fire chief Nolan

At one of either mine or Nolan’s doctor appointments recently, I filled out a questionnaire on safety in our house, and one question asked if we had a carbon monoxide detector. I answered “no”. A week or so later, I was awake in bed, my mind racing wildly of all of the potential dangers of the house. I asked Steve the next morning if we could buy a carbon monoxide detector. And I added, “By the way, have you checked the smoke detectors since we moved in?”

Well, he found 4 smoke detectors in the house: one in the basement, one on main floor, one on 2nd floor, and one near the attic. He tested all of them, and only the one in the basement chirped. Two of them did not even have batteries. Yikes! We made a trip to Lowe’s that morning and bought 10 smoke detectors and 1 carbon monoxide detector.

Ironically, that afternoon, my mom had been subbing at the elementary school, and she dropped off an extra bag of fire safety goodies for Nolan—a plastic fireman’s hat, coloring book, eraser, pencil, bracelet, etc. My favorite was a magnet that had a list of all the months of the year as a reminder to check smoke detector batteries monthly. I suppose we needed that? :)

Ironically again, later that night, they had the town fire trucks lined up downtown for kids to see up-close and go for rides. The firemen gave Nolan another plastic hat, stickers, and a “danger” whistle, which he especially liked.

Between all the smoke detectors and the little boy with the plastic whistle, I think we now have the safest house on the block :)

pumpkin dessert bars

 

I had a request last week to make something pumpkin-y for the blog. :)  This is my family’s vintage “go-to” pumpkin recipe (easier than pie or pumpkin roll)—and equally delicious.

Ingredients:

1 package yellow cake mix
1 1/2 sticks butter/margarine
3 eggs
1 (30 ounce) can pumpkin pie mix—(see photo below of the can)
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Reserve 1 cup of the yellow cake mix for later. To the rest of the mix, add 1 stick of melted butter and 1 egg. Mix and pat into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Mix the can of pumpkin pie mix with 2/3 cup of milk and 2 eggs. Pour over the first layer in the pan.



 

For the third layer, stir together your reserved 1 cup of cake mix, 1/2 stick butter (you can chop it into tiny pieces—cold or room temperature), 1/4 cup sugar, and cinnamon.

 

Crumble the mixture on top and bake for 50 minutes.



 

Let it cool before serving. I like to keep the leftovers in the fridge.

This is definitely a recipe to “pin” for a fall dinner party or for Thanksgiving! Yum!

new kitchen curtains

Last week, I finally got started on a project I’d been thinking about since we moved in over 2 months ago—I sewed my first curtains!

There are a lot of windows in this house, which I love. Most of the window treatments left in the house were not worth keeping, so we threw them out before we moved in. However, with the kitchen, I didn’t want to toss the curtains before I had replacements ready. They weren’t terribly ugly. but they were old, dirty, and just not my taste.

On the right, you can kind of see that there was some blue and pink in them.

They were see-through, so they let in a lot of light, but you couldn’t open them to see anything clearly out the window. In addition to that, our neighbors could see right in once it got dark outside.

I bought four yards of gray and white chevron fabric from JoAnn’s for $15 (with a 40% off coupon). Once I figured out how to sew the first one, the other five came together pretty quickly.

I absolutely love how they turned out—I think they’re the perfect modern addition to the kitchen! 

And we’re extremely happy to have privacy in our kitchen now, especially when it’s getting dark earlier :)

baby bump: 24 weeks

how far along? 24 weeks!  due January 28th.

how are you measuring? the midwife at my doctor’s office last week said I was measuring right on track. This picture doesn’t make me look very big, but I catch myself in the mirror sometimes and think “wow!”

size of baby: size of a cantaloupe, about 10.5 inches (head to toe) and 1 pound!

heartbeat: 139 bpm last Thursday

total weight gain/loss: + 14 lbs 

maternity clothes:  wearing maternity tanks (shirts still fit) and pants

stretch marks: nope

belly button: same

sleep: I’m fitting in the occasional nap when Nolan naps, and Steve sometimes lets me snooze for a few extra minutes in the mornings :)

movement: He’s definitely an active little baby!

food cravings:  I had Steve go out the other night for Honeycrisp apples, but they’re so darn expensive! Fruit, popcorn, ice cream, cereal, chocolate, the usual. I’m always hungry.

food aversions: no aversions, but I feel like I have to be careful not to overeat things that are too heavy or acidic—especially at night, or it’s difficult to lay down flat.

symptoms I have: tired legs (shins)

comparisons to last pregnancy: It’s just different to already have a child and be pregnant with the second one. I tell Nolan that there’s a baby in my tummy, but then he goes around touching Steve’s tummy and his own tummy, and saying “baby” :)

doctor’s appointment: Last week, my appointment was fine. I met with one of the two midwives (that they just hired), and to be honest, I’m a little unsure that I want to deliver with either of the midwives. I decided on this practice because I liked the doctor, so I’m unsure if I’m allowed to voice this preference?

what I’m looking forward to: Steve started tearing down the old wallpaper in the baby’s room, and so I’m excited to continue prepping it to paint! I’m hoping that Steve, Nolan, and I have a chance to go see friends/family before this baby comes.

