from the scratch... pumpkin pie

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

1 small pumpkin- you can find "baking" pumpkins at the grocery store. or i'm sure just a small pumpkin would do just fine.
2 eggs
1 1/2 heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla

here we go.

mix:

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

add in :

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour (i used whole wheat)

cut your pumpkin in half and "gut out the seeds"

bake your pumpkin skins up at 350 for 45-60 minutes--

or until golden brown and mushy.

peel off the skin or scoop out the pumpkin.

puree so the pumpkin is a good consistency.

set aside on coffee filters or paper towels to drain.

add the 1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

and then...

the spices/sugar and pumpkin.

mix together.

(gavin got to help a lot with this step)

i had already made pie crust the week before to make my

homemade apple pie... but i'm sure you could buy a pie crust and it would be just as tasty.

add the pumpkin mixture to the pie crust.

preheat oven to 450.

bake for 15mins at 450...

reduce heat to 350 and bake for 45 mintues or until golden brown

and you can stick a toothpick in and have it come out clean.

let cool and enjoy... i like mine with whipped cream :)

i also made pumpkin cookies. they are delish and actually pretty healthy for you. i mean, they are cookies... but you know what i mean... nutritious cookies??? they are from ashley olsons blog. you can see the recipe here.

tis the season for pumpkin treats. next up? pumpkin cheesecake... yum!

pretty, fabulous fall

..so far.

today, however might be questionable.

gavin has been one lucky boy lately. he's been so spoiled by his grandma and his parents. every weekend there's a new outing, a new adventure. i wish i was this lucky when i was his age (and i very well could of been but who remembers when they were two? not me).

lets see here... first we'll start off with our nelson farm trip. on a gorgeous sunday afternoon. nelson farm is such a great place to go in the fall. i could easily go there every weekend.

he seriously could of spent the entire day on these little "tractor" bikes.

we had to pull him away from the bikes and all afternoon he wanted to go back.

and this calf hut was an endless amount of entertainment :)

he smiled and giggled the entire day at nelson farm.

getting the tractor wagon ready.

gavin's dream come true.

sitting on a tractor!

although driving it could quite possibly make his entire 2nd year of life.

in we go!

sliding down the slide with daddy and mommy :)

i'm not sure who enjoyed this more?

"momma, baaaaaby cow.. moo moo"

so then last sunday my mom and i decided to take gavin to the amaze n' farmyard, regardless of the insane 15+ mph winds. oh well, gavin seriously enjoyed every second of it. last year we tried to take him there and he cried and was crabby the ENTIRE time. so this year he actually got to enjoy everything amaze n farmyard had to offer.

crusin'... he thought it was so cool that "his tractor" was at amazing farmyard

and at home too... too funny!

"baby duke" this mini horse was soooo adorable and fluffy.

we kind of wanted to take it home. along with other little furry animals.

baby deer "lilly"

and the "kangas" aka wallobees.

feeding all the animals the corn just like we do at the farm. except here we didn't

have to worry about juliet eating gavins fingers!

awwww

"mom.... bunnies, look... cheese"

gavin and his grandma.

i've never seen someone love their grandma as much as gavin does.

i think its cause grandma spoils him ? and never says no? haha.

we found corn in places corn should never be after playing in it for a half hour.

i didn't get to enjoy the corn cause i wasn't wearing socks... oops!

ending our day driving the tractor... what a happy little man

whats next? well since mea is this week we (my mom, myself and gavin) are heading to our third annual trip to apple jacks in delano. which is MY favorite place to go, ever. they have the best lunch and baked goodies and of course apples and all sorts of small animals. let's hope for some good weather. but even this overcast/cloudy, cold, damp weather will be okay for us.

new news?

such a busy and wonderful week.

well, things are going to change around here... again. i've decided (with dan's blessing) that i'm done working at my job. monday morning i put in my two weeks notice letting them know that i was d-o-n-e working for them. the program that i work in is just so unorganized and the para's there do the majority of the work and with me being pregnant it was actually starting to be kind of dangerous to myself and my baby. so as of this upcoming friday i will no longer be employed. which is totally scary and also really exciting at the same time. i'm kind of fretting about it right now, but in actuality i would of been done in december so it's just a few weeks sort of my actual quit day. and our pay system is so crazy that i will continue to get my paychecks up until thanksgiving so that's good. gives me some more time to spend with my sweet love, gavin before the new baby comes.

in other news; our ultrasound is scheduled for october 19th so we will be finding out what this baby is that kicks my stomach all night long. i'm feeling that it's a boy again, which is fine, but would be in complete shock if they said it's a girl. i just found the bedding that i'd like to get for this babe and it's pretty gender neutral so i plan on ordering it as soon as i get permission from dan- which might take a little while since it's kind of spendy ;) but it's really the only big purchase we need to make before the baby comes..... besides girl clothing if it ends up being a girl. gosh the 19th seems so far away now.

