Day 1: The Season of Pumpkin Spice Ends

It's a sad time for many women.  The season of pumpkin spice everything is coming to a close.  And on that note, I decided to start my Christmas baking project with pumpkin spice.  I had this extra bag of Pumpkin Spice kisses and since I didn't have the time to make the cheesecake recipe on the back last week, I saved it for tonight.

It was a recipe worth saving.  It was worth making.  That is, if I actually liked eating pumpkin spice Hershey kisses, which I don't.  But this cheesecake smelled divine.  And it was certainly fun to swirl.  Fortunately, it's for Mister Man's office.  I don't doubt at all that it will be eaten.

Thanks Be!

Another successful Californian Thanksgiving!  We had our second annual incredible Thanksgiving at John's Incredible Pizza.  We avoided the Thanksgiving shopping crowds and instead spent our day with a buffet, games, and rides.  I think we made the best choice for us.  While we didn't take any photos there, we did snap a few tonight.

She won her new friend Hipster today!

Two years ago, I was working on Thanksgiving.  In fact, I volunteered to work.  I'm kind of glad I didn't have that option this year.  I would have missed this smile.

Pumpkin Spice Frenzy

Mister Man's office had a potluck of sorts on Tuesday, so I spent my Monday making pumpkin spice messes in my kitchen.  Massive messes.  And so, so, so much food.  

I tried this recipe from the Pinterestese: Mini Pumpkin Pies

These were such a splendid idea!  I've been wanting to make them for quite some time and they were my first choice.

Of course, I couldn't make only one thing though.

I had some pumpkin spice kisses I bought for 90 cents a bag during Halloween clearance at Target.  I bought these knowing I would make some sort of treats out of them.  So I made some cookies.  Also from the Pinterestese.  Pumpkin Spice Kiss Cookies

Taking them out of the wrappers took forever.

 Knowing I would be baking all day, I had dinner going in the slow cooker.

Dinner already in the works gave me plenty of time to focus on the beauties brewing in my kitchen.

Then, I made some Snickerdoodles.  I was going to try some caramel stuffed Snickerdoodles as well, but I ran out of time.

Then, determined to use all of the pumpkin spice kisses, I started another batch of cookies.

They were from yet another recipe from the Pinterestese.  They had a kiss stuffed inside.
Stuffed Pumpkin Spice Kiss Cookies

I did start to get tired though, and although the new recipes started going well, things I make weekly, started to go awry.  Like brownies.  Since when do my brownies crumble????

Regardless, I managed to make these Pumpkin Spice Brownie bites.  And I'm so glad I did!  I had almost given up on them as my brownies were crumbling when they never do.  Mister Man even told me not to bother, how I had plenty of food.  Guess which items went first?? That's right!  AND....I finally managed to use the whole bag of kisses.

It was all so very worth it.  And next week?  My Christmas baking project begins!

A Party of Scary Proportions

We held our fifth annual Halloween party this past Saturday.  We started such a venture when The Redhead was in first grade after years of consideration.  We finally took the plunge and never looked back.  Until this year.  After Saturday night's events, we are reconsidering.

So....instead of buying tons of Hershey's candy for the pinata, I noticed I had a tote full of novelty favors I bought on clearance last year.  I must have scored some awesome deals...and many...so I did what any normal person would do.  I tossed them all in the pinata.

All of them.

Even fingers.  And I did buy a few bags of candy, some novelty kinds I found at the 99 cent store.  I did learn that the kids actually want the candy, so we will go back to that next year, if there is a next year.

The dog had her costume for the year.  She likes dressing up, surprisingly.

We had the backyard dressed up too.

All thanks to The Redhead's hard work.

And the Perpetual Toddler's supervision.

I also went on a massive baking spree.

A special thanks went to The Redhead for her mad cookie decorating skills.

Did I mention my massive baking spree?!

I was a busy baker.

And out of everything I made, sticking a paper straw up a Peep Ghost's rear was their favorite treat.  Also, I'm still rather proud I saved those Styrofoam blocks.  They really make awesome holders.

Yeah, out of everything, those were their favorites.  How is that even possible?!  Stupid Peeps.

Thanks to The Redhead, these made it to the table.  I had forgotten all about them.

We had this brilliant idea to watch a movie outdoors this year.  So we rented a projector package online.  It was really fantastic.  Except one little small snafu.  Three kids watched the movie.  The rest ran around outside and inside, terrorized the pets, managed to break things in The Redhead's room, and started arguing with one another.  I should have known when the moment they all arrived, they were running inside and outside and out the front door, into the street, and only stopped when they knocked something off The Redhead's wall.  And even then, they didn't necessarily stop.  I am proud to say, my child listened.  My child watched most of the movie.  And my child didn't even know about the dramatic arguments.  And she certainly knew to close the back door behind her, something few kids were remembering to do.  No matter how many times I asked.

And I'd really like to know what that is on my wall and how it managed to get there.

It was still wet two days later...but it wiped right off, luckily.

I already have some ideas for how to handle future parties, rather than canceling them altogether, but trust me, it's something I've considered.  At the very least, a reduction in numbers.  Certain children not invited.  And me being even more stern with the rules.  I shouldn't be afraid to get after other people's children.  It's my house.  My back door.  And The Redhead's room.  I can protect it.  I should protect it.

But at least I had fun making all of the food.  And I'm proud to say that every last bit of it went home with parents.  That was the cost of sending hyper children my way.  Perhaps next time, they'll know better....heh.