HB, Dad.

Just sharing some photos of my dad on what would be his 56th birthday.

Working at camp in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
 
Number 4 out of 6 kids.
 
Front center. (With his mom, brother Dan, sister Karen, & brother Paul.)
 
brothers: Brian, Paul, Bruce.

Playing around at camp.


With my mom in college. I have this one framed in my kitchen.


Getting ready for my sister Hannah to arrive.

 
Love all of these.

nestle dark chocolate & mint no-bake cheesecake

It has been a long time since I’ve posted a dessert recipe! For the first trimester with this baby, I lost my sweet tooth, and it was very depressing. I’ve had my normal chocoholic self back for a while now, thank goodness. I found this recipe next to a display for Nestle Toll House’s “Winter” Dark Chocolate & Mint Morsels. There were several minty recipes there, actually, so you might see a few more in upcoming weeks. :)

Though it looks like it could be difficult, I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to make the ganache topping for the pie. (Love the word ganache—so fancy!)

Ingredients:
10 oz. package Nestle Toll House Dark Chocolate & Mint Morsels, divided
2 packages (8 oz. each) 1/3 less fat cream cheese (Neufchatel), at room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 prepared 9-inch (6 ounce) chocolate crumb crust (I bought an Oreo pie crust)
 
Set aside 1/2 cup of morsels for ganache topping. From remaining morsels, sort out 1 tablespoon mint (green) morsels for the drizzle; set aside.

Melt remaining morsels in medium, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on Medium-High (70%) power for 1 minute; STIR. The morsels may retain some of their original shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10-15 second intervals, stirring just until smooth. Cool slightly.


Beat cream cheese, brown sugar, granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, and vanilla extract in medium mixer bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes.


Add melted chocolate; continue beating for 1 minute. Spoon into crust, and smooth top.

Microwave remaining 2 tablespoons cream in 1-cup glass measure on High (100%) power for 20 seconds or until boiling. Add reserved 1/2 cup of morsels to cream; let sit for 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Cool for 5 minutes. Spread ganache over cheesecake to within 1/4-inch of edge.


Microwave the reserved mint morsels in a small dish on Medium-High (70%) power for 20 seconds. If necessary, microwave at 10-15 second intervals until smooth. Transfer the liquid to a small plastic bag, and cut tiny corner from bag. Drizzle over top of ganache. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Makes 10 servings.

Enjoy!

life lately

 
Painting for the first time! He loved it!


He wanted Mommy to clean up his hands periodically.

 
What Mommy made with the paints :)  Since he knows all his letters, it’s time to learn numbers, too!

I didn’t catch this picture until he was trying to escape, but he was holding the baby doll so sweetly!


Photo by Nolan.

 
Hanging out in one of his new tents from Shari & Joe!


We got a great package from our family in Nebraska! In it were two awesome trains!! I love the little birthday card here from Donovan :)

  }
An attempt at homemade bread. It never rose the way it should have, but it was tasty.


The former owners of this house tried to grow cantaloupe, but this is the wrong climate for melons. These were so small, but pretty!


Playing in the leaves while Daddy raked them.



Always trying to run out of my pictures :)


Life is just better with chocolate chip pancakes.

We fed some bread crumbs to ducks at the park. So fun!


Finally getting some work done on the overgrown garden outside. We didn’t bother it until now because we weren’t sure what was weeds and what was veggies. I’m fairly certain that everything in this photo is weeds.


I made my Aunt Tina’s recipe for a corn flake chicken with cheese and hashbrowns. It was really delicious!


My friend Meghan, Nolan, and I drove north to see some elk on Friday night. Nolan and I had tried to find elk on his birthday a month ago, but it was raining. This time, we had no luck seeing any at the viewing center, but as we were driving home, we encountered a huge group of them congregated on someone’s lawn!

 
My mom often has deer in her yard, which has been crazy for this city girl to see. But I can’t even imagine looking out your window to all of these giant elk in your yard!


Nolan was pretty unfazed by the elk.

 
Yesterday we celebrated our niece Abby’s 9th birthday. Nolan helped his cousin blow out the candles. :)


And then we enjoyed some Dairy Queen ice cream cake.

 
Loved this homemade card that Abby received! I need to figure out how to make it :)


Fall leaves. We’re about to hit the peak in the colors soon, and I’ll have to get some good photos of that out in the country. It was in the 80s this weekend—a nice last taste of summer—but maybe a little too hot for October!