Green Eyed Goddess

This has been a difficult week for A but a fun week for G.  A has acutely felt that she is not always the center of attention and has done a few things to bring all eyes back on her. Overall though she has borne it well and is getting better at it.  We read a color book on emotions (it seems there are several out these days) and discussed the green one a little bit and how we can be happy for other people. Realistically she has done remarkably well and will do better as more and more things like this happen. 

G has turned 2 and had a good week.  We had a few presents for him on his birthday and did a leaf jumping fun party yesterday.  We had half a dozen kids come and play over lunch.  We have leaves (in case you've missed the earlier posts) and yet again I was able to brush up quite the pile of leaves for kids to jump into.  We moved it slightly to be where the kids could roll/jump/slide from our neighbors into it. 

Here are some of the fun pictures:

As you can gather gifts with wheels and things that can be put together were the biggest hit. It was also Batman themed as G loves Batman.  It is super cute when he runs around in his batman robe saying "I Batman" after his bath.

It is time for me to go read some before I get some sleep and start another busy week.  Hopefully we get the snow that A keeps asking about. 

Pumpkin Cake Recipe

I haven't posted a recipe in a while. This is weird for me. Very weird indeed.  I've had an issue getting workable pumpkin this season though the one I processed this weekend was quite good.  I also got around 6 cups of puree so I'm happy with it.  I even had to lop off a fair bit of the top because it had some bad spots in it so I think I would have gotten around 8 cups of puree. It was a white pumpkin and those are new to me this season.  I'm finding them to be a bit sweeter than the orange ones and a bit milder on the taste. This is good as I haven't had my typical "pumpkin spice" season.

In true-to-form fashion I found a recipe online for a carrot cake.  Yes I know carrot cake is not pumpkin cake.  However as I was convincing myself to get out of bed when G woke up screaming this morning I was looking for a way to use pumpkin that would be easy to transport but wasn't a bread and wasn't a pie.  I still haven't made pumpkin pie but think one is coming as I can't freeze the remaining white pumpkin.  I made half a dozen substitutions or so but here is the link to the recipe I found and used as inspiration.  I find the cake to not need icing (rare for me since when I could eat wedding cake Chris got the cake and I got the icing) and it is delicious as it stands. It is also super moist and fluffy which is odd for gluten free stuff.  I'm going to make some cream cheese icing but not tonight as I need to go to bed. 

Cake recipe:

1/2 C agave nectar

1 C canola oil

4 large eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla

1.5 C brown sugar

2.5 C Flour (3/4 C tapioca 1/2 C brown rice 3/4 C sorghum 1/2 C sweet white rice + 1 tsp xantham gum + 1.5 tsp gelatin)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon each: ground ginger nutmeg allspice

2 cup pumpkin

 

Preheat oven to 350°F.

 

In a large bowl (I used a 4 cup mixing cup) whisk the liquid ingredients (sans pumpkin or the first four things) together. In a mixer (because I refuse to mix things without one anymore) mix all the dry stuff (everything from the brown sugar to the spices in order of ingredients). Mix it some more because you want to make sure everything is well distributed.  Add the wet to the dry. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula and then add in the pumpkin. 

 

Distribute into appropriate baking pan -- either a couple of 9x9 squares or a couple of circles or a muffin/cupcake pan (which is what I used since I have several children coming over for a birthday party the end of the week). Bake in preheated oven until they smell like they are done and bounce back to the touch. Let cool (or don't like Chris and I did) and then frost/ice. 

 

I got 32 cupcakes out of the batter. Here is a picture of the yummy cupcakes.  

Chris asked if we had to share them with the kids and that most will want the cake not just the frosting.  Which since A wanted sugar coated sugar with icing on it for breakfast this morning is saying something.  

Yesterday was a pretty impressive day for G -- he went most of the day with the same diaper on as he went on a toilet while we were out all day.  Chris put him on the toilets we visited in Charlotte and he went on every single one! Then when we came home he simply refused to potty on the toilet.  Bah!

All Saints Day!

