Pumpkin Sheet Cake

Day 12
Fall eats and treats!

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I love the flavors of Fall (and the colors, and smells, and overall atmosphere!) But one of my favorite thing to do is eat! There are a lot of foods I only eat in October and November. Don't ask me why...I guess something about them just screams "FALL!" This is a super easy, super yummy pumpkin sheet cake, and lucky you, I'm sharing the recipe. This has actually replaced pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving at my house.

In a mixing bowl, beat 1 can (15 oz.) solid pack pumpkin, 2 C sugar, and 1 C vegetable oil.

Add 4 eggs, lightly beaten.

Combine 2 C all-purpose flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp salt. Add to pumpkin mixture and beat until well blended.

Pour into a greased jelly roll pan (15x10x1). Bake at 350* F for 25-30 minutes until the cake tests done.
While waiting, set out 1 pkg. of cream cheese and 5 Tbs butter to soften. I ALWAYS forget to do this!
Let your cake cool. Read a book. Take a walk. Blog!
For the frosting, I never do exact measurements, but I'll do my best to give you some. Beat the cream cheese, butter and 1 tsp. vanilla until smooth. Gradually add 1.5 C to 2 C powdered sugar. Add enough milk for the frosting to reach the desired spreading consistency. {Sorry, I guess I missed pictures for this step.}

Frost cake. And for those of you who ruin things with nuts, I suppose it's OK if you sprinkle some on top.

Here's the recipe again, minus pictures for your convenience.

1 can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp backing soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Frosting:
1 pkg (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
5 Tbs butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1.5-2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tsp milk
chopped nuts (optional)

In a mixing bowl, beat pumpkin, sugar and oil. Add eggs, mix well. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt: add to pumpkin mixture and beat until well blended. Pour into a greased jelly roll pan (15x10x1). Bake at 350* F for 25-30 minutes until cake tests done. Cool.

For frosting, beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until smooth. Gradually add sugar; mix well. Add enough milk until frosting reaches the desired spreading consistency. Frost cake. Sprinkle with nuts, if desired.

Happy Veteran's Day

Day 11
For the men and women who give so much to serve our country

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Check out these darling baby onesies from Cafe Press found HERE.

Knit Sweater Pillow Tutorial

Day 10
A soft place to lay my head after a long day

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Here's a great and easy tutorial to make a knit sweater pillow by My Mama Made It found HERE.

It's a great way to take a sweater of someone you love and memorialize them or an old sweater of your childs that you just can't give away.

Get whichever sweater you want.

Cut off the sleeves and any excess you may need to to create straight lines all the way around.

Turn the sweater inside out and pin it ALL the way around. We are going to sew all four sides shut because we will just stuff it from the front buttons. After pinning, Sew all four sides.

Turn the pillow right side out and open the buttons.

Get some stuffing and stuff the pillow as full as you like it.

Now, button the pillow back up.

Here's what it looks like!!

Didn't it turn out beautiful!! And it took me 15 minutes!

Here's the first one I did that's on my bed.

Staying In Love

Day 7
My Faith.

Day 8
The ability to fly thousands of miles in just a few hours.

Day 9
For the wonderful husband I have.

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Found HERE at How Does She?

1. Put the kids to bed early

2. Turn off the TV

3. Grab your sweet heart and ask him to dance (no one will be watching).

Click Here for the U-You Tube song (It’s Free)

Fall deeper in love!!

Day 6
Chunky baby legs that are cute naked or covered up.

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I have been wanting some of those darling baby leg warmers, but am too stingy to play boutique store prices. You know me and thrifty go hand-in-hand. So, of course, I turned to my wonderful internet and found a tutorial HERE at Everything Your Mama Made and More. So glad resourceful women figure these things out for me.

I'm thinking of making a pair for myself too!

You Need:
Womens tube/knee socks (6m-6yr) or Womens crew socks (0-18m) Girls knee socks also work GREAT.
Sewing machine or needle & thread
Scissors
Pins

What to Do:
First cut the socks into sections as pictured below. You will toss the heel & toe scraps, but keep the bottom of the foot. Note: for this tutorial I am working with crew socks, but the process is the same as with tube socks.

Take the section remaining from the foot & you want to fold it inside of itself as pictured below. You should have the nice side of the sock on the outside & inside with a fold on one end & both raw edges on the other.

Stick the long section of the sock inside your newly created tube. This would give you 3 raw edges on the side we are going to sew, the other side will have the folded edge & the finished edge that was originally the top of the sock. If you have a pattern such as stripes or argyle as I used you may try to get them to line up. Once you are happy with the positioning pin together. Make sure to pin just 3 layers, not all 6 or you won’t have a hole to stick your little ones leg through when you are finished.

Time to Sew! Set the stitch length on your sewing machine to 4 (longest stitch), this will allow the most stretch. If the long straight stitch just doesn’t stretch enough for you can also us a narrow zig zag stitch… width at 2 & length at 3. You want to stretch the pinned side over the arm of your sewing machine & sew a straight stitch all the way around. If you can’t get it to stretch over then you can use what ever method you use to sew circles normally, or you can simply stitch it together with a needle & thread the old fashion way.

OPTIONAL Your finished seam should look similar to this. For a cleaner more professional look you can use pinking sheers, a zigzag stitch, or serge the seam for extra strength & to prevent unraveling.

Then simply fold the trim down (putting the seam inside) & TADA… a baby & toddler leg warmer simply make another one & test them out on the nearest happy child!

Day 5
That families grow in love and size.

