The 5 Stages of Fall

  I wasn't always in love with Fall like I am today, but with each passing year I love it a little more. Maybe it's all of the pumpkin spice lattes. Maybe it began with the invention of Pinterest and their insanely cute and often time-consuming DIY Fall projects. Either way Fall has inched it's way into my heart where Summer used to be. My love of Fall is why I bring you the 5 stages of Fall today.

1. Pumpkin Flavored Coffee Creamer

  This. This is where it all begins. You're strolling down the dairy section. You need milk. 2%. Then you see it. The pumpkin spice coffee creamer. Hey it may just be August, but suddenly you wanna break out your favorite sweater and jump in a pile of leaves. Okay I don't actually jump in piles of leaves when Fall comes around, but you get my point.

2. Fall Décor

   Once I found the pumpkin creamer I had to put up the Fall decorations, it's the only logical step. So I put up my Fall mantle décor on August 28th this year. Of all of the seasons I like changing the mantle for Fall the most, well right after Christmas haha. The vibrant colors are so soothing and put me in a cozy mood. I think that's all the reason you need to put your decorations up a little earlier, so you can enjoy that cozy feeling just a little longer.

3. Pumpkin Spice Lattes

  I know I already have pumpkin creamer on this list, but this is totally different. That first day you know you can pick up a pumpkin spice latte wherever you would usually get your vanilla or caramel latte or regular coffee, well it's a little magical. Okay, I guess that's just me. Oh by the way, I recently heard someone talking about getting the pumpkin flavoring in their chai latte (for those of y'all who don't drink coffee), so give it a try and tell me how y'all like it. I need a few more people to endorse it first before I'd give up my coffee.

4. Fall Clothes

This is Miller on Thanksgiving last year.

   I get very excited about switching out my wardrobe for Fall, but honestly I'm looking forward to switching out Miller's even more. Little sweaters, little coats, little pants. The best part about this age right now is I can dress him like I want with zero eye rolls. I highly doubt he's going to let me put him in pumpkin overalls once he knows better, so I have to soak this time in while it lasts.

5. Oh Yeah, The Weather

  This part is where I remember it's not truly Fall yet. Sure September 22nd (the official 1st day of Fall) has come and gone, but everyone knows Fall isn't truly here until the weather is nice and crisp. We've had a day or even two where the morning felt slightly brisk. But that's about it. Although we don't have a shortage of rain by any means. The leaves seem like they're trying their best to stay green but every morning I see a few more of 'em resting on our lawn.

  When is it truly Fall for you? What's your favorite season? What's your favorite thing about that season? I can't wait to hear!

Linking up with April and Christina

A Book Review: That Mama is a Grouch

   When I was pregnant with Miller my sweet blogger friend Sherry was thoughtful enough to send us a few of her lovely children's books. I was touched by the gesture, and I was even more pleased when I sat down to read the books with Miller. Today I wanted to share with you our favorite of them all. That mama is a grouch.
     The basic premise is about a mama who is not so secretly frustrated by the things her daughter gets into, and the daughter decides her mama is, you guessed it, a grouch. It's funny, clever, and thought provoking for little minds. The illustrations are adorable as well. My son loves books and was instantly taken with this by the pictures and poetic words. He's still a little young to understand the concept of the book but I know this will be a book we can enjoy for years to come.
   I highly recommend this book to other moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas, and babysitters, or really anyone who knows a child that enjoy books. It makes a unique birthday present, or maybe it could be a new baby present like it was in my case. Either way, you can buy any books by this award winning writer, Sherry Ellis, on her blog. Happy reading y'all!

Miller says "thanks for the books, I love them!"

The Mom Bun: An Age Old Tradition

  Mom buns. They're everywhere. At the supermarket. At church. Across the street sifting through the mail. Standing in front of you in line at Starbucks. Maybe you're the one sporting the mom bun. My point is, they might just be THE hairstyle of this era. They're so popular they have even graced t-shirts, mugs, and wall art. But is it really anything new?
   Now buns have nothing really to do with motherhood. Ballerinas wear 'em (proud ballerina here!), people wanting to save time, people wanting to try something new with their hair, even men have gotten in on the hairstyle. Still the term "mom bun" gains popularity. For the obvious reason of buns projecting someone wishing to save time, and moms being a major people group always looking for a few extra minutes.
   It wasn't until a few months back though that it hit me. Mom buns aren't just a trendy thing to iron on your t-shirt(although I think it's super cute haha), they're something moms and women in general have been doing since prairie days. As in Little House on the Prairie. Ma Ingalls.

