Autumn

It is so great to have a real porch worthy of modeling our garden's produce. Those dried corn stalks also came from our garden. Here is an amazing, autumn dessert:

Pumpkin Spice Bars

1 pkg spice cake mix (or use the dry ingredients in your favorite spice cake recipe)

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

1 8-oz. pkg cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup finely chopped white chocolate (or sweetened baking chips/morsels)

1 tablespoon butter, melted

3/4 cup finely ground oats

powdered sugar (optional)

Note: I blended the chocolate morsels and oats, separately, in a blender.

Preheat oven to 350. Combine first four ingredients (unless you omit the pecans, then it is the first three) and blend with a fork or pastry cutter. Reserve 1 cup crumbs for streusel topping. Press remaining crumbs into a lightly greased 9x13 pan.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until puffy and set. Cool for 20 minutes.

Beat cream cheese until creamy. Add brown sugar, pumpkin, egg and vanilla; beat until blended. Pour filling over crust.

Stir white chocolate, 1 tablespoon butter, and oats into reserved 1 cup streusel. Sprinkle over filling. Bake fore 30 minutes or until edges begin to brown and center is set. Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares (if it is too warm, the filling will run and the square will not keep its shape). Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

En Garde!

Grandma Jane scored six swords for Ben's birthday so he would have plenty of armed opponents. All matches were considered relatively even until Annie Oakley (Tessa) showed up on the scene with a shotgun--a gift from a friend--and finished everyone off.

Ben's Dinosaur Birthday Party

Ben had three friends over to celebrate a rather ferocious 4th birthday. We played "We are the Dinosaurs" musical chairs, hunted for dinosaur eggs (dinosaur fruit snacks in plastic Easter eggs), and had a dinosaur ring toss. Despite an embarrassingly ugly cake--which I deny making--the afternoon was a hit.

Grace's 2nd Birthday

New panties? What more could a girl ask for?

Marie Climbs Trees

Marie has become quite the pro. But this time, she got stuck. Can you find her? You might have to enlarge the photo to appreciate how high up she was.

The Newest Member of Our Family

5k

Stretching before the big race.

At the starting line.

The kids are off!

Trying to close the gap with Seth.

Slowing to a walk.

Come on, Melissa, let's go!

Run, run, as fast as you can.

Melissa, Marie, Tessa, Allie (she ran back to help Tessa finish), and Randy pushing Bryson.

Go Marie.

Sprinting to the finish line.

Here they come.

Almost there.

She did it!

Marie relaxes after the race.

Allie won third place in the women's 26-35 division.

Grandma Jane and Grandma Pearl finished, too.

Miss Gracie

Tessa

What a princess!

Marie

These were taken before Marie lost her top tooth. If you look closely, the left one is crooked because it is hanging by a thread. The right one has since become loose and is hanging by a mere corner. I think Dad will pull it out during family home evening.

Grace

We just love this girl! Gracie's body is bursting with personality. Last night she got to stay up later than everyone else to spend some alone time with mommy and daddy. The last picture captures her sitting in the creek that runs through our back yard. At least she was out of the way while I mowed the lawn!

Note: Aren't James' new glasses hot?