Hello, friends! We had a great weekend so I thought I would make a little post about it today. I’m actually going to start with Thursday because I reached a fun milestone with my sourdough baking!
Back in the summer when I started sourdough, I was in hopes of getting my starter and bread recipe developed enough by fall to be able to make the pretty pumpkin-shaped loaves I’d seen on Instagram. And I was even more motivated as several of you sent me some of those photos as well, encouraging me to try it. Thursday morning, I had some dough that was proofed and ready to bake (overnight in the fridge) so I decided to go for it and give it a try, and it worked!
I wish I’d taken photos throughout the process, but I didn’t expect it to work on my first try! I did, however, take a photo when it came out of the oven. This was so exciting! I clipped the strings off and stuck a cinnamon stick in that warm bread and it gave off the most wonderful aroma!
The next day I was back to baking with yeast for my old bread recipe I’ve been making for years. My family has loved the sourdough, but we were needing some regular sliced bread and rolls for sandwiches.
We love this bread! It’s slightly sweet and so soft. My husband enjoyed a sandwich right away with some leftover grilled chicken.
Speaking of my husband, we had a nice little date night on the patio Thursday evening with some delicious sushi he brought home! I will always say yes to a date night with him!
Friday we had a field trip to Thurlow Dam with our homeschool friends. It was so interesting learning the process of how the water converts to energy to supply power to Alabama homes.
This dam is about 100 years old and still in great condition.
It was a gorgeous fall day for a field trip!
Saturday morning my son had a soccer game and his team won! Since my daughter and I were on our way to Birmingham, I asked my husband to send me some pics from the game. This field looks so rough. The church soccer program had a huge increase of players for this fall so they had to quickly make two more fields. It’s bumpy and sandy but the kids are being troopers and still having the best time.
Since my girl and I we would be lunching and shopping, I felt like wearing a new dress. I’d seen several bloggers talking about the $15 dresses from Walmart that was the perfect fall transition dress. I was in Walmart earlier in the week for some household items and decided to see if they had any of the dresses left. Not only did they have some left, but there was another nice surprise I’ll tell you about in a minute.
Y’all, I love this dress! It is comfortable and perfect for these days that start out chilly but end up warm. A jacket or sweater looks cute over it but then I can shed the jacket later in the day and the dress itself is still nice. My daughter took a picture for me before we left, and she suggested I show what the dress looks like without the jacket too. It’s so nice having a teen daughter! (Glasses off too, haha)
Ok, here’s the bonus: The dresses were marked down to $7!! They had two colors in my size, so I snatched them up. I was in hopes they’d still have the orange one but those were sold out and I was just thankful I still got these two! And at $7!!
Our trip to Birmingham was to see a sweet friend of my daughter’s. We picked her up and went to lunch at Edgar’s Cafe. We love this place! They have great salads, sandwiches, soup, and quiche.
After our meal we went back to the counter to pick out a dessert treat. And, wow, what treats they have!
Aren’t these cakes and cookies so beautiful!
After lunch we went to the Summit to shop. I told the girls to go do their thing and have some time just the two of them while I browsed a few shops and then found a nice bench to sit and relax. It was a delightful fall day, sunny and cool! I should have taken a picture outside with the sunshine and shoppers all around.
The Paper Source is one of my favorite stores to visit when I’m in Birmingham. They have beautiful papers, stationary, and gifts.
After shopping we dropped the friend off at her house and headed back home. It was a fun day, and the girls are counting down the days until Thanksgiving break when they hope to see each other again.
Sunday morning, we went to church with our tummies filled from breakfast. I’ve been making this recipe for Sourdough Pumpkin Pancakes lately and it’s so delicious–my favorite pancake recipe now! We eat them with maple syrup and toasted pecans and those flavors combined with the pumpkin is amazing. The perfect fall breakfast!
After our worship service, everyone stayed for lunch and then an afternoon of working on cleanup around the building. Just like with our homes, a church eventually needs a good spring cleaning (or fall cleaning) and it worked out so well to have the members stay and all pitch in. My husband and son worked outside taking down a tree, my daughter helped clean out the teachers’ resource room, and I worked with some ladies in the 2-yr old classroom cleaning out cabinets and washing toys, etc. Some members washed windows, others wiped pews, several cleaned out the attic, and the list goes on. When we left that afternoon, the entire building felt so bright and fresh, inside and out!
I did not get any pictures of the workday, so I’ll share this cute photo from our 2-year-old class a few weeks ago. I told the children it was time to clean up to go home and while most of the kids picked up toys, this one little boy started stacking chairs. The funny thing is that his dad is our youth minister, and I told his mom when she picked him up that it was obvious that his dad was in ministry because this kid knew how to stack chairs! Joel joked that he must have been getting ready for the fellowship lunch and now every time we see this little guy Joel calls him “the little deacon”.
We finished the day back at home watching a cute movie, The Million Dollar Duck. It was a nice fall weekend and now I’m ready to start a new week!
Leave a Reply