We Love Rain!

On Monday afternoon we went outside to play. Right as we stepped out of the garage, the heavens opened up and the rain came pouring down. I thought it would be nice to sit in the garage and watch it fall. The kids couldn't resist it, though. It happens so seldom.

John Curtis and his Class at the Pumpkin Patch

The church where the kids go to school sets up a pumpkin patch every year. It is where we went on Saturday to take pictures. Today was John Curtis's class's turn to go play in the pumpkin patch. He brought a little one home and is so proud of it.

Pumpkin Day

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Pumpkin Day Recipes

I'm not a huge pumpkin fan, but I did come across some pretty good recipes that we made today. My friend Melanie told me about a quick and easy way to make cupcakes.

Pumpkin Day cupcakes
1 box of Devil's food cake
1 15 oz can pumpkin

Mix the pumpkin into the cake mix. Fill muffin tins. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

You can't even taste the pumpkin, but they are yummy!

I found this pasta recipe in my Rachel Ray magazine.

Penne with Pumpkin Sauce
1 pound penne pasta
2 T butter
1 onion chopped
salt and pepper
15 oz. can pumpkin
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese plus more for topping
1/4 c chopped parsley

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta cooking water. In the same pot, melt butter over med low heat. Add onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until onions are softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in pumpkin and cream and bring to a boil. Return pasta to the pot along with reserved water. Stir in cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Top with parsley and more cheese.

I served shrimp with it, but chicken would be good, too. My family really enjoyed it.

Fall Crafts

I am not a crafty person. It is not a trait I inherited from my mom. I mess up even the simplest projects. One of my good friends, Jill is very crafty. Several of our friends get the magazine Family Fun. I love this magazine as it has fun crafts and ideas you can do with your kids. I even got the idea for Sophie's sand castle birthday cake that I made this summer from that magazine. The cover of October’s Family Fun was of children wearing tie dyed pumpkin shirts. A person like me looks at the shirts and thinks, “Those are cute.” A person like Jill looks at them and says, “I want to make those!” Being a very social person, Jill wasn’t satisfied making the shirts by herself. She wanted to involve all of us. So several of us girls met at the church Sunday night armed with white t shirts and fattening snacks.We had fun tying up the shirts together. We let them sit in the orange dye for 30 minutes while we indulged in the snacks. We were supposed to wash the shirts out until the water ran clear. Well, it was almost clear and it was taking forever. Good enough. We cut off the rubber bands and threw all the shirts in the church’s dryer. So the magazine said this project would take about an hour. It has already taken over two and we figured we had some frustrated dads at home that needed rescuing. We would just take our wet shirts home to dry and draw the faces on individually. We went down to the dryer to get the shirts out and, you guessed it, the dryer was orange. We scrubbed and scrubbed with the SOS pads and Jill even went up the next morning and cleaned it some more. We think it is clean, but I guess we won’t know for sure until the linens from the Lord’s Supper are washed. Will the table be covered with an orange cloth next time or a white one?

I put my shirts in the laundry room to dry, but didn’t think much about them Monday. My kids were at school and I had a load of my own school work to focus on. Unfortunately, we had all decided our kids would wear their shirts to church Wednesday night. That left Tuesday to get them finished. The only problem was that my kids are home. I knew if I was doing a craft they would want to do a craft.So we spent the entire morning being crafty. I cut a pumpkin face out of milk jugs and Sophie painted them orange. We put candles inside and made them luminaries. She also painted leaves and did her own little art project as well as making a candy necklace. John Curtis stuck stickers on a bag, colored, and ate the candy from the necklace. However this kept them busy as I painted faces on little circles all over the shirts. I was saved by Jill and Kristie coming over to finish theirs with me. Jill fixed mine several times. I’m thankful my friends were here to visit with and pass the morning.

Sophie and John Curtis working on their crafts

The finished product

Modeling their shirts

John Curtis and Connor were checking out each others shirts at school

Sophie and Caleb in their classroom

This is the best I could do of Evan and John Curtis

Sophie and the twins at church

Growing Up

Sophie seems to be growing up right before our eyes. She is learning so much in school. Her teacher told me on Friday that she is starting to read. I have noticed that she is trying to spell words and figure new ones out. I thought her teacher might have been exaggerating a little, but who am I to argue with a professional????Friday was my sister's birthday so the kids and I went to Weatherford to help her celebrate. All the girls went to get pedicures. Sophie loves girl time. She doesn't mind sitting in the chair patiently waiting for her turn. I mentioned to Mom that she might be a tad bit spoiled since she has had her nails done professionally three times and I didn't get mine done until my wedding day!

John Curtis and His "Dish"

John Curtis has been very excited about Sophie's new fish. He loves to stand on her little chair and watch them. Thanks to Miss Cindy, he now has his own little fish aquarium. I think he thinks they're real. Every morning he says, "Mama, dish, o". Translation: "Mama, fish, on."