A Very Late Pumpkin Patch Post

I had this post saved as a draft for quite some time, I finally decided to post it before I totally forget about it and these pictures get lost in the abyss of my computer. We visited two new pumpkin patches this fall and both of them were really fun. The first one was the Carlsbad pumpkin patch where we met our friends that came down from Santa Cruz. That day was blazing hot, after the pumpkin patch we went back to their place so the boys could go in the pool for a while before we headed back home. That's fall in California for ya! The second patch we visited had a little corn maze which was pretty awesome since we had never been in one before, we definitely enjoyed this patch especially since the weather was nice and cool!

Now we are ready for a nice and very low key thanksgiving dinner this Thursday, maybe I'll post a halloween related post and another pending post I had before all this holiday madness begins. XOXO

Pumpkin Patch Roundup

We've planned a pumpkin patch trip with our friends for this Saturday, the first of the season and I am beyond excited! After that we are headed to their house to bake, decorate and eat Halloween cookies. I've been all kinds of sappy lately seeing my boy growing so much and so fast so I put some pictures together of our first, second and third pumpkin patch trips. It's finally feeling like fall here in California, cooler temps and even rain. According to my husband it's not going to last long but I hope he's wrong, meanwhile I'm going to enjoy it.

XOXO

    

  

Happy October!

Happy October! We've been getting ready since September haha. Halloween is definitely our favorite holiday over here. We've been reading Halloween books, watching scary movies, walking the Halloween isles at target, searching thrift stores for Halloween treasures and listening to the Misfits nonstop. I will take out the Halloween decor today and pick up a few more things this weekend, nothing too crazy.

We bought Maxi's costume last weekend, he's been wanting to be Captain America ever since he first saw the costume and I really dislike sharing costume pictures before Halloween because I feel like it takes the fun from showing pictures the actual day... but I couldn't help to share this one of my little Captain America. I waited it out, in case he changed his mind but he's stuck with it for a month so I bought it before it disappeared! He's been practically living in the thing and I hope it survives until Halloween haha. He gets so into his role, he once hid me in the room and told me to stay there because he was going to fight the "monsters".

I baked these one bowl famous chocolate cupcakes yesterday to celebrate the first of October and they were AMAZING... the only thing I wasn't really crazy about was the frosting but you can easily use your favorite frosting recipe instead. But you should definitely make these like yesterday. This will definitely be my go to chocolate recipe from now on. 

P.S. If you have a toddler and you happen to be at target pick up the book spooky pookie, Maximiliano absolutely loves it. It's a cute Halloween read, especially for ages 2-4.

XOXO

35 mm | Fall

    

   

                                     

 

    

 

                          

Hello, I just dropped off some film at the photo center today and am really excited to see how they came out! That being said, I never shared these photos of the pumpkin patch + a trip to Julian, Ca. with some of our friends. I like these photos very much. My favorites being the one of the boys skipping rocks and the one I captured of our friends as the beautiful little family they are. By the way if you are ever in Julian, please stop by Julian pie company and grab some apple pie + cinnamon ice cream, you'll thank me later. XOXO Lidia

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Hi! Hope you guys all had a wonderful thanksgiving with all your loved ones and lots of yummy food! My thanksgiving was very simple, other than two close friends, we didn't have anyone over this year since the original plan was for my mom and sister to go spend thanksgiving at my dads. Everyone ended up staying though! My sister and I did all the cooking this year and everything came out great. We had turkey, garlic-parmesan mashed potatoes, bacon corn bread stuffing, broccoli casserole, rolls and ham. For dessert I baked these bars the night before.

These pumpkin cheesecake bars were seriously too easy to make. I love love love a recipe that is effortless but amazing. They do take a bit too bake and you have to cool for at least 3 hours but if you make them a night or two in advance you are good to go!

I know that pumpkin season is over and now it's peppermint everything but if you're like me and love incorporating pumpkin in your baking then you might want to try this recipe out. Or you can pin this and make for next thanksgiving, I can assure this will be a hit at your gathering. 

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

makes 12 large squares or 24 small squares

recipe slightly adapted from roxanashomebaking

crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs 

1/4 melted butter

filling:

4 packages (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened 

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 teaspoons cinnamon 

Heat oven to 300 degrees.

Line a 13x9" baking dish with parchment paper or foil, leaving about an inch hanging on the sides.

Pour the crumbs and butter right in your prepared baking dish and mix it all very well. Press mixture into the bottom of the pan as packed and even as you can. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar on low speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time just until incorporated. Spoon half of the mixture on top of crust and spread evenly.

Add pumpkin puree and cinnamon to remaining cream cheese mixture, whisk until smooth and spoon over plain cream cheese mixture in pan as evenly as possible.

Bake for 50 minutes until set. Turn off the oven and let the oven door open with the cheesecake still inside. This way allowing it to cool down inside the oven for an hour. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Cut bars into desired size. Garnish with whipped cream and cinnamon!

Enjoy!

XOXO

Lidia

Zoo + Park

{ family portrait at the zoo }

{ this was how he decided to pose for the picture }

{ I asked if he wanted a picture with the crocodile }

{ he climbed on the rock and said cheese }

{ the whole time we were there Maximiliano was asking for "turtol" }

{ feeding the goats }

{ "monkeeeyyy" }

{ flying }

{ looking for spiders under the tree bark, have to watch him very closely because he's pretty good at finding "spidemen" }

Maximiliano's vocabulary is expanding so much. Also his vocabulary is 80 % animal names haha. Monkey, Cheetah, Dinonu (dinosaur), puppy, meow (cat), spidemen (spider), batman (bat), gecko, crocodile, butterfly, bird, monster (gila monster) and of course his favorites eagle! and ultimate favorite, all water animals. Sharky, fishy, loster (lobster), ocapus (octopus), stiray (stingray) and more!

"Watch out!" And "fly!" while running and opening his arms is also a favorite. Those are just a few to mention.

I'm kind of upset about the fact that he is picking up english way faster than spanish although he does say words in spanish too and he understands absolutely everything. My husbands spanish is terrible so that doesn't help. But I'm not too worried, I'll find a way to incorporate more spanish into his learning as he is growing. Maximiliano being bilingual is something that is super important to me, being able to communicate with non-english speaking family and speaking the language of your ancestors is worth gold.

XOXO

Lidia