Falling for Fall {mini pumpkin "whoopie" pies}

   I am so enamored with the beauty of Fall.  I have taken to bringing my camera with me whenever I go out, because I often see something I want to photograph.  Especially the changing of the leaves during this wonderful season.  My favorite are the bright, fiery orange leaves.  They are breathtaking.  I haven't been able to get up close to them, and photograph them yet, but soon...very soon.  I know I will enjoy it immensely.

   We have been learning from the book of Genesis during the Sunday School hour and considering God's awesome creative power.  I can't help but think of him when I gaze on the intricate details of a leaf.  And so many different shapes, sizes and colors.  We have several varieties in our backyard alone!  

   The girls and I had a fun time baking in the kitchen this weekend.  We tried a new recipe for "mini pumpkin whoopie pies" and we were very pleased with the results.

   During the baking process a certain little boy got very hungry and had a quick lunch with daddy.

Everyone else was too busy with other pursuits to worry about eating. 

 Amera finally snagged some time to sit down and draw. 

Oh, the joys of creative expression! 

................................................................................

Later, at the Fall Church Picnic...

   These are the only pictures I took at the picnic.  It was cold and quite windy.  I pulled out my camera to snap a few pictures of the kids when suddenly a gust of wind came and blew a plate of food over.  I decided my little "photo session" would have to conclude at this point!  It was good to get out and fellowship for a bit. The kids enjoyed a "pumpkin sack race" and an "apple toss" game, amongst other things.  All things considered though, we decided to leave a little early.  There were baths to take and a pregnant mommy who really needed some rest after a very busy day.  

This is the recipe for the yummy treats we baked.  

Our whole family loved these things!  

The cake-like cookies are delicious with the fluffy cream cheese filling sandwiched in between them!  

I also like the fact that they are "mini" sized. 

I don't know about you, but I like to sample more than one thing from a table full of goodies. 

You don't feel so bad grabbing more than one if they're small!

Just a little helpful tip: Pull out your butter, cream cheese, and eggs first thing.  

You will need the butter softened and the cream cheese and eggs at room temperature.

Mini Pumpkin "Whoopie" Pies

Ingredients...

For the cookies:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

1 cup 100% pure pumpkin

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling:

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions...

For the cookies:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease your cookie sheets.  We used shortening.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt in medium bowl.  

Beat butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes.  

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  

Add pumpkin and vanilla extract, beat until smooth.

Stir in flour mixture until combined.

Drop by heaping teaspoons onto baking sheets. (I found that using 2 small sized rubber spatulas worked very well for this, once you have an idea of about how much dough to use.  Measuring it out with a teaspoon helps to give you an idea.  The dough is sticky and the rubber spatulas made it easier to manipulate.)

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until springy to the touch.  Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

For the filling:

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract in small mixing bowl on medium speed until fluffy.  

Gradually beat in powdered sugar until light and fluffy.

Spread about a teaspoon of filling onto the flat side of one cookie and top it with the flat side of another cookie to make a sandwich.  Voila!  You've got yourself something scrumptious!  

Recipe makes 36 mini pies

Here's an interesting history factoid about whoopie pies from "Wikipedia"

While considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition, they are increasingly sold throughout the United States.   According to food historians, Amish women would bake these desserts (known as hucklebucks at the time) and put them in farmers' or lunch boxes. When farmers would find the treats in their lunch, they would shout "Whoopie!"  It is thought that the original Whoopie pies may have been made from cake batter leftovers.

   

Seasons change and so do blogs

   Ok, it's happening.  I have decided to combine my two blogs into one.  I never thought this change would occur, this melding of two unique web spaces.  I liked having two separate places with slightly different purposes.  One place to just post pictures of my kiddos, and another place to write more in depth about God's work in my heart and life.  Over time, I grew to enjoy the freedom of "journaling" my heart on "Every good and perfect gift."  Not just pictures, but more words and thoughts.  Growing in grace was beginning to make me feel a little restricted to the "big" lessons God was teaching me.  Those often come, but I found that my other blog was sort of filling in a gap when I just wanted to share the smaller things.  

