Catching up--Cookies, Christmas, and birthdays

So I obviously didn't get a recipe posted Wednesday, but I meant to :)  Good intentions.  I made 2 different kinds of cookies that I wanted to share.  I made these vanilla pudding chocolate chip cookies over here, and they were really good.  They won't replace my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe here, but they are good, and it is always fun to do something different.  I would post a picture, but we ate them all.

I love pumpkin anything, and will make pumpkin pie all year.  Yum!  But I especially go into high pumpkin cooking mode in the fall.  Pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin muffin--and the yummy list goes on.  I made chocolate chip pumpkin bread last week and had a little pumpkin left in the fridge that was just crying to be made into pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  I went to my usual source for recipes--Mel's Kitchen Cafe, but believe it or not, she did not have a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe, so I went to my 2nd source for great recipes allrecipes.com  This is another great, great source for recipes, and I love how they are rated, and you can see how many reviews and how many stars people give the recipes.  So, I found a pumpkin chocolate chip recipe that had 947 reviews and 4 1/2 stars, so you know it is going to be good.  It was.  And again, I would post a picture, but we ate them all.  You will just have to take my word for it--they were good.

I am working on Christmas presents.  As I have mentioned before I love, love, love Organized Christmas and their countdown to Christmas.  If you want to join me, their 6 weeks to Christmas countdown starts this Sunday, Oct 27.  They just basically breakdown all the holidays tasks and give you lists and help you get ready for the season.  I have been doing it for over 8 years, and love it.  It is free which makes it even better. I normally don't make a lot of Christmas gifts, but this year I am making a few.  Above is a sneak peak because I know the recipient probably won't look at this blog :)  It is called Swedish weave and is fun and easy to do--a pretty throw blanket.  In the cool evenings it is fun to curl up and work on this while we watch TV or read in the evenings.

This week was also a very big birthday.  Ben turned 40.  Man, 40 used to sound ancient years ago, but it looks pretty young to me now.  Age is all relative.

My Dad and Ben have birthdays that are close, so we usually celebrate them together.  My Dad always gets a banana cream pie for his birthday cake, and Ben gets a coconut cream pie.  Yes, I make them from scratch--cookie pie crust, real whipped cream and all.  They are yummy!

On Ben's actual birthday he got to open his presents with a very attentive audience.

Always fun to see the cool things Dad gets!

And then my Dad made Ben this cool 40 candles birthday card.  The kids were being goofy. . .

Which is just how they are. . . most of the time

But that is okay, because it makes things more fun :)  Happy Birthday to the cutest and most amazing man, father, and husband I know--I sure love you Ben!