Pumpkin

Okay so I've been totally obsessed with making "Pumpkin" treats this year...I guess I had to do something to get into the fall mood with this 80 degree weather here.  I'm sure not used to October still feeling like the summer months. I'm not complaining, it's been wonderful and I love it. I'm just not used to it.  The last few weeks however, have felt a bit more like fall. Now that it's almost Thanksgiving, there is a chill in the air and the leaves are starting to drop. I gathered a ton of awesome recipes on Pinterest and a few old family recipes and decided that I make a few pumpkin dishes each week.  Most were delicious...a few I probably won't make again. (ie. pumpkin frozen yogurt & pumpkin pie cupcakes) But eating all this pumpkin has definitely gotten me into the mood.

Some new favorites in our household and the list that we MUST make again consist of...

Pumpkin Donuts {click here}
These are super delicious and I'm sure super unhealthy...We made one batch and fried them three different times. I always remember my mom making homemade donuts, they are a little bit of work, but the end results are so worth it.

Pumpkin Pie French Toast {click here}
Super quick and super easy twist for our Saturday morning breakfasts (which we try actually make something other than cold cereal.)

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll {click here}
This was Stephen's request and it took me three trips to the store to get all the ingredients, because I kept forgetting things. For those who have a real sweet tooth this is perfect.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Pull-apart Bread {click here}

I love bread. Period. Any type, any time of the day. So just add cinnamon and pumpkin to it and watch out...I could eat the whole loaf by. my. self. 

Is your mouth watering yet??? Along with these new recipes, we whipped up some good old family favorites...
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin seeds
Pumpkin Cream Cheese on whole wheat bagels
Pumpkin Chocolate chip Muffins
It's been a very delicious few months around our house. For the month of December...I think I might experiment with recipes with peppermint. Any good recipes out there we should try?

I'm thinking these might be first on our list.

Guess Who???

I've been meaning to do this for a while now, never get a chance to sit down and just look through some old pictures. Well, the other night I was putting a few things away and stumbled across these beauties! Who does Andrew look more like? You be the judge. He's definitely a good mix.  Stephen thinks he looks more like me, but I'm not sure.

Andrew at 15 months (adjusted age one year)

Emily at one year with sister Camille.  

Stephen at one year

Halloween 2012

Introducing our little monkey. 

Curious George. 

His partner in crime.

The Man in the Yellow Hat

Lots of people know Curious George and most of those people would also readily recognize his friend/roommate/owner, the Man in the Yellow Hat, but it would take a huge fan of the PBS show to recognize Professor Wiseman. Professor Wiseman works at the museum and is the man in the yellow hat's ersatz boss. Here's the gang all together!  We went to our ward Halloween party and they had this awesome photo booth. So fun!

What do you think? 

I'm used to Halloween's where you bundle up in many layers, eat a hot bowl of chili and hope and pray that it doesn't snow. Well, this year, was quite different. We were in the 80's and put the costume on just long enough for a few pictures without sweating to death. With family living on our street we had to go trick or treating to say hello! Andrew didn't quite get the concept this year. Especially at our ward party, as soon as they'd drop some treat into his bucket, he'd reach right in and pull it out. Apparently we haven't educated him enough about sweets and candy.

Ready to go Trick or Treating

This year pumpkin carving was fun as well. Andrew enjoyed being apart of it all. He was a bit hesitant to put his hand inside, but once we gave him a spoon he went all at it.

Once the knives came out we threw him in the high chair and he was happy and content chewing...or I should say eating this.

Oh yes,  and mommy was being adventurous and decided to let him try a bit of his Halloween candy today. It's a hit. I think that sucker is going to last us all month....or year.

Andrew's First Camping Adventure

Camping in October. Yep that's right! It's perfect weather here in Texas....camping weather. Stephen and I have been itching to go for a very,very long time. This summer it was too incredibly hot and no mountains down here to escape the heat. So we had to be a bit patient and wait for it to cool off just a bit. One weekend in August, we found an awesome campsite and couldn't wait to go back.  It was beautiful right on the edge of Ray Roberts Lake and lots of trees made it seem like there were no other campers in sight. We felt like we were all by ourselves. Which is just what we love when we're enjoying the beautiful outdoors.  We were a little nervous camping with a toddler and it was a whole different adventure. But we loved it and I think Andrew loved it just as much.

 We had to hike all of our stuff about 1/2 mile into camp. It was a bit tricky with a little one, but we mangaed...note to self. It's hard to "Pack light" with kids.

Andrew eating a snack while daddy makes a fire

Mesmerized by the big fire

Of course, you can't go camping without roasting marshmallows and devouring a few smores.

Andrew's version of "Smores" The chocolate
was by far his favorite. Smart boy!

Wild cactus was growing everywhere by our tent.

Stephen thought he'd be daring and take a taste of the cactus fruit. I wasn't quite so daring.

Beautiful sunset view from our campsite

Andrew did awesome sleeping in tent. We were worried that he was getting cold in his pack n' play and so around 2:30 am we pulled him into our sleeping bags to sleep with us. Let's just say that he continued to sleep like a rockstar. Stephen and I on the other hand didn't get a wink. We finally gave up trying around 6:00 when the sun started to come up and Andrew woke bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to go for the day.

Reading books with Daddy in the tent before bedtime.

Stephen was so wonderful to get up and out of the warm sleeping bag to build the fire up for us. Little did I know that he had other plans too.  He snuck off with his fishing pole and went down to the lake to see if he could catch anything before all the boats were out for the day. He claims that big fish were jumping everywhere, but alas no bites.

Morning snuggles by the fire

Happy boy in the morning!

It was hard to keep a little one who scoots everywhere on his tummy clean and out of the dirt. We did our best.

Trying to escape

All in all we had a wonderful time. Came home smelling like campfire smoke and completely exhausted.Camping is the greatest....right?