Family Fun, Autumn-style

I stand corrected: the actual amount I got out of the sugar pie pumpkins? How about 16 2/3 cups of smooshed, roasted pumpkin! Yay! Here they are, all packed up in 2-cup portions about to be frozen for later use:


I have such great aspirations for all that pumpkin...it really is such a versatile gourd. :) For our inaugural pumpkin recipe, I made up this cookie recipe:

Pumpkin-Coconut Spice Drops

1 1/2 (3/4 C.) sticks of butter, softened
1 1/2 C. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup mashed or pureed pumpkin
1 1/2-2 C. all-purpose flour (I used somewhere between this figure, I started with 1.5 C which may be enough depending on your pumpkin etc.)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4-1/2 tsp. cloves (depending on your affinity for cloves)
2 C. rolled oats
1 1/2 C. flaked coconut (mine was sweetened)

Preheat oven to 350, lightly grease cookie sheets. With electric mixer, beat together butter, brown sugar, and vanilla for one minute. Add eggs and pumpkin, mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl, whisk together all other dry ingredients except for oats and coconut. Add slowly to pumpkin mixture, while mixer is on low speed, scraping bowl frequently. Mix until completely incorporated.

Add and mix by hand the oat and coconut. Drop by heaping TBSP's onto the lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-14 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Let rest on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.



I was inspired to bake these cookies because Saturday was our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. My mom, one sister, two little brothers, my other "little" brother and his wife and 2 year old son (my sweet little nephew), and my family gathered briefly at my home before carpooling to a nearby pumpkin patch. Oh, what fun we had! At this particular working farm, there were animals to pet and toss feed to, a teepee, a corn maze, and a "pennies in the haystack" activity.



We saw all kinds of farm fowl, and the little ones particularly enjoyed tossing the bird feed to them. A few of the pigs had recently had piglets, so we got to watch the little nursers go at it. I thought nursing a toddler was a special kind of gymnastic sport; now I'm just glad I'm not a pig ;). Those piglets are rough! There was also a 9 week old calf, and a glass incubator full of baby chicks in various stages of hatching...from ones that had obviously been hatched for awhile to others still in their eggs. It was so fascinating to the girls to watch one of the little chicks trying to peck its way out of the egg...how neat to watch the miracle of life emerging! Petting some sweet but indifferent goats was another highlight for the kids. After we had thoroughly explored the animal portion, we grabbed a wagon and headed up to the pumpkin fields!



Each of my kids got to pick out one, and then we picked out a family pumpkin. It was so cute, Ginger was so picky about which pumpkin she wanted. She probably picked up 4 or 5 before she settled on one. Then we loaded the little ones in the wagon with the pumpkins for some pictures, and headed back down the hill.

After we paid for our pumpkins, we headed to our favorite nearby Italian restaurant for some delicious salads and pizza. The restaurant uses a danish cheese on their pizzas and it is truly amazing! I have to admit, one of my favorite things to do as a family is eat. ;) I love the close fellowship as we are all stuffed around a table...stuffing our faces. The table has always been a place of great conversation and reconnection for my family. Laughing and joking and talking together is my favorite way to spend time with my family.

Then we came back to my house for cookies and my sister's hand-made cinnamon apple cider and more good fellowship. We carved the pumpkins, roasted the seeds with salt and paprika, and made cornhusk dolls. What a beautiful, delightful day! Here are the fruits of our labor:

Here are my girls' dolls. Unfortunately, the one on the right has already had the head and arms loved and cuddled right off of her. o.O 2-year-olds are not always gentle in their loving and well-intentioned affections. ;)


Our three pumpkins! From L-R: Ginger's pumpkin features a Dachshund jumping over the moon, complete with twinkling stars. Sparrow's pumpkin features Belle from Beauty and the Beast. My sister drew Belle, and then we carved the area out from around her so that she could glow. Then, the family pumpkin. My sister also did the lettering for me on this pumpkin, but I scraped the inside thin and painstakingly carved out all the details. :)


I tried to take a picture of how pretty it glows, but the flash did not show it, and without a flash it was too dark. This is, unfortunately, the best picture I took: