After breakfast, the girls played in their rooms while I brought the laptop out and had some coffee. Then I made a tent for them in a corner of the living room that is out of the way enough that the tent can stay in place for awhile. (Yay for tents made with blankets!) That's when crazy set in. Peanut decided to do her 'puppy run' at a million miles an hour through the tent, onto the couch, and around the coffee table. Kyleigh was in the tent as Peanut was tearing through and would yell with each pass thru. Abby was pretty oblivious as she was sitting in the entryway with a paperbag and toys-- putting them in and taking them out. After all that fun, Peanut calmed down and Kyleigh got her quilt (that I made for her when she was a baby), wrapped it around herself and came to find me in the dining room (still enjoying coffee as I watched the three sunshines of my life playing) and asked to sit on me. Now how can anyone refuse that?? I pulled her up and she sat facing me, snuggled into my shoulder and still wrapped in her quilt. Now if Kyleigh is doing something, Abigail must be a part of it. So Abby toddled over and held up her arms, saying 'up up'. There we were, the three of us sitting on one chair all snuggled up together. Kyleigh would lay her head on me and Abby would do the same. Ah, I think this is what Heaven will be like. My head resting in between my two girls-- nothing could be sweeter...except if they decided to start lavishing kisses on me! Kyleigh gave me a kiss, then Abigail went "mmmmmmmwah!" followed by another Kyleigh kiss and another Abigail big kiss. We all ended up in giggling like crazy. It was wonderful! We all ended up playing on the floor together, Peanut too. It was the best way to spend a rainy day.
After not seeing Nate very much this week, we had went and had lunch together. It was nice for him to have a little time with the girls. It wasn't until after we had pulled away from dropping Nate back off at work that Abigail realized what was going on. She had seemed confused when Nate was saying his goodbyes. Once it dawned on her that he wasn't coming home with us, she started crying and calling for 'dada'. It just about broke my heart. Hopefully the rest of today and tomorrow will go by quickly so Nate can be home for the weekend!
It has taken me all day to write just up to this point and I fear I have completely lost where I was headed. Kyleigh is not taking her nap and it doesn't sound like Abby wants to sleep either. That is so like them to not sleep when finally in bed, but when they were in the car they were fighting to stay awake (Abigail actually did fall asleep on the way to Nate's work). I have a feeling this day will end with fussiness and cranky cries and an early bedtime.
Yesterday. I had some pureed pumpkin left in the fridge from Halloween and I wanted to bake with it. So yesterday after her non-nap, Kyleigh and I baked cupcakes! I can't remember the last time I made cupcakes... ::pauses to think:: I don't know that I have ever made cupcakes before. If I did it was only once and quite a long time ago. Anyway, we made Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Butter Icing. Woo hoo! These are sin-sational! Absolutely irresistible! Scrumptious! Divine! You can't have just one! Believe me, I tried. I had to take a lot of pictures of the girls to keep my hands from grabbing another one. :)
Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Butter Icing
3 c. flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. pumpkin puree
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. butter, melted
5 eggs
Maple Butter Icing
6 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp maple extract
1/3 c. milk
1/2 c. butter, melted
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the muffin pans with paper cups.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and spices. Set aside.
In another mixing bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, butter and eggs. Using a whisk, mix well.
Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture.
Stir just until the everything is incorporated.Divide evenly among the lined cups, filling about two-thirds of the way. (I used a quarter-cup measuring cup and rubber spatula to help keep it even.)
Bake for 15-20 minutes; until a toothpick, or knife, comes clean out of the center of the cakes. Turn cupcakes out to wire racks to cool.
While the cupcakes are baking, it's time to make the icing!
Start with three cups of the powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. Add in the extract, milk, butter, nutmeg and cinnamon. To get it smooth, I like using a whisk (yes, again). Add an additional one cup of powdered sugar at a time until you get the consistency you like. I had to use six cups to get me desired consistency.
Wait until the cupcakes are cooled completely, then ice away! And as always, enjoy!
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| My little helper. |
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| We decided to use Halloween sprinkles on them. |
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