjoy a piece of her candy behind our backs when she somehow managed to get a KitKat bar open without our help! I think it's safe to say we have a Halloween fan in our fam. What made the day even more special was when we got to introduce her to Carter-Finley Stadium for her first tailgate and football experience. This year is going to be hard to top!

Go Pack!

Our little cheerleader went trick-or-treating in the parking lot before the game.

SO much joy in this little one's heart!!

Got To Be NC!

Every year for as long as I can remember I have gone to the Carolina Renaissance Festival in the Fall. When David and I got married he joined in and it became one of our favorite traditions (recaps can be found here and here) and last year we added Amelia Grace to the adventure! Following our big move this summer we knew we would have to replace this year's Renaissance Festival visit with something a little different-the North Carolina State Fair! Many moons ago (okay, like 8 years ago) David and I started going together when we were in college. Little did we know that we would be returning with our sweet girl down the road! 

My two sisters heard we were going and decided to join us for the adventure. Mandy and her husband, Tyler, provided the trip with the awesome camera that took the following pictures. Abby and her boyfriend, Mark, brought his kids who provided lots of entertainment. It's definitely more fun to go with kids who appreciate the fair with a child-like wonder that is often lost on adults. 

Rides were ridden, food was eaten, and lots of fun was had! Here are a few pictures from the day. . .

We all paid for our adventures dearly as we are all fighting a nasty cold but it was worth it. Hopefully the next time we go we will all stay healthy!

Butternut Squash Soup

If you follow me on Instagram then you may have seen my post about the butternut squash soup I made the other day. With all the dreary weather Hurricane Joaquin has brought up the Carolinas I have been craving cozy clothes, cups of coffee, and soups. All the soups. I've had a butternut squash hanging out since we went to the Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago and I knew I needed to do something with it. Enter the delicious soup below. . .

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash

3 tablespoons butter

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup water

nutmeg

salt

pepper

Directions

Cut squash in 1 inch chunks.

Melt butter.

Add chopped onion and cook until soft

Add squash and stock.

Cook until squash is soft (mine took around 20 minutes).

Remove squash chunks and puree.

Pour blended squash back in pot.

Sprinkle with spices and enjoy!

This tasted even yummier with a little Greek Yogurt on top!

See You Later, Summer

Today marks the unofficial end of Summer across the board. School is in session and pumpkin spice is back on the shelves. The air is cooler (I use the term "cooler" loosely here in North Carolina) and the light-filled evenings are getting shorter. This summer brought us many changes as we moved to an apartment and then found a house. Our sweet gift celebrated her first birthday and continued to show us a love without limits. 

It's been a good season for us, but we're ready for what's to come. . . 

Giving Thanks

Every year we have much to be thankful for, but this year has brought extra joy by the name of Amelia Grace. 

It's hard to believe this little turkey is 4 months old now (post coming soon!) and showing off every bit of her unique personality. We are not just thankful for our precious gift, but also for the family we get to share her with! Wednesday found us visiting the Mobleys and enjoying our first delicious meal of the year. We even managed to convince David's brother, John, to hold her! 

Thursday morning we woke up and headed to Winston Salem to see my family and chow down on another delicious meal. I think someone counted and we ended up with 20 people at my grandparent's house for our very last Thanksgiving there before they sell the house and move into something smaller. 

Both meals filled our tummies and our hearts. 

Obligatory Halloween Post

Another favorite part of Fall? Halloween, of course! As a kid, there were few things more fun than wandering around the neighborhood with your friends collecting loads of free candy from the neighbors. It's just as fun on the other side of things seeing all the kiddos in their fun costumes. This year we got to dress up our little nugget!

Before we knew if she was a boy or a girl we called her "Nugget". My dad saw this costume at Costco one day and grabbed it for her. I think it's save to say we have the cutest little chicken nugget around:-)

Her face in this one cracks me up every time!

Riding the struggle bus.

Batman and his sidekick, Chicken Little

We partnered up with our neighbors and passed out glow sticks and candy around a fire pit in the driveway. It was a fun night but I can't wait until we can take her trick-or-treating next year!

