Thankful for Pumpkins

Growing up I hated pumpkin pie.  Why have pumpkin when you can have berry pie?  Some time in the last few years I've tried pumpkin again and found I like it!  Although, truth be told.  I'll take a berry pie over pumpkin any day:)

My friend Michele shared with me two great tips.  One, pick up pumpkins at the 99 Cent Store!  Second, cooking them doesn't have to be a big deal.  Cut the pumpkin in half.  You can scoop out the seeds then or after the cooking.  Place them face down on a pan and cook at 350 degrees for 1.5 hours.  It is okay for the skin to bubble and brown.  Let the pumpkin cool.  Scoop out the flesh and let is sit in a strainer.  Push the water out with hand or spoon.  Let it set for several hours to get the water out.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

These pumpkin chocolate chip muffins were delicious!!!  You can check out the recipe here.  I recently bought wheat flour.  I used half white flour and half wheat flour for this recipe.  I didn't have cloves, so I used more cinnamon.   I shared them with my family over the weekend, and they enjoyed them!

Pumpkin Pancakes 

 Again, I didn't have any white flour.  Since I haven't made them with the white flour I can't compare, but I LOVED these.  Kyle's early morning response to the first bite was, "These rock!"  That means they are really good since he normally doesn't talk in the morning.  You can find the recipe here.  As with the muffin recipe, I replaced the cloves with cinnamon.  I don't care for ginger, so I didn't add that.  These are really filling pancakes.  Next time I might make them a little smaller.  

18 Weeks Old

Kyle had surgery on his wrist last week to remove two ganglion cysts. That meant that we got to spend some extra time together while he recovered. He got to watch Eliana while I had a root canal last week (with the help of Rachel), and he watched her again this week while I had the temporary crown put on. In general, I am not a fan of the dentist. Although this whole process hasn't been too bad on the pain level, it really just isn't my cup of tea. I look forward to when I don't have to see them again for a few months.

With our family time, we went to the park a couple of times. There is a small botanical garden near us.


Black Eyed Susans


Black Eyed Susan


There were tiny pumpkins and gourdes on one of the picnic tables at the garden. Last year I gave my students tiny pumpkins and gourdes. One of the girls, who is quite crafty, made it a tiny jack-o-lantern. Now that takes skill!


Eliana enjoyed a couple of naps on our park adventures. Another blessing from God is that she isn't crying as much in the car!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is HUGE! It makes getting out of the house so much more enjoyable.


Kyle has a nack for finding these critters on our walks.

Look carefully at the images below. What do you see?





I know that they are really hand and feet grips for a rock wall, but what I saw was masks! Can't you see it now??? Kyle thinks the last one looks more like a foot.



Eliana had her 4 month check up. Last Monday she was 11 pounds and 4 ounces. She is a little above the 5th percentile in weight. She is now 23 inches long, and that puts her in the 10th percentile for height! Very soon we'll have to switch over to the 3-6 month clothes!

Some of you know that I hate to waste things. We bought a bunch of size one diapers, and Eliana has simply grown out of them. She has been blowing out of diapers for a week, so it is time to move on. I struggled with what to do. We probably have a good $50 in diapers that can't be used. After some careful thought, I realized that I know 4 ladies who are pregnant. I guess that means I have their gifts already! Before I was pregnant I didn't enjoy buying diapers. Clothes are so much cuter. Now I realize what a blessing diapers are as a gift.

Raymond Banducci Farms

Last weekend, Perry, Sherry, Troy, Aimee, Kallie, Kyle, Eliana, and I headed out to the Raymond Banducci Farms off of Taft Hwy. I'd highly recommend it for those looking for great photo shots for the family.

I love how active Kallie is. She crawls, walks, and even wants to try her hand at photography!





I love her face on this one!


This is one of my favorite shots of Kallie and her daddy!



This veggie is almost as big as her! It reminds me of a character on Veggie Tales!

16 Weeks and a New Trick

Eliana still doesn't like being on her tummy. GramE has been trying to teach Eliana to roll over. Today I had her on her tummy trying to take a few photos. She disliked it enough to roll over on accident! She did it twice today!

I know some people assume that I am putting these hair bows on. Let me clarify that Kyle is! I tend to not put them on since they leave indentations on her head.


GramE was trying to help Eliana to fall back asleep. In the process, she fell asleep too! That was a cute sight to behold as they held hands! Some of you may be worried about the pillows, don't be. We had a careful eye on her while she took a nap on her Aunt Marcie's quilt on the living room floor.


GramE, Eliana, and I went to the Hillcrest Pumpkin Patch! We got to hear a story about how pumpkins grow. It was super cute to hear a preschooler describe the pumpkin flower as a blossom. The teacher in me was way impressed with her vocabulary.


Check out Eliana's response to being in the sun for the hayride. Note to self and others with little ones. This trip really isn't suited for strollers. I carried Eliana for about 2 hours!


GramE took a few shots for us.


This picture is absolutely amazing! I can't even take the credit for it either. Double click on the picture to zoom in and see all of the details GramE got! You can see the butterfly's mouth!

Before and After

When you have 3 pumpkins after Halloween, creative must ensue.
Before

The seeds that Rachel later baked for me after out multi-hour endeavor.

Rachel and Ruli helping puree the pumpkin after boiling and peeling.

The pureed pumpkin with bumps from sitting in the strainer.

After: The delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

Plus, Rachel and I have 4 premade batched of the pumpkin puree left over for a rainy day.

I don't remember which relative blessed Rachel with the recipe, but boy am I glad they did. They were like a pleasant mix between a spice cake and a chocolate chip cookie. They stayed much more moist than chocolate chip cookies which get hard after a day or two. Yummy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream 1/2 C shortening, 1 1/2 C sugar together, add 1 egg, 2 C pumpkin and mix. Sift together 2 1/2 C flour (which we didn't do and they were still delicious), 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt add to the pumpkin mix. Mix well then stur in 12 oz package of chocolate chips and 1 c of nuts (which we didn't use). Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

Pumpkin Decorating Contest

As an outreach, our church had a pumpkin decorating contest! We had so much fun! We had some new people join us that hadn't come for the ice cream making event. There were 3 grand prizes of $5 gift cards to Target. Everyone got a goodie bag and cookies too! Plus, we had several left over pumpkins, so we also gave out pumpkins!

This was our winner for the funniest face!
Here is my Bible character, the great fish from the Jonah story!
A little girl loves the Miss Spider books and tv series.
When we picked out the pumpkins, Kyle looked at this one and said it would be a great strawberry!
I love the trunk on this elephant!