Tiny Tots Trick-or-Treating

A couple of Fridays ago, Old Town Fort Collins had Tiny Tots Trick-or-Treating. A bunch of businesses in Old Town opened up from 10am-1pm to pass out candy to kids under 7. It was a lot of fun! Cadence was a beautiful fairy princess, Finn was Thomas the Train and Aria was a skeleton (a cute and chubby one that glowed in the dark). Cadence helped make her princess crown and fairy wand. She was so polite when saying "trick-or-treat" for her candy and loved putting the candy in her Halloween purse.

Everyone loved Finn's costume and he could tell. He absolutely loved all the attention. At one point, my mom was walking back to the car with Finn and told him that the crosswalk looked like a train track. He proceeded to get down on his knees and scoot across the street the rest of the way so that "Thomas" could roll across the track. What a ham! Finn also had an interesting method of collecting candy. First, he would say "twick or twreat" to whoever was in front of him. Then, he'd put the last candy he collected in his bag and hold the new candy he just received. In his other hand, he always held onto the gumball he received earlier on. I didn't show Finn his costume until that morning, and I'm glad that I waited, because I don't know if it would have survived more time with Finn. He was "driving" it all over.

It was a fun morning with some very cute kids!

Family Pumpkin Carving

Let's Carve!

It's pumpkin carving time! Everyone had a job to do. I scooped out all the seeds and goo. It gave me such a feeling of satisfaction to see that clean pumpkin.:)

Then, Brad took over with his creative and artistic abilities to carve the face.

Cadence and Finn decorated their mini-pumpkins with markers and drew on the paper. Finn had a unique technique of using two markers at once and drawing on his face.

Aria sat by and looked cute.:) (though her picture is a bit blurry)

Fall Fun!

Brad had a little helper while raking up the leaves the other day. As you can see, Cadence was a big help. Finn and Aria were taking naps, so they didn't get to join in. Brad filled 14 black trash bags of leaves and there are still more falling. Such fun to jump into a crunchy pile of leaves!

Relaxing in the crisp Fall air and sunshine.

We started the week off by going to a Fall festival at our friend's church (my women's group church).

Cadence loved bouncing, bouncing, bouncing in the bouncy castle. By the end of the night, Finn was hooked as well. It was hard to get clear pictures of them because they were constantly moving, so sorry for the blurriness.

Finn, however, started the evening off by participating in the cake walk. He walked around in a circle for the majority of the evening without any idea what he was doing. He just liked following everyone around and stepping on the numbers. He didn't win a cake, though. Actually, he may have won, but we didn't pay attention to the numbers he was standing on.

Brad enjoyed talking to some friends and eating chili, before he had to dash off to lead the evening service at church.

The kids and I hung around for a little more bouncing and then headed home for bedtime!

Recipe Highlight:

Ginger-Spice Muffins

Ingredients 2 spray(s) cooking spray 1 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice 1 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp table salt 1/2 cup(s) packed brown sugar, dark brown-variety 1 3/4 cup(s) cooked cubed butternut squash, pureed (yields 1 cup puree) 3 Tbsp canola oil 1/3 cup(s) plain fat-free yogurt 3 Tbsp molasses 1 large egg(s) Instructions Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 12 muffin holes with cooking spray or use cupcake liners. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine sugar, squash puree, oil, yogurt, molasses and egg. With an electric mixer on medium speed, mix for 1 to 2 minutes (or mix by hand). Make a well (a scooped out indention) in center of dry ingredients; pour in liquid mixture and gently fold to just combine (batter will be lumpy). Evenly pour batter into prepared muffin pan about two-thirds full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Yields 1 muffin per serving.

Pumpkin Gospel

This week the kids made jack-o-lanterns out of these little pumpkins and read "The Pumpkin Patch Parable". It is a cute story. I love the gospel message that is illustrated through the jack-o-lantern. I had never heard this story before, so I was excited to take a non-Christian holiday and put a Christian spin on it. So, the Sunday school class started out by reading the story, then they carved their pumpkins and read the "Being a Christian is just like a pumpkin" card that was attached to each of their pumpkins, then they ate carrot cookies (they were very yummy and I made them with a carrot puree, which made them orange and semi-healthy! They are in the picture with the pumpkins), and ended with a jack-o-lantern coloring sheet and sang "This Little Light of Mine". It was a fun little lesson. I hope the kids liked it, because I enjoyed planning it.:) In the above picture, the two carved pumpkins are Cadence's and Finn's, which they carved in Sunday School, the big one is our family pumpkin that we are going to carve this week, the medium one on the right is the one Cadence got at the pumpkin patch with her preschool, and the medium one on the left is the pie pumpkin I am going to bake and puree to use in some yummy recipes and maybe even some baby food for Aria!

Here's a picture of me not looking run down, for once!

Recipe Highlight:

These were very yummy and make you feel "healthy" because they have a carrot puree in them! (they are pictured in the top picture with all the pumpkins)

Carrot Cookies

Carrot cookies are made with mashed carrots.

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup cooked, mashed carrots
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Orange Icing, below

Preparation:

Beat shortening; gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg, carrots and vanilla, beating well after each addition. Sift together dry ingredients; stir into carrot mixture and mix well. Stir in chopped nuts, if using. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for about 20 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks to cool.
Ice cookies with Orange Icing while still warm.

Orange Icing

• Juice of 1/2 orange (3 to 4 tablespoons)
• grated rind of 1 orange
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 1/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

Combine juice and orange rind with butter; stir in sifted confectioners' sugar until desired spreading consistency is reached. Add more juice or confectioners' sugar as needed.