mini pumpkin muffins

These pumpkin mini-muffins are perfect for fall mornings. Make a bunch and freeze them! 

These are not healthy muffins, but they are delicious muffins. My friend Erica brought these muffins to us once and my daughter said "wow, mom, I wish you could bake like Valerie's mom."  Yup. 

These make great mini muffins. Actually, they are more like mini baked doughnuts.  Also, this recipe makes a lot.  Here is Erica's recipe, shared without permission, but she probably won't mind:

Mix in bowl:

1 cup oil (or applesauce)

3 cups sugar (yikes. I told you they weren't healthy)

3 eggs

2 cups canned pumpkin

1 tsp. vanilla

Add:

3 cups flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. ginger

Mix until combined. Spray mini muffin tins or use paper liners.  Fill tins 2/3 way, sprinkle top of muffins with cinnamon sugar mixture. 

Bake in 350 degree oven for 12 minutes.  

Mmmmmmm.   

Here are some other favorite pumpkin recipes to enjoy this fall:

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

last minute baseball dinner and my sweet daughter

My husband has been a Cincinnati Reds fan his whole life.  He used to stay awake at night as a child listening to the games on the radio.  THE RADIO.  It's hard enough for me to stay interested watching it live or on tv, but I can not even imagine trying to follow it on the radio. (Actually, I have tried during car rides with him. I fall asleep.)  Every year since I met him he's said "This is their year, I can feel it" and then they have an awful year and he says "next year they're going to be great!" I guess you could call him a fan.  This year they did actually have a great year and made it to the playoffs. (We won't mention what happened in the playoffs as the wound is still tender.)

Anyway, last tuesday the Reds were coming back to Cincinnati after winning the first two games in the series against the Giants.  Jason was really excited to watch the games with the kids, since it was going to be at a reasonable time for everyone.  Tuesday morning, as he was walking out the door for work, he said "so, are we having a Red's baseball party tonight for the game?"  Uhhh, maybe? I guess so? I had other things to do, like homeschool, but the kids were really excited because daddy said we were going to have a baseball party.

I looked for a bit on pinterest and saw lots of cute baseball cookies and cakes and decorations.  Sometimes pinterest can be more discouraging than helpful, ya know?  I decided I just didn't have time to do anything fancy.  I ended up buying powdered donut holes, sticking them on a skewer, and using that red gel in a tube to draw on baseball lines.  I didn't even do that good of a job.  I threw some bags of peanuts in a container and put it on the table, served hot dogs and chips, and called it good.  I happened to have red colored dishes, so at least that seemed a bit festive.  Personally, I thought the whole set up a pretty weak offering and not my best work.

But then my daughter came into the room, saw the baseballs and said "Wow mom. Those are awesome.  Now I KNOW my mom is the best mom in the world."

And I stopped feeling bad about myself and was reminded that kids just don't care.  They don't care how great an artist you are or if your creations are magazine worthy.  They are just thrilled when a little imagination is used to make a normal event just a bit special.  It doesn't have to be expensive or huge, or take a lot of planning time.  Just a little thing like donut holes on a stick can turn a boring dinner into a family memory.

Halloween activities

Hello all!  Just thought I'd repost some activities we've done during past Octobers to bring the halloween spirit into the home.  Or, if planning activities is too bothersome, you can just do as I do and screech and cackle and scream like a witch at your kids the whole month.
 hee hee hee hee hee . . .

 Hungry Monster People Toss

Monster Meals

Lair of the Spider Queen

Labor Day Apple Picking

One day in August 2004, Jason and I were walking through a farmer's market downtown and noticed a flyer on one of the vendor's tents for a "buy one get one free" special on labor day for picking apples up at their orchard.  It sounded like a lot of fun to us, so we got a few friends together and took Maren up to the orchard for some apple picking fun.  We loved it so much we have gone back every year since (except maybe 2007 which I can't find any pictures from).  Each year more and more people came with us, and so now when we go up we run in to a bunch of people we know and it's lots of fun.  I look through these pictures and I can't believe how quickly time has gone by.  It doesn't seem like that long ago.  This probably won't be interesting to most people, but this is for me and our family history.

First year, in 2004:

Maren and her friend Sydnee

Daddy helping Maren

In 2005:

Maren and her friends Emma and Sydnee, and her new friends
Garrett and Amanda.  How we miss you guys! Also, this was Joshua's first
apple picking adventure.  Grandma is holding him in the background.  

In 2006:

helpful big sister

Apple picking with friends is more fun.  Unfortunately, her friends
Emma and Sydnee had moved out of town by this time, but we were
lucky to have Garrett and Amanda still around.  