oh, almost forgot! danielle and max had their baby. a little girl, piper grace johnson. i got the pleasure of meeting her thursday night. she is so stinking adorable. usually it takes me awhile to think that little girls are cute... but not this one. she has the most adorable dark brown hair (lots of it) and such tiny features. OHHH i could just stare at her for days. she's so so so cute. so congratulations max and danielle. couldn't be more excited for you both, oh and ryder too!

today i feel like i have so much to accomplish around the house before dan comes home and we get to spend the entire night alone--- which NEVER happens. we're going to dinner and going shopping tonight, with gavin going to my moms for the night. pretty excited. i have TONS of pictures that need to get uploaded as well.... i wonder what will get done today and what will have to wait till tomorrow. with all this rain i feel we might be stuck indoors all weekend :(

this weekend

might be the best weekend, ever.

well besides friday. i had a migraine from h-e-l-l, and NOTHING, not even the prescription my doctor gave me helped it. so i stayed home from work, which was more of a chore to find/call subs and the bus company than it was to actually ever go to work. finally, i got myself covered for the day and headed back to bed... after bringing gavin to daycare. anyways, my headache and nausea finally went away after taking two tylenol and drinking a diet coke-- which my cousin, ashley, suggested since she's a nurse. thanks ash.. BY THE WAY: ashley is now engaged to her new finance, josh. they are in the planning process and will be married august 4th!!! so excited for her. friday dan and i ran to hutch to get something to eat and grab a few things for amara's birthday party that was today.

saturday morning dan headed to school (yes, it's started again... boo) and gavin and i headed to the posse expo at the fairgrounds. of course you all know, gavin loves lilly's (horses) and gets so excited to see lilly's (horses) no matter where they might be. so we walked through the barn and saw all the beautiful and well behaved horses and gavin was in the zone. my mom helps sue barrick and her husband every year with the obstacle course... WHICH IS INSANE and i cannot believe that horses would EVER do these things that they do. so this year gavin and i helped grandma help sue. this obstacle course is timed and judged and it's kind of a big deal so you have to be quiet. i didn't think that gavin would last more than a half an hour being quiet, but he lasted 3 full hours! i was SO impressed. he told me what color each lilly was and showed me twister and sunny (sue and jims horses) in the barn and even fed them. again, i was impressed we didn't have any meltdowns and even went to the potty a few times on a nasty fairgound potty :) around 11:30 we headed back home and picked up sarah to head to carlsons apple orchard to have lunch. again, gavin sat so nicely and was so well behaved, i was shocked. lunch was delicous but i was slightly unimpressed on this orchard... not too much to do. but it was great to go there and check everything out.

after dropping off sarah and gavins 45 minute nap we headed back to the fairgrounds to help grandma again. and finally headed home to hang out with dad. again i wondered to myself, who's well behaved child is this? he was an absolute joy all day long. ahhhh i still get smiles on my face when thinking about this day.

today was a pretty good day as well. dan and i did a lot of planning for the nursery and even more organizing to get the basement space ready for the extra stuff that will be downstairs once the spare bedroom becomes the new babes room. we then went to amara's birthday party where gavin charmed everyone with his amazing smiles and personality. he was such a ham! we came home, took a nap and started cleaning/playing again! we just finished making rhubarb apple crisp and now gavins in bed and i'm shortly behind. after i pack my completely garden fresh lunch for tomorrow.

back to work i go... really? do i need to tell you that i started the countdown for december? it's not soon enough.

this baby

is kicking and moving and having a party in there.

that's all for now :)

hope ya'll had a good day!

two of the best things you can hear at a prenatal appointment:

of course, the babes heartbeat is number one! it was great to hear it, loud and clear. although, my doctor had a hard time "finding" the baby at first which gave me quite a panic attack. it's right at 160, which is great! such a great feeling when you hear it for the first time, knowing that it is alive.

the second best thing? hearing the nurse tell you you've LOST, yes, l-o-s-t, weight since your last appointment. i've lost 9.3 lbs since last month. at first my doctor was slightly worried, thinking i had insane morning sickness and vomiting frequently... but i'm not. i do have morning sickness and night sickness, and sometimes mid-day sickness, that don't make me want to eat, but i do anyways. i've just been really conscious about what i'm eating.. more fruits, veggies and meats, less snacks and ice cream. which brings me to dan...

