Cupcakes and parties and pumpkins, oh my!

Well, it has been a doozy of week around here. Busy, busy, busy.
I was in baking overdrive. I am in love with cupcakes. They could not be easier. So little effort and a whole lot of "ta da". Seriously, 5 minutes of prep and you are rewarded with a bounty of yummy. I made 3 batches on Friday (72 in total) and discovered the joy of piping the frosting onto my cupcakes. I usually smear a big plop of frosting on top, but that just seemed too slow. I have a big tip and collar, but I couldn't find my pastry bag so I pulled a "Sandra Lee" and used a ziploc bag. It actually worked and held up to all the refilling. I was very glad. Usually when I try and use a baggie, it bursts. I guess I just lucked out. All in all the cupcakes were great. They all went at the cake walk and a mom even thought they were store bought (I'm taking that as a compliment)
Saturday was a whirlwind of parties. Preschool Harvest Party, Haunted House for the kids and another birthday dinner in the month long celebration that is Jojifest. 9:30 rolled around and we were wiped out. Good thing the kids went to Joji's mom's house to spend the night. It mean no one would be tapping me on the cheek at 1 am wondering where apple juice comes from. I'm pretty sure I spent most of Sunday sleeping. Although I did manage to make it into town to get a 4 tiered swing arm serving stand. I can't wait to use it for the Christmas party. Hopefully, I can get some recoup time, before that fun begins.
Every year, it seems that we are frantically carving our pumpkins at 5:30 on Halloween. The kids have fun, but it can be a little stressful. This year, Joji took the kids today to get some pumpkins an we actually got them carved tonight. Well, all of us except Ben. When we took the lid off his pumpkin it was all black an furry inside. He is getting a new pumpkin tomorrow.
I don't know about you, but in our family people always seem to get the same kind of pumpkin. My dad ALWAYS gets the tall pumpkin and carves flaming eyes with a scary smile. I always get the cute round type and make circle eyes and a 3 tooth smile.
This year as I sat down to draw out my circle eyes, Ben suggested I draw the whole family. So breaking from tradition, I did and I LOVE it. Had I planned better I would have made the faces bigger but I will know better for next year.
Hope you all are finding a little time to stop and carve some pumpkins :0)