Pumpkin Carving

In case I haven't mentioned it enough, I love Fall. One of the sure signs of Fall is when you start seeing pumpkins popping up all around town. Gigi and Pop Pop (my parents) got Amelia Grace a mini pumpkin at the beginning of October, but it rotted in a few weeks. Why did it rot? Because our front porch gets direct sunlight all day. No pumpkin, plant, or flower is safe! Every Spring I try to plant flowers that the lovely people at Lowes assure me cannot be killed, yet every year they are dead in weeks. Too much sun. 

This year we waited until the very last minute to get our pumpkin. We decided to buy local and head over to our a cute farm stand near our house. We experienced bit of sticker shock when we saw that the medium pumpkins were $12.99 each! Maybe I'm a little naive, but that was pricey to me. The big ones were $35.99 each! After deciding that was too much for our budget we headed to Harris Teeter and got a pumpkin the size of the $35.99 ones for $4.99. They're local too, right? ;-)

David took the initiative on the design and carved it like a champ!

You mean you don't want a pumpkin UFO in your face?

She was less than enthused by this part. 

Amelia Grace enjoyed her job as spectator too!

Asheville Adventures Part 1

Have I mentioned how much I love North Carolina in the Fall?? There are so many wonderful things you can do here that really show you some of God's wonders, and we got to experience some of them! 

We kicked started our weekend a little early on Friday by heading to Sky Top Orchard in Flat Rock, NC about 45 minutes outside of Asheville. This was our second year venturing here after such a great experience last year. We were extra excited to bring Amelia Grace and Daisy this time around. We thought that by going on a Friday earlier in the season we wouldn't have to fight a big crowd, but we couldn't have been more wrong! Last year we parked in the front parking lot, walked right up, picked our apples, got our doughnuts, and headed home. That was definitely not the case this time!

As any parent knows, nothing is the same when you add a baby to the mix! We parked at the back of the orchard and started the march in. We weren't two minutes from the car when I felt something wet on my hand. You guessed it, little miss had exploded poop all over her precious Halloween outfit. Good thing I got a picture before we left the house;-) 

David and Daisy continued the march in to explore the situation while Amelia Grace and I went back to the car to clean up.  Once we were all set we met back up and decided to wander around. We didn't realize how much they had to offer! Daisy was a big fan of the farm animals while Amelia Grace decided that a nap was a bit more fun. 

We attempted to pick apples, but so many were already gone so we cheated a bit and bought some that had already been picked. We decided the hour-long wait for doughnuts was a bit much so we ended up with a delicious apple pie instead. A worthy trade if you ask me!

After we'd had enough of the orchards we decided it was time to head in the direction of Asheville. Part two coming later this week!

Renaissance Festival 2014!

It's that time of year again!! One of our favorite things about Fall is the Renaissance Festival. If you've never been, and there is one near you, then you need to get there as fast as you can! Between the food, the drinks, the shows, and the crazy people watching it is worth every penny. This year my brother, Harrison, and his lovely new wife, Ashley, joined us on our adventure. As did our very own renaissance princess, Amelia Grace;-)

We weren't even in the gate yet and she was already knocked off from excitement.

We're fortunate in that the festival is literally five minutes from our house, so we didn't have to do too much waiting to get there. We do know people who drive down from Greensboro and Raleigh to attend each year. Talk about dedication! We left our house around 10 (when they opened) and figured we'd be some of the first there. Wrong. Since they run an opening weekend special of buy one adult ticket, get one free it seems like the entire population of Huntersville, Concord, and Charlotte combined met us there. 

Ashley had never been so the first thing we did was hit up the Tortuga Twins show. This is always a favorite of ours, and pretty much anyone else who attends the festival! 

 Tortuga Twins!

After the show we grabbed some beers (a must-have when attending the festival and partaking in the extreme people-watching adventures) and started meandering. We went to a few shops before heading into the Dungeon. It's been years since I had been in so I was excited to be reminded of all the cuckoo things they did back in the day. Ashley and David entertained us by reading all the plaques in their best ghoulish voices. 