   I have come to the conclusion that one place is best for me.  Whether it's something big or small, kids or no kids, whatever it is, I will share it here.  My goal is to allow whoever may be reading to get a glimpse, sometimes more than a glimpse, into what it's like to live my life.  What it's like to walk with God each day, through trials and triumphs.  What it's like to be a wife to the man I love, and a mother to my six (soon to be seven) children.  This is the life that God has given me and it is all by His grace.

   

A date with a very special 10 year old

Joelle requested lemon cake, it was yummy!

   This year of birthdays has been different.  We established a pattern with our oldest and began inviting friends over to celebrate on the 8th birthday.  Every year before that we would just celebrate as a family and keep it simple.  Now that we have so many birthdays to celebrate in our family, simplicity is definitely key. 

   The challenge we have run into this year is that there are already activities planned on our calendar that conflict with the prospect of having a birthday party.  The thing is, if I am going to stay sane, I prefer not to schedule too much activity into one day.  I've tried it...it doesn't go well.  So thankfully this year Joelle was perfectly fine with having some cake and ice cream with the fam and going on a special birthday date with mom on another day.  We went out together this morning.  It worked out perfectly because we had to take Amera to a friend's house so that she could help them out for a few hours.  While she did that, Joelle and I began our date with a delicious breakfast at Panera.  

   She had actually requested Atlanta Bread because she knows how much Jav and I like it, and she has never been there before.  The thing is, she wanted to pick out a water bottle at Target and I was thinking that Atlanta Bread was by Target.  It actually ended up being a Panera.  I think I was having some sort of "forgetful pregnant moment" (those are legitimate, right?) or something because I have been there before.  It worked out wonderfully though.  Panera was a very fitting substitute.  Joelle picked a seat by the window and commented that she really liked Panera and someday she'd like to work there.  :)  They do have a nice atmosphere. We split a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on ciabatta bread and a cinnamon roll.  We also enjoyed sipping our hot cocoa as we chatted about things.

Joelle appreciated the artwork on the walls.

   Our next stop was Target.  It might sound strange, but she decided that she really wanted to get a fancy shmancy water bottle with her birthday money.  Interesting choice right?  Well, before we left the house this morning, Brienne decided that she wanted the same thing.  Hey, that's fine with me kids!  Something useful and it will promote drinking more water!  I'm all for it!

It was love at first sight! And the teal cap perfectly

matches the mug she picked for drinking her hot cocoa or tea.

Brienne asked us to pick one for her so we got the same one in purple.

These girls are getting so PRACTICAL!

   Next on the agenda was a trip to TJ Maxx to pick out a fun cookbook (Joelle thinks it should be called a "bakebook") :)   This book has some fun ideas that she is very excited to try.  We have some serious baking to do in the near future.  Let's see...who's birthday is next?  Oh YES!! Javi's!  On November 10th!  Perfect opportunity.  :)

   It was a lovely morning out together, we even squeezed in a little trip to the library to pick up some books and DVD's.  It's been a quiet afternoon, no school today.  Looking at books, playing Guess Who?, and playing outside in the sunshiney seventy degree weather.  

   I'm so excited about re-doing a scarf I made for Clara last year.  I actually did it incorrectly and I have loved it and not loved it at the same time.  Today, I decided to unravel it and do a better job at it.  These colors are perfect for Clara, I can't wait to see how it turns out.  My laundry can wait a little longer.  This quiet afternoon is too good to pass up.

Adventures in camping

We went camping with our home school group...

   Aren't campfires wonderful?  So much enjoyment can come from a bunch of logs burning up in flames.  The warmth it provided was essential.  This fire roasted up our hot dogs to a delicious semi-blackness and our marshmallows became globs of gooey sticky goodness.  Perfect for smushing between two graham crackers with a few squares of a Hershey's chocolate bar of course!  We all enjoyed the way Mrs. "K" called them "shmores."  Why are they called s'mores anyway?  Maybe I should Google that.  :)

   

   The kids were all so excited to be going camping.  As we packed up and got ready to go, Jav had a little pre-camp fun with the kids and put them on the roof of the van.  They loved it!  (About a year ago, Javi cried in sheer terror when his dad put him up there.  At least that experience left no lasting damage.  He seems to have fully recovered, judging by the cheesy grin and all!)

