Jeff and Brayden's favorite day trip

Jeff took Brayden to the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton again today. This is their second trip in as many weeks, and apparently they both thoroughly enjoy themselves! They are always gone for at least 6 hours, and they spend time both inside the museum and outside on the lovely grounds. "Boys Day Out".

In the past two weeks, Brayden has made fabulous progress with talking! Yay! He now says: Up, On, Off, Umma (Gramma), Umpa (Grampy), Momma, RayRay (Rachael), apple, banana, hi, yeah, yes, please, and, as of yesterday, "one more"... for "one more time". He's 20 months old now, and to be honest, I was getting a little worried about his not talking, but he's doing fine in catching up. He is a very very smart little boy, so apparently he was just waiting until he was sure he could do it. He's shown he's every bit as smart as his Uncle Jeff was at that age -- including being able to take multiple directions and follow them through, counting, recognition of shapes and colors, etc. So - no more worrying. He was just waiting for the time to be right. I believe in six months we'll be wondering if he'll ever STOP talking! LOL

Baking

I'd cut up and cooked our Halloween pumpkin (it hadn't been carved, just used as a porch decoration, so it was still good and firm), and got 8 bags of (2 cups each) pumpkin puree for the freezer. I was going to make a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, but decided I wanted to do some real baking (pies are too easy!), and went looking on the Internet for some good pumpkin recipes. I found a wonderful web site I'd never been to: http://www.verybestbaking.com/ and found a recipe for a carrot cake (which we love) that incorporated pumpkin. I baked it this afternoon, along with 6 cupcakes (so the cake would actually be UNcut on Thanksgiving Day!), and it is WONDERFUL. I especially like the hint of orange flavor to the cream cheese frosting. Of course, you can use canned pumpkin in place of fresh. This cake would be very suitable for any occassion. It's rich and a bit more dense than a standard cake, with nice small chunks of nuts, carrots and pineapple. I think the only change I would make if I bake it again would be to add about 1/2 cup of raisins and just a hint (1/4 tsp.) of cloves.

Pumpkin Carrot Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups pumpkin
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup (about 3 medium) carrots, grated
1 cup coconut, flaked
1 1/4 cups nuts, chopped, divided
Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Directions:PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease two 9-inch-round cake pans.
COMBINE flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in small bowl.
Combine milk and lemon juice in liquid measuring cup (mixture will appear curdled).
BEAT eggs, pumpkin, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, pineapple, carrots and milk mixture in large mixer bowl; mix well. Gradually add flour mixture; beat until combined. Stir in coconut and 1 cup nuts. Pour into prepared cake pans.
BAKE for 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 15 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
FROST between layers, on sides and top of cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Garnish with remaining nuts. Store in refrigerator.

FOR CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:COMBINE 11 ounces softened cream cheese, 1/3 cup softened butter and 3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar in large mixer bowl until fluffy. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons orange juice and 1 teaspoon grated orange peel; beat until combined.

I also baked an apple pie for dinner. I used a combination of granny smith and braeburn apples. The granny smith have the tart taste I like in an apple, and the braeburn has a milder flavor but more juice. I'd prefer to have a fresh New England macintosh, but they're not available here, so I have to do with what I have! Tried to post a picture of the completed pie, but Blogger doesn't want me to.

So I've gotten a lot done today, more to do tomorrow but it's mostly quick cleaning and general straightening and picking up, so that won't be too bad. We have to work our Thanksgiving dinner schedule around Brayden's nap, so we won't eat until 3pm or so on Thursday, so I'll have Thursday morning to get more prep work done.

Now if only JJ and Lisa could be here with us, it would be a wonderful holiday!

Lots to do

I'm a bit behind on my preparations for Thanksgiving. Brayden's had another cold (poor guy), Mary's been sick, and now Jeff and I are fighting it. I know it's from Brayden going to day care and picking up the germs, then coming here and/or home and spreading them around. He was very sick over the weekend and Mary wasn't far behind him. I went over on Saturday and babysat so Mary could get to the store for what she needed to get them both through another bout of sickness. I tried hard to stay back from him when he coughed, I washed my hands frequently, stayed conscious about putting my hands near my eyes, mouth or nose... but at 3am this morning woke up thinking "uh oh... I'm coming down with a cold"...sigh. Just what I need when I'm already behind on Thanksgiving prep. My turkey (24 lbs) is out of the freezer and I cut up our Halloween pumpkin and cooked it for pumpkin pie filling. I've also made cranberry muffins with a cream cheese center, and those are in the freezer. The majority of grocery shopping is done, but I do have a few last minute things to pick up today. Today will be a busy day. My To Do list is as follows:

• Small grocery shopping of last minute items - done
• Go to library to return due books - done
• Take all china out of hutch and run through dishwasher - done
• Dust interior of china cabinet - done
• Vac downstairs
• Dust dining room, my office
• Finish cleaning my office - done
• Get Thanksgiving candles, etc from basement - done
• Wash and iron linens for table
• Clean kitchen, wash kitchen floor
• Get turkey roaster from basement and wash - done
• Plan what serving bowls I need and make sure they're available - done

Tomorrow will be a cooking day:

• Make apple and pumpkin pies
• Make stuffing
• Put green bean casserole together
• Make cream sauce for onions

Now see? Now that I've written it all down, that doesn't look as bad as I thought it was going to be. Also this year's cooking will be a little bit easier because I have the new warming drawer in my stove. I can cook things ahead (such as the rolls) and just keep them warm in the drawer, rather than fight to get everything done at the same time!