Suzy Homemaker's the name

You know those days when the stars align and Jupiter is in the fifth house of Saturn and everything just clicks?  I had one of those days today and I have to document it because I'm pretty sure it'll be a while before it happens again.

Sofia started a Mom's Morning Out program this week.  Monday was her first day and tomorrow will be her second.  She didn't do all that great with the full-day program in Dallas so I thought we'd try a morning program and ease her into things.  It's the perfect set-up because it's from 9-11:30 and I found a couple of yoga classes during that time.  So I drop her off, go to class, and head back with time to spare.  On Monday I sat in the car and made a couple of phone calls and finished my grocery list before it was time to pick her up.  It was perfect!

But they wasted no time letting me know what was up.  They handed me a stack of papers when I arrived, one of them being their 'newsletter', where they informed the parents that it was 'Halloween Week' and they were going to have a 'costume parade' and 'feel free to bring treats.'

Well, I know what that means.  It means bring treats or you suck.  And Sofia can't be the kid whose mom sucks because she hates cooking.  I'm already stressing because I thought I could skate through with her hand-me-down costume that's a pinch too small, but there's nothing I can do about that now.  So I had to come through with the treats.

I bought a 29 ounce can of pumpkin (don't ask me why because I have no clue) so guess what?  I'm bringing pumpkin treats!

Thank the baby Jesus the stars aligned and more importantly, Sofia behaved.  She's been pretty clingy lately, but today she was content to be near me instead of on me like she usually is.  I took full advantage of that and got to work.

Not only did I make a shit-ton of pumpkin treats, I even got all the laundry done!  I put in a load, mixed up my stuff.  I took it out, put it in the dryer, then put stuff in the oven.  I took stuff out of the dryer, and took stuff out of the oven.  I was a well-oiled machine!  And the whole time Sofia amused herself by playing on the kitchen floor with her stickers, or standing in her tower 'helping' me.

I want to know why these kids look so creepy.

Also, I got my tower from Craigslist for $60.

I saw the price on Amazon and promptly clicked away, knowing I could do better than that.

I did and Sofia loves it!  She loves being in the middle of the action, but who's really surprised by that?

First up were the pumpkin poppers.  PS, all of these recipes are on my Pinterest, so if you're interested you should follow me!  Or, you know, just click the links.  But you should follow me too because I love finding new recipes to try.

This recipe calls for two teaspoons of baking powder, but the comments said to use baking soda too so I used half a teaspoon of each and they came out amazing!

Pumpkin poppers - success!

Next up were the pumpkin sandwich cookies.  It's a gluten free recipe but I just used regular flour and vanilla and regular everything else.  I had lofty goals of making a gluten-free treat for the kids who may have issues but that ended when I was in the store and saw that gluten-free flour was $6 for a teeny little thing of it!  AND I had nearly a full bag of regular flour at home, that was all organic and grass-fed and non GMO and hella expensive in its own right!  Plus I would have had to buy gluten-free vanilla and I forget what else.  Anyway, sorry gluten-free kids.  

I'm actually genuinely sorry because these little things?  DEE-LISH.

They're more cake-like than cookie but they're soo good!

But I wasn't done yet!  Next up were the pumpkin bars.  I hesitated for a second because it said you had to make them in a jelly roll pan and I didn't have one.  But Google told me that a rimmed cookie sheet is pretty much the same as a jelly roll pan and that, I did have!

My pumpkin masterpieces!

PS, doesn't my backsplash look sexy?

I had leftover frosting from the sandwich cookies so I used that to ice the pumpkin bars.  It was surprisingly easy to get it all done, mostly because they all pretty much have the same ingredients.  It was nothing to mix up a batch, cook it and get to making another recipe.  I put on some music and it was a really fun day.

And I even made dinner to boot!

source

This is one of my favorite recipes and I make at least twice a month.

It's super simple and super yummy!

All the treats are in their containers, ready for me to take to school and I hope they go over well. Even if they don't, I had fun making them and we have a pumpkin carving party to go to this weekend, so I'll unload them there.

I'm really looking forward to the start of the holidays.  Even though I have done zero decorating for Halloween/fall/Thanksgiving, doing all that cooking really put me in the spirit.  It's been gorgeous here lately and one of the things I didn't realize I missed in Dallas was the change of seasons.  Seeing the leaves turn is a beautiful sight I forgot I loved.  Putting the baby in her stroller and walking the dog has become one of my favorite parts of the day.  Crunching the leaves and breathing in that crisp fall air really puts a smile on my face.

Listen to me, getting all mushy over the weather.  Check back with me when it's snowing.  I'm sure I'll be full of my regular hate and loathing.

But for now, wish me luck with my treats for school!  I want the other kids to be like wow Sofia, your mom is awesome.  And yes, I know babies can't talk like that yet.  

I just want them to think it.