RECIPE: PUMPKIN CREAM PIES

I ran across this recipe and decided to try it the other night. WOW. They are really good!

PUMPKIN CREAM PIES

Ingredients

FOR CREAM PIES:
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 can Pumpkin (15 Oz.)
2 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3 cups All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
½ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
¼ teaspoons Ground Cloves
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FOR FILLING:
1 package Cream Cheese Softened (8 Oz.)
1 stick Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
1 package Powdered Sugar (16 Oz.)
3 drops Vanilla Extract
2 dashes Cinnamon

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pumpkin Creme Pies: Beat together brown sugar, sugar, oil and pumpkin. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition, followed by the vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
Cut 3 inch squares of parchment paper, about 24. Using a pastry bag with a round tip, or a big zip top plastic bag with one corner snipped, squeeze out concentric circles of batter, starting from the middle and working outward until the circles are about 2 inches in diameter. (Note that the squares allow the baker to move the square while keeping the bag in the same spot. Just squeeze for easy circle making!)
Transfer each square to a baking sheet. Bake for 11 minutes, or until firm, and cool on a rack.

Cream Cheese Filling: Beat together cream cheese and butter. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Frost flat side of half the pies and top with another piece.
Enjoy right away, or chill overnight. These keep very nicely in the fridge for at least a few days.

Fall at the Arboretum

My MOPS group went to our local arboretum this week. It was a BEAUTIFUL day! We enjoyed seeing the beautiful flowers, pumpkins and letting the kids run wild!

My little guy was interested in everything EXCEPT looking at the camera. I swear - he refuses to look at it. So frustrating. But, I took a *few* (106) pictures anyway.

Taking it all in....

He loved to jump off the bales of hay!

JUMP!

...and throw the pumpkins....

I thought these might be cute....sitting in the little white chair....no such luck....

Making Cookies with Lainey

Lainey and Care Care came to watch Madden last weekend, so Marc and I could go to Lubbock. There will be no fun post about our trip to Lubbock because we got the flu and threw up all weekend. However, Madden had a great weekend!
When we got home, Lainey announced she and Madden were going to make cookies. I was skeptical, because I wasn't sure how long Madden would stay interested. Well, he helped for a bit. He probably would've helped longer, except he didn't like all the "stuff" that got on his hands.

After cutting the cookies, we went and took a bath. Then came back down for the the finished product! YUM!

An Evening at the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday, a pumpkin patch came to Madden's school. He got to pick out a pumpkin and bring it home. He calls them "dunkins". So cute.

Soon after getting home, we went to dinner with our neigbors and then headed to the local pumpkin patch. The kids had great fun picking out pumpkins, running through the hay maze and riding the wagon.

Good little buddies! Madden loves these two....

Some Things I Want To Remember....

Over the past couple of months, Madden has become more aware of RIGHT and WRONG. He is learning about rules and obeying.

In September, we got new couches. I was gone when they arrived, but Marc and Madden were home. Madden was having fun jumping on the new couches.....which have a clear liquid drink. Marc instituted a couple of rules - "Don't fall. Don't spill". Simple enough. When asked what the rules are, Madden exclaims "Don't fall, don't spill!"

At church the following day, Madden hit a girl in the nursery. He was repremanded - and then we added onto our rules "Don't hit. Don't kick".

Since then, the rules have grown. Today, when you ask Madden the rules, he says "Don't fall, don't spill. Don't kick, don't hit. Don't bite, don't spit."

Now, if we could just get him to follow those rules.....

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Last week, as we were getting ready for school, Madden told me "I hit fwends. I go time out". Huh? He has continued to say this. So, we asked his teacher if he hit his friends at school and went to time out. She said, NEVER! She said he is the most laid back kid in the class and rarely gets in trouble. Ha! He must just see other kids 'hit fwends' and go to time out.

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One day, Marc picked Madden up at school and they were having storytime on the rug. The rug has lots of colorful shapes on it. Madden was sitting away from the rest of the class at the back of the rug. Marc asked the teacher why Madden was at the back of the class and she said "because Madden LOVES ovals, and that is where the oval is!" Ha! Honey loved this because her favorite shape is oval too!

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Madden has a little girlfriend! One evening, he started talking about a girl named Gabby. We had never heard of this person, but he talked and talked about her. I asked the teacher if there was a girl in his class named Gabby and sure enough, there is! He loves Gabby!

State Fair of Texas - 2010 Edition

It's that time of year again - the Great State Fair of Texas has arrived in Dallas! We were able to go opening weekend and actually enjoyed some cool weather.

Last year, Madden spent most of the time riding in the stroller and enjoying the sights from there.

This year, he was able to run around and enjoy much more! First stop, was the tractors....

Throwing a little fit....

After the tractors, we headed to the "farm" to "feed the animals"....

Getting his apron on....

Ready to GO!

Watering the plants....

Feeding the chickens some corn....

Stopping to take a picture for mom.... :)

Collecting some vegetables....

Could've been such a cute picture, if he was just looking at the camera! Ugh.

VERY SAD when it was over and he had to give back his basket and apron.

We continued walking around the fair to see what else was there. We stopped for lunch and had a corny dog, too!

Big Tex! Howdy Folks!

We stopped at the new children's aquarium and saw sting rays....

.....and baby alligators...

Then, we headed to the Midway. Madden was in AWE. He wanted to see it all.

We let him play this little game with the ducks.

He won a prize and INSISTED on a pink ball. He loves pink right now.

We got some chocolate covered strawberries on a stick and a funnel cake before leaving! We all had a great time! Until next year....