LPS thanksgiving feast

so clearly i am a little behind on some of my posts but i was busy enjoying the thanksgiving festivities and hanging out with our family.   the week before thanksgiving samuel's school had a feast and a little program.  samuel decided he didn't really want to sing.  (his teacher told me after the performance that he was almost in tears when she told them to sing loudly.  this is funny because he is such a little ham at home)  it was a sweet little program and feast.  

samuel and his buddies (do you not love those precious turkey hats!?)

our friend, ella eckert, and cousin, kylee

 carter, samuel & caleb

lilly katherine

sara eckert

kate and me preggo! (we are actually dressed up and have make up on!)

kate, me & ashley all preg

sweet boys...they are best buddies

my boys

we're going on a leaf hunt

our dear friends, the goodmans, invited us to a leaf hunt.  we were so excited to see what mrs. kristin had planned for this!  she is super creative and always thinks of every detail. we had a blast with the other little boys reading the leaf hunt book, going on a leaf hunt, gathering leaves and doing leaf crafts. 

the heat...last game, a trophy & a happy boy

it's beginning to look and smell and taste like fall....

as much as i LOVE LOVE LOVE summer and i mourn through the month of september that the days are getting shorter and the pool time is over....i do begin to embrace and welcome fall once october hits!  we've been getting in the fall mood around here:

a beautiful tree on our chilly walk

we've been doing a lot of "fall" baking too:

pumpkin cranberry granola bars 

you can find the recipe here on kate's blog.  (all of her recipes are great!)

 pumpkin muffins

(the reason these look cute and packaged is because we took them as gifts to my cousin who had a baby and my brother/ sis-in-law) i'll try to remember to post the pumpkin muffin/ bread recipe later. it is easy and oh soooo delicious!!

 individual apple pies  

i saw this on pinterest and had to try it.  it was fun!  you can find the recipe here with more step by step and pics.  

i just bought a pie crust mix since i wasn't sure how long it would take me but the recipe gives you one if you want to make your own.  

crock pot applesauce

you can find recipe here but these are our quick pics of the process

it made our house smell so good and i loved to eat it hot!

one thing i might add about our batch:  we used all granny smith and it turned out a little sour...we added more brown sugar but it might be nice to use a combo of apples so you get a more sweeter flavor without having to use sugar

another sign of fall...chilly mornings at the soccer fields:

oh and making fires in the fireplace...this is one of our favorite fall/winter things- there is just something cozy and sentimental and homey about a fire in the fireplace..it barely has to get below 60 for me to want to make a fire....the boys LOVE it too

we even roasted marshmallows and this is now a favorite of samuel's

and just one more fall pic:  sweet brothers at church on a fall morning