Pumpkin Pie

Just had to document this: I made a pumpkin pie from scratch and the people who ate it thought it was really good!! Woo-hoo!!

If you ever choose to make a pumpkin pie from scratch, I suggest that you use this recipe for the crust (great for any pie!) and this recipe for the pie. I had significantly less real pumpkin puree and I did NOT use any canned pumpkin so I went with 1/3 of all ingredient measurements and I still had enough filling for a 9 inch pie! The idea of pressing ground pecans and gingersnaps into the pie crust (per the pie recipe) sounded good, so I did that. I was a little nervous about baking the pie on the oven floor (per the pie recipe) so I had it on the lowest rack, which worked really well.

Oh! As far as the pumpkin goes, use a pie pumpkin. Cut it in 1/2, scrape seeds and stringy stuff out and roast in a 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes (til a knife can slice through easily). Scoop the pumpkin out of the shell and puree. I placed the puree in a strainer lined with a couple of coffee filters and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight to drain out the excess water. It was ready to use in the morning!

I hope you and your loved ones had a very Happy Thanksgiving and you are enjoying a wonderful long weekend. We'll be heading out to my parents' house for Round Two tonight. I LOVE leftover thanksgiving food!

Soaking It In

I still find it hard to believe that this Thursday is Thanksgiving. We have really been blessed with amazing weather this Fall and we're doing all we can to enjoy every last bit of it. Yesterday we drove out to my parents' home in the country and enjoyed a leisurely walk while looking for the perfect 2009 Christmas tree. Usually we're out looking while trudging through at least a foot of snow and I agree to anything just so we can cut the thing down and I can get back into the warm house! We took a long red ribbon to tag the tree so we can tell which one it is in case it is covered in snow when we head back out in two weeks to cut it down.

Today the girls and I took a walk around our neighborhood and enjoyed the bright sunshine.

They say we may see some snowflakes Friday. I'm not sure about me, but I know A&O are ready!

Big Red

A couple of weeks ago I was checking my e-mail on a Friday night and I received a notice that Clifford the Big Red Dog was going to be visiting a cute, independent book store the next day. Clifford is a favorite character of my girls right now, but because the store is a little farther away than most, and I was hoping we could try to sleep in (yeah, right!) and have a relaxing Saturday morning hanging out in our jammies, I deleted the e-mail.

Did we sleep in? No. But the look on A&O's faces when they saw Clifford was pure joy! I'll take that over an extra hour of sleep any day.

A post just so I remember!

Each day after 'school' I ask A&O how their day was, what they did, if they had fun, what they had for snack, what their favorite part of the day was, etc. By the time Kevin comes home at dinner, I have a pretty good idea what went on (and in detail!) at school and the girls often ask me to tell Daddy about certain parts of their day at school.

Today when I got to the school for pick-up, the girls came running out of their classroom to tell me about something new and exciting that happened this morning. This evening when Kevin arrived home from work:

Kevin: "How was school today?"
O: "Mommy! Tell Daddy about the screwdriver at school today!"
Me: (thinking and drawing an absolute blank... about 15 seconds later I got it...trying to hold back the giggle...) "Oh, drill! There was a fire drill at school today!"

Sounds of the Season?

We were having a little bit of trouble with one or both of the girls waking up very early in the morning and yelling, "Is it awake time?". Neither girl knows how to tell time at this point so putting a clock in their room and telling them they have to stay in bed until 6:45am would mean nothing. 95% of the time both girls are awake by 6:45am so I decided to put a small alarm clock radio in their room and set the radio to go off at 6:45am. Now, whenever they wake up, they can only get out of bed and talk if the radio is talking. It took a couple of days for them to get the hang of it, but it seems to be working well.

When selecting the radio station for the girls' radio to play, I went with a soft rock/easy listening station. Usually A&O pay no real attention to what sound is coming from the radio. But, this morning Kevin and I woke to both girls yelling, "It's Christmas! It's Christmas!". Apparently this particular radio station has already switched over to the 'Sounds of the Season'. Someone really should write some nice Thanksgiving tunes!

Lucky Me!

I feel very lucky to have a husband who will entertain the kids after dinner so I can get dinner dishes cleaned up and have some time to check e-mail, talk with a friend, or do whatever I choose until it's time to take the girls upstairs to get ready for bed. We all love this time!

Prayers

I found out yesterday that my 45 year old cousin, Jennifer, has breast cancer. There was only a 10% chance that a particular biopsy would come back showing cancer and it did. She will be undergoing a mastectomy, reconstruction and the removal of the sentinel lymph nodes under one arm to see if the cancer has spread. There is a 5% chance of that.

Prayers requested for a successful surgery and full recovery with zero additional cancer.

Also, please stop by my blog daily and click on the Pink Ribbon button to the right. Each click helps give a woman in need a free mammogram! Thanks.

November

Last Sunday morning, November 1, at 7am I was taking down and packing away all of the Halloween decorations. By the time Kevin and the girls came down the stairs for breakfast I had candles in turkey candlesticks as the table centerpiece and a couple of Thanksgiving decorations adorning the chandelier.

Don't get me wrong, I love Halloween. But because the actual holiday of Halloween is one filled with great excitement, frights, and sugar highs, it is almost as if I feel all of those things the whole time the decorations are up.

I'm feeling a lot calmer these days with the warm colors of Autumn dotted throughout the house. There is an excitement about Thanksgiving (yummy turkey with all of the trimmings and pies galore!) but it is a more relaxed, homier feeling. I'm liking it!

All Hallows Eve!

Well, it was a success. The rain subsided, the wind dropped down a few notches (although the gusts were powerful!) and the jack-o-lanterns stayed lit. We headed out around 6:15pm and stopped by 15 of our neighbors houses. Candy bracelets and M&M's gave a slight sugar buzz before a later than usual bedtime, but for the first time EVER, the girls slept in to compensate for the later bedtime! A HUGE bonus for Mom and Dad. There was the potential of having two voices yelling "I'm awake" at 5:30am (the old 6:30am before Daylight Savings ended!).

(O was a 'flip phone' and A was a banana!)