The dungeon, enter if you dare!

David's obligatory moment of debate as to whether or not he should purchase a sword. Spoiler alert, he didn't get one.

Little Miss let us know she was ready to eat so we all took her advice and enjoyed the annual turkey leg. Another must-have when attending the festival. After enjoying our snack we kept wandering before hitting up the petting zoo. What is it about getting to see farm animals up close that excites us all so much?? Haha.

Stoked around some farm animals.

It was about this time that the hypnosis show was getting started. We always seem to catch the tail end of this so David was excited to be there from the beginning. He made a joke that I should go up there if he asked for volunteers. I laughed it off, but a minute later when he did, I jumped up! If you know me at all you know that is SO not like me. I just figured, why not? 

Please take note of my latest accessory, the Ergo. Love it!

I can safely say he did his job and "hypnotized" me, for at least part of the time any way. I remember zoning off, but not much else after that until a little bit later when things started becoming clear again. I guess I woke up part of the way through? David, Ashley, and Harrison said they could all tell at a certain point I wasn't fully hypnotized any more. But I don't remember things super clearly either, so who knows? It was a neat experience for sure!

Getting in some AG snuggles!

After that we took in the afternoon jousting session before deciding we were ready to head home. We were all tired and had pups that needed to potty. Overall it was a great day and we're already looking forward to next year when Amelia Grace will actually be awake for some of it;-)

5 on Friday [09.26]

Happyyyyy Fridayyyyyy!

*one*

I love Fall and everything about it. The cool weather, the leaves, the football-everything! Probably my most favorite part is the attack of pumpkin, though. The best place to soak in pumpkin and all its glory? Trader Joe's! I'm literally going to have to limit how much pumpkin stuff I buy on my weekly trip. This week I splurged on pumpkin pop tarts. As delicious as they sound! 

*two*

It's time for the Fall Food Truck Rally!! We went last year with our church community group and pigged out! Excited to share it with our little love this year:-)

*three*

Alright, online shoppers, what are your favorite discount shopping sites? I'm a member of Rue La La and Zulily, but I'd love to hear about any others that will save us money!

*four*

TGIT! The return of Scandal and Parenthood and the introduction of How to Get Away with Murder have this girl excited! What shows are you excited about this Fall??

*five*

Ever look at your calendar and totally freak?? That was us last night. We thought that after we got through the summer our lives would simmer down. Ha! We could't have been more wrong. We are so blessed to have so many people to see and things to do, but we will definitely be soaking in any breaks we get;-)

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Just like most Americans I LOVE anything pumpkin flavored. Here is a childhood classic, with a bit of a pumpkin twist. Let me know what you think!

Ingredients

Cookies

 1 cup room temp butter

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla 

3 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Coating   

1/2 cups white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of allspice

Directions

Beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

 Stir in the pumpkin puree.

Add in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate  bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. 

Stir until fully incorporated. 

Cover and chill the dough for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix the coating ingredients in a small bowl. 

Make dough balls and roll into the sugar mixture. 

Lightly flatten cookies with heel of hand (don't smush!).

 Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.

Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, or until baked through. 

Enjoy!

5 on Friday [09.19]

Happy Friday!!

*one*

Wow, this week has been a fun one with little miss! I think she's completed her first "leap" according to the Wonder Weeks concept because she has grown so much! Lots of smiles and focusing on things. She's actually cooing and seems to be "playing"! Well, playing as much as a 7-week old would.

*two*

A longggg while back I wrote a post about shopping local and why we try to do it whenever we can. So imagine how excited I was when I discovered a new farm stand minutes from our house! I mean, I pass this thing on an almost daily basis. When I finally stopped by this week I was quickly greeted with lots of welcoming smiles and free samples. The owner then told me their plans to build an actual shop and "farmer's market" restaurant in that location at the beginning of next year. I just about hugged my new BFF in excitement. One of the things I miss most about Raleigh is the Farmer's Market shops and restaurant. Eeeeek! Cannot wait! Check them out on facebook at Country Olive!

