Friday, October 28, 2011

Pumpkin Oreo Cheesecake Minis

It's Fall...so if you're like me, you're in the mood for anything pumpkin!  If you're like my husband, you're always in the mood for anything Oreo-related.  :)  So here is the happy marriage of the two lovelies....and in mini/cupcake form...what's not to love?!?
They're pretty foolproof, and they're DELICIOUS! 
The cast of characters:

- 2 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice (or any other fall-ish pumpkin pie sort of spice)
- 1/2 can of canned pumpkin
- 48 Oreos (you'll need two packages)
- whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Go ahead and place cupcake liners in muffin/cupcake pans {makes 24}.  Beat the cream cheese until creamy.  Add the sugar and cream again.  Add the eggs one at a time beating after each one.
Add the rest of the ingredients and beat again (you can really eyeball the spices, to taste, and/or add in whatever you want).  Place one whole Oreo in the bottom of the cupcake liners and fill up the liner 3/4 full with the cheesecake batter. 
Push another whole oreo into the top of the batter.
Bake for 20-22 minutes.  Cool in pan for 15-20 minutes before removing and placing on a wire rack to finish cooling.
Put them in an airtight container and keep refrigerated.  Serve topped with whipped cream {Redi-whip} and some cookie crumbs!
ENJOY!!!
{recipe is my adapted version via}

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Trunk-or-Treat!

Last night we had a fun little event at church for the kiddos...I mainly just snapped a couple of pictures at the beginning, but you'll get the point!  :)
Me and my little lion...roarrr!  He is actually going to be a tiger on Halloween (and for another event on Saturday), but I thought it would be fun to mix it up a little, especially since we had his costume from last year still in the closet.  It was 12-24 months and swallowed him last year, but fit perfectly this year.  Talk about getting your money's worth (see, babe?!?)!  ;)
Last Halloween
Remember this little guy???

 People arriving and hanging out...
A couple of our trunks...
Betsy really went all out - complete with mums and blinking lights! :)
 Who are those crazy girls?!?
 Betsy and Jennifer - Jennifer & Jess decorated their golf cart - don't have any pics but it was cute.
 I only found out the day of that it was a "trunk-or-treat" event...so I just threw everything orange and/or pumpkin in the car, ha!
And the little kiddos enjoyed playing in the jump castle.
Pretty crazy that they let lions run around in there, right?!?  ;)
 Cousin Gray!!  ...who was "little Jess," by the way! :)
cuties
Pilot Chase and his grandmother!
We should have dressed Harley up for the occasion!  {and Dylan's in the background, if you can spot him in all his sneaky ninja-ness}
We attempted a picture of some of the kids...but Mills was ready for that mane to come off and had little concern for the photo op...
"That's it, people..."
Me and B
 Last attempt at a group shot...unfortunately neither Jennifer nor I could get it together for the same picture, as evidenced above and below, ha!  :)  But it'll work!
Fun night with lots of sweet wee ones!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Wordless Wednesday

"Seriously, mom - it's been how long since you last blogged?!?"
"This is just getting to be embarrassing."

We've been busy with all things pumpkin...
{our carving day}
but I'll be back tomorrow with pictures from our "Trunk or Treat" at church tonight, and a fabulous recipe for you on Friday...because I totally owe you! :)

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

It's a...

Sorry to keep you waiting {although most of you know by now!}...
But on Monday we headed to our anatomy scan/gender reveal appointment. Nicholas and Mills watching on as we looked at all of the body parts, got measurements, and found out baby #2 is a 
BOY!!! :)
We were SO excited!
Family photo {still sitting on the table}...on a side note, I really missed the technological facilities of our Charleston OBGYN office...no 3D/4D at this appt (you can do it later here, but it's not included - boo), and the ultrasonographer was less than cheery...I'll leave it at that.  But I do LOVE my doctor, so that makes up for it.
But the main story of the day?  A healthy, precious, baby boy!  From what we could see, he appears to look just like his big brother at this point.  That's a good thing, because we think he's pretty cute.  ;)  I'll try to share some pictures later this week!

We grabbed some lunch after the appointment, and then found a new cupcake bakery in town, Sweet, and it was delicious!  You know me and my love affair with cupcakes.
I don't know why I look weird in the first picture, but milk in a bottle - yum!
Proud soon-to-be big brother! :)

Monday night the fam came over to celebrate - typical kiddos running around. :)
 I look like I'm playing "teacher" here, but we were taking a tally on boy vs. girl!
The total was 4 girl vs. 7 boys...our moms and my grandmother didn't vote because they already knew (obviously neither did we)!
 The reveal!!!  {I took the easy way out and had blue "BOY" cupcake toppers made...we had a busy day!}
 "If being a big brother means cupcakes...I think I'm okay with this deal."
We're so excited for Mills to have a best buddy, and to add another sweet boy to our family!