We embraced a bit of frivolity last night.  We took the kids trick-or-treating. This is the first Halloween in a while that I haven't had to make a costume but everyone was wearing something that I made. :) People we ran into really liked all the costumes so that make it a fun night for me.  Everyone especially loved G this year.  He went as Olaf again but since he could walk a bit easier this year it was a different effect.  A was a princess mash-up: Elsa-Belle-Sophia. She wanted to be "Darth Vader" again but Chris hadn't the time to fix the light saber so she didn't get to carry it. We went to my boss's house and then across the street to some of our friends from church.  At the friend's house the kids would mob the door every time it rang. We wondered what it was like from the other side and just laughed about it. 

We've had a fairly uneventful but busy month for October.  We did a lot and I think we finally managed to kill the rogue staph that was wondering around our house.  I may be the last hold out and I'm finishing up my round of antibiotics. 

Here are some pictures from last night. Hope you were all safe and had fun!

Fall Leaves

They have already taken leaves once, and we need to rake again. Rather, we need to find someone to rake again for us. However, the kids did discover the joy of climbing through leaves. They had a bit of fun and did this for quite a while. I'm not sure I really want the city to take the pile, but it should disappear tomorrow.

Tale As Old As Time

A and I went to see Beauty and the Beast this afternoon.  We went to a matinee performance and it was a good show.  We got out in a break between rain and the wind was a battle all day for me driving and for Chris around the house with G.  Miss A told us she was "Elsa Sophia Belle Darth Vadar" today so it was interesting.  We wore some beautiful gloves that got her all sorts of compliments.  She's had a thing for gloves lately so it seems appropriate that she'd earn the hearts of everyone with her gloves.  The lady sitting next to us was old enough to remember wearing gloves to church and gloves out when she'd go with her husband while courting. 

Other than rain we've had a pretty uneventful week.  We've had gobs of rain and were supposed to get 12-18 inches. Luckily I think we only got 5 or 6. 

Here are a few pictures from the day though. 

Friend's B'Day Party

We went to a 1 year birthday party for a couple here.  They are probably among our closest friends and they have a 1 year old boy who is destined to cause trouble with G.  For the party we went to their house (as well as lots of family and friends of theirs) and A and G decided to take over.  I felt kind of bad but at the same time no one seemed to mind.  I'm not sure the kids were bullies but they were the oldest and most willing to push their wants to the front.  It was a "Monsters Inc." (my comma key apparently no longer works) themed party and they had some fantastic cupcakes made.  The icing for the cake though turned A's mouth all sorts of fun colors. The child also got a "Thomas" for his birthday and my kids took it over.  G did a fantastic job steering and taking it around.  He did so well in fact that it made us less nervous for him to drive the thing than A.  Anyway I'm off to bed but thought the pictures might be nice for everyone to see. 

Pumpkin Season!

Saturday last I went to my fruit stand and bought some pumpkins. G had to carry his (he's quite the gentleman normally and will try and carry anything for me, push anything for me, pick up anything for me -- provided I then pick him up as well!) white (yes, it had to be white) pumpkin around the stand, to the counter and to the car.  He was quite proud of his pumpkin.  A was taking a nap in the car the whole time.  I checked with the seller and apparently white pumpkins work similarly to orange, just not as pumpkiny.

The pumpkins have sat around this week as the fall term is a nightmare.  Chris works late two nights and we have church one night.  That leaves Tuesdays to be a normal family and we are only a few weeks in to the term.  G has played with his white pumpkin most days and wanted to see it/touch it/bonk his sister on the head with it all week.  Since the kids and I typically get home well before Chris I decided we were going to at least get the pumpkins roasted tonight.  A was all for it as she remembered gooping out pumpkins last year (if not the year before). As we goop out pumpkins several times a season, this is a fair thing to remember.  G however was a bit irritated that I wanted to mess up his perfect pumpkin.  A has become quite helpful when it is just the three of us, and is becoming the bossy, worldly older sister.  A tried to help calm G down about the pumpkin, but it just didn't happen.

I just remembered that I still have seeds to sort, so here are a few pictures of our pumpkins thus far in the season.