Thanksgiving

I decided to take a little break from posting Florida pictures and show you a little of what went on around here for Thanksgiving.

My goal this year was to decorate cheap (as in free).
For name cards, I cut up a Trader Joe's bag into the shapes of little leaves, wrote everyone's names on them, and tied them onto the napkins with twine.

My mom brought a bunch of Indian corn, so I made a corn garland using twine and hung it on our dining room mirror.

John's mom brought flowers for the table.

My sweet friend, Megan, quilted me a runner for my birthday. 
It looked great on our table!

John's mom brought a cute turkey to put flowers in for the food table.

Oh, the food was pretty good, too! :)

My dad made sugar free/gluten free desserts that were DELICIOUS!!
He made a pumpkin pie . . .

 . . . and a cheesecake (low carb, too!!).

If you would like the recipes for these, just e-mail me at FiveKoz@sbcglobal.net .

Easy Pumpkin Pie Bars

I saw these at ALDI and thought Caroline and I would give them a try. (normally, I do not like dessert mixes, but they are so easy to make with kids)
Oh yum! (I was pleasantly surprised!)

They are sooo easy to make and they are sooo delicious! (if you like pumpkin pie, you will love these!)

They have a gingerbread crust, which is actually my favorite part.

Make sure you cook them long enough and then refrigerate them or they will be very runny.

Enjoy!!

Trick or Treat!!!!!

We had a lovely evening to go out gathering candy with friends.  (a little chilly, but beautiful)

Who dat??

Well, it's Drew Brees from the New Orleans Saints, of course! (Jake wanted to be Jermon Bushrod, but we couldn't get his jersey)

I tried to not spend $$ on the costumes this year, so I used an old helmet from the neighbors and spray painted it to look similar to a real Saints helmet.  Here is the "before" . . .

. . . and here is the "after". 

Not bad, right?? 

Jake thoroughly enjoyed being a football player for the evening.  (his over protective mom won't let him play on a football team yet)

He looks pretty good as a football player, I must say.

Caroline went as a dog.

The costume was from a neighbor and her good buddy, Alie, just happened to have the very same costume!!

And look at that sweet cupcake!

Luke went as Brian Urlacher from the Bears.

He loved running from house to house gathering his treats.

"Daddy . . . stop eating my candy!!"

The whole gang . . .

Friendship is so very sweeeet.

:)

Williams Sonoma Pumpkin Dessert Squares

I was totally sad the other day when I went to buy pecan pumpkin butter at Williams Sonoma.  It was closed . . . like as in closed forever.
:(

I have a pumpkin bar recipe (maybe you've tried it??) and it calls for WS pecan pumpkin butter. 

I was going to buck up and just buy "any old" pumpkin butter, but I couldn't find any anywhere else. I was on the phone calling grocery stores.

Nope, no pumpkin butter.

(I should have bought some at the orchard when I saw some.)

This is the best recipe for Fall (besides pumpkin pie, of course)and they will disappear very quickly . . . I guarantee it.



Williams Sonoma Pumpkin Dessert Squares

source

1 package yellow cake mix
½ cup butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 jar Muirhead pumpkin butter (This is the Williams Sonoma brand, but I think any will do. The jar was 13.5 oz.)
½ cup milk
1 tablespoon flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon cinnamon.


Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Measure one cup of cake mix. Set aside. Stir remaining cake mix with the butter and one egg. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch pan. Mix the jar of pumpkin butter with the remaining two eggs and milk. Pour mixture over layer in the pan. Stir the reserved cake mix with the flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon. Mix until crumbly. Sprinkle over the top of the pumpkin layer. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into two-inch squares. Serves 24.


Enjoy!!! (I hope you can find some good pumpkin butter!)
 
p.s.  We do have two more WS stores in the area, but they are about a half an hour away . . trying to decide if it is worth the drive.
:)

Apple Pickin'

The kids didn't have school on Thursday, so I took them to an apple orchard near Rockford, Illinois.

We went with some good buddies of ours.

(apple orchard + good buddies = lots of fun)

Of course, we had to make apple crisp when we got home!

Luke helped with the cutting. (they used pumpkin carving knives so they weren't too sharp)

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Psalm 34:8



Have I told you how much I love Fall?

Scents of Fall

I love the scents of Fall. 

They are just so warm and cozy.

To fill my home with these scents, I purchased wallflowers from Bath and Body Works.  I LOVE the Leaves, Pumpkin Patch and Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin scents.  Creamy Nutmeg is good, too.  (Okay, so maybe I like them all.)  You just plug them into an outlet and it smells like you have a yummy Fall candle burning all the time.

Speaking of candles, this is my favorite Fall candle.  Yankee's Autumn Leaves.

mmmmmmmm . . .