In 2007:

Okay, so I don't know for sure if we went in 2007.  Christopher had been born in February of this year, and Jason had to be up in Cincinnati for all of July, August, and September. I don't remember  if he had labor day off and if we went apple picking or if we spent the day up in Cincinnati with him.  So, if anyone (perhaps Grandma? or Aunt Angela?) has pictures from this year that we are in, please pass them on. It may have been we just missed this year.  

In 2008:

One of my favorite apple picking family pictures

In 2009:

This is the favorite apple picking year to talk about.  Nathan had been born 3 days before labor day, and so Jason took the 3 older kids on our traditional apple picking adventure by himself.  It looked a bit stormy, but he was hoping it would hold off until they were done.  No such luck.  It started pouring and thundering.  They had to run back to the porch in front of the store and wait out the storm, along with all the other people who were picking that day.  The kids did not think this was fun at the time, and were screaming their heads off as it lightninged and thundered overhead.  A friend snapped this picture.  Jason thought the whole situation was pretty funny.  The kids can laugh about it now, but it was a sensitive subject for a year or two, with Maren yelling "It was NOT FUNNY!" every time Jason told the story.  

In 2010:

We didn't get a good family picture this year, but there are some cute ones of the kids. It also happened to be Nathan's first birthday, so we had a birthday party for him afterward.  

 In 2011:
Apparently it was a bit chilly this year.

We also love eating the fresh apple and peach pies with fresh pressed cider bought from the little store!

And finally in 2012:
We had a great day of apple picking with family and friends.  It was quite wet, as it had rained on and off the whole weekend, but we didn't let it dampen our spirits! (Oh man, I'm hilarious.)

My big 3 year old!!

It's hard to believe how big the kids have grown.  We love our apple picking tradition!

Hungry Monster People Toss

Here is one last easy Halloween game to play with kids.

Perhaps you have done a bean bag toss at a Halloween party before.  Well, since it is Halloween, we decided to do a people toss instead.

I made a monster face on a piece of cardboard, taped it to a basket, and leaned it against a wall. Jason looked at it and said "It's not your best artwork, huh?"  Thanks for the support hon.  (As a side note, I like to do these on flat pieces of poster board or cardboard and tape on a box or basket because then they are easier to store and reuse.)

We gathered up playmobil people, fisher price little people and imaginext people as our victims.  The kids lined up and took turns tossing 5 people into the hungry monster's mouth.  Each time they made one in, instead of cheering, we decided to scream like the people getting eaten.  I know, that's a bit gruesome, but it was also a bit funny.  We did several rounds and the kids had fun.

Happy Halloween!

Lair of the Spider Queen: Halloween Game

This is a fun Halloween party game, or anytime game! The kids get really excited to play every Fall. 

*this post contains affiliate links

This afternoon when my kids came downstairs from quiet time they found that our hallway had been invaded by spiders.  They had to use some super adventurer skills to get through safely.

Similar to the laser beam challenge from Maren's spy party last year, I taped white streamers around the hallway and poked spider rings through the streamers, making a fun obstacle course for the kids.

The kids decided it was the lair of the spider queen, and if you knocked down a string of web (streamer) it meant you had been caught and eaten.  When Joshua knocked one down he insisted the spider had only eaten his leg, so he could keep going.

Then the kids thought we should make the entrance to her cave a bit spookier, so we hung some streamers and Maren made a sign.  The kids had a great time playing adventurers for a long while.

This would be a fun halloween party game, or a fun game for a rainy fall day.

   

If you liked this game, be sure to check out the rest of our Halloween ideas on the blog. Also check out the ideas we're collecting on Pinterest.

Follow Erin (Chicken Babies)'s board Halloween Ideas on Pinterest.

Easy and Fun Monster Meals

Occasionally when Jason is not going to be home for dinner, I like to do a "fancy restaurant" with the kids to help pass the time.  Usually I just type up a menu of whatever leftovers and easy things we have to eat in the fridge, put a tablecloth on the table, and use my fancy waiter voice.  But, since it is October, I decided to do a Monster Meal Menu, just to make things more fun.

Originally I had grand plans to make some of the really cute foods I had been seeing around pinterest for Halloween, like the jello worms or edible spider webs, but I just didn't have time to make them before dinner.  So, I just used what I had and gave things spooky names to make it fun.

I told the kids they had to pretend they were monsters going out to dinner.  I used my fancy monster restaurant voice, and took their orders.  I refused to tell them what each item was, even though last Christmas I had broken down and told them when we did something similar.  This time I just wasn't going to do it.  They had to just guess.  Here is what I had on the menu, with what they are in parentheses.

