UMMM, Yum!

This latest dessert that I made deserved its very own blog post.  I could go on and on about it, but I'll just show you the picture.

It needs no words.  It's just plain yum and it just screams FALL!  Between the apples, pecans, and the praline glaze it just feels like something that you would serve around Thanksgiving.  I found it in the September issue of Southern Living and I'm so glad I made it.  Now, I'm passing it on to you!

Go on now, go make it!

Praline-Apple Bread

Ingredients

• 1 1/2  cups  chopped pecans, divided


• 1  (8-oz.) container sour cream


• 1  cup  granulated sugar


• 2  large eggs


• 1  tablespoon  vanilla extract


• 2  cups  all-purpose flour


• 2  teaspoons  baking powder


• 1/2  teaspoon  baking soda


• 1/2  teaspoon  salt


• 1 1/2  cups  finely chopped, peeled Granny Smith apples (about 3/4 lb.)


• 1/2  cup  butter


• 1/2  cup  firmly packed light brown sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake 1/2 cup pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 6 to 8 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring after 4 minutes.

2. Beat sour cream and next 3 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes or until blended.

3. Stir together flour and next 3 ingredients. Add to sour cream mixture, beating just until blended. Stir in apples and 1/2 cup toasted pecans. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 9- x 5-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup chopped pecans; lightly press pecans into batter.

4. Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, shielding with aluminum foil after 50 minutes to prevent excessive browning. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack.

5. Bring butter and brown sugar to a boil in a 1-qt. heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat, and spoon over top of bread; let cool completely (about 1 hour).

Note: To freeze, cool bread completely; wrap in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil. Freeze up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.

Recipe from Debbie Grusska, Hobart, Indiana

Debbie Grusska, Hobart, Indiana, Southern Living, SEPTEMBER 2009

Go Away Cold!

Guess who's feeling better as of Friday?!  Thursday afternoon was rough.  John Michael started getting a cold, got sick, had a fever, then threw up all over me two different times and threw up on the couch where we were snuggling and watching cartoons. 

As you know, it's just a lot of clean up, involving a lot of laundry.  Jordan worked on the couch after he got home.  I'm so thankful my in-laws are bringing their carpet/upholstery cleaner when they come tomorrow!  Not only am I going to clean the couches, but I guess nesting has set in because I'm ready to get our carpets clean!

We're mostly going to stay around the house and get Jordan and John Michael completely well.  Have I mentioned I hated last fall and winter because of the constant colds we kept around here?  I'm hoping we stay healthier this year, especially with a little baby around!

Before the sickness set in, we had a fun little visitor on Thursday morning.  Braxton came to play so that Jessica could go to her ultrasound appointment. The little guys played, watched cartoons, and ate snacks!

You can tell how into Cars Braxton is!  He looks less than thrilled that John Michael is bugging him during his movie!

Thursday afternoon was playgroup at the Pumpkin Patch!  I was so excited to go and take cute pictures and have a good time.  We did not have a good time.  I think JM was really getting sick at this point and I should have just left; mommy lesson learned.  He would not let me put him down and he fussed the whole time.  Poor guy!

These are the only pictures that I could get of him.  He was not having it.  We will be back next week for cute pictures in our pumpkin shirt and a pumpkin picked out by John Michael!

And, on a fun note, I have these random pictures from last week.  After we beat Arkansas last week I knew John Michael had to wear his little Alabama outfit to church.

Here's my boys all dressed and ready to go!  I stayed home and rested that day.

And here's a random picture of John Michael playing at a park that's close to our neighborhood!  And if you can't tell, he's eating "crackah".  It's about the only thing I can get him to eat most days...that's another blog post.

Sarah Kate and John Michael looked so cute last week at playgroup.  I couldn't get him to look at the camera!  They are getting so big.

Have a happy weekend.  I know I'm keeping my guys out of church tomorrow, but I'm trying to decide about myself!  I hate that it's only the beginning of October and we're already thinking about not spreading germs or catching them.

A Little Update Plus Decorating!

