Last October

Exactly 1 year ago, on October 19, we got a phone call that would change our lives forever. Our fertility clinic called to give us the official blood work results of our IVF pregnancy test. The results were that I was very positively pregnant! I remember that day so vividly, Tom, Ruby, and I were sitting in the empty bedroom between our office and master bedroom awaiting a phone call from our clinic. The room that we sat in was a room that was kept empty for a long time in anticipation that we would one day be able to turn it into a nursery for a sweet little baby. We cleared the room in faith that the Lord would bless us with a child. The Lord is faithful, and He blessed us more than we could have ever imagined. He blessed us with TWO children at once. I can't imagine life without our precious miracles, Grady and Wren. I look back on our joyful celebration in that empty bedroom with an extremely full and thankful heart.

A lot has happened since that day last October. We lost my dear Granny Mary,  I carried our precious babies 32 weeks and 5 days, I delivered our babies and recovered from a tough C-Section, spent a long, exhausting month visiting our babies in the NICU, brought our babies home from the hospital, learned how to care for them and be a family of 4, we lost Tom's dear Grandma Helen, I quit my full-time job, and became a full-time stay-at-home-mommy. Whew! Lots of changes and adjustments!

And because I can't conclude this post without their picture, here's an instagram I snapped last night after checking on my babies for the last time before going to bed. 

Your mama loves you so much, sweet babies.

Fall Pasta

Fall is here! There is a crisp in the air, I am wearing a zip-up hoodie, my windows are open, and I've been burning my pumpkin scented candles. I am thoroughly enjoying my favorite season.

I made one of my staple fall dishes for dinner last night. I've never shared this recipe on my blog before so I figured I should now.

It's called Penne-Wise Pumpkin Pasta by Rachel Ray. Now, I know it sounds weird to use pumpkin in a pasta but it is so yummy, don't turn your nose up until you've tried it. An added benefit is that pumpkin is high in fiber, just 1 cup of canned pumpkin provides 7.1 g of fiber.

source: foodnetwork

*My side notes:

I omit the hot sauce, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I have tried using cinnamon and nutmeg in it before but it isn't savory enough for me with those two spices in it. Unlike the recipe, I just use dried sage (heavy handedly because I love sage) in the sauce mixture rather than fresh sage as a garnish at the end. In addition to the sauteed garlic, I add a little dried garlic powder into the sauce mixture as well because I can never have enough garlic. Also, I take some of the "wise" out of the recipe because I don't use whole-wheat pasta. The texture of whole-wheat pasta is odd to me, so I go with the regular stuff.  I also like to experiment with different shapes. Last night I used half cellentani and half penne pasta. I also used freshly grated asiago cheese (similar to parmesan) in and on the pasta. I can't leave recipes alone, I always cater to my liking. 

Cellentani Pasta

Fall Printables

I know some of you may think the printable subway/word art trend is overdone. But...I'm still riding that train and think it's an inexpensive simple way to add some 'umph' to your seasonal home decor.

I've created two fall printables that I am going to share with you all. To snag one for yourself, click on the image, then click again to enlarge it to its highest resolution, right click, and 'save image as' to your photo library. Now you are ready to upload it to your photo lab of choice. I use the photo center at Sam's Club because of pricing. If you decide to use Sam's Club, make sure to turn off the color correction feature before you finalize your order. The printables below are saved in an 8x10 format.

Do me a favor okay? If you use one of these printables, blog about how you displayed it in your home and send me the link to your post. I could even do my very first linky party. :)

That's Pinteresting

I completed my first Pinterest inspired "project" - pumpkins stacked under a glass cloche.

The Pinterest Version from Chic on a Shoestring Decorating:

I already had the same Southern Living Home Barley Twist Pedestal shown above. But I did not have a glass cloche. I had been wanting one for sometime now, but wouldn't bite the bullet and buy one. I stalked the one shown below on the Hobby Lobby aisle for weeks, and today it went home with me for 50% off. It will be versatile and useful in all seasons, which is my justification. I already had the fall berry garland that I used around the bottom. You can't really tell, but I used some moss underneath the bottom pumpkin for added texture and height. I love it! It's a great fall centerpiece for my island.

I also decided to stick a little lone pumpkin on some moss underneath my small Arthur Court cheese dome/cloche.