Maren's order

Main Dish (all meals served with Witch's Brew and Fingers)(colored ginger ale and breadsticks)

Dragon’s eyeballs, tongue, and crackers (mini babybel cheese, ham, crackers)

Mummy (english muffin pizza)

Rat tails with ketchup (thinly sliced hot dogs)

Fruit and Veggies (choose 2 or 3)

Rat Droppings (raisins)

Ghost (banana)

Witch Warts (grapes)

Blood Blisters (grape tomatoes)(you could serve this with "pus", aka Ranch Dressing. Ha! That's gross.)

Chunks of Zombie Hearts (chunks of watermelon)

Dessert

Witch hat (hershey kiss on a cookie)

skeleton bones (mini marshmallows at the end of pretzel sticks)

ghost poop (mini marshmallows)

The kids ordered and then ran outside to play while I got their plates ready.  The plates were very easy to assemble. Most things required no preparation, just imagination. 

To make dragons eyes, I used Betty Crocker food coloring pens on those cute little babybel cheeses (although the food coloring didn't soak in very well, so I would recommend dabbing it with a paper towel to avoid messy hands). I also used the food coloring pens to put a face on the ghost banana.

To make the fingers, I shaped pillsbury breadstick dough before baking, and after it had cooled off a bit after baking I pushed a candy corn into the tip for a fingernail. 

 For the Witch's Brew, I put a few drops of food coloring at the bottom of each glass, then covered it with ice. I kept the glasses on the counter by me so they couldn't look too closely.  I told the kids they could have water or ginger ale (Christopher won't drink anything but water) and they were surprised to see the ginger ale magically change color when it was poured into the glass.  I think that may have been their favorite part of the meal, actually.  They wanted to try the trick on daddy when he got home later.

To make the mummy pizza, I toasted an english muffin, then spread some pizza sauce on top and layered on strips of string cheese. Sliced olives made the eyes. I broiled it to melt the cheese and then it was done. It only took about 5 minutes to make. 

For desserts, I made witch's hats with an upside down fudge striped cookie, a hershey kiss, and a bit of frosting I had leftover from another dessert. 

The kids had fun eating like monsters and asking for more "warts" and "zombie hearts". 

This was a good reminder to me that my kids like simple things just fine.  I had wanted to do a lot more with decorating the table spooky or having candles, but just didn't have the energy or time for it, and had considered not doing anything since I couldn't do everything I had imagined, but the kids didn't miss it. They enjoyed it and thought it was fun even without all the extras.  

It just goes to show that all kids really need to have fun is a bit of imagination to turn regular items into something special! That's good for me to remember.

Halloween Treat Bags

While Jason was gone a couple of weekends ago, I decided to do a little sewing.  I've been wanting to make halloween treat bags for years, because usually the kids just use whatever bucket or easter basket we have lying around the house, and I'd thought it would be nice to have them use the same thing each year.  I made a simple bag out of black bottomweight fabric I found near the denim at Joann's and some sparkly halloween fabric I let Joshua pick out.  Then I printed out pictures of the kids from past halloweens onto Avery dark fabric iron on transfers and ironed them onto the bags. I thought it'd be a nice way to remember what they were every year.  I was a bit worried that the pictures wouldn't work and I would ruin the bags, but I was happy with how they turned out.  I did Joshua's first, and I had cut around him in each iron on transfer, but with Maren and Christopher's, I printed the pictures out smaller, 2x3, and left some white around them.  I think it looks nicer that way.  Too bad for Joshy.  He doesn't care though.  He was just happy his was made first.  The kids really like seeing their pictures on the bags. 
 

Simple Halloween Garland

My boys helped me make a halloween garland out of pom-poms this morning.  We used a yarn needle to thread black yarn through black or brown pom-poms to make the legs of the spiders.

So easy, a 5 year old can do it!

Then we threaded orange, white, and black pom-poms with the spiders using a regular needle and invisible thread.  After we had them all on, we spread them out and hung them up, and voila!  instant easy decoration.  Joshua especially thought it was a lot of fun and wanted to make more, but we ran out of pom-poms. (His exact quote was "These spiders are so cool!  I love making this!")

Hey little pumpkins!

Hooray for fall!  I love the seasons here in Kentucky and the beautiful trees and cooler weather.  Hopefully that will get here soon, but until it does, at least I can enjoy the fall decorations inside my house.  I've only put up a few so far, but I thought I would share my favorite, because it just makes me happy every time I look at it.

When Maren was a baby, we found a pumpkin costume at the Gap Outlet for $5.  Since then, each of our children has worn it their first Halloween.  Last year, my mother-in-law gave me a little sign that says "welcome to our patch" and I thought "Hey!  We do have a little pumpkin patch!"  So I put the pictures of the kiddos in frames and put them on top of my tv.  I love it.  They just make me smile.

Now, I'm not suggesting that you put your 8 year old in a pumpkin costume and take a picture for a fall decoration (although that would be rather funny).  I just thought I'd share.  

(Here's Nathan in the pumpkin costume.  Will be framed soon.)