cheesecake bars

I was temped to name these bars You're-gonna-die Bars for two reasons. 1) They're that good. 2) When you see what is in them, you will realize the great risk of a massive coronary upon consumption.

It was at a neighborhood bbq that I was first introduced to these bars. I took a bite and then stopped the picnic yelling, "excuse me! who brought these bars?!!" It was our next door neighbors and I begged them for the recipe. When he sent it he wrote, "I am sorry for what you are about to read. There is a reason I need to drop twenty pounds."

This week I made a pan for our small group. That's sort of the perfect excuse to make them...a large group to help you eat the pan. Now brace yourselves:

Cheesecake Bars
3 packages cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp Mexican vanilla
2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350
Spray 9x13 baking dish
Beat cream cheese with 1 cup sugar and vanilla until smooth
Unroll first tube crescent dough on bottom of the baking dish
Spread cream cheese mixture on dough
Cover cream cheese mixture with second tube of dough
Stir 3/4 cup sugar, cinnamon and butter together.
Dot butter mixture over the cheesecake
Bake until dough is golden brown, about 30 minutes
Remove from oven and drizzle with honey
Chill completely in the fridge

That last step is probably the most important. You have to make these far enough in advance that they are good and set and very cold when you serve them. In fact, I made them on Monday afternoon and served them around 8pm and they were great. But the next morning I had half a bar with the kids and it was sublime. And that must be really good, because I've never used the word sublime in my life before this moment. So I'd recommend making them a day ahead.

File this one away for your next potluck or party. It's a winner!

the start of a sport

We signed up for our first organized sport this fall. Soccer met once a week for a few hours on Friday afternoons and it was the perfect introduction to a new sport. And all I have to say is thank goodness for the shin guards and knee socks. Because the excitement over these items alone seemed to motivate my boy to head out on the field.

It's amazing how quickly you are suddenly the parent. Our very first day brought a lot of nerves and worry. In the parking lot and I found myself repeating all of the things my mom just said to me when I was filled with nerves and worry. "Everyone is feeling the same butterflies. It's totally normal. We just have to be brave for a few minutes and then we'll feel more comfortable. Just try it for today and then you'll know if you like it or not. The coach is there to help you learn. How could you already be good at something you've never learned before?!!" 

And, thankfully, he did feel comfortable right away. And loved it. He wore the same blue shirt with a soccer ball on it, blue plaid shorts and blue knee highs each week and did really well on the field. Hooray for positive experiences when trying something new! And hooray for an awesome coach who could deal with 4, 5 and 6 year olds and their attention spans, tears and enthusiasm!

baby mobile

I helped host a baby shower for friends at our church almost a month ago. The friends lead our children's program and my kids absolutely love this couple. I was trying to figure out what we could do that would include all of the kids in the congregation and decided on a mobile. The adults wrote blessings on the leaves and the kids wrote their names on the birds, promising to keep this baby in their prayers. I found the branch under our oak tree, assembled it last night and figured the thing out as I went along. I absolutely love how it turned out and want to make one for Hattie now. 

It felt so good to be crafty again! And I have so many projects in my head now. It's amazing how one project can inspire other projects. I remember my sister-in-law Sara telling me that whenever she feels stuck in writing a song, she'll crochet a pair of slippers, or get her sewing machine out, or do anything creative. Because somehow the act of creating spurs on greater creativity. How amazing!

Here's to more creative projects! 

kitchen help

Back in August I wrote about all sorts of new systems I was putting in motion in an effort to keep my house tidy and organized. I am happy to report that things are really sticking around here. The paper clutter problem has been solved. My counter tops are kept pretty empty and the whole 'start the dishwasher each night and unload it in the morning' thing is a game changer.

But there is one other thing that I have to mention if I'm going to be totally honest. I got kitchen help. She comes in first thing in the morning and has really helped me streamline the way my kitchen runs. She's big into accessibility. For example, the first thing she does is open the towel drawer and pull all the towels out onto the floor. If I'm ever loading or unloading the dishwasher, she is right there, pulling out the sharp knives first, lending a hand. She pulls out the tupper ware each day, and I can only assume she is trying to match lids to bottoms. Once we found her sorting the garbage can all over the floor, making sure there wasn't something that should be in the recycling bin. She's so thorough! Above and beyond!

It was when she dumped the trash out that I realize her genius in pulling out all of the dish towels, very first thing. Because suddenly we needed all of them to wipe the mess off of her, the cupboards and the floor.

She's great company and I'm grateful to have her assistance. And also for a locking gate on the kitchen.

well that was never going to work.

Well. There's actually not that much to say other than I feel like I'm ripping duct tape off of my mouth right now. Turns out not writing about our day to day, and the little and big things floating around in my head just didn't work out. So I'm back. I suppose I could elaborate for a few paragraphs, but whatever. I love this little place for archiving our life and I love sharing it with whoever wants to read about it. I'm not sure the frequency of which I'll blog, but I'm for sure not shutting this thing down. I may very well be blogging from the nursing home after all.

Besides, where else would I share my pictures from our latest glorious country drive?

Fall in the country is stunning and knocks my socks off every year. The whole world turns to gold and it's breathtaking. The pictures below were one night when the five of us jumped in the truck to watch our three lambs graze in the orchard. They do the mowing around the apple trees and have become very friendly, tame farm animals. We watched the sunset and watched the sheep eat and took lots of pictures. Obviously worthy of a blog post!

So here I am. I'm not even that shy about my return. I suppose my dad knew best all along in saying I should just try it for a month. But you know I'm a bit more theatrical than that...so we're back!