Some fun with Cassie and Connor

Last week we had a fun Saturday with Cassie and Connor. We started with a walk down to the neighbor who is selling pumpkins. It's where we went the week before with Alaina and Ruby, so we had to do the same for the younger ones.

It's a big decision for little kids!  But here is Cassie with the one she chose.

Here's Connor with his!  We walked down with a wagon, so we didn't have to carry them home.

Then we went on another adventure.  There's a park about 20 minutes from our house that has a huge slide, built into a hill. It was a beautiful day, perfect for a drive and some fun outside.

Check out this slide!  Cassie said "It's the biggest slide I ever saw!"

Heather went down with Connor.

Cassie wasn't sure at first, but once she went down once, she was all about doing it again.

Connor had an unfortunate ride down this slide, but he was soon up and playing on some of the other equipment.

This beautiful stream borders the park.

And next to it was a little free library!  So the kids found some books to look at.

We took a little walk along a trail.

and did a little more playing. Cassie had to go down the big slide one more time before we left.

We thought it was a great place to spend some time and decided that Bob and I would go back and hike some of the trails there too.

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

Today's recipe is one that's been around for some time and I've probably even shared it before.  My daughter Heather was making these when we were there last week, and I decided they were a good Fall treat to share again.  I initially got this recipe at weight watchers. It's low cal because it uses pumpkin puree instead of oil.  These muffins are really moist and tasty and can be changed by using a different flavor of cake mix.  I usually make them chocolate for a treat, but this time of year, using spice flavored cake mix with the pumpkin is very good.

Pumpkin Puree Muffins

1 box cake mix (spice, chocolate, white or yellow)
1 small can pumpkin puree
1 cup chocolate or white chocolate chips, optional
Raw sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put cupcake liners into cupcake pan. This recipe makes 18 regular size muffins or 12 large ones.
Stir together the dry cake mix with the can of pumpkin. This makes a very thick batter and isn't the easiest to mix together. You may use an electric mixer if you want.
If you are using the white or chocolate chips, stir them into the batter.
Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners. Sprinkle the raw sugar over top if desired.
Bake for about 30 minutes, testing with toothpick to be sure they are done.