Thanksgiving Day Menu

1:49 PM
Before the big day gets here, I wanted to share a few favorite recipes for anyone interested in some last minute menu ideas.  We're having Thanksgiving lunch/dinner (and 2nd dinner) at our house this year so we started the cooking and baking early this morning!  Since this is the first year that we are actually hosting Thanksgiving, we're hoping to create a few new traditions...  like Dad outside frying up the turkey in his beloved turkey fryer!  


We are in need of artwork and pictures around the house right now so I decided to make a menu from some old kraft paper we had left over from our yard sale and some twine that I found in my gift wrapping container.  I absolutely love the way it turned out! 

Juliet loves to help me in the kitchen right now, which is perfect timing... She pulls the stool up to the edge of the counter and immediately needs a spoon.  It was so much fun involving her in our old Thanksgiving Day tradition of making cinnamon honey butter.  I usually make a bunch to hand out to a few friends and neighbors before Thanksgiving.  This year we made it in time to walk down the street and give a few jars out to our closest neighbors.  It's soooo yummy and super easy!
(This recipe only makes enough for 1 jar.)

1 cup of butter, softened
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of powdered sugar
1 tsp. of cinnamon


Thanksgiving morning is always spent in front of the TV watching the parade so I wanted to find something quick, easy, and festive to make for breakfast.  This recipe could NOT be simpler... 
it's only 2 ingredients.  

1 can of pumpkin
1 box of yellow cake mix
Mix together
Pour into grease muffin tin
Bake at 350 for 20-25 mins
Sprinkle with powdered sugar (not optional)


Besides all this goodness, we're excited about turning on Christmas Vacation tomorrow night and putting up the tree!  Then come FRIDAY the countdown is over!  A Year in the Life will finally be on Netflix and I've invited a few Gilmore Girl fans to come over to the house, (preferably in pajamas), and have a watch party while eating our weight in Pop-Tarts, "the devil's starchy fingers", and day-old Chinese food.  Then Joey and I will probably find some childish way to destroy all of our pumpkins from Fall and start hanging Christmas lights on the house.  'Tis the season! 
       We hope you all have a wonder-full, fun day tomorrow with friends and family!  

Friday Favorites

6:48 AM
I think everyone is so ready for the weekend and to have a nice relaxing time with family next week! But before we sign off for the weekend and start the feast-tivities I wanted to share a few Friday favorites!  (And a couple can be incorporated into your Thanksgiving plans!)
This movie.  How can I possibly wait 4 more months?  

These pretty dishtowels would complement any Thanksgiving Day table spread. 

Copper straws?  Yes, please!  So cute in a mason jar.  (Preferably filled with iced coffee + caramel.)

Next is this book.  Seriously Mom, reward yourself by putting everyone to bed one night, curling up on the couch with your favorite drink, cozy socks, and this book.  Full of inspiration.   

Going back to Thanksgiving, these cranberry brie bites will definitely be on our menu! And this is possibly the most brilliant way to use all those leftovers.   

The cutest play food set somehow found it's way under our tree this year.  Wish my pantry looked as cool.  

And lastly, a few great drugstore products that you can buy for under $10 that will seriously make your guests think that you weren't up until midnight the night before trying to hide all the toys and random crap into drawers and closets.  L'Oreal Voluminous Falsies and Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer

Hope you all had a productive week and a relaxing weekend ahead! XOXO






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Thanksgiving Day Style

10:39 AM
Only one week until turkey day! We can't wait!  We are planning on taking family pictures that morning for our Christmas card so I've started thinking about coordinating outfits that be cute for pictures and something that would be comfortable for us to spend the day wearing.  I'm sure we will ALL end up in sweatpants by third lunch, but at least we'll start the day out by attempting to be socially acceptable.  I've added pieces for Mom, Dad, and mini and I absolutely love all the colors!  Just add  Christmas lights and we'll be done.  I hope everyone is enjoying this time of year.  I'm pretty sure we can all agree it's the best!  I've linked all the items below the picture incase you want to snag a piece or two, to wear to your family's Thanksgiving day dinner(s).  


And if your family is anything like ours, the party lasts until way late so you might want to bring your littles a pair of pjs to change into before driving home.  Jules always falls asleep on the car ride home and the last thing we want to do is wake her up to change her into her pajamas.  These light strand jammies are definitely a favorite and seem like the perfect thing to wear while watching Christmas Vacation A Charlie Brown Christmas.  We also love these snowman ones as well as these cute little slippers!   

