Grandma's Crustless Pumpkin Pie

One of Lila's favorite seasonal desserts by far is pumpkin pie. Savoring the spicy pumpkin filling she will usually scoop it all out and leave the crust. If she could just have a bowl pumpkin pie filling, she would be in heaven.


And so, Grandma's Crustless Pumpkin Pie was born! Taste-tested and approved by Lila, this light, simple pie is sure to remain part of the holiday tradition for years to come. From our kitchen to yours. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• Butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice
• 2 large eggs
• 1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin
• 1 (12 oz) can of evaporated milk

Be sure to use organic ingredients!

 

Directions:

• Preheat oven at 325 degrees.
• Lightly butter a glass baking dish (preferably a 9 inch round pie dish).
• Prepare filling by blending all of the ingredients. Scoop and smooth the mixture into the dish.
• Bake for about an hour or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Cool and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (The longer it stays in the fridge the better it gets!)

 

Back to school and on to the 2nd grade!

Summer vacation was a blast but the girls were so excited to go back to school. Big kids now, they have settled nicely into second grade. The year ahead will surely be filled with new lessons, friends, activities, and adventures. Wishing the "core four" a fabulous year!

-Tara, Ellyn, Annabelle, & Lisa

Lila is excited for science class. She is currently experimenting with the idea of becoming a chemist.

Clara can't wait to devour lots of books this year. Her love for reading has inspired Clara to consider a future career as a librarian (in addition to being a mommy).

Elisa is a whiz in math class. No wonder why she plans to become a mathematician. 

Clearly an animal-lover (note the stylish cat ear head band), Sarah is already looking forward to a wonderful career as a veterinarian.

Halloween Party

This past Sunday, we hosted our big Halloween bash. We had our first Halloween party when Lila was a little too young to go trick or treating. Since then it has become an annual tradition. It can be a lot of work, but knowing that Lila and her friends have a blast makes it all worth it. After 6 years of hosting, I think we got it down to a science. (Although this year the grilled cheese caught on fire, it was a minor hiccup that added to the chaotic excitement!) Here are a few highlights that may offer some "tricks and treats" for hosting a Halloween bash for kids.

Sarah, Clara, Elisa, and Lila-- ready to party!

If you really want those snacks, you have to get passed the giant spider.
Don't get caught in her web!

FOOD: The autumn season, for me, means hearty comfort food. Our lunch menu included chili, wings, rice, beans, grilled cheese, corn bread, and salad. We had a few Halloween-inspired snacks such as monster green guacamole and black tortilla chips, eyeball deviled eggs (use a sliced olive as the eye), and jack-o-lantern clementines with black grapes.

Decorate clementines with a marker to look like jack-o-lanterns.

PARTY GAMES & ACTIVITIES: Each table was stocked with Halloween crafts that included crayons, construction paper, stickers, coloring pages, activity books, and DIY Halloween decorations. The kids mostly enjoyed running around and playing with the balloons and hula hoops, but we also had a few organized games. 

• Pin the heart on the skeleton: This is the same concept as pin the tail on the donkey. (Supplies needed: a large cut out skeleton, paper hearts, a blind fold.)

• Donuts on a string: Children try to eat a donut on a string without using their hands. Whoever eats the entire donut without it falling on the floor wins. (Supplies needed: small donuts, string, a long pole or broom stick.)

• Mummy wrap: The team that wraps their mummy the quickest wins! (Supplies needed: toilet paper or white streamers.)

Clara as a mummy.

Halloween crafts.

DESSERT: After the games, the kids settled down to watch a movie (It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown). This always gives us time to clean up lunch and put out the desserts. The spread included: pumpkin pie, sugar cookies, donuts, Halloween cupcakes, apples and caramel, and lots of Halloween candy, of course.

Apples and caramel are a classic Halloween treat.

Sugar cookies in Halloween shapes.

Worms in dirt and eyeball cupcakes.

The best part of Halloween is definitely enjoying the treats!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
-Tara

Making Valentines

I have many memories of holiday-specific parties at my Grandma's house whether it was building gingerbread houses in December or dyeing Easter Eggs in April or carving pumpkins in October. 

Valentine's Day was always one of my favorite celebrations. My grandma was a much better baker than I am so nearly every party involved baking cookies and decorating them with sprinkles, icing, and assorted sweets. I can still clearly see the line of pink and red icing winding around the curves of heart-shaped cookies and the perfectly formed pink flowers with green icing leaves she placed in the center of each cookie.

I have not carried on with the baking traditions that she passed down, but I have managed to hold on to some of the arts & craft elements of the parties I remember so fondly from childhood.

For Valentine's Day I invited Clara and her cousins to a Valentine making party. It is meaningful to me to be passing down these traditions to the next generation. These celebrations also make me miss my grandma, and wish she was there in the kitchen spooning the icing out of the barely functional old-fashioned mixer that she held on to for decades. I feel grateful for these traditions she created for us.

Valentine's Day is one of the easiest holiday parties to prepare for since we already have ample arts and crafts materials in the house. I just make a pile of paper, markers, stickers, and other craft materials on the table and let the girls create!

We tried an owl and ladybug theme because I found some cute stickers in these themes. I made a couple of demo cards, and then the girls made their own versions on the theme.

After making a few ladybug and owl cards, the girls quickly switched to their own themes and designs. Here are some of the creative cards from the day:

Cousin Isabella was especially poetic in her cards this year bringing clouds and stars into her celestial themed cards: 

I love the precision and thoughtfulness that Natasha put into creating a pattern for the flowers on her card:

Clara wrote her cards all by herself using developmental spelling. Translation of below card: 1. happy day 2. great day  3. nice day  4. beautiful day   5. awesome day. 

Inside: 6. Happy Valentine's Day!

I think Clara was inspired to have the Valentine heart in one of her cards in a beach setting after seeing Olaf the snowman in "Frozen" dreaming about summer.

some pop-up action

From Clara to her younger cousin.

It was a fun day for our family to create and celebrate together. This is a tradition I hope we will keep up over the years.

Happy Valentine's Day!

-Ellyn