Welcoming Fall

My husband left our house at 4:45 this morning so he could pick up my dad and head out to another milestone half marathon.
While it's rare for me to not be there to cheer them on,
I was somewhat grateful to grab a little more sleep beneath the warmth of my covers.
Before long, I was waking up our boys so I could take them over to the men's breakfast at church.
We're currently short a driver at our house,
as our oldest son broke his foot in a rousing game of dodge ball on Wednesday night.

Home again in the early morning hours,

I snuggled into my hoodie and fought off the chill.

Sipping coffee and enjoying quiet, uninterrupted moments in prayer,

I savored the stillness and made plans for my day.

It seemed only natural to invest this crisp first-day-of-fall morning baking.

As I've said before,

Fall is so brief.

And there are so many unbelievable delicacies to be had.  

Not one beautiful fall day can be wasted!

And so bake I did

(but only after discovering I had one lonely egg in my fridge and making a quick dash to the store for more).

On today's docket:

Pumpkin Salted Caramel Blondies (because they intrigued me and I knew my husband would adore them---even if I realized only upon putting them in the oven that I'd forgotten to add the pumpkin (duh) and quickly rescued them (which probably messed with the finished result big time.  Oh, and then we couldn't wait for them to cool before cutting into them, so they came out of the pan in a gloppy pile of a mess.  But I still highly recommend them).

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars (because one son won't eat any dessert but chocolate chip cookies and this seemed like a promising fall alternative.  Did I mention I'm somewhat neurotic about seasonal appropriate foods)?

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls (because another son's love language is cinnamon rolls.  These are for Sunday morning breakfast).

Fall, you're finally here.
You're my favorite time of year,
and I'm so glad to welcome you.