Apricot Oat Bars

This is a Giada de Laurentiis recipe that I first had after my friend Ashley made them and they are so good! My husband particularly loves them, so I made them for him for Father's Day this past weekend. Enjoy!

Ingredients
Vegetable oil cooking spray
Filling
1 (13-ounce) jar apricot jam or preserves (about 1 1/4 cups)
8 dried apricots, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces (about 1/3 cup)
Crust
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 packed cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup (4 ounces) coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, at room temperature, beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
Put an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 by 13 by 2-inch metal baking dish with vegetable oil cooking spray. Line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper with vegetable oil cooking spray and set aside.

Filling: In a small bowl, mix together the jam and the apricots. Set aside.

Crust: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Stir in the oats and walnuts. Add the butter, egg and vanilla and stir until incorporated.
Using a fork or clean fingers, lightly press half of the crust mixture onto the bottom of the prepared pan. Using a spatula, spread the filling over the crust leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge of the pan. Cover the filling with the remaining crust mixture and gently press to flatten. Bake until light golden, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for 1 hour. Cut into bars and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Father's Day Weekend

Good morning! Again, I was going to have our weekend recap up yesterday, but that just didn't happen. Oh well!

We had a great Father's Day weekend! The weather was gorgeous and we had lots of fun things on the agenda.

Friday night I went to see Bridesmaids with a friend. It was hilarious and definitely a chick flick. Don't take the guys to go see it!

Saturday we had a birthday party to attend, then Saturday evening we took Brady to get his first sno cone! He loved it! He got orange, James got blue raspberry and I got Summer Breeze. In case you don't know, Summer Breeze is strawberry, peach and watermelon mixed together. My very first job was at a Sno Cone place called Country Cream. Those were the days!

Sunday we skipped church and spent the day together at Falls Park in Greenville. We picked up Subway for lunch and had a wonderful time just enjoying each other's company. I can't wait until Beckett is big enough to join in the fun!

I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband who is such an amazing father. Our boys are so blessed to have him in their lives! I love you!

Fashion Friday

Love this!

Y'all have a great Father's Day weekend!

Appliqued t-shirts

Emily at Jones Design Company made these appliqued t-shirts for her three boys and they are adorable! They're so Mini-Boden, but better because they're cheaper (yay!) and custom. I may be trying my hand at these for Brady and Beckett.

Oh, if only I had enough time for all of the projects I'd like to do. Can anyone find me a few more hours in the day? And a little extra money would help, too!

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Last night I took dinner to a dear friend of mine, Ashley at Reflecting on the Simple Things. They just welcomed their first baby, Bradley. He doesn't know it yet, but Bradley is going to be Beckett's best friend! They're exactly 12 weeks apart.


I made these easy chicken enchiladas for them. We love these! I hope they enjoyed them!


Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients
· 3 cups chopped cooked chicken
· 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with peppers
· 1/2 cup sour cream
· 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
· 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
· 8 (8-inch) flour tortillas
· Vegetable cooking spray
· 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
· 1 (8-ounce) jar tomatillo salsa
· Toppings: diced tomatoes, chopped avocado, chopped green onions, sliced ripe olives

Preparation
Stir together first 5 ingredients. Spoon chicken mixture evenly down center of each tortilla, and roll up. Arrange seam side down in a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Coat tortillas with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Stir together 8-ounce container sour cream and salsa. Spoon over hot enchiladas; sprinkle with desired toppings.

A Fun Summer Weekend

Hello! I meant to get this post up yesterday, but life happened and the post didn't! :)

We had a great summer weekend. Friday night was VBS commencement. Our church did Pandamania and the kids had a blast. I have the greatest memories of VBS as a child and I'm glad my boys will, too. Even Beckett had fun this year!

Saturday was hair cut day for me and Brady, then we ran some errands that included Brady spending his birthday money at Toys R Us. That night he and I went on a Brady & Mommy Date to see Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides. It was so good! Not what I was expecting, but so worth seeing. I was even impressed with Penelope Cruz as Blackbeard's daughter. I was very skeptical about her being cast at first

Sunday after church we went swimming with some dear friends of ours. Swimming, sun, popsicles and watermelon! It could not have been a more perfect afternoon.

Have a great week y'all!

Happy Birthday Brady!

My sweet boy turns six years old today. Seems like just yesterday he was the nine month old in the picture below.




I was listening to my Taylor Swift cd this morning and her song "Never Grow Up" played. As I sat there, listening to the lyrics, tears rolled down my face. Time passes so fast and some times you do wish they would never grow up, that they would just stay the little baby or the toddler or the six year old.

Never Grow Up

Your little hands wrapped around my finger

And it's so quiet in the world tonight

Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming
So I tuck you in and turn on your favorite nightlight


To you, everything's funny
You got nothing to regret
I'd give all I have honey
If you could stay like that

(Chorus:)
Oh darling don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh darling don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up
It could stay this simple
I won't let nobody hurt you
Wont let no one break your heart
No one will desert you
Just try to never grow up
Never grow up

You're in the car on the way to the movies
And you're mortified your mama's dropping you off
At 14, there's just so much you can't do
And you can't wait to move out
Someday and call your own shots
But don't make her drop you off around the block
Remember she's getting older too
And don't lose the way that you dance around in your PJs getting ready for school

(Chorus:)
Oh darling don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh darling don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up