{Fall Recipes}

Hey everyone...long time no post right? Sorry! I've been just keeping myself above water with all of the work/DIY planning! 

We have been researching {and researching some more} and working on getting things in order to do our big flooring re-do. 

It's happening this month...before Halloween...because we're hosting Halloween trick-or-treating this year!  

Nothing like a party to get your house in shape, right? 

So I'll be sharing details about that soon! 

I'll also be sharing photos of the master bedroom soon...all I have to do is snap the pictures {and pick up the clothes and randomness that is thrown about...}

But in the mean time, I wanted to share some of Wendel and mine's favorite fall recipes. 

I'll admit...I'm quite the cook. Love, love, love to be in the kitchen! 

We've been trying some new recipes this fall, and I have to share them with you! 

Obviously, these are all Pinterest finds...so you can check out my recipes boards, here! 

So...here are our recent favorites! Enjoy!

Lasagna Soup

Omiword...go and make this now! It is so beyond delicious! I made some homemade croutons to go on top and let me tell you...Wendel and I could have eaten the entire pot! 

I made the croutons by dicing a hot dog bun {yes...honestly} and tossing it with a tiny bit of olive oil. Then baked them at 350 for 15 minutes or so. DELICIOUS! 

Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

This will be my go-to chicken noodle soup! So healthy, homey, and delicious! I made a huge batch and froze half of it for another day! 

Crock Pot Cheesy Chicken N' Rice

Chicken, rice, and cheesy goodness. Enough said right? 

Crock Pot Chicken N' Dumplings

Go make it...that's all. Just go make it! 

Super Easy Stuffed Shells

These are beyond amazing, and actually very easy! I'd never made stuffed shells, so I was amazed at how simple it was! This recipe makes a ton, so I end up making two casserole dishes and shipping them off to a family member! 

Enchilada Pasta

This is Wendel's all time favorite dish ever! If I know he's going to have a crazy or stressful week, I'll make this and he gets so excited! 

AMAZING White Chicken Enchiladas

I think these might be my all time favorite thing! The sauce is so amazing...it's the green chilies I think. So good! 

Zucchini and Mushroom Pasta

My go-to, super easy dinner. So healthy {vegetarian} and amazing. Sometimes I'll add shrimp to it, but this dish doesn't need anything! It's so good! 

Happy cooking!! 

{Passion For Fashion: Teacher Edition}

Oh hey...

Totally forgot to post this on Friday! Then Saturday. Then Sunday. So here it is on Monday!

Enjoy!

________________________________________________________________________

I think there is a common misconception about preschool teachers... 

You have to wear clothes "you're not afraid to get dirty in"...

I say bull honkey to that! {Yes...I just said bull honkey...I actually say it a lot in real life!} 

I have a huge passion for looking like a professional and truly being a professional in the educational world. 

I don't want to get on a full blown soap box, but I feel that educators don't view themselves as "professionals" as much as business people do. 

We need to! We are professionals...we went to school...we are qualified!

Act and dress like it! 

Okay...stepping off the soap box! 

So I'm aloud to wear jeans to school, so if you're not...sorry! Just add a pair of khakis or colored skinnies/pants to the bottom of these. 

I typically wear jeans/skirt with some sort of top and a sweater/jacket thrown on top. 

I wear a pair of flats or boots everyday and always have a fun necklace or earrings on! 

Here are a few of my recent favorite looks!

{Side Note: Total off photo taking day. Why is it that some days the pictures look great, and others I look like I rolled right out of bed? Oh well!}

A red polka dotted button up with a turquoise belt, flared jeans, and boots.

{Jeans: Loft; Button Up: Loft; Boots: Steve Madden; Belt: Target}

A  belted striped sweater with boots.

{Jeans: Loft; Sweater: J Crew Factory; White V-Neck T: Target; Boots: Steve Madden; Belt: Target}

This is by far the most casual you will ever me at school!  A checkered button up, skinny jeans, and brown flats. 

{Jeans: Loft; Checkered Button Up: J Crew Factory; Flats: Blow Fish}

Side note...our tree out back is flowering...it only flowers in the spring. I think it's confused!

I hope your Monday zips by! 

{Real Life...}

So life has been nuts! For real! 

I have so many things to share, but just don't have the time {or patience} to write a post about them!

