The Best Pumpkin Cookies You’ll Ever Eat

That’s a loaded title…I know. But ask any of my friends and they will tell you, “If it has pumpkin, Melissa will eat it.” So it’s no surprise that I’ve already gone through an embarrassing amount of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice this season. But it has all been worth it because I have finally hit the jackpot when it comes to pumpkin cookies! These have been adapted from one of my new favorite bloggers, Lauren’s Latest, who shares my love for all things pumpkin and pretty food pics – hers are gorgeous. A forewarning, the art of these coming out perfect is in the timing so pay attention and you won’t be disappointed!

The Makings of A Great Friendsgiving

“I get by with a little help from my friends.” This has definitely been my theme song this year. I don’t know about you, but for my husband and I, our friends become our family, or “framily.” It’s taken more effort to keep up with them all once our little girl came along but opportunities like Friendsgiving are a perfect way to get everyone together for great food, good wine and some nice hearty belly laughs. Here’s some of the activities that made our first Friendsgiving a success.

A Very Girly First Birthday Party

It happened. We raised a child without killing ourselves or said child for a whole year. Actually – I think we did surprisingly well 🙂 And that’s cause for celebration. If you’ve been keeping up with me from the beginning here you’ll know we didn’t find out if we were having a girl or boy (see this post or this one if you want more details on gender-neutral baby world things) and we loved every moment of our beautiful surprise. That being said, I didn’t have any super girly or super boyish baby prep festivities. So for this little girl’s first birthday I decided to make up for it – the theme would be all things GIRLY. Bring on the pink, sparkle, flowers & frill!

Sweets for a Sweet Little Girl’s Party

White chocolate? Chocolate and strawberries? But some people are a salty sweet kind of person. How does one choose what to make for a birthday party? My answer is don’t! When it comes to sweets – make it all!! There’s only a few times a year you get to go totally crazy with your baking creations. Now if that’s just ridiculous, cool – choose whichever of these creations tickles your fancy – you can’t go wrong.

Bite Size Party Appetizers

It’s 2pm and you’re having a party. What to make!? Bite size apps my friend, bite size apps. These three super easy and super yummy appetizers provide the perfect sophisticated assortment of food and still fit perfectly on a toothpick – win win.

Scrumptious Mini Apple Pies

Think summer time, think 4th of July, think Memorial Day, think Labor Day, think back-to-school, think teacher appreciation day. I can come up with countless reasons to make apple pies and countless recipes to try. These mini apple pies happen to be my fave. Probably because of the streusel topping (because who doesn’t need a second helping of brown sugar and butter?) but also because they are so darn cute! Not to mention – bite size always seems to make serving and eating oh-so-easy.

Mouthwatering Tropical Desserts!

And here it is folks, the last of the tropical pool party posts (if you missed the previous post – check out the savory food here!). Don’t worry, it’s made a little sweeter by being filled with my tasty treats! This dessert table was all about the fruity goodness including Mini Key Lime Cheesecakes & Sugar Cookie Fruit Pizzas (GREAT to do with the kiddos!). Of course no dessert table is complete without chocolate in my mind so I tried out this AMAZING recipe by The Pioneer Woman – she’s one of my favs – for Knock You Naked Brownies (I did not name them…blame it on Pioneer Woman). And just when I thought my dessert list was complete I came across the most adorable Sand Dollar Sugar Cookies and couldn’t pass them up. Make one, make all I can’t pick a favorite!

Must try tropical party recipes

Alright guys, the long-awaited recipes from our oh-so-yummy tropical pool party! With the tropical theme I knew I wanted kabobs and then wanted to compliment with a pool party must – burgers! These Aloha burgers are TO DIE FOR. Seriously, I’ve already made a second batch to freeze so we can pull them out when we get a hankering. And instead of fries I went for our favorites: sweet potato stackers & parmesan roasted cauliflower. Come on yall – it’s summer time so get to grilling!

Tropical Pool Party: Decorations

Confession: I’ve been meaning to throw a pool party for two years. No lie. My husband and I have seriously been talking about doing it for that long. And finally, we planned to throw a beginning of summer pool party for May 30 about two months ago. I literally sent the eVite out about six weeks in advance so that we would actually do it. And it was such a blast!

Sunday BBQ: Tablescape & Berry Crumble

Well, May certainly has proven to be the busiest month of the year thus far. Full of thunderstorms, a teething baby, weddings and family events. So, why not throw in a Sunday BBQ with the grandparents? First off, grandparents are always welcome – especially now that they are GREAT grandparents. Secondly…who turns down BBQ?