Can't wait to share our Thanksgiving Day menu with you soon. 
Have a happy hump day!

Weekend Trip to the Mountains

8:28 PM
We had a quick, spur-of-the-moment getaway this past weekend to the Smokey mountains with our family.  My husband's sisters went with their families, plus his Dad, to celebrate a few birthdays coming up and simply relax and enjoy the view.  Juliet loved spending time playing with her cousins and feeling like a big kid.  We did lots of exploring and skipping rocks, as well as played several exhausting hands of Phase 10.  However, nothing could top all the beautiful, colorful Fall leaves and cool temperatures!  
 

We couldn't help but start planning the next trip as we were leaving.  This was the perfect time to visit and we can't wait to go back!  Hope you all enjoyed your weekend.
(Only 2 weeks until Thanksgiving!)






Halloween Weekend

4:22 PM
I just want to say... this year was definitely fun, but I can't. wait. until next Halloween.  

We decided not to take Juliet Trick-or-Treating this year since she still doesn't really understand it all yet. We DID take her to a festival Saturday morning, though.  Her favorite thing there was the clown making balloon animals.  We asked for an orange kitty cat since it correlated with her costume.  She was the witch from the story, Room on the Broom.  I don't think she had any clue as to who she was, but she loved the hat!  We kept dying laughing because without the witch's hat it looked like she was a little old lady in the Red Hat Society with the red and purple + brooch.   


We mostly celebrated Halloween with "spooky" movies, books, decorations, and yummy festive treats on the weekends with Daddy.  Some of our favorite Halloween books that we read each year are (obviously), Room on the Broom, Ghosts in the House, Boo Haiku, Eek! Halloween!, and If You're Spooky and You Know It.  A couple other books that aren't necessarily Halloween, but still a fun read this time of year is Little Owl's Night and Stellaluna.  

We tried to bring a little bit of festiveness into each room... No room left behind! But mostly it ended up being the living room area and Juliet's room because- let's face it- they're my favorites.  



This picture has to be one of my favorites.  Leaves + Pumpkins + Cute Babe.  Doesn't get much better. By the way, I never want to sweep those leave away.  So pretty. 

I hope you all had a magical weekend with your littles... 363 days until the next Halloween!   



Juliet's 2nd Birthday Kitty Cat Party

1:42 PM
We just finished cleaning up the tissue paper off the floor and ice cream off our faces from Juliet's 2nd birthday!  It has been the 2nd fastest year of my life but definitely the most fun by far. 


The party was centered around a "kitten" theme that, by the end, took a retro turn. She loved the basket full of kittens and started "meowing" the second that she saw them so I knew it was a win on our part.  We went with "kittens" because of her uncanny ability to spot a cat at 500 yards and because she thinks that every animal says meow.  

I found the stuffed kittens at IKEA a while back and thought they resembled the kittens in the vintage greeting cards and pictures that my grandmother, (and I'm sure your's too), had around her house as a kid.  I always loved their sweet faces and expressions.  I found this adorable print on Etsy and used it to make her invitations on Photoshop and the rest just fell into place.  The little girl was a perfect match to our sweet girl... down to the little blonde curls.


I wanted a really fun, yet simple display in the dining room when everyone arrived so we made place settings for all the kids complete with plates, ice cream bowls, & milk glasses.  Then I made white, pink, and red balls of yarn & little bells to decorate the table.  I love how the ombre look turned out!  


I also kept up the tradition from last year and made her birthday cake!  However, this year it didn't fall completely to pieces and thankfully, I only had to make it once.  (I did buy multiple cake mix boxes and icings... just in case!)  I used a lemon cake mix and cream cheese for the frosting and piped it on to look like string or yarn... hopefully.  I found the beautiful peachy pink roses at Trader Joe's and they were the icing... errr, flowers??? on the cake.


The adults had a BBQ spread, but for the kids I made PB&J sandwiches cut into "cat ears" and goldfish.  We ended the night with cake and ice cream, which was a perfect end to a perfect day.  Second only to the fact that Juliet actually blew her candles out after we sang happy birthday.  Then the room deflated with awwwws.... Everyone melted.  



I think she was truly sad when everyone went home, so we turned on Beauty and the Beast, put on the Belle nightgown that my Mom got for her, & snuggled up with all her Belle dolls to watch a little before bed.    
We love you heart and soul Julie-boo & hope you had a fun, fun day.  

















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