So I thought I'd be real with ya'll and show you what our house currently look like due to the following things...

- DIY projects that have't really been put away

- Half decorating for fall. 

- Mid-pool closing madness

- A bunch of things for our big paint/floor redo coming up... 

Check it out...it's embarrassing! 

A Christmas project that I'll be featuring in the near future! 

Stuff that needs to go to mom/fall decorations that haven't gotten up/randomness that I put places...

The office is a disaster with master bedroom stuff! We decide to nix the TV from the bedroom...so we need to fun a spot for this puppy. 

Our ironing board is the location for the xbox, a shirt that needs to be ironed, left over fabric, and paperwork that needs to be filed...need to put things away! 

These fill almost every wall in our home...ahh the love of picking the "perfect" paint color! 

The tarp that we used to cover our bed while painting has been like this on the back porch for...a while now...

Yes...those are some mats that we use to protect out feet from the hot deck...that are now floating in the pool...lovely...

In the background, there is some left over wood from the Dress Up box Wendel made for my classroom...almost a month ago...

These pool things have been here for WEEKS...why they haven't gotten to where they're supposed to go is beyond me! 

So pretty much we're living in my own personal hell! I hate having mess/clutter, and need to get on the ball! Soon enough! 

Sorry I'm majorly slacking on the blog front...I'll figure this whole working/major DIY projects/blogging thing out soon enough! 

Side note...made this low calorie lasagna soup tonight and it was DELICIOUS! 

Oh! And Wendel and I are going to DISNEY...in May...we got our little book today and I.Can't.Wait! 

Okay! Be back tomorrow with an outfit post all about my favorite teacher looks for fall! 

{So Much On My Mind Saturday}

So my super cute and talented friend Katie Derrick does this cute thing every now and then where she does a post with all things that are on her mind. 

So while we're watching the Auburn game...I'm going to copy off of her :) 

These are a few things that are flying through my brain 1 million miles a second! 

1. I've been a terrrrible blogger this week! But I've done some way cute things with my kiddos so that makes up for it right? 

2. We just now painted the first coat in our master bedroom and I'm loving it! 

3. I think we found the color for our main living areas/kitchen...mmm....paint...

4. We have all of our windows open and It.Is.Awesome. 

5. We had marriage counselling today and I kind of love the two couples we work with! One of the couples had the most incredible DIY wedding invitations that I was embassasingly gushing over...check out how they did it on Emily's blog! 

6. Just had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season...and drank it while listening to a good ole' country concert in our town's amphitheater! So fallish and amazing! 

7. I use way way way too many exclamation points and you're just going to have to love me for it!!!!!!

8. My four year old niece is going around and telling everyone I'm pregnant...and I'm not...but she's determined I am. 

9. We have ANOTHER family photo shoot tomorrow...what can I say? Our family loves pictures! You can check out our latest photos taken over Memorial Day {yes...just three and a half months ago}  right after our wreck {photo shoot while on crutches...no brueno!} 

10.  I'm so excited about all of our home reno stuff/fun things for school that I can hardly sleep anymore... caffeine is so necessary in my life right now! 

That's all for now! I've got some fun stuff coming up so stay tuned and hopefully I'll be a better blogger this week :) 

{A "Simple" Touch Up}

Happy Monday! I hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Because this is kind of a shortish post...I thought I'd share a little "what we did this weekend" update! 

Friday night we had a lazy night in! I made this crock pot chicken noodle soup {holy moly....so good}, some corn muffins and these pumpkin bars {I substituted the oil for applesauce to make it a little more healthy and they were delicious!} and we watched Footloose with our Apple Pie candle burning...hello amazing start to the weekend! 

Saturday we did some yard work {planted some mums...eee} and THEN we had a fun little master bedroom dilemma...more on that in a moment. 

Saturday night, I got the pleasure of helping my sweet niece get ready for her homecoming! 

Such a cute dress right? And Gorgeous girl!

I know I live in Kentucky, but I swear I have shoes on in this picture. They're gold and I guess just blend in. But at first glance, I was like "Lelia...you forgot shoes!" 

Two years in a row I've gotten to help her get ready! Loving this time with her while she still values my opinion :) But also living a little vicariously through her fun! 

So now on to the fun of our master bedroom-ness. Remember we're slowly updating our "master" bedroom. 