*three*

We are participating in our first yard sale this weekend. When did we grow up?? I feel like yard sales are a very grown up thing to do. 

Who wants to come buy our crap? I mean "stuff". . .

Baby not for sale. Unlessss the offer is right ;-)

*four*

So, I have recently joined a MOPS group and I am in love! MOPS is an incredible Christian organization for mommies of young ones.  I love that the women are from all different walks of life, yet so welcoming and fun. A wonderful group to grow with!

*five*   

Can I just say how much I love this time of year? The cooler temps, the constant football, the constant weekend offerings. This time of year fills my heart!

2013 Renaissance Festival

It's that time of year again! What time, you say? Time for turkey legs, Huzzahs, and ridiculously dressed folk-it's time for the Renaissance Festival! Every year we make sure to make time in our busy Fall weekends to attend the Renaissance Festival. The tickets may be a smidge pricey at $22 person, it is more than worth it. Between the crazy shows and delicious food we always have a great time. When you throw in the odd costumed characters it goes to a whole other level!

This year we headed over there bright and early to make the most of our time. The weekend's theme was "Halloween Daze and Spooky Knights" with an offer for a free kid's entrance. We'd never gone on this weekend in year's past so it was neat to see how they celebrated Halloween with the kiddos. 

As soon as we got in we got a salted caramel mocha and settled in for our first show. 

Then we wandered around for a bit before we ran into some friends of ours from Raleigh. We took their advice and saw a crazy acrobatic show. Their strength and tricks had us all watching with our mouths hanging open.

After the acrobatics we wandered around for a bit and took in some more of the oddities there.

A person dressed up like a tree. Sure, why not?

One of these days he is actually going to buy one of the $300 swords he swoons over.

Did the folk of the Renaissance really ride camels around? Probably not, but I couldn't resist catching this guy's face!

Just before we left (after we had eaten our weight in snacks!) we stopped by the Tortuga Twins Show. This show is a classic at the Renaissance Festival and a definite must-see. Seeing them again reminder me of all the time I used to go with my two best friends growing up!

It was a fabulous day all around and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Friday's Letters [10.25]

Happy Friday, folks!

Dear teacher friends, We are almost a quarter of the way through the school year and we have the work to prove it! Just a few extra hours of grading and we can dive straight on into the next chapter of the year.

Dear students,  I know you're tired. I know you're antsy. I know you're getting fidgety. You took us through some interesting antics with the full moon, but we stood strong against your crazy. Only a few more days until your break! Please be kind. 

Dear Renaissance Festival, We're coming for ya! You never cease to entertain us with your cuckoo antics. Looking forward to more interesting characters than ever before!

Dear Fall,  Where'd ya go? I blinked and we seem to have entered Winter. We've discussed time and time again my dislike of your sister Winter, so I'm going to need you to have a talking to her and get her to step back for a bit. No more thirty degree mornings!

Dear readers, And in case you ever doubt out love of Daisy check out this for a good giggle.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chips Bars

I love pumpkin and it's fall, so what's a girl to do? Get to baking:-)

Ingredients

 2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin

 1 package chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and set aside. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt

Cream butter and sugar until smooth.

Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. 

Add pumpkin puree and mix well. 

Mix in dry ingredients until just combined. 

Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. 

Bake bars for 35-40 minutes.

Cool and serve.

Enjoy!

Friday's Letters [09.20]

Happy Friday, folks!

Dear Fall, Oh, how wonderful you are! These cooler temps and beautiful days can stick around.

Dear ios7, You are totally tripping me out, but I love it. You are beautiful and awesome and fun and all sorts of things. 

Dear Twitter peeps, Who is your favorite account to follow? Don't have one? I'd like to introduce you to the funniest character on Twitter, Honest Toddler. Start following now. You won't regret it, I promise.

Dear Rue La La, I don't quite know what to do with you. I love all the ridiculously awesome sales you have, but if you continue to tempt me like you have I'm going to end up in the poor house! Many thanks for offering these gems for $49.50 instead of their regular price of $198.

Friday's Letters [09.06]

Happy Friday one and all!

