Thankful for...

   Well, hello there!  If you were wondering...I am still around!  Did you miss me?!!  I certainly missed all of you! :)  I needed to step away for a while to deal with some things that are going on in our personal lives.  Sometimes life throws a fastball at you and you have to muster up all of your strength and courage and dive in with both feet to handle it.  Well that it exactly what we are doing!  It occurred to me though the other day that I missed spending time here!  I mean really missed it, so guess what?!  I am back!  I have lots to share so bear with me while I play catch up!

   I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We sure did!  My son and soon to be D-I-L were able to make the 4 hour drive down to spend it with us!  We actually had 3 big Thanksgivings!  I just love Thanksgiving (It is really and truly my very favorite holiday!!) so that made me pretty darn happy!  Turkey x 3...sweet potato casserole x 3...pumpkin pie x 3...plus friends and family x 3!  Doesn't get much better than that!

    As silly as it sounds one of my favorite things about this time of the year is pumpkins!  I really LOVE pumpkins!  They are just so pretty and fun (and yummy!!).  To me they signify the end of Summer and the beginning of Fall.  I would grow my own pumpkin patch if I could!!  Since that is not really an option for me (only thing I have ever successfully grown is my children!) I made my own!  I must have made 30+ of these this year:

   

Here are a few from my little home crafted pumpkin patch:

 
We go to hubby's aunts house on Thanksgiving day and I usually take a small thank you hostess gift to her.
She is a fellow chocolate-o-holic so it normally involves some of that good stuff!  This is what I made for her this year:

I have seen variations of this scarecrow guy around, but never with legs! (If he is your original brainstorm please let me know so I can throw some credit your way!!)  I added those and tweaked him around a bit and then just fell in love with him!  The crop that he is watching over is this little box of chocolate  happiness! :)  I wound up making a second one of these for my soon to be D-I-L's family because I wanted them to know we are thankful for her and them as well!!  (She is a keeper!)

For our first Thanksgiving meal I made little place card holders to set on everyone's plates.  These were really fun to make:

A turkey parade:

Side view:

 Inside view:

 
I am truly thankful for so very much, but this is what I am most thankful for:

I am pretty crazy about these guys! :) :) :) :)

Ok, I didn't give any details about any of these projects due to the crazy length of this post, but if you made it all the way to the bottom of this post and want details or have questions just leave me a comment or zap me an e mail and I will be happy to clarify!

I will be back tomorrow with lots more to share!  Have a wonderful day!  Big hug!!