FRIDAY FAVORITES......It's NOT Mid-October Edition

It seriously cannot be, how in the world can our Beloved October be half over??? I hope you're soaking up every bit of Fall that you can. Let's get into the Friday favs right now so I can go soak in it. Have plans to spend the day with a son of mine home from college. Happy Weekend angels!!

1. KIDS Home....and more kid goodness

How lucky were we to see this one 2 weekends in a row. He came home to see his brother play football, then Fall Break the following. We also, on a take back trip to Purdue, got an expanded tour of his campus life. No wonder our baby has lost weight, that boys gets in some steps!! #9's team plays it's last regular season game tonight and are 6-2 and Oldest Baby got home last night for 6 days and his Fall break! Mama's heart is full.

Home sweet Home 

His LOVE of the Pumpkin Spice Care Package is still a favorite of the week

2. New Pumpkin Yummies

I have always liked covered pretzels but ones I saw in a farmers market were $6.99 for a bag half this size. so excited to get this bag at target for less than $4. There's such a plethora of pumpkin snacks to choose from, it's fun to see and taste the new ones.

Oh and a favorite breakfast treat......

Pumpkin Butter on Pumpkin Spice English Muffins

YUM!!

3. Week's Attire

Old Navy swing dress, JC Penny Duster vest, Loft Scarf, Francesca's necklace

Express sweater, Loft necklace, Anne Klein flats

Target top, JC Penny Sweater, Payless Leopard Flats

Macy's top, Lia Sophia necklace

4. The Military Jacket I thought Was Too Big

I got this military jacket at the Nordstrom sale despite having one already that I didn't love. When it arrived, I thought crap, this is waaaay too big but in all actuality, I like it that way, layering works much better and it covers my butt in leggings. Perfect for a Saturday Morning Football game.

More Military jacket inso....

5. These Quotes

I love lil quotes and meme sayings especially when they are so relatable.

Here are couple that meant something to me and my loved ones this week

My dear friend needed this quote on a bad day this week...I think we all do!

Laughed so hard when I read this...spot on!!

So many nasty people, so little time..while I don't normally cuss on the blog...this saying is nothing but pure truth!!

This Weekend Find joy, Spread joy, BE JOY!!! xo

Linking up with  Amanda // Friday Favorites  // Oh Hey, Friday  // High 5 For Friday // 5 on Friday //

xoxo

CARAMEL APPLE COOKIES

This girl is a sucker for a yummy caramel apple! However, I don't eat them very often because they can be kind of messy. So since I love cookies with yummy frosting this time of year, I decided why not try a Caramel Apple Cookie! Maybe throw in some of my beloved Honeycrisp. Add a little apple butter for the moist factor. The result is a cookie that to me rivals or is almost better than the Pumpkin Drop Cookies I shared HERE.

Yum

I have fond memories of unwrapping Carmel after Kraft caramel to melt and dip apples in with my mom! Fall harvest parties just meant you absolutely had to have caramel apples back in the day. Our sons are crazy about the caramel apple suckers but now I am over the moon for these Caramel Apple cookies! Mr. Nine thought so too, I heard "these cookies are great several times." Those Pumpkin drop are usually my favorite of my fall cookie repertoire, but these might've taken the lead.

If you try no cookie recipe this fall, trust me when I say try this one, especially if you like Apples and caramel! The Apple flavor is very mild and the caramel frosting signs on these moist cookies.

What you'll need

CARAMEL APPLE COOKIES
Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 peeled and shredded honey crisp apple 
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup Apple Butter
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp Apple Juice
Frosting
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 Tbsp apple juice 
• 1 Tbsp whipping cream or half and half
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• Nuts..optional

