Football, Cookies, Hot Chocolate and Pumpkin Pie

A quick update on my cousin. I am going down, as long as nothing major happens sooner, the weekend on November 7. Her oldest daughter lives here with her dad and I asked her if she would like to go and she was very excited that I would extend the offer. So that weekend worked best for both of us as long as nothing major happens. Prayers are still needed please. :)

Okay..now to the fun stuff! Football!!! Well, I'm not a huge fan, but William and Mason have been turned into fans I think. William won free tickets at work to the Purdue Football game this weekend. He and Mason sat out in the cold while I enjoyed my nice warm house. :) The twins were pretty upset that daddy didn't have enough tickets for them. Weston was more crushed than Isaac, but then Isaac asked if baseball games took tickets and could we go to a baseball game while daddy and Mason were at the football game. I kindly explained that baseball was over and yes it took tickets. They said that they wanted to do something...so we went to lunch! I really didn't expect Mason to last past half time so I didn't want to do anything big, but to my surprise he lasted the WHOLE game and wants to do it again. This comes as a complete shock from a kid that doesn't like to play sports. So here are some highlights!

This was the view of the field from their seats...they were close!

Mason said that went they would put the "P" down it looked like it was going down a toilet. Don't ask!

Cookies and Hot Cocoa....well, lets just say as the temperature gets colder outside I get the urge to bake all the time! I LOVE to bake!!! I'm not a good cook and I don't really like to cook, but I LOVE to bake! On Friday we had a day of just vegging out which consisted of watching movies, baking cookies and making lots of hot cocoa!! Last year I bought a hot cocoa maker and I LOVE it!! While I can not do that everyday it was nice to just do nothing for one day. Now it's back to moving and trying to shed some of these pounds during the holiday months. :)

Pumpkin Pie!!! Let me just start by saying that I don't even like pumpkin pie or any kind of pie really. I know, I've been called strange, but I love to bake them! So when we were at the store Mason asked if we could make a pumpkin pie...literally MAKE it. That was a challenge I will willing to take. :) I have never done it before and let me just say that it is a lot of work, but loads of fun! Today after church I decided that we would give it a shot.

I let the kids have at the pumpkins and clean them out so we could bake the seeds and eat them.

Weston wanted no part..."it makes my hands yucky!" He hasn't liked the feel of the inside of a pumpkin since he was a toddler. I have pictures of him running away from it when he was 2. :)
Then it was time to boil the pumpkin. You can also bake it.Then you let it cool and take the peeling off. I found easier to use a knife and just scope the pumpkin off the peeling. The its time to mash it!! :)

Then it said to drain well, but I didn't have anything to drain so I guess I got lucky and picked a good pumpkin. Finally I got to use my new mixing bowls and added all the ingredients in. Well Mason did anyway. :) I doubled the spices because I had read it tastes better. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com of anyone wants it.

The boys had to smell it to make sure it smelled like pumpkin pie. I was surprised as it smelled like one you would buy from the store.

Its now after 5 and I have just finished! I was serious when I said it takes a long time!

Now its time to see if it passes the test with the kids!! :)