Three little pumpkins

(Sorry for the blurry phone pictures!)

And last but not least, here's a picture of the cute baby swinging with his ball :-)

Spider web crafts

This weekend we got into the fall spirit and made some cute spider web crafts. I love fall!  Now, if only it were cooler . . . but I guess anything is better than 100 degrees. :-) 

One of Oliver's creations:

Oliver's spider webs:

Theodore didn't get to decorate a spider web this time, but he had fun posing for me, and then he got to decorate a mini pumpkin with a marker. :-)  

One of Buttercup's spider webs:

All of Buttercup's:

Pumpkin bread with cinnamon cream cheese topping

Mmm, I love fall baking, with the savory scents of cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon filling my house. It just makes you feel good inside to smell all of the yumminess baking in the oven.  :-)  

I made this pumpkin bread today and I ended up baking it for a little too long (recipe said to bake it for an hour and 10 minutes, but mine was done in about 40). It looked dry, so I made up a glaze to add a little bit of moisture and sweetness.  The result?  Super yummy, and reminds me a lot of carrot cake, but with less fat and calories. :-)  Yum!

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup canola oil

3 large eggs

1 16-oz can pumpkin (the plain kind, not the "pie mix" kind)

2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

butterscotch chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 2 loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, combine sugars, oil, and applesauce, mix well. Add eggs and pumpkin, mix well. In a large bowl, combine flour, spices, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture, stir and mix well. Divide the batter into the loaf pans. Sprinkle with butterscotch chips if desired.  Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until done. 

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Topping

*keep in mind that I didn't measure anything as I added it!

about 2 heaping tablespoons of whipped cream cheese (regular, not light or fat free)

1 tbsp packed brown sugar

dash of cinnamon

skim milk

Stir brown sugar and cream cheese together until they're well mixed. Add cinnamon, and stir. Add milk, a little bit at a time, until it's about the consistency of yogurt. Spread on the top of your still-warm pumpkin bread and enjoy!

More fun Fall stuff

A cool front blew in a couple of days ago, and the chilly weather always puts me in the mood for baking and making fun holiday-themed crafts.

But first, here's a cutie with a pumpkin!



I made pumpkin bread (using my recipe for banana bread), and also made pumpkin cookies based on this recipe from Oatmeal Mountain. I bought butterscotch chips to use, but the kids and I were at Walmart yesterday and I found these new M&Ms to use instead:


The M&Ms are good, but they're really, really sweet. Almost too sweet. They also didn't really taste like candy corn, so I'm not sure why they're called candy corn M&Ms?

Anyway, I smashed them up and used them in the cookies, and I really like the way they came out. I'm not a very good cookie-baker, but the cookies came out to be very light and very tasty.


The kids and I also made some cute crafts. Of course my hubby teases me that I like doing crafts more than the kids do, but I think they really liked these. :-)

The first one is a leaf/tree craft. You'll need leaves, pipe cleaners, and 2 toilet paper tubes (or 1 paper towel tube, cut in half). Poke several holes between the middle and top of the tube. Cut the pipe cleaners into thirds, then poke a pipe cleaner through the bottom of each leaf, then poke the other end through a hole in the tube.


Our leaves are all dry and brown thanks to the never-ending drought, so I plan to redo this craft if we ever get enough rain for the leaves to change colors!

We also made handprint spiders . . .





. . . and ghosts. Boo!

Pumpkin carving

Buttercup's jack-o-lantern:


Oliver's:


(Buttercup didn't get to be a part of the photo because she was busy throwing a tantrum)

It's Fall!

It's mid October, and we're finally starting to get some cooler weather after another loooong, hot summer. Let me tell you, it is so nice to be able to play outside in the afternoon again. :-) We still have a lot of 90 degree days in our forecast, but the hint of cool weather is enough to get me in the fall spirit!

Here are the kids at a pumpkin patch:






Theodore refused to bend his knees and sit on the pumpkin, ha ha!


We also did a test run of the kids dressed in their Halloween costumes. Here's Theodore as Yoda:


And here's Oliver (as Commander Cody), Theodore (as Yoda), Aunt Anna (as herself), and Buttercup (as Thomas the train):


We've also done some fall themed crafts. Here are the kids' leaf suncatchers (Oliver's is on top, Buttercup's is on the bottom):



And we also made bat headbands (Buttercup's on top, Oliver's on bottom):



Yay for fall!