So it all started out with a simple project...

Putting up new blinds/curtains. 

Simple enough, right? 

So we took down the old curtains...

And the curtain rod holders, and put up the new blinds... 

Here are the blinds are pulled down. They are the nice kind that just slide up and down with no pull string. It's the little things in life, right? 

Then we were left with these little spots...

And we had a few dings like this throughout the room from moving furniture around and such...

So we spackled and sanded...and then we went to get the paint... 

And the bucket was no where to be found! And worst of all...we can't remember the paint color. 

We were going to try and just touch up the spots and see how it looks before completely repainting...

Well that's not going to happen. So shale it is. Hopefully next week I'll have an update and the walls will look something like this beautiful room and we'll have our new {totally awesome} curtains up! 

Shale...by Benjamin Moore...pretty! 

Fingers crossed! 

Wasn't the super productive weekend like we expected, but oh well! 

What did ya'll do this weekend? Just football it up or did you get some DIY projects or yard work done? 

{Fummer...}

The end of summer...then beginning of fall...I call if Fummer. 

It's ironic for multiple reasons because this time of year is kind of a bummer for the clothing department. 

Don't get me wrong...I'm loving it slowly getting cooler, but I just don't know how to dress for this weather! 

It's pretty stinkin' cool when I head out to school, but then it's hot when we get out! Annoying right? 

All I want to do it wear my jeans, sweaters, and boots...but that just can't happen yet. 

I'm also, in general, a skirt/dress lover. I very rarely wear pants in the summer because the thought of something surrounding my legs {specifically shinnies} makes me claustrophobic {weird I know!} 

One my kiddos this week sweetly said "Ms. Lelia...you like skirts a lot don't you!" 

Too cute right, but I'm just ready to get 

So I looked to Pinterest for some inspiration for this strange time of year and this is what I came up with! 

Sorry that I have a pattern of jean bottom/purple sweater in this post...no planned...didn't even realized until I went to look at the pictures. Funny how that happens sometimes right? 

Fummer Look #1

Layers of a tank and sweater with a classic jean skirt. 

Fummer Look #2

A short sleeved sweater with a scarf and my favorite pair of jeans. 

So tell me, what is you go-to look for this time of year? 

Are you holding onto summer and wearing shorts and tanks still? 

Or are you totally fall and wearing your boots and sweaters? 

Fill me in! 

Oh...and happy Friday! 

{Side note on a girl front...why is it that sometimes you just love the way you look and other times your just like "eh"...I'm have an "eh" day today. Also...how in the world do all "fashion bloggers" have stick thin legs...it's a paradox} 

{Instagram Overload}

So I'm over the moon in love with my kiddos, and in the middle of some fun home DIY projects...so next week I'll have some updates on the Master Bedroom! 

Today, I thought I'd share some of my favorite Instagram photos from the past few months. 

If you follow me...sorry...this is boring for you!

If you don't...please do :) 

LeliaWendel

Go! Thanks! 

Enjoy! 

A wedding ceremony with two of my nieces...too stinkin' cute in their matching princess dresses! 

A little 7 person bike riding! Cincinnati is awesome! 

The Cincinnati zoo with my sister and three of my nieces! We picked one of the hottest days of the summer to go...lovely! 

Alex and I got to go and see Mumford & Songs in Louisville right before I left for San Francisco...it was such a blast! A little drive, hamburgers, and an amazing concert! And the rain that was expected didn't show up! Extra bonus.  

Our sweet {and oh-so-smart} nephew and his class went to visit Wendel at his family's business National Band & Tag. They make dog tags, so they made one for each child with their names on them! 

My oldest niece just turned 15...what the heck? 

Charley got a hold of my phone one day after I picked him up from school {while getting ice cream I might add}...he's so cute I can hardly stand it! 

Dinner after meeting the parents! Love, love, love my school! 

Wendel is the sweetest! Came home to a sweet note and flowers! This is a pretty regular thing too, I might add! 

A Sunday Funday at Sawyer Point with the family! Picnic and playing around! 

I get to be a "lady who lunches" with these cuties and my mom on Thursdays! Lunch with these two is amazing! They're the cutest! 

Hope you enjoyed that little picture overload! 

Happy Thursday!! 

Tomorrow I have a little outfit post coming your way! Woo hoo!