Dear Daisy, Nobody likes when you refuse to go on walks then walk around the house whining unceasingly because you have so much energy. Nobody.

Dear ladies, Need a new reading plan? Look no further! #SheReadsTruth is an incredible group of godly women who write heart-opening commentary based on different books/series in the Bible. You will regret it if you don't start reading, trust me.

Dear students, It's only been two weeks and you have already stolen my heart with your humor and love. Be gentle because this mama bear is already watching out for her kids!

Dear birthday, You were pretty awesome but I hate that you had to go so soon. Already looking forward to your return!

Dear Fall, Heyyyyyyy. After a monsoony summer we are ready to welcome you with open arms. Bring on the Pumpkin Spice Lattes, the scarves, the football, the falling leaves, and fairs! We're ready for ya!

Friday's Letters [11.02]

Happy Friday one and all! It's a great day to link up with Adventures of Newlyweds for another edition of Friday's Letters. . .

Dear gas prices, Why, oh, why is it that every time I finally stop to get gas you drop the prices the very next day? I try to put it off as long as possible, but without fail you always seem to beat me. It's just not fair (said in childish pouting voice). Want to be nice and give me a good price every once in a while?

Dear Renaissance Festival, We are very excited to come enjoy your little bits of crazy this weekend. Everything from the delicious food (I see you, roasted turkey leg) to the hysterical shows (Tortuga Twins!) keeps us coming back year after year. Can't wait to see what new stuff y'all have in store this year!

Dear November, Welcome! I am so excited you are here. You bring a month of holidays off of school and time spent with family and friends. This year you are also bringing us the news of what Peanut's gender is-hooray! Make yourself comfortable and stay awhile.

Dear students, I know you've had a crazy week with a Teacher Workday on Monday, Halloween on Wednesday, then Clubs and a dance today, but it would be greatly appreciated if you weren't crazy today. I understand that any disruption to your routine often has adverse effects, but this tired teacher would love it if nothing out of the norm happened today. Appreciate it!

Friday's Letters [09.21]

Happy Friday one and all!

Dear cooler mornings, Welcome! I love being able to let the dog out in the morning and not immediately start sweating from the mugginess. I hope you stick around for a while before the beast of actually COLD mornings shows up.

Dear iPhone 5, As excited as I am for your arrival, I'm going to let you do your thing for a bit before I jump the gun. I figured I'll wait until all the cool techie kids figure out what you can do (and if anything is wrong with you) before I bite the bullet and upgrade. I would appreciate it if you were totally awesome with no issues though, because then I could possibly convince my husband to join the 21st Century and get a smart phone!

Dear neighborhood yard sale, Last year you blew us out of the water with all the stellar things you provided for us. I mean a solid oak dining room table for $50?! You can't beat that! Please don't fail us!

Dear students, I know it seems that someone dies in every single story we read in class. That's because someone does. I know that sounds morbid, but would y'all really be interested in the story if everything was happy-go-lucky with no conflict? Nope. Y'all would be fussing about it being boring. Enjoy the fact that it's fiction and just go with it:-)

Friday's Letters [08.31]

Happy Friday, folks!

Dear first week of school, You have been exhausting, but fulfilling. I am so excited to see what this school year and the students will bring!

Dear NC State, Tonight is the night. The big game all of us fans have been waiting eight months for. Please do not disappoint! The hubby and I are sad to miss seeing the game live, but there is no way we would make it to Atlanta in time for kick-off. We'll be cheering y'all on from the comfort of our couch. GO PACK!

Dear readers, I apologize for my horrible attention to this blog this past week. Things have been absolutely cray-cray in the Mobley house. I promise to do a much better job starting now! Oh, and be on the lookout for a giveaway coming soon:-)

Dear family and friends, Thank you so much for all the birthday love! It's hard to stop smiling when every time I turn around someone else is wishing me a happy birthday. Talked about being blessed! Thank you again for all the love.

Dear fall, Okay, I'm ready for you now. I fought long and hard to keep summer around but with the start of school I realized it was a lost cause. Bring on the cooler temps and pumpkin-flavored everything!