Thoughts for Friday: 9.26.14

Hello Friday!
Another busy week of school is done and the girls and I are heading out to our first field trip of the school year this morning. Excitement is high at the Newman house this morning. I just love field trips, nothing has changed over the past 25 years for this girl.
Let's get to it with this weeks Friday picks:
{ONE} Home Tour
If you are half as nosy as me you love the idea of being able to "snoop" around the inside of someones house. Well, I am inviting you to do just that.
This is our home.

On Monday I will be posting a photo tour of the inside.
Our journey with this home started when we lost our home in a tornado, tore a house down, purchased the lot next door to ours and built this custom home. I am so excited to be able to share it with you.
{TWO} Timehop
Random Beth fact: I am a complete sentimental schmuck. I love looking back through old posts, pictures, and status updates.

I may be the last person on earth to discover Timehop, and that is fine. But just in case I am not and you to love looking at old posts and pics, you should check it out. Every day it pulls all of your old photos and status updates so you can reflect back on what you were doing 1, 2, 3 or as far back as your social media thumbprint goes.
{THREE} Memory Verses
Love, love, love this so much. I posted this on my Facebook page, but it was so much cuteness I had to share it here.  

Post by Our Pretty Little Girls.

{FOUR} Fall Bucket List
On Tuesday I shared our Fall Bucket List.
I can hardly wait to cross something off this weekend.
{FIVE} Pumpkin Everything
Since the beginning of fall... or the beginning of September. I have been baking pumpkin everything. Here are a few recipes I have came across that I have or plan to try in the near future.   Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me posted these amazing Pumpkin Muffin Cakes. Check them out and say hello while you are there.

Yesterday I posted this recipe for Easy Pumpkin Bread.

And these Brown Butter Pumpkin Waffles from Two Peas And Their Pod, UH-Mazing!

Have an awesome Friday and a great weekend.
 I will see you back on Monday for my home tour!

Easy Pumpkin Bread {Recipe}

Fall is here and it seems everyone is in the kitchen mixing up some of their favorite fall treats. As a lover of baking, and food, one of my favorite thing is new seasonal recipes. Especially anything fall and bonus points if it has pumpkin in it. A few weeks back I tried out a recipe for an easy, quick pumpkin bread that uses a cake mix as a base. I am slightly embarrassed to admit exactly how many times I have made it since then. It is just so quick, good and it makes the perfect breakfast... I can't help myself. 

Easy Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
Yellow cake mix 1 16oz can of pumpkin Eggs, according to package Oil, according to package 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Pumpkin pie spice Cinnamon sugar (optional)

1. Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees, 350 for darker pan. Lightly grease a loaf pan. 
2. Mix cake mix, eggs, oil, pumpkin, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl until blended well.

3. Pour into prepared pan, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar if desired and bake for 50 minutes or until it tests clean. 

So easy, so good. 

Have you been baking up anything new lately?

It's The Little Things: Coffee Dates & PSL's

Starbucks had BOGO this weekend, a rare and happy occasion. Paying $5's for two coffees doesn't seem like such a bad deal compared to $5 each. Plus it really helps to stretch out the dollars I have loaded on my gift card. 

It's the end of September and I still hadn't had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season. 
How could I pass up going?!
It would be crazy not to go.
At least that is what I convinced myself to be true. 
 It was Saturday afternoon and Russ was working on the car. So, I loaded up the girls and we went out for "a coffee date".   
And of course I couldn't be the only one to get something. I didn't want to be a rude date ;).

Pink cake pops bring a special kind of happiness to little girls. 

Iced to take back home to dad, hot for mom.

For a few minutes I sat back, enjoyed my coffee and the quiet atmosphere. 

FYI: Cake pops also make for two very quiet little girls.

These were an amazing 2 minutes. 

And then life resumed. 

They were running around, giggling and playing on all of the "fun" chairs. 

I was feeling a bit less than relaxed all of a sudden, but thankfully at 2:00 on a Saturday Starbucks isn't very busy. I needed to remember that they don't have to be quietly sitting like picturesque kiddos in their chairs while mommy sips her latte.

Sometimes I can be a fun killer. A fun killer for no good reason. When they are being bad I know I should get them in line. But when they are just being girls, innocently playing around, sometimes I need to learn to chill out.

After all they are real kids, not robots. 

So maybe it wasn't the quiet date I imagined in my head. But with my PSL in hand and two happy little girls playing I was okay with that.

After all...

And time with my girls is always good. 