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg for 20 seconds, set aside. In a separate bowl, toss shredded apple with lemon juice, set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix together butter and brown sugar until creamy. Mix in egg and vanilla extract. Mix in half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed, slowly add in apple juice, then mix in remaining half of the flour mixture. Fold in shredded apples that have been mixed with the lemon juice. Scoop dough out with a spoon (about 2 inch wide dough mounds) and place on parchment paper lined baking sheets spacing cookies 2-inches apart or a baking stone. Bake in preheated oven 11 - 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• For the frosting: In a small saucepan combine brown sugar, butter, apple juice, cream and salt. Heat mixture over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and whisk in powdered sugar until smooth. Spread over cookies in a thin layer. The frosting will set quickly so. Add the optional nuts now if desired. As frosting cools it will thicken, so add 1/2 tsp warm water at a time to thin as needed for a more spreadable consistency. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

AND
**Make sure to head over to The Blended Blog today where myself and 3 other contributors are featured in a "Behind The Blogger" Interview and Feature!! Super FUN questions this month. Don't Miss It!

HAPPY TASTY TUESDAY SWEET FRIENDS!!

Linking up with Tasty Tuesdays // Tuesday Talk // Wonderful Wednesday's Blog Hop // Full Plate Thursday // Recipe Sharing Party~YUM // Tickle My Tastebuds Tuesday // Two Uses Tuesday // Creative Muster Party // Wow Us Wednesdays // Thursday Favorite things Blog Hop //Best Of The Weekend Wake Up Wednesday // Handmade Hangout // Simple and Sweet Fridays // Throwback Thursday // Share It // Too Cute Tuesday // Sweet and Simple Fridays // Grace At Home // Inspire Me Monday// Creativity Unleashed // Two Cup Tuesdaye // The SITS Girls // Clever Chicks Blog Hop // Snickerdoodle Sunday // Dishing It & Digging It // Diary of a Real Housewife // Feathered Nest Friday // Weekend Potluck // Metamorphosis Monday // The Scoop

xoxo

PUMPKIN SPICE CARE PACKAGE

College, can be tough, can be lonely and may never seem like "home" probably at least not your first year away. Our boys are making the most of it and they say their college beds are actually more comfortable then home because they have the memory foam comfy pillow tops that are oh so cozy. However, in talking to them recently they said as much as they're trying to make it home and their dorm rooms as cozy as possible, it's still not home. Here is where mom comes in to send them a little bit from back home where they love. I absolutely love giving and receiving care packages and a couple of my dear friends recently told me I should do a post about that. But I don't have pictures of the ones I've sent already but I couldn't help but snap away to share this one with you because it's my favorite so far. I've got one, who is as much of a pumpkin spice lover as I am, so I came up with the idea to do a pumpkin spice and everything nice care package!

What I put in the Pumpkin Package

Pumpkin Spice Pastry Crisps (these are sooo good)

Life Pumpkin Spice Cereal

Pumpkin Dreams Glade Plug-Ins (Dorm room needs to smell like fall)

Reese's Pumpkins

Snickers Pumpkin's

Krispy Kreme Pumpkin Pie Slices

Ghirardelli Pumpkin Spice chocolates caramels (Super good BTW)

Orange Pumpin Patch Pop Rocks
A Pumpkin Spice Protein Bar

Tin pumpkin face container for candy, pens, pencils, etc. (on Dorm desk)

A Real mini Pumpkin (to decorate the Dorm Room)

What I Did

I used this pumpkin and printed 6 of them on a sticker backed label sheet and cut them out and put letter stickers on each pumpkin to spell I MISS U

Filled the box with orange tissue and packed everything inside.

Found another pumpkin image and added my own wording with TitleX app or you can use PicMonkey, I put this on top of the folded over tissue paper. I also enlarged a couple of the lil pumpkins and added encouraging words and added some scrapbook stickers.

I think it was a HIT, can you tell by this smile??

This quote below is my motto!!! Happy Monday. Do something small for someone this week and feel your heart and more importantly; their's.....SOAR!!

Linking up with Biana // Totally Terrific Tuesday // Show and Tell Tuesdays // Wordless Wednesday // Inspire Me Monday // Share The joy// Inspire Me Tuesday // Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party // Share It // Creative Monday's Blog Hop // Thoughts on Thursday // Creative Muster Party // Wow Us Wednesdays // Wonderful Wednesday's Blog Hop // Feathered Nest Friday // Dishing It & Digging It //// Metamorphosis Monday // The Scoop
                                                                       xoxo