dan is such a great husband. he's been so busy working and then working on his LBC projects that sometimes i don't see him until 9 pm- which totally sucks- but each night he calls me and asks if i want a blizzard/shake/anything horrible for me... and each night when i say no he says, yea me either.. but he's totally DYING to eat a shake, but won't in front of me. he's such a sweetie, he comes home sits on the chair and almost always immediately falls asleep. he works SO hard, doing extra jobs here and there so we have a little extra money to do extra things on weekends. and with me done working for the remainder of the summer and only working 30hrs during the summer, i am very grateful for him. i've landed myself a keeper :)

next weekend is dan and celestes wedding and we're heading up to tower a day early to have some "us time" without gavin. we are, however staying with my mom in the cabin she rented on friday night but we plan on going out to a nice dinner and crashing early. saturday morning i'm doing hayleys hair for the wedding and dancing my sober ass off all night long! mike hicks did ask me if there was a way to cut off the baby for a night so i could drink... (he is obviously so worried about my well being and ability to have fun) i think he was kidding... but sometimes with mike i'm not too sure ;)

and another great thing today, as i'm looking out my window i see... a cute blonde, little boy on is bike, with his daddy walking next to him on their way to to the park... guess who it is? ryder and coop! SO cute! can't wait for gav to get a little bit bigger and that can be gav and dan!

well..

okay, so here it goes.

we're pregnant... oofta! it takes a lot out of me to say that out loud---or i mean, type it. as pleased as we are to be expecting again, i hate telling everyone. i mean, when i was engaged i hid my ring under the table until someone actually commented on it, and i told people i was pregnant last time by announcing it on facebook and only telling about five people myself. actually, some rude relatives asked us if we were ashamed of being pregnant, and no, we weren't, i just hate all the attention.

so, it was perfect timing to tell everyone at our party on saturday (come back to that later)... and the word spread quickly :) it was fabulous! i still have to tell my dad and don't want to tell him via the phone, so it might have to wait till this weekend when i can see him face to face.

anyways, we are pregnant. as of now our expectant due date is february 21, so 02-21-12. my doctor so cleverly pointed out that it would be an amazing date, with all twos and ones, haha! we found out right away, because yes, to all of you wondering this question, we were trying. we didn't want to tell people right away to make sure everything was good in there and both of us were healthy. we saw our little peanut (and i mean, peanut because that's what size he/she was when we saw him/her on the screen), about four weeks ago and got the go ahead to announce it to the world that.... GAVIN WILL BE A BIG BROTHER.

we told the grandparents, minus my dad, via gavin wearing a tshirt that says "I'm going to be a BIG brother" and everyone seemed to get a huge kick out of it. there were tears and my mom was shocked, 100% shocked and said "i hope you haven't been drinking"-- it was 8 am and we did wake her up. now, she's so excited and probably more excited to spend more and more time with gavin.

for the most part this pregnancy has been uhhh, well, a rough one. it's totally different than my last. i've been sick at least three days a week after i eat dinner and i have some issues with my ribs hurting (already)... and although i don't necessarily look super pregnant, i feel like i am. my jeans are getting snug at my waistline and baggy around my legs- which has NEVER happened, so that's kind of exciting- my legs are a huge issue for me.

i haven't had any crazy cravings yet, which is great. i actually don't feel like eating too much anymore, it's like my stomach is shrinking... and ice cream seems to not be an issue this time around...yet. just the same old normal eating habits, minus all the delicious coffee- bummer. that's the only thing that i actually miss. freshly brewed dark roast coffee, or a medium iced expresso with one shot of caramel from caribou coffee. oh my gosh i'm SO craving that now.

we are going to find out again this time around what the sex is and our projected date to do that is the first week in october. i'm too much of a planner to not find out, plus if it's a girl there are so many cute outfits to get and if it's a boy we can relax a little and save a bit more money with some of gavins clothes that are still in good condition. we are both hoping for a girl, then we would like to be done. but if it's a boy we would be more than happy. gavin would have a little playmate and dan would have another mini-me. we don't plan on having any more kids after this..... anytime soon. i would love to have another in oh about 5-6 years but dan thinks that's nonsense.

so that's that. i have another doctor appointment on friday to hear the heartbeat and chit chat with the doctor about some issues i've heard about the litchfield hospital (gavin was delievered in edina at southdale hospital... we had ZERO and i mean ZERO issues before, during and after so i'm having huge anxiety about delivering somewhere else). if you are pregnant in the twin cities area and don't have a doctor in mind i HIGHLY suggest dr. amy brown- she's phenomenal and all the nurses at southdale are extremely great as well. i felt like i was kind of on a mini vacation before having gavin.

so now, i think everyone knows about us being pregnant... even if you weren't at our party, or didn't see it on facebook, this blog post should clear things up :)