Fall Bucket List 2014

It's here, it's finally here! Even though Pumpkin Spice Lattes have been out for over a month and our homes have been decorated for a couple weeks now. Today is the day that it is officially fall!
Fallelujah!
We had so much fun doing our summer bucket list that I instantly knew that we had to make one for fall.
Every year there are SO many fall activities that I want to do. It is definitely one of the best and most magical times of the year in the Newman household. It was really hard for me to narrow down my "ultimate list" to one that we could accomplish by the end of October.

I can hardly wait to get started and share our adventures along the way.
What is on your fall bucket list? 
If you posted one, leave the link in the comments so I can check it out!
Linking up with Wife Mommy Me

Things You Should Know About Me If Were Gonna Be BFF!

Happy Monday!
How about a friendly little Monday morning reminder.


HA!

Well it feels like I had a busy weekend full of a whole lot of nothing. Do you ever have those? I didn't go any where or do anything really but I some how managed to stay busy, as always.

Today I wanted to do a fun little random post.  Here is a  list of things you should know about me if were gonna be BFF, best friends forever.

1. If it lives or swims in the water I won't eat it. Don't even try to convince me that it is "good" or tastes like chicken. I don't want to eat it and I never will.
 End of story.
2. I love to try on high heels. Being a tall gal at about 5'10" I rarely wear them and certainly don't buy them. But if you take me to Kohls to try on shoes, I will be your life long friend.

3. I can multi-task well. But when it comes to large projects I will get VERY focused on finishing and can kind of get tunnel vision until it's done.   4. I will put LOL or Bahaha in every text message I send you at least once. Sorry, I am a dork like that.
5. Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla, ALWAYS vanilla

6. I am a sucker for a good deal. $2 tank days at Old Navy were some of my favorite days of summer this year and when I go into a store my eyes automatically start scanning for clearance racks. Cheap? Maybe. But I prefer the term thrifty!
7. Clothes really aren't all that important to me. Sure I love a great outfit but I am far from trendy and stylish.
8. Talk to me for a second about running, something related to running, or even the lady that you saw running earlier that day and I may chat your ear off for an hour.

9. I don't need much sleep. I am 6.5/7.5 hours a night max kind of gal and I will never understand how people sleep for more than 8 hours in a row. I am not hating or judging I just don't get it and I am sure if you are one of "those people" the feeling is mutual   10. There are certain songs that I know will make me cry and sometimes I will turn one of them on ready to let the tears flow. Miranda Lambert, The House That Built Me ALWAYS works. 
So there you have it. A few "very important" Beth facts that you need to know since were now officially best friends.
What do I need to know about you?

Thoughts for Friday: 9.19.14

Finally Friday, once again!
This has been the first week that it has actually felt like fall. Sure we have had our days of warmer than I like temperatures but the morning have been amazing.
So with all things fall on the brain here are this weeks Friday Fall Five:
{ONE} Starbucks BOGO

So did anyone else see this?!

Buy any fall drink between 2-6 pm and get one free to share. (9/17-9/21 participating US stores).

Yes please! Starbucks will definitely be on the agenda this weekend.

{TWO} Fall Bucket List
The first official day of fall is coming soon! Tuesday September 23rd, that is LESS than a week away! I am going to be posting my fall bucket list that day, I made it WEEKS ago and have been eager to start on it. With all kinds of fun fall memories being made I am sure that will make for some exciting blog posts full of memories to share. Here are a couple of exciting fall link-ups that you should check out. 
Countdown to Halloween

Fall Family Bucket List

I can hardly wait for the fun to start!

{THREE} Fall Shopping 
Let's pretend for a second that someone really generous just gave me a stack of cash and told me to go buy myself something nice. 
Here are a few things I might buy.
Some new brown boots

Fall may require a new scarf

Definitely a new sweater, or two

Ant this skirt could be pretty cute. 

But now back to reality, no shopping trips for me any time soon.

I'm a mom aka I never, rarely make it past the childrens' department. Typically if I do it is to buy some new spandex capri pants for running. Anyone else out there in the same boat?  

{FOUR} Apples

My parents are the proud owners of an apple tree. Wednesday night my mom dropped this off for me.

I spent every spare second on Thursday working on apple stuff.

One Pie, 6 quarts of apple pie filling and 14 pints of applesauce later

And the box is still half full. OI!

Next up is apple butter, then I think we will just start eating apples for every meal. I REALLY wish I had a juicer right about now. 

{FIVE} DIY Fall Decor

After complaining that I have little to no fall decorations a few weeks ago I have put together two projects complete with DIY tutorials over the past couple weekends.

First I did Pallet Pumpkins
Then I made a fall themed pallet sign


My fall decor selection has really stepped it up a few notches. I am not finished yet but I don't feel like as much of a slacker. I can't wait to do more tutorials over the next few months with more exciting projects to share.

Have an awesome weekend!