"Pssst....Manny!  Guess what?!  We're going camping!!!"

   We got to our "campground", which was really Mr. and Mrs. "T's" house, around 5pm.  We began to set everything up right away, taking advantage of the sunlight we had left.  We have only used our tent once before and that was in our own backyard.  Some friends of ours had borrowed it a couple of times, but we were glad to finally be camping after all these years of owning a tent.

Manny frequently spotted planes flying overhead.  

Running around and playing in the wide open field was so much fun for the kids.

Amera finally gets the camping experience with the family!

   We were so thankful for the indoor plumbing that was available to us.  One of the many benefits of camping out in a backyard.  We also greatly benefited from the electrical outlets on this deck.

A walk into the woods to find some firewood.  Manny loved it in here.

Did you notice my husband off in the distance in the above picture?  I think that he is the "bear" 

that Manny spotted in this video!  Manny cracks me up, he can be so dramatic!

Tents are so much fun!  

The roasted hot dogs were delicious.  Jav used his knife to 

shape a sharp tip on our "skewers" and we were ready to go!

   A table was set up by Mrs "F" with hot apple cider.  She also made hot chocolate and coffee for us.  I am so glad she thought of these things.  Our camp out wouldn't have been the same without them.  The warm  drinks were delicious and helped to take the chill out of our bones.

The following morning...

   We did bring an air mattress for the kids to sleep on, but Jav and Amera slept on the cold, hard ground of the tent.  They were quite cold, and did not get a very good nights sleep.  Jav woke up somewhere around 4am and began to build a fire in order to get some warmth.  I guess he didn't want to disturb me and the little ones in the warm habitation of a sun room that we were sleeping in! 

   Let's just say that, being pregnant, I was very glad to have the option of sleeping in there.  I slept rather comfortably on a cushy leather couch.  It was a good thing that I got such a good nights rest, because there was so much clean up to do when we got home!

It was so fun flipping pancakes in the "great outdoors."  I propped up my skillet on a small metal table, added water to my pancake mix and poured 'em on!  Thankfully the other ladies remembered cooking spray.  I completely forgot about this very necessary item!  It would not have been pretty folks!

   The other ladies flipped pancakes on another skillet and we had many children helping to transport pancakes over to the campfire area.  Everyone was fed delicious syrupy goodness in no time!  

 This picture just makes me laugh :)

Love the furry hood!  

Enjoying the sunshine! 

Still freezing though.  Grrrrr!  :)

Clara's little acorn collection.

   This was such a neat experience for our family.  I confess, I was feeling a little reluctance to go at first.  All the planning and packing at the end of an already busy week.  The prospect of not sleeping well and being cold did not sound appealing.  Most of my family "roughed it" more than I did, but I know we'd all do it all over again in a heartbeat.  

   Shortly before we headed for home on Saturday, I was in the wooded area taking a few last minute shots of the leaves.  I ended up stepping in a yellow jacket nest and got stung twice.  I have never been stung before!  This is the very same area that our kids were playing in the day before.  I just thank God that it was me and not them.  I was fine by the time we finished the thirty minute drive home.  As soon as we got home I set to work.  I cleaned out our van, I did load after load of laundry (we used many blankets and they all smelled like smoke), we made sure the house was clean and orderly and one by one people fell asleep.  The poor dears.  They were all exhausted.  The house was quiet.  I took the opportunity to sit down with my Bible for a while...

   With everything clean again, we settled in for a relaxing evening together.  We ordered pizza for dinner...who wants to cook after all is said and done?  We enjoyed a slide show of all our camping pictures and remembered all the fun we had.  The next camping experience will be the "Father/son camp out."  Too bad I won't be there to take pictures.     ..."Honey, don't forget the camera!"