Recipe - Squash Bread

Here is a taste of fall that we have been enjoying around our house.

Butternut Squash Walnut Bread

In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 Cup suga
• 1 tsp baking soda

Set aside the dry ingredients and in another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and spices:

• 1 Cup cooked butternut squash puree (just scooped out of skin and it was soft enough)
• 1/2 Cup canola oil
• 1/2 Cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 Cup water
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Pour wet ingredients into dry, and stir until just combined. Stir in:

• 1/2 Cup chopped nuts

Pour into well-buttered loaf pan and bake at 350 F for 60 minutes. It may have to bake for longer.  Do the toothpick test.

The Big 3rd Birthday Party

Last Saturday we had the annual party to celebrate Magnolia's birthday.  This was the first year we invited a few of her friends.  Since we hosted the party at our house we kept it to her closest friends from playgroup.  We kept it simple and insisted on NO GIFTS from her friends.  Them coming over to play was plent of a present for the birthday girl.  Plus she is spoiled enough by her grandparents, aunts and uncles and of course Dan and I.

I prepared gift bags for the girls to take home.

 I made each of her friends a flower hair clip.

Each of the girls made a pine cone bird feeder (aka pine cone squirrel meal).  I spread them with peanut butter and they got to roll them around in a bowl of birdseed.

They also painted mini pumpkins.  They really enjoyed this craft.  I planned for each girl to paint one, but they were having so much fun that they each did 2 or 3 and we had plenty of extras so they kept busy.

 This is what each friend took home from the party.

 Here is the little girl table set up for the luncheon.

 I kept the decorations simple and fall-ish.  The little girls had a mix of fall and pink to keep it girly!

 We made lots of treats...carmeled apples...

 Iced pumpkin cookies...

 and Popcorn balls!

 The kitchen table was the place to be after lunch.  Yum!

 The adults had hot apple cider to drink during lunch.

 The kids got pink party punch.

 Everyone enjoyed homemade butternut squash soup with broccoli, baked ham and cheese sandwiches and pretzels.

 Here are the girls busy painting pumpkins.  Notice the plate of paint in the middle....

 This is what soon ensued several time.  Most of the pumpkins turned out a purple-ish color!

 Bop and Boothe just hanging out.

 Every kid's party needs helium balloons.  Tons of fun!

 Mimi brought the cupcakes from Macri's Bakery.  It's become a birthday tradition.  I tend to lean towards cupcakes for kids' parties.  They are just easier and less messy.

 Singing Happy Birthday!

 After cake and singing, Magnolia's friends headed home.  After one last group shot, of course!

 And then it was present time.  Tear it up!

 Even Boothie got something when she woke up from her nap.  Magnolia was being so sweet trying to tell Boothe about her present and get her excited.

 A family picture.  For some reason, if the girls actually don't look bad for a family shot, Dan does.

 And now there is only 51 weeks until my baby is 4!

Decorating Pumpkin Cookies

So after I uploaded about 25 pictures from Magnolia's birthday party individually something happened with Blogger and none of the pictures were posted to the blog.  Arrrgggg!  I couldn't bring myself to do it all over again so for tonight you'll have to settle for a post with less pictures.

The night before the big birthday party (on Magnolia's actual birthday) we made pumpkin cut-out cookies, iced them and let Magnolia decorate them.  I think she did a fine job!

After the cookies had cooled, I dyed some icing orange (or at least as orange as I could make it) and spread it on the cookies.  Then I placed them in a cake pan and let Magnolia do all of the decorating.  This made clean up really easy as the pan caught all of the sprinkles and candies that didn't quite make it on the cookies.

Then of course we all got to eat one after they were "beautiful" (as Magnolia described them).  She told Boothe she wanted to give her a beautiful one to eat.

Biker Chick

A bicycle has been on the wish list of Magnolia's for a few months now.  So for her 3rd birthday we got her the littlest big girl bike you have ever seen.  It suits her perfectly and she has even been known to ride it through the house.  Usually with Boothe chasing after her whinning "ride" or "bike" over and over.  I wish it wasn't the end of October when we gave her the bike.  It doesn't leave many days to ride it outside.  But winter is short and spring will be here before we know it, right?

Ham

This little girl turned 3 on Friday and we celebrated with a birthday party on Saturday with family and a couple of her best friends.  I hope to post those pictures in the next couple of days.  I have, as usual, way too many pictures to sort through and I am making Magnolia's halloween costume so my time has to be spent doing that first.  It has to be done by Thursday for our first costumed party.  I will post about that as soon as I finish....time's a wasting...

Some Favorite Children's Books

We first found these 2 series of kid's books at various garage sales during the summer and everyone just loved them and enjoyed them so much that I decided to hunt down the entire sets on Ebay.  They were easy to find and cheap so we now enjoy all the volumes of both The Sesame Street Treasury and The Sesame Street Library.

They are full of short stories, poems, activites, counting, letters, pictures, learning and Magnolia's favorite, sign language.  What a fun set of books.  We can sit down and go through an entire book or just a couple stories and activites depending on what we have time for.  Magnolia will even sit down alone and try the sign language.

These books were published in the late 70s/early 80s.  I love that I recognize the old Sesame Street characters and my girls are learning the same way that I did as a child.

Latest Knitting Project

I just finished up some quasi-matching barre style hats for the girls. The colors are the same and they are both striped, but I didn't match the stripes exactly and I used different patterns. Turning any simple hat pattern into a barre style is pretty easy. I just increased stiches during the rows before the decrease rows began. They turned out so cute and as you can tell by the pictures below, Boothe loves them at least!I wasn't planning on posting many pictures for this post but then Boothe decided to do a fashion show with absolutely no encouragement by me. I was cracking up! Hilarious! Her and her poses, sheesh!I picked out the yarn so that both hats would match each others but also match both girl's coats.
I actually don't have a single knitting project that I am working in right now, which is rare. I've been busy getting ready for Magnolia's birthday party this weekend, making Magnolia's halloween costume and spending time doing my Bible studies. I would love to knit some things for Christmas gifts this year, but I'm not sure if it's going to happen. Hope to get some extra time in November to work on some handmade gifts. Aren't they the best?