25 Fall Family Activities

All over blog land I see families creating activity lists for various seasons. I have never created one until NOW! I am so excited for the arrival of fall. It is only 5 days away!!! There are so many things I like to do during that season. So I decided to create a list of goals for my family. I hope we get to mark off every activity!!! I used ideas from lists I found online in addition to my own ideas.

25 Fun Fall Activities

1.   Take a Nature walk

2.  Collect leaves, identify, sort and do leaf rubbings

3.   Decorate the porch and mantles with fall decor

4.  Make corn prints and/or apple prints

5.  Make applesauce from scratch

6.  Make homemade apple cider

7.  Go to a fall festival

8.  go to a pumpkin patch

9.  go to a farm

10.     Carve Pumpkins

11.   Roast pumpkin seeds

12.   bake pumpkin pies

13.    Make a scarecrow

14.   enjoy a fall picnic

15.   Roast marshmallows over a fire

16.   HOst a halloween party

17.   Ride 4-wheelers at Pawpaw’s hunting camp

18.   Read books about fall

19.   watch The wizard of oz

20.  go camping

21.   Bake loaves of pumpkin bread and deliver it to neighbors

22.  Make homemade bird feeders

23.   Host a tailgating party

24.   Go to a football game

25. Check out fall themed books from the library

Madison's 2nd Birthday Party

Happy birthday to my sweet Madison! I can't believe you are 2 years old. I love every breath you take. I am incredibly blessed to be your momma. As my momma always told me, God knew just which little girl I needed. Thank you, God! She is perfect!

Although Madison's birthday is today, we had her party yesterday due to the logistics of guests' Sunday schedules with church and all. Her party was so much fun. I think she really enjoyed herself. Daddy worked very hard to get her swingset ready for the kids to play on at the party. It is not finished but it is almost done. They kids enjoyed the slide and swings...they don't care if it has the finishing touches. We also rented a spacewalk. This was Madison's first time in one of these....SHE LOVED IT! As a matter of fact, she and Daddy are out there right now in 44ºF weather so she can enjoy it today as well. They will have to come in soon to get ready for church. Then, we are going to eat Mexican for her birthday lunch. She will probably fall asleep on the way home from lunch, and when she wakes up it will be time to go to her friend's 2nd birthday party! WHEW! This is going to be a busy day!

As I said already, it is currently 44ºF outside....it actually cooled off on the Gulf Coast! It was a perfect fall day yesterday. I made hot apple cider to celebrate the cooler weather. My momma, Madison's MawMaw, made her birthday cake. It was sooooo cute! Thanks, Mom! Here are a few pics from her party.

Fall, fall, fall

I am NOT ashamed to say that I started decorating for fall on September 19th. I tried to at least wait until the 22nd-The First Day of Fall, but my little girl had spent the night with her grandmother, so I seized the opportunity. I still have to add pumpkins, but otherwise it is done. Our local pumpkin patch opened yesterday. We will make a visit soon for pumpkins and pictures.

HAPPY FALL YA'LL!

My Baby Girl & Me

The weather was FANTASTIC here Thursday! We took a few pics in the yard.

Pumpkin Bars

Because it is the 1st day of Fall, I am making Pumpkin Bars, Taco Soup, and cornbread today. I LOVE FALL! I just wish the weather was a little cooler in the southern end of Alabama. Oh, well. It will be soon enough. This recipe for Pumpkin Bars comes from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. The bars are more cake like than what I typically think of for "bars." They are topped with a cream cheese icing. I love anything with cream cheese!

Pumpkin Bars

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugr

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cloves

4 beaten eggs

1 16 oz can pumpkin

1 cup cooking oil

Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

1. In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and cloves. Stir in the eggs, pumpkin, and oil till combined. Spread batter in an ungreased 15x10x1 baking pan.

2. Bake in a 350° oven 25-30 minutes or till a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 2 hours on a wire rack. Spread with Cream Cheese Frosting. Cut into bars.

Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup buter, softened (1/2 stick)

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1. Beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy.

2. Gradually add 2 1/4 cup powdered sugar, beating well. Should reach a spreading consistency.

Apple Praline Bread

My best friend, Kelli, made a delicious treat today.... APPLE PRALINE BREAD! Double yum! She is bringing me a taste tomorrow. I am so excited! She found the recipe in a recent copy of Southern Living magazine. Here are the pics and the recipe. Get ready to drool.

Praline Apple Bread

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, divided

1 (8oz) container sour cream

1 c. granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1TBSP vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. finely copped, peeled Granny Smith apples (about 3/4 lb)

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. firmly packed light brown sugar

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 in to a greased and floured 9x5 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 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.

Felt Pumpkin Bag

I am in the mood for fall! Today I made a felt pumpkin bag for my little girl. It is really simple. The most time consuming part was the blanket stitch that I did around all of the edges. (If you don't know how to do a blanket stitch, there are great videos on YouTube.) To do this project you need the following materials:

2 - 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of orange felt

1 - 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of green felt

Green and orange thread (I used cross stitch thread.)

Needle

Pattern

I am in the mood for fall! Today I made a felt pumpkin bag for my little girl. It is really simple. The most time consuming part was the blanket stitch that I did around all of the edges. (If you don't know how to do a blanket stitch, there are great videos on YouTube.) To do this project you need the following materials:

2 - 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of orange felt

1 - 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of green felt

Green and orange thread

Needle

Pattern