Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to wish all of you out there a Happy Thanksgiving. No matter how you're celebrating or what you're eating, I hope you have a wonderful, blessed day! If you're hosting Thanksgiving, then I wish you all the patience and multitasking abilities in the world! We'll be enjoying some yummy food and fun family time at my Sister-in-Law's house.

Also, I just wanted to take the opportunity to express my gratitude for some things. I hope no one minds. If anyone else wants to join in, I'd love to read what you're grateful for also! So, in no particular order....

1. I'm grateful that my husband has a job. It may not pay so great, but it's a job and he works hard so that I can stay home with Andyroo.
2. I'm so very grateful for my sweet little boy. He brings so much fun and laughter into my life. He's so caring and loving - full of hugs and kisses. I can't even imagine my life without that little guy.
3. I'm also very grateful for my husband. He's always there to support me no matter what it is I want to do. He believes in me and loves me, even when I feel unlovable. I can't imagine my life without him either.
4. I'm grateful that my mom lives 5 blocks away. She really has become my best friend and I can't bear the thought of having to move away (which we will have to do eventually) and not seeing her every week for our Sunday dinners and grocery shopping trips. I'm not gonna lie. It's going to be tough.
5. I'm grateful for our little apartment. Yes, it's little. And it's cold. And there are spiders and other various bugs. And it's in the basement so we don't get lots of sunshine. But it is a wonderful place to live. We have wonderful friends and neighbors because of where we live. It may not be a house, but it's our home.
6. I am grate extremely grateful for all of our friends. We're not very social people (it's sad, really), but we love each and every one of our friends. We're grateful for the support and love that each of you give us.
7. I'm grateful for this blog. Writing is very therapeutic for me. It always has been. It's the only way I can truly express myself. I just end up stumbling all over myself and rambling on when I try and talk. I love the connection I have with other wonderful women in the world and the inspiration I receive each and every day from the awesomeness I see from each of you. Blogging provides not only an outlet for me, but it also pushes me to be better, to think bigger, and to create more!
8. I'm grateful for all of our extended family - our brothers and sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews, and all of the grandparents. We have such a strong family bond and they provide such a good network of support for us.
9. I'm grateful for Facebook. This might sound weird, but it's true. Through Facebook I was able to reconnect with my best friend (love you, Heather!) and I can now keep in touch with all of our friends and family spread across the world. I know it's not as personal as phone calls or letters, but for someone as socially awkward (yes, I'll admit it) as I am, it's a wonderful way to keep in touch!
10. I am grateful for all the modern conveniences that I have access to - the washer and dryer, running water, microwave, heating, plumbing, cell phones, etc. I would go crazy without them. There's no way I could have survived as a pioneer (or at any other time)!
11. I'm grateful for my membership and calling in the LDS Church. It provides so much for us that I can't even put into words. I'm so glad to know that there is a God, that he loves us, and that he wants us to be happy. I so grateful for prayer and for the ability to be in communication with God and to know that he has a plan for us.

There's so many more little things that I 'm grateful for, but that will do for now. I also wanted to leave you with a few Thanksgiving funnies :) Enjoy!

Also, we'll be starting our Christmas link up party on Saturday the 26th after all the Thanksgiving and shopping madness have died down. Be sure to check back so you can link up all your fun projects!

Harvest Party Features - Round One!

Sorry it's been so quiet around here again this week. I'm getting ready to host a Shutterfly party this weekend and my house needed a little TLC in order to be party-worthy. I've also been a little inundated with orders this week and trying to get some new gift sets posted. Which is good for me, but it means that this poor little blog gets a little neglected. Hopefully after the party (and while my house is still clean), posting will resume as normal and I can get back to some projects I've been itching to get to!

Also, while I've got you here, don't forget to go enter the giveaway for the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software. I'm really loving this software, seriously! And there are only a few entries so far, so your chances of winning are pretty good!

Now, on to the features. First of all, thanks to everyone who has linked up so far to the Harvest Party! There will be a few rounds of features through the month of November, so keep on linking up your awesome projects!

First up are these cute little PB Knockoff Metallic Pumpkins from ReMade Simple. I love the look of the silver and the orange and how the orange is peeking through. So cute!

Even though I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin pie (blasphemy, I know), I enjoy other things made with pumpkin, so I'm totally digging this Round Up of Pumpkin Recipes from Crumbs and Chaos!

Looking for something fun to do with your kids for Thanksgiving? I love the idea of creating Thanksgiving Potholders that show off the kiddo's handprints. What a fun keepsake! Thanks to Pampered by Tammie for sharing!