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Today my little sister is getting married for time and all eternity. Isn't she beautiful!?!? I love her so much and am thrilled to be spending the day with her.

What about the crows?

Day 4

The ability to use my hands for good.

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So many scarecrow crafts, but what about the crows? As autumn rolls in and farmers work on their harvest, the crows will be looking for free goodies. Make this cute little crow to celebrate fall!

What you need:
2 Bathroom size plastic cups
2 Cotton Balls
2 Medium Wiggle Eyes
1 Red Button
Scrap of orange craft foam
Scrap of orange construction paper
Black and Goldenrod paint
Glue
Scissors

What you do:
Paint one cup black and one cup goldenrod. Set aside to dry.

Cut a triangle from the orange craft foam for the beak.

Cut a heart shape from the orange construction paper for the feet.

When paint is dry, use scissors to cut thin slits (fringes) halfway up the goldenrod cup, going all the way around. Bend the "fringes" upward to form the hat.

Turn the hat over and put two cotton balls inside the hat. Glue hat to the bottom end of the black cup. Let dry.

Glue 2 wiggle eyes and beak to the cup under the hat.

Glue the red button on the front side of the hat.

Glue the heart feet to the opening of the black cup, bend the construction paper up into the sides of the cup so that just the "feet" stick out.

Thanksgiving Trivia

Day 3
The wonderful memories that can be made while sitting around the dinner table.

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What comes to your mind when you think of Thanksgiving ? The big fat golden-brown turkey ? Mom's apple pie? Or the oh-so-nice crescent rolls and mashed potatoes ? Well well, all these ARE a major part of the holiday. But there’s even more to this wonderful occasion of Thanksgiving !

So tonight around the dinner table, share some interesting trivia associated with Thanksgiving. I promise it will bring some laughs and start up some great family conversations!

The first Thanksgiving celebration is believed to be held by the Plymouth Pilgrims in the Fall of 1621.

The credit for making Thanksgiving a national holiday is given to one lady magazine editor called Sarah Josepha Hale.

The name of the ship in which the Puritans came is known as Mayflower. And the drink they had with them was beer.

A turkey below sixteen weeks of age is called a fryer.

Benjamin Franklin fought hard to make the wild turkey the national bird of America instead of the bald eagle, which he found to be a coward.

A nest of turkey eggs is known as a clutch.

When a tom turkey (male turkey) gobbles, it can be heard from as far as a mile.

Now this one’s quite a thoughtful trivia—if turkeys gobble everywhere in the world, you won’t hear a turkey gobble in Turkey. The Turkish say that turkeys glu glu.

Firkee is the Native American name for turkeys.

It’s often said that turkeys make a ‘turk turk turk’ noise when they are frightened. So they are called ‘turkeys’.

Turkeys have outstanding visual precision, a great hearing and taste. But are famously poor on smell.

A full-grown turkey has about 3500 feathers approximately.

The US President George Washington proclaimed the first "National Day of Thanksgiving".

The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted for three days and consisted of both games and grub.

Governor William Bradford is the man, a leader of the Pilgrims, who invited the neighboring Wampanoag to their feast of the first Thanksgiving.

30 Days of Thanks

To kick off this Thanksgiving season, there is nothing like remembering to be grateful for the blessings we have in our lives. As I lovingly reminded my DH during a crying spell the other night, "These are the days..."

Day 1

For my good morning kiss every day, even if it is open mouthed and a little slobbery.

Day 2

For being reminded of the fascination of discovering something new that we take for granted every day. Like the crunching of fallen leaves under foot.

Freebee Friday: Jamie's Precious Peas

Jamie's Precious Peas is a fun new blog I was introduced to by my good friend, Jen, from Baby Blvd. There are numerous giveaways, reviews, and just overall good baby information to be found there. This week she is hosting a giveaway for a $15 credit to Baby Blvd. {which I LOVE!} so head on over her way and enter.

Tiny squeal! Look how darling this flower headband and matching corsage from Baby Blvd. is!!!

*Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry
**All entries must be received by 9pm est, November 7, 2009

Mad Scientist Lab

Precursor: My church had a fall festival where people got to decorate rooms and the kids went trick-or-treating through the halls.

Welcome to my Mad Scientist Lab!
You'll have to use your imagination a little bit as the lights are for picture purposes. I turned the lights off and had glow sticks scattered around the tables, as well as a strobe light. The most fun came from the dry ice simmering in a few of the concoctions, as well as a big pot under the table to create smoke. To finish it off, my DH and I dressed up as "Mad Scientists" to hand out candy. I didn't get a picture of us...Boo!

Halloween

Down to the Halloween party wire? Check out these free downloads....

...Pumpkin Petunia's download has cupcake toppers, note sheets and treat bag stickers....

...Accent The Party also has cupcake toppers and matching napkin holders....

...Babalisme's has a Halloweenie dress-up for boys and girls...

...Oliebollen has an iron-on decal to dress up a t-shirt or treat bag...

...Phyllis Hoffman Celebrates has masks for yourself or your pumpkin....

...In Good Company has blood type labels.

Cha Cha Cha Changes

I'm thinking I'm going to be changing my postings up. I'm getting a little bored with things and want to spice it up a bit.

If you miss something, or want something back, as always, you can email me!

Hope you keep enjoying!

Tutorial Tuesday: No Cook Playdough

Because we all need a break from life, and sometimes play dough is just the right fix. And it smells good too!

1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
1 tsp oil
1/3 cup water (add orange food coloring if you'd like)
1 tbsp pumpkin spice seasoning

Mix all ingredients together then knead until it becomes a dough; store in a plastic bag.

Done!