year one.

First came this....

Then came this....

9 pound 1 ounce bundle of sweetness...

growing, growing, growing...

Happy Birthday, my little man.

I can't believe it's already been a year.

I can't imagine life without you.

You make us so happy. You make us laugh all the time. You are into EVERYTHING and anything you can get your hands on. You love your "ba ba." (bottle) You love being outside. You LOVE saying "uh-oh" ALL day long. You have the sweetest, big blueish eyes. You have ONE little tooth which is so cute. You make me cry thinking of you growing up. You are my best little friend. You keep me company all day long. And today, for your birthday, you took a 3 HOUR nap!! What a nice present.

Love you forever,

Mama

When in doubt, cook.

Spending some quality time in the kitchen today....

For the last week we have been in search of

the perfect color of paint to paint our kitchen...

TWELVE samples later, we still haven't found the right one.

So today, I am giving up on paint for a while,

and making some home-made Pumpkin Bars.

(courtesy of Paula Deen)

I wish your computer was a scratch n' sniff,

so you could smell what I am smelling right now!

Hello Fall! We welcome you.

INGREDIENTS

Bars:

• 4 eggs
• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 15-ounce can pumpkin
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:

• 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

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