If your idea was featured, be sure to grab the featured button from the sidebar to the right! Have a great weekend!

Harvest Party Link Up

Halloween is over we just don't want the party to end. So of course, we need a new party! We knew you'd agree! How's about a Thanksgiving/Fall themed party?

<a href="http://lifeinthemotherhood.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee81/mrsdupree819/HarvestPartyButton150.png" border="0" alt="Life in the Motherhood"></a>

Just a few suggestions before joining the party...

1. We'd love it if you would be a LITM follower. You can join us through GFC, Facebook, Feedburner, and we're even both are on Pinterest!
2. We'd also really appreciate it if you would link back to us so that others can join the fun too. If you really loved us, you'd grab one of our awesome buttons (either the Harvest Party button above or the LITM button from the sidebar) :)
3. Remember to link to your specific post and not just to your blog. And please, no Etsy shops or giveaways. However, Pinterest boards are permitted :)
4. There's no limit to how many posts you can link up - we'd love to see everything you've got! Just make sure they're Fall or Thanksgiving related. Also, if you shared something in our Halloween party that could also be "fallish," feel free to link it up again!

Let the feasting begin!

                            &

Turkey Cake Balls

I know it's not even October yet and Thanksgiving is still almost 2 months away, but I'm feeling especially festive and in the mood for fall, so I thought I'd post these little guys today.

Last year, right around Thanksgiving, I hosted a Shutterfly Party (through HouseParty.com) and I decided to do something holiday themed and make Turkey cake pops as part of the refreshments.

I'd like to say that they were easy, but not really. They were pretty time consuming. If you've ever made cake pops, you know what I mean.

I used Bakerella's method to make the actual cake ball - crumbled cake a store bought frosting. I then coated them with Almond Bark (it's like the Wilton Candy Melts, but cheaper) and decorated them.

Here's what I used:

-Almond Bark (probably almost 2 packages)
-Indian Candy Corn - like the regular candy corn but it's brown and red instead of orange and yellow. Also, you want the whole candy corns for feathers and then a bunch of the white tips broken off for the beaks.
-Butter cream frosting in light brown, white, red and black
-Decorating bags (4) and tips #12, 1, 2, &3
-Pretzel sticks, halved

1. Cover the cake balls with the Almond Bark
2. As you're coating them, stick in the pretzels for legs and the candy corn for feathers. I actually didn't do this. I coated them and stuck in feathers as I went, but I wish I'd done the pretzels then too. If you look closely you can see where I had to use butter cream to get the legs to stick or where the coating cracked as I stuck in the pretzels.
3. After the coating has hardened, pipe on the turkey "head" using the light brown frosting. I used a #12 tip to make the job quicker. It was just a simple ball shape.
4. Using the white and black frosting, make the eyes. For the whites of the eyes I think I used tip #3. For the black, I used tip #1.
5. Using the white ends of the candy corn, stick them on the head to make a beak.
6. With the red frosting, pipe a little "gobbler" onto the turkey heads using tip #2 or 3.

Sorry - no pics of the process. This was done pre-blog.

Look at those funny little minions!

Thanks to all the fabulous bloggers out there who take the time and effort to host these spectacular parties!! We're linking up here:


Mondays:
Just Something I Whipped Up, Craftastic Monday, Turquoise Lovin', Making the World Cuter Mondays, Making Mondays Marvelous, Creative Me Mondays, Made By You Mondays, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Made with Love, More the Merrier


Tuesdays:
Get You Craft On, Tuesday Confessional, Who's Got Glam, Ta-Da Tuesdays, Tip Me Tuesdays, Take a Look Tuesdays, Show Me What You Got, Tuesday Tutorials, Too Cute Tuesdays, Craft & Tell, Tutorials & Tips Tuesday


Wednesdays:
Whatever Goes Wednesday, Idea Sharing Wednesday, What I Made Wednesday, DIY Under $5, Woot Woot Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Lil' Luna Link Party, Hoo's Got Talent, We Can Do it Cheaper, Look What I Made, What I Whipped up Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday


Thursdays:
Strut Your Stuff, DIY Diva Thursdays, Hookin' Up With House of Hepworths, Get Your Brag On


Fridays:
Frugal Friday, Creative-ly U, Feature Yourself Friday, PityParty, Look At Me, Show & Share, Fantabulous Friday, Tickled Pink Fridays, I'm Lovin' It


Saturdays/Sundays:
Lovely Little Linkup, Weekend Wander, Sundae Scoop, Sunday Showcase Party, Think Pink Sundays, Anything Goes, Whatcha Got Weekend, Free For All