happy halloween

Be safe tonight and watch out for zombies!

roasted pumpkin seeds recipe

I love carving pumpkins at Halloween time but my favorite part is roasting the pumpkin seeds afterwards! Here is a simple recipe for roasting them.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

• pumpkin seeds, washed
• sea salt
• cooking spray

Spray a cookie sheet with the cooking spray. After washing the pumpkin seeds, dab them with a paper towel to remove the excess water. Spread evenly on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle as much or as little sea salt on the seeds as you would like.

Bake in an oven set at 250 degrees for 40 minutes or until they are completely dry, stirring every 10-15 minutes to be sure they bake evenly.

Let cool and enjoy!

For another version try using this candied pumpkin seeds recipe from Taste of Home... so amazingly delicious!

birthday party

I can't believe my son is a year old! His party was a great time with family & friends!

crafting for a party

This Saturday is my son's 1st birthday party at a pumpkin patch and I have been spending the evening crafting some decorations for it!

an october evening

fall colors

The colors outside my house are starting to change colors. *Sigh* I love this season!

arrow rock heritage festival

My friend Elisabeth invited me to go with her to the Arrow Rock Heritage Festival today. Arrow Rock is such a beautiful little town. The leaves were turning pretty colors and the atmosphere was a lot of fun! We really enjoyed ourselves until the storm came through and decided it was time to go. We both found some yarn for ourselves so we were very happy campers! :)

granny square pillow

At the beginning of the summer I had planned on making a granny square blanket and be done with it by fall... well...

That didn't happen but I didn't want to waste the squares I did make so I made a pillow cover with them instead.

It's a little lopsided and uneven in places but I think it's charming in a way. It makes me smile every time I walk by my couch and see it. It reminds me of my great grandmother!

autumn bucket list

aahh.... autumn... it's such a magical time of year! There is nothing like the sights & smells of this season! It's also the best time to start traditions with our little family. I wrote out a list of some of the things we must do this fall.

• go for a hayride
• visit the pumpkin patch
• bonfire with s'mores
• go on a walk & collect leaves
• picnic
• pick out a pumpkin
• carve pumpkin
• roast pumpkin seeds
• bake a pie
• watch It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
• drink hot chocolate with marshmallows in my favorite mug
• coffee dates

What are some of your autumn traditions?

Queen of the Prairies Art Festival

There is no better way to enjoy the first day of Autumn than an art festival and today couldn't have been any more beautiful!
 

I walked outside tonight and it just smelled like fall... I love this time of year! Happy Fall!!

the most delicious gingersnap cookies ever

I was in the mood for baking this morning so I hunted through some of my recipe books and found a simple cookie recipe that included things I already had at home so no shopping needed! yes!

The recipe I used is from my Better Homes & Gardens book but I found the recipe online here so you can make them too!

They have a crunchy outside and a soft inside. Soooo good!

30 weeks & labor day weekend

We are in week 30! I'm definitely feeling pregnant these days. My body aches in the mornings, I'm out of breath most of the time & his movements are crazy!

I've also been dealing with tiredness still. Today I feel great but yesterday I felt like I never fully woke up. I cleaned the kitchen & living room and fell asleep on the couch. My house is tiny so I could finish cleaning in an hour and half but I was beat after finishing only half of it!

My allergies have kicked up which makes the normal aches and pains feel even more intense... and I got sick Sunday night. I woke up on Monday so sore and achey from getting sick, my allergies & the normal aches and pains from pregnancy. But the weather was fantastic so I was determined to enjoy the day. I took some allergy medicine and forced myself to take a shower and I dressed up for the fun of it. I feel like if I look good it will help me feel better.





Our labor day weekend was pretty relaxed. We spent Saturday making tons and tons of little sugar cookie men for the Jr. Church craft on Sunday. I think they turned out adorable! We had some leftovers and they were so good. They were small enough it was like eating animal crackers so I had to stop myself from just munching on them all day!





Like I said, the weather has been wonderful! I love the crisp mornings! The cats & I are enjoying the windows open during the day but what makes it really feel like fall is the fact that I FINALLY found some candy corn at Walmart. I kept reading on twitter about people eating them so I would check every week to see if they carried them yet. This week they finally arrived! hooray!!



I'm so excited for fall!!