We've had an eventful couple of days around our house!  I took it easy over the weekend and let Jordan handle John Michael and do everything around the house.  I've been experiencing some abdominal muscle/ligament pain.  I rested my stomach muscles over the weekend and it got better but it came back on Monday night.

I headed to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon and they basically said it's not going to get any better until I deliver.  It's really hard to force myself to realize I can't pick everything up and that I really do need to take it easy over these next month or two.  Luckily, my husband is wonderful and he has been taking care of so many things around the house at the end of the night. 

Surprisingly, I woke up this morning with NO pain at all.  I know if I push it or do too much it could flare up again, so I'm going to wear my maternity belt every single day, try not to do any housework, and hopefully I will be pain free through the rest of the pregnancy!  I was really down last night....of course as a mom I was wondering how am I going to take care of my family, my house, the laundry.  How am I going to make sure John Michael doesn't feel that I'm forgetting about him since I'm trying not to pick him up as much. 

We really prayed about it and we really feel God is just going to take care of us over these next few weeks until the delivery.  We have in-laws coming in this weekend and then my mom and brother are coming at the end of October.  I know it's going to help me so much to have family up to help us!  We've also had so many wonderful friends from church ask us over and over if we need anything and that feels so nice to know if we really need them, they're there.

Moving on!  I'm not doing too much in the way of decorating for fall.  I have a lot of Halloween things, but for now I'm just doing a few fall decorations around the house!

I have a glass jar that I filled with lemons for the summer, so I filled it with apples and different small gourds for fall.  It resides on the kitchen table!

Later, after I unpacked some boxes I found this little pumpkin wreath so I wrapped it around the glass jar and I think it looks pretty good!  John Michael is in the background eating his "crackah"!

And, is it crazy that it makes me insanely happy everytime I light my new fall candle?!  The best part is that I randomly found it at Wal-Mart and it was on Roll Back!  Whoo hoo!  It smells heavenly.

Next, I put a fall leaf swag on the fireplace mantle.

Looks so fall-ish!

I also decided instead of buy the $100 wreath that I fell in love with, I would just reuse my old wreath and stick in a few pieces that I already had and then added some pumpkins for fall!

Yeah, you can't see it from the street, but it's pretty cute!

Tomorrow is pumpkin patch day and I can't wait!  I know I'll have some super-cute pictures to share!

Go, Tractor, Go!

After Library reading day last week, I took John Michael up to our outdoor mall to get out of the house for a bit.  It seemed like it had been raining for two whole weeks, and even though I knew I was pushing my luck taking him two places in one morning before A: lunch and B: nap...I did it anyway.

I let him ride the little John Deere tractor at the food court!  It was so cute.  He had a really good time on it.

He was very serious about driving his tractor!  He probably would have sat in it for 10 whole minutes driving the steering wheel!  This boy loves wheels!

After we played with the tractor we headed outside into the sunshine and played in the playplace.  He likes to go in and out of the little fake tent.

It's so hard to get a good picture of him because he's on the move so much!

He thoroughly enjoyed the turtle too!

After we played outside I let him push the stroller all the way back to the car.  Another big mistake....after such a long morning AND using all his might to push the stroller, the child passed out.  I mean he was OUT and he took his afternoon nap at lunchtime instead of later in the afternoon!

We had a fun morning and I was just happy it wasn't raining!

Verse O' the Day:

See to it that no one misses the grace of God.

Hebrews 12:15

Game ON!

This weekend is the big Alabama/Arkansas game!  I wish the game was going to be up here so that we could go!  I know John Michael would really enjoy seeing the football game live and in person!

John Michael is all ready for the game!  He's wearing his cute new Roll Tide shirt.  I thought he looked so precious in his big boy outfit!  We were actually on time to get to playgroup early today, so I took some pictures before we left.

When I asked John Michael who he thought would win the big game this weekend, he said:

Woo

Pig

Phooey!

Roll Tide, Y'all!

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I'm glad tomorrow is Friday!  I sure hope it's not going to rain all weekend, that would not be any fun for us.