Nana's Visit Part Three - Halloween Dinner and Weber's Farm

On Sunday we had the traditional Martinez Halloween dinner of homemade corndogs

I made a few other Halloween-ish side dishes and decorated the table for a fun and festive meal

after 3.94 years of mothering I finally earned rockstar status with green food coloring in our water 

They don't look like much, but trust me, homemade corndogs >>>> storebought corndogs 

On Monday we went to Weber's Farm

It had everything we could have asked for-
hay maze, tractor ride, duck races, tire mountain, boo barn,
and our very favorite- the slides.
Also, apple cider donuts and the best cider I've ever tasted.
It was a perfect way to spend our last day with Nana.

 "I'm Queen of the Wooooorld" 

M's turn as queen 

Jilly kept yelling at me to put my hands up.  This was my best effort.

Come back soon Nana!!

Nana's Visit Part Dos - Harper's Ferry

On Saturday we spent the day in Harper's Ferry

We had a picnic lunch, walked along the river,

explored the museums, little shops & church, 

and hiked to see the view from Jefferson Rock

It was breathtakingly beautiful and perfect for us- 

a little outdoorsy for him and a little history for me

^ cobblestones + leaves, pinch me please

^ one of my favorite moments of the day - Jilly pretending to be a witch

 

When we got home that night Nana took the girls to Chick-fil-A

And Bryan and I went on a date - our first time out without the girls since June (!!!)

Much needed and much enjoyed.

Pumpkin Recipe #2

Bryan's mom made this cake last Sunday when we were visiting and it was so delicious that when we were asked to bring a dessert to a party at church it took all of 1.4 seconds to decide to make it again.  It's a bundt cake, and just like my favorite birthday cake it's utterly moist and irresistible- must be the sour cream.

Pumpkin Marble Cake

1 cup pumpkin
1 tbl cinnamon
1 box yellow cake mix
4 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine pumpkin and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.  Mix remaining ingredients until well blended.  Add half of cake mix to pumpkin mix and stir well.  Coat bundt pan well with spray.  Alternately add two batters, swirling a couple times when done to get marble effect.  Bake 30 to 40 minutes.  Let cool completely before flipping over.  Frost with thinned cream cheese frosting, powdered sugar, or leave plain and serve with cool whip.

*Note- I completely failed at the whole "marble" part of the cake.  I think I swirled too much so it all just blended together- still delicious but not as pretty as intended.  We got over it pretty quickly.

Pumpkin Recipe #1

I have high hopes for lots and lots of pumpkin this fall.  Yummm, I feel like I've been waiting for this all year!  Our first recipe was pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting.  This is Bryan's mom's recipe and very likely Bryan's favorite cookie of all time.

 Cookies:
1 cup shortening (I didn't have enough this time so I used half shortening and half butter and they turned out just fine)
3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups canned pumpkin
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Cream together shortening and sugar.  Beat in eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla.  Mix dry ingredients and add to the mixture, then mix well.  Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 400 for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Frost when cool.

Frosting:
1 package cream cheese (8 oz)
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 box powdered sugar (I'm not sure how much this is, I just add it until it seems the right consistency)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix until creamy.

This makes a lot of cookies.  I halved the recipe this week and got about 30 cookies.  We gave plates to a few friends and polished off the rest in 3 days.

leaves

This is my first fall in Virginia for 8 years so I am basking in the state's very best season.  In general, I am not a huge fan of yard work.  But I make an exception for leaves- I love love love raking leaves.  Jilly and I got to help my family rake and play in the thousands of leaves that fell on our yard.

Seriously- how cute is that outfit?  She got it from some friends for her birthday 

We put Jilly in a big pile of leaves and almost lost her! 

Playing with Uncle Ty  

and with Grandma