Pumpkin Time

Oh hey, long time no post! Hahaha.  What can I say -- life has been busy. :) Still no baby, so it's not quite as busy as it COULD be, but still.  I haven't had much free time for blogging.  Tonight, however, I decided to make it a top priority.  :)

For Family Home Evening, I decided it was high time for us to carve our annual jack o'lanterns for Halloween.  And to go with the pumpkin theme for the night, I thought some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies were in order, as well.  Mostly because I've been craving them for the last week.  Hahaha.  So, I picked up a couple of pumpkins at the grocery store before getting Alex from preschool today, and then once we were home, I started making some cookies.

For the carving, we went our traditional route of divvying up the drawing of the eyes, mouth, and nose between the two pumpkins, and then I went to work cutting them out.  The result is always fabulously wonky, and the kids are all satisfied that they got to put in their two cents' worth of effort.

The jack o'lanterns were created, and the cookies consumed, in a mostly delightful manner, with the only hiccup being a meltdown from Alex when he drew his eyes too close to the top of the pumpkin and everyone tried to get him to move them.  It was a futile effort, so we kept them where they were and just worked around them when cutting off the top.  Hahaha.  The lighting of the tea candles inside the pumpkins was perhaps the MOST exciting part of the whole evening, and since I bought a pack of 100 at Joann's today, we should be able to keep these babies lit all the way through Halloween. :)

 {Of course, we had to have a treat option for Sophie. :)  Powdered donuts are always a fave.}

 Jack o'Lantern 1:  Eyes by Sophie, Nose by Jane, Mouth by Grace

Jack o'Lantern 2:  Eyes by Alex, Nose by Me, Mouth by Ethan 

Now if we can just make sure everyone has costumes ready for this week, we should be all set for Halloween!  :)

SPICED and ICED Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies:

{These are the best!}

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
15 oz. Libby's Pure Pumpkin
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.  Cream butter and sugar and then add the pumpkin and eggs.  Mix thoroughly and then add in the rest of the ingredients stirring well after each addition.  Add the chocolate chips last, mix, and drop by rounded tablespoonful onto a cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.  Let cool on a rack and then drizzle with glaze.

Glaze:

3-4 TBSP milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar