Oh Give Thanks!

I love the fall. I love the richness of the colors, the rich tastes of the food, the crispness of the air. Even though I've never experienced the changing of leaves anywhere that I have ever lived, I have seen the beauty of trees changing from green to golden yellows, oranges and reds that make them appear as though on fire. I love the way that even in the good ol' no season changing south, fall brings amazing vegetables, cooler weather and wonderful family gatherings.
This year for Thanksgiving I drove 4 hours south to Corpus Christi where my friends Tim and Susan live with there three very adorable children. It's the first Thanksgiving I've spent with a family with young kids in a long time, and I loved it. And what's not to love when you get to play Pirate, read stories, watch Diego and decorate the Christmas tree! Besides playing with the kids - Paul (4), James (3) and Berea (1) Susan and I were lean, mean baking and cooking machines. I think I might have gained some serious weight. The amazing thing was most of the desserts (minus the apple pie) and was all made out of one pumpkin!  

 First we roasted pumpkin seeds

 Next came 2 Dozen Pumpkin Eaters

 Then I baked the most delicious Apple Pie any of us had ever eaten (maybe because there was 2 1/2 sticks of butter in the crust!

  Then came the Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies (which turned out with more of a fruit cake type texture than cookie because Susan substituted peanut oil for the olive oil that we thought we ran out of only to find it later!) They're yummy despite the interesting texture : )

and yes, there are a lot of these cookies..140 0f them to be exact. That one pumpkin went a loooonnnggg way!

 And don't forget about the 3 loaves of Pumpkin Walnut Bread

 James (3) helping decorate the Christmas tree

Paul (4) and James (3) decided to be silly and put the plastic tubes that held the ornaments on their heads...hilariously cute! 

 So, by the end of the tree decorating you could totally tell that two little boys were helping. As you can see some interesting creatures ended up in the tree as well!

 Paul and James are just too adorable!

 I loved getting to decorate the tree with them.

 Introducing Berea Anna...her shirt said "I'm a Princess" and she certainly is : )

 It was so funny to watch all the ornaments get clumped together at the bottom of the tree...

 Our Thanksgiving Dinner was DELICIOUS...notice the pumpkin soup (and p.s. not sure why the pic ended up in the middle of the christmas decorating photos but I can't figure out how to move it!)

 see, I told you random creatures were getting put on the tree!

The finished product. The piece of paper reads "HAPPY BIRTHD JESUS"!