Cream Cheese Pumpkin Cake

4 eggs
1 2/3 c sugar
 1 c oil
16 oz can pumpkin
2 c flour
2 t baking powder
2 t cinnamon
1 t salt
1 t soda
6-8 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 c butter, softened
1 t vanilla
2 c powdered sugar

In mixer bowl, beat eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin until light and fluffy.  I don't actually know what that means, mine was just well combined!  Stir together flour, powder, cinnamon, salt, and soda.  Add to pumpkin mix and combine thoroughly.
Spread batter in greased 9 x 13 pan.  Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool completely, helps to put in freezer if you need it to happen fast.
Cream together cream cheese and butter.  Stir in vanilla.  Add 10x sugar, a little at a time, beat until smooth.  Spread on cooled cake.

The recipe says that it is supposed to be bars, but I definitely think it is pretty much a cake.  The taste was good and really reminded me of a pumpkin roll without the work of rolling it!  I cut the recipe in half, which was pretty simple, and didn't end up with too many leftovers.  A lovely fall treat!

Hot Chocolate and Blackberry Cheesecake Pots

Red Velvet Hot Chocolate
4 c whole milk
1 dash water
3/4 semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 t red food coloring paste
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 T sugar
1 t cream cheese

Whip cream and sugar for 2-3 minutes.  Just before it peaks, add cream cheese and whisk for 2 minutes.  Taste and add more cream cheese to taste.  Do not overwhip or you will get butter!

In a medium saucepan, heat milk over medium.  Add a splash of water and choc. chips, constantly stirring gently.  When almost melted, add red paste.  When choc chips totally melted, pour into mugs and top with whipped cream.

NOTES:  The cream cheese is a little tricky.  The person who originally posted this recipe said to be careful about it because it can end up tasting really tart if you add too much so I was a little hesitant.  This stuff is so good!  I love real hot chocolate instead of that powdered junk!

Blackberry Cheesecake Pots

1/4 c haevy whipping cream
8 oz cream cheese
1 t vanilla
4 oz blackberries

Whip the cream.  Add cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.  Beat with paddle attachment until smooth.  Add half the blackberries and beat until just crushed. 
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  Top with remaining berries.

NOTES:  This only made 3 for me, not 4 like it was supposed to.  And they weren't especially big portions or anything so I'm not sure what the trick is.  I added all of the blackberries but enough to put just 2 or 3 on top of the individual servings so I think mine had a little more blackberry than the author's.  These were really yummy and an easy version of cheesecake!

Princesses and Pumpkins

This weekend, the girls did something I have never done before...they went trick-or-treating.  They had a fun time, and we limited how many houses they wen to so we don't have too much candy.  I'm honestly not thrilled about trick-or-treating.  The origins just aren't good.  But, I think Joel has really good memories of it when he was growing up and wants that for the girls too. 

Pnut did amazingly well with talking to people.  Pilly wasn't quite as into that, and she was very scared of everything that was the least bit spooky.  I don't blame her!

We also finally got to paint their pumpkins this weekend.  We had to get different paint because their finger paint would not have shown up at all. 

Pilly ended up painting the whole way around her pumpkin.  It is quite colorful.  Pnut made one side spotted and put a face on the other side.  They were so funny because they took it so seriously!

The girls and I had a very busy day today, starting with leaving our house around 9:30 to do the shopping for their Christmas Child boxes.  Pnut has been very excited about this since I told her, and she has been asking every day if we could go.  We finally had the car and the time so we did today.  It was a lot of fun, and they really enjoyed picking things out.  However, I'm not sure how well Pilly realized that the things were not for her.  She almost cried when I made her put the puppy stickers in the box.  But overall it went really well.  The even wrapped their boxes tonight.  All we have left is for them to write notes for inside and we will take them to church. 

We ate a delicious lunch that featured pumpkin as the star with our good buddies and stayed too long so that the house in shambles and we had to run right home for nap, which Pilly tried not to take but ended up asleep anyways.  Then I had my 34 week check-up this afternoon too.  Everything is going well!  The doctor actually told me that my sugars are better than hers, and she is not pregnant and does not have diabetes.  She said chances are good that I don't have it, but I still will keep checking twice a day until the end.  She also said, which was news to me, that they won't let me go past the due date since I have been diagnosed as a gestational diabetic.  Babies from mothers that have gestational diabetes tend to be big so they don't want to let them grow past the due date!  Of course, when I had it with Pnut, she was only 6 pounds.  I do, however, want to try somehow to go into labor before my due date because I don't want to be induced.  Pitocin is for the birds!  That stuff is just a pain.

Now tonight I'm trying to decide whether I want to bother working any more or do something a little more fun.  I think I know which side is going to win:)

Nice Day!

We had one of those days that you just treasure...everything went smoothly this morning, everyone was cooperative, you know, those really rare days!!

While I folded clothes before nap, they did puzzles together!  Pilly is puzzle-crazy:)  Earlier we had taken a nice long walk, and they both took great naps!  Bedtime was usual, but still, this was quite a nice day!

 

We had a fun weekend and got some things done!  I'm excited to report that we are done Christmas shopping for 6 people, and all I have to do for the girls is get their stocking stuffers.

Sometimes I think stocking stuffers can end costing more than I originally plan, but they are fun! 

Today I had Bible study, and the girls had fun playing while we were there.  According to them, they actually played with other children this time.  Usually they only play with each other so this was a big thing!

And now I might work on some projects, but I do have to make a few phone calls so we will see about that!

Pictures!

I only have 2 pictures to post, but hey, that is better than nothing!  We had a fun day together and took a walk to a cafe a few blocks from our house.  The girls got chocolate chip cookies and the 3 of us shared a hot chocolate, which they wouldn't drink until it was practically cold!  Then we walked around some more, and the girls took excellent naps!  I also moved nap time back by half an hour so hopefully that will help.  Pnut has been skipping nap but still definitely needs one.

She wanted me to take a picture of her reading a book (I had already been taking Pilly's picture).  I was just happy to have her wanting her picture taken!

It amazes me how long she can sit and look at books!

Pilly was being super-cute and singing into her "microphone." 

After this, the camera battery died again.  It must not have charged right the other night.  But I was so made because they gave us a concert!  Pnut played the drums on an upside down bucket and Pilly played the tennis racket as a guitar.  They sang several lovely songs and just were adorable.  Of course, the camera would die before that!

So tomorrow is Friday again already and we are back to cleaning day.  The girls didn't sound very excited when I reminded them this evening, and Pnut informed me that cleaning day is boring.  But for now, I am going to maybe work some more and then relax:)