Oops!

My eyes popped open at 2 am last night because I remembered that I didn't post anything yesterday :(  So much for posting every.single.day in October.

But, I had good reason! Yesterday was a busy day. First we celebrated my brother in law's 30th birthday, and then we had some friends over for dinner.

I haven't seen these friends in a while (shame us on all for being so darn busy) but they are the kind of friends that you pick up exactly where you left off, without missing a beat. I've known them forever, and it was so nice to relax and catch up and eat tons. (Laur, I need the bean dip recipe. And Claud, I need more banana crack, I mean pudding, ASAP!) Can't wait to do it again soon.

Back to the farm

I had a million things to do today.  From gym class (for Gia, not me) to lunch with my dad, to cooking dinner, and finding time to go grocery shopping and clean the entire house, I really packed it in. Oh, and Gia only napped for an hour, so there was little rest for the weary in this house.

While Gia was napping and I was emptying the dishwasher, responding to some work emails and making a list for Shop Rite, I stopped for a second and looked out the huge window in our kitchen. It was just so gorgeous out--especially for October. After all the days of rain we've had, the sun and warmth were even sweeter. As I was literally basking in the sun, Gia woke up.  I went up to her room to get her and found a very cranky child-- because, ya know, she barely slept.  Out of no where I suggested we go to the farm. Instant happy kid, and truthfully, happy mommy too. Because life's too short to worry about food shopping on the most beautiful October day. It could wait (and it did, till after dinner, when Gia was soundly asleep.)

There is little in life that makes me happier than watching my beautiful girl run around the farm, squealing in delight.

Thinking about how to best approach the hay maze

Gia kept saying "Hi goat. Eat!"

Scare crow Gia & Daddy

Look, I'm feeding him!

Jumping amongst the hay bales

Cheese, mommy!

Pinterest Muffins

In the past week I made 2 different kinds of muffins and I got both of the recipes on Pinterest. (I go on Pinterest binges, where I pin, pin, pin... and then I take some time to try some of the stuff I pinned. Cause if not I just get overwhelmed looking at all those gorgeous pins and trying to figure out when I'm going to have time to paint our piano, refinish our floors, and do sixteen different holiday crafts with Gia.)

So, first I started with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins with Pecan Streusel.  I make the streusel sans pecans. I didn't have any in the house and Gia's not a fan of nuts. So, mine were just Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins with Streusel.

 Gia helped me bake:

 

And they turned out to the be BEST pumpkin muffins EVER. I didn't have vanilla extract so I used vanilla bean paste in the cream cheese mixture and it was divine. You can find the recipe here.

We devoured those in a few days, and I love having muffins in the house, so yesterday I made some more. They're so easy for me to grab and eat on the go when I'm working.

Yesterday I made French Toast Muffins. Upon reading the ingredient list, I was skeptical because the actual muffin itself is so plain. I had everything I needed on hand, which usually isn't the case when I want to try a new recipe. 

But, I went for it anyway, let me tell you---YUM! They were so so good. I made them around 4 pm and Gia, Jon and I ended up having one each after dinner. They are simple, but so buttery and sweet and delicious. And, yes, they DO taste like french toast. You can find the recipe here.  (Ignore the annoying blog post that goes with the recipe. And, DO cut the topping ingredients in half. I doubled the muffin recipe, so I figured I should make the normal amount of topping, and I still have more than half left over.)