    As someone who used to love watching the Ingalls, and still does, I find that extremely funny. That today in such "modern" times as these we "modern" women don something that in some minds would make people think of log cabins and no electricity. I'm always trickled by deja vu moments like this. It's little things like this that reminds us that we're not all that far from our ancestors or foremothers in a good way.
    There's a lot of trends in style or lifestyle that are throwbacks to our pioneer ancestors. Maxi shirts, I'm pretty sure our great grandmothers would rock one. Chicken in the backyard, no home was complete without them. Freezer meal cooking, our great grandmother would make enough sausage to feed a family of 5 for the whole winter.
    Now we have plenty of conveniences they didn't. The world wide web couldn't even be imagined in that time. Can you picture Ma on Pinterest? She would have probably put a intricate braid in her mom bun with one of Pinterest's many hair tutorials. Or maybe she would have finally figured out the best way to get grease stains out of her pans. If she had had Starbucks she might have taken a part time job as a barista instead of  working at the restaurant in season 6 (okay I know that wasn't real life, just for the show). Or maybe she would be a online Avon representative like me. I really wanna know how she got her buns so perfect back before elastic hair ties. I can't get them right WITH one. FYI the scrunchie was patented in 1986. You're welcome.
    I don't sport a mom bun as much as media and advertising might suggest moms do or should, I actually wore my hair in a bun more when I was a early teen. But that bun was much more polished. I'd say I wear my hair up 50 percent of the time. Keep in mind though I used to work in a salon. I learned a lot about taking care of your hair, and got used to having to have my hair styled for my job.
Although I've noticed that in friends and family that I knew before they were moms they wear their hair up exponentially more than they did pre-kids. I guess the cliché is true after all.
    Whether you're a mom or not are you a fan of the "mom bun"? Or more of a unwilling participant in the trend?

 Linking up with Annie and Natalie
                                           

  

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Hey y'all! With Fall here (and yes I know it's not "technically" Fall yet) baking is definitely on my mind. Pies, cakes, cookies, basically anything that can also have pumpkin in it haha. The funny thing is though I made these cookies for the first time back in August. They're easy, yummy, stay very moist even days later, and they're gluten-free as well as dairy-free. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar (you could obviously use Splenda if you wanted)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

* Depending on how big you want your cookies one batch of this recipe makes a little over a dozen.

1. Take all of your ingredients minus the chocolate chips and put them in a bowl and mix evenly. I used the standing mixer to mix the dough.

    2.  Add in the chocolate chips, you may have to mix them in with your hands.

    3. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased baking sheet.

   4. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes.

   5. Once done allow to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes because otherwise the cookies
        will fall apart. And that's it. Happy baking!

What Y'all Missed This Summer

   Hey y'all! I hope everyone had a wonderful summer and the school year is off to a good start. I took a sort of unintentional break from blogging for the summer. So I wanna catch y'all up on what we've been up to in the last few months.
    Miller finally had his dedication at church in July. I had been meaning to do it for months, but couldn't get it done until July, better late than never I guess! When I went shopping for his dedication outfit I had a little boy's shorts outfit or something in mind. But when I started looking I noticed most of the outfits like that were way too small for Miller (he's in 12 months, occasionally 18 months clothes). So I went with a christening gown, which I actually ended up preferring. It was a special day, and a even sweeter memory.

The day of Miller's dedication

So angelic!

  In other Miller news, he is officially the proud owner of 3(almost 4) teeth! The last time I blogged he had zero. He got his first 2 teeth in late July on the bottom, then his top tooth came in 2 weeks later. I can't believe it but he's even cuter with his new chompers. He loves testing them out on spoons, cereal puffs, teethers, and really anything in arm's reach.
  He also has grown to love his bath-time. Yeah, you heard me. He loves to bang his arm against the water and watch it spill over the sides of his baby bathtub. New teeth, and loves baths? This boy is unstoppable!
   Other than gaining teeth and taking baths we've been enjoying lots of family and friends time. Miller is so social and outgoing, always laughing. Although he's developed a habit you could say for taking naps in the presence of company haha. Play-dates, church service, family birthday parties while all of his cousin sing happy birthday at the top of their lungs. The kid loves his sleep. He also loves to talk, he says "momma", "hey", and "I love you". I know the I love you part sounds a little unbelievable but it's true, and insanely cute.

Going antiquing!

Church



Miller's very first 4th of July!

Oh yeah, Miller competed in the Olympics this summer...



Reading from my Dad's Mom's Bible



Miller loves the Snapchat filters



Miller also became a doctor over the summer, busy guy.

    As for me I just recently joined Avon as a new representative! Y'all can find my Avon eStore here

 

How was y'all's summer? If you're a fellow blogger did you take a hiatus from blogging?