Thanksgiving Pinspiration

Of course, yesterday being November 1st, all my Halloween decorations got torn down and now my house is naked waiting for the Thankgiving festivity to begin. I did a lot of crafting today, photos to come, but I thought I should share some of my favorite ideas I've hoarded on Pinterest to prepare for the next holiday!

Source: simplygrove.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Source: brunchatsaks.blogspot.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Source: itswrittenonthewalls.blogspot.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Source: s220.photobucket.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Source: jennycookies.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Source: ramblingrenovators.blogspot.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Source: jillianharris.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Source: azcentral.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Source: notsohumblepie.blogspot.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Source: tasteofhome.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Rosemary on Pinterest

Foto Friday: Week 7 & A Happy Haunting Mash Up

This week's Foto Friday Theme turned out to be a PERFECT one for my Happy Haunting Series!

We took our kids & our bestest friends' kids to the Pumpkin Patch at Mother Nature's Farm here in Mesa, and they had the best time picking out & decorating pumpkins, riding on the mini tractor, feeding the animals, and of course taking pictures. They are all the biggest hams.

The wonderful & versatile frames used are Rhonna Designs Simple Photo Edges 2, of course

Now mosey on over to Hilary's blog to see what the other girls of Foto Friday have in store for you today! 

Thanksgiving Eve

Ok, I don't have a lot of time, but here are some quick holiday recipes that will be making their way onto our Thanksgiving table tomorrow:

The Pioneer Woman's Rosemary Butter Dinner Rolls. I'm actually making a batch of her cinnamon rolls, cutting the dough in half and using the other half for the rolls. Both so good to have for Thanksgiving

Rhonna's Pumpkin Butter to smooth all over those delicious rolls

Fantastic Sausage Stuffing-not to be confused with my Grandma's tried and true stuffing that I love but comes a close second

And Smitten Kitchen's Roasted Sweet Potatoes with all my favorite toppings. I've never been a fan of the sweet potato marshmallow dish, so I think this is a lovely new take on it

Now please excuse me, I have to prepare for tonight's Pie Baking Extravaganza!

Pie Party Pie Crust

Here's the final piece to our pie puzzle- the perfect pie crust! It's an all butter crust because shortening make me gag. You really can't beat the flavor of real butter either and Paula Deen prays to it, so I'm all for it! Smitten Kitchen yet again saves the day with her Pie Crust 102 session, read it for visual directions of this recipe:


This recipe makes 2 crusts, so one double crust pie or 2 single crust pies. If you want to make mini pies, roll out small sized circles and place in a well buttered muffin pan, then fill with your favorite pie fillings! I'm going to make some mini pies for the party and cut out little crust shapes with a mini cookie cutter like this:

Preparing For Thanksgiving

I am in charge of cooking the Thanksgiving Meal this year for our family, and I am so excited to bring back some much loved recipes from last year's Harvest Dinner, as well as try some fantastic new recipes to knock everyone's socks off. If you don't remember last year, here was our menu:


I'm bringing back all these recipes (except regular sized pies this year) and I thought I should share them with you in case you are looking for fun new ways to cook your turkey and a replacement for that green bean casserole that makes me dry heave. Blegh.












I'll be scoping out more recipes today to add to this year's Thanksgiving Feast. I'm thinking pumpkin butter, rosemary dinner rolls, stellar stuffing (without gizzards, gag), ham, and a sweet potato recipe to die for.

*And remember, we are making pies Wednesday! If you want to join us, let me know today so I can have enough ingredients for everyone!

Let's make some Pies Together!

I snagged this idea from the brilliant Jaimee Rose. I figured even if you are not hosting Thanksgiving this year, everyone needs to bring a dessert so why not come together a bake all our holiday pies together?

Here's how it works:

I will have 4 different recipes for Thanksgiving pies printed out so you can take them home and use them for forever
1) Brown Sugar Pumpkin Pie
2) Autumn Apple Pie
3) Kentucky Derby Pie (chocolate & pecans)
4) and a Pumpkin Cheesecake

You pick whichever pie you want to make (or you can pick as many as you want-make all 4 if you're up to it!) and you bring the following ingredients for each pie:
1) Brown Sugar Pumpkin Pie- one 15oz can of pumpkin puree & one pint of heavy whipping cream

2) Autumn Apple Pie- 3 medium Granny Smith apples and 4 large Macintosh apples (if you can't find Macs, just go all Grannys)

3) Kentucky Derby Pie- 2 cups of pecan halves, a bottle of corn syrup, & a bag of milk chocolate chips

4) Pumpkin Cheesecake- one 15 oz cans of pumpkin, three 8 oz. packages of cream cheese room temperature, & small container of sour cream

In addition to your ingredients, please bring pie pans, a stick of butter, & a mixing bowl! I will supply everything else you will need & we'll of course have drinks & snacks.

Please RSVP to me by Monday, November 22nd so I can make sure I have enough of the other ingredients on Tuesday! This will be so much fun I can't wait! Just leave a comment here or text me at (480) 316-0098 and let me know if you'll be here to bake your heart out!

More and More Parties

In just a couple days I can finally unveil a project I've been working on for a while now. It's been so hard to keep it under wraps, and I can't wait to share it with everyone!

Until then I want to share a website that I just discovered to help you plan the PERFECT Thanksgiving-One Charming Party



Love this idea for a kids table on Thanksgiving, complete with a popcorn filled turkey, a turkey trivia game, and corn favor bags. Pair this with Amy Atlas' Thanksgiving treat buffet, and you have a Thanksgiving party your kids will love!

Kiddos at the Pumpkin Party

Please forgive the fact that Olivia is a camera hog. And Landen hated life at the Party. And Penelope couldn't be bothered with pictures. And I'm sorry that the pictures of the twins will induce baby hunger.

Oops, my bad....

I totally left you guys hangin. I feel like I went through a twister, and now I'm all discombobulated. So, without further ado, here are my treats from the Pumpkin Carving Party last Thursday.




All of this is kind of an intro into a new secret project I've been working on, unvieling it probably in December or January. Come back for more Halloween pics-we had a fun filled busy bee weekend!

PS-like the blog re-design for Nov? It's the new Simple Gratitude Kit from, you guessed it, House of 3