Being Thankful FIRST……

   Every year we host a Fall Bonfire Party for our Sunday school class.  Our class is growing, and with that blessing, comes the trouble of finding a place to host 50 of us.  We are officially outnumbered, 2o adults and close to 30 kids when we are together!!!! 🙂  This year we invited the Young Married Class down the hall to join us, what a fun bunch!

  I was sad to realize, that I didn’t get very many photos, too dark and too busy playing hostess I guess, but here are a few… (Drea, I used a few of yours too)

Notice that there very aren’t many of Ty above?  That is because he was out in the side yard PACING, waiting for his preschool teacher to show up.  (She is a great family friend and part of our class.)  The rest of his evening was spent GLUED to her side! He asked permission to go play a bit at one point, but came right back.  He seemed to feel very responsible for her well-being, even asking her how her husband was doing at home these days. LOL 🙂  My little stud muffin!

The shed

To the friend who left a bag FULL of goodies left on our kitchen counter!  What a blessing to have those needs met!  THANK YOU!!!!!

    Soooo, on to the next subject at hand:

Does it drive anyone else crazy that there are Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas signs going up everywhere already? 

Can’t we just be THANKFUL first???????

 

  Can’t we just enjoy our pumpkin recipes, fall décor and Thanksgiving feasts?  I mean don’t get me wrong, day after Thanksgiving, I’m putting the Christmas tree up with the best of them, but it just seems that since Thanksgiving isn’t the major money-maker that Christmas is, it gets skipped in the stores between the hype of Halloween with it’s expensive candy, and next…..Christmas sales, long lines and mad dashes to get “the best deal”. 

  Kinda disappointing, but a true sign of the times to be sure: 

More Greedy Gimmies & sales quotas, less quiet thanksgiving as we count the blessing we already have, rather than making the list of things we want.

  If this year of financial discipline has taught me anything, it’s to be content with the things I have, and be oh-so grateful for the things we are blessed to receive. 

  Ok, stepping off my soap box now to share a delicious cookie recipe from a 4 little Ferguson’s reader.  This is quite the hodge podge post today, isn’t it?!

  Diane says, “These are a new Fall favorite cookie at my house!  Let me warn you, they are addictive……you can’t stop at just one!Bursting with flavor and your house smells AMAZING from start to finish, these cookies are a must try, and a keeper in my kitchen.”

  Thanks for the recipe, Diane!  I agree with her above statements, I made these for a school function, and they are seriously delicious!!   I LOVED how soft and chewy they were!!!!

  Pumpkin Gingersnap Cookies

Ingredients

• ½ cups Butter, Room Temperature
• 1 cup Sugar, Plus More For Rolling Cookies
• ½ cups Pumpkin
• ¼ cups Molasses
• 1 whole Egg
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2-⅓ cups Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
• 1-½ teaspoon Ground Ginger
• 1 teaspoon Cloves
• ½ teaspoons Salt

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and smooth. Add the pumpkin, molasses, egg, and vanilla extract, mix until well combined.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until combined. Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 1 hour. The dough can be chilled for 2-3 days.

3. When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350° F. Place sugar in a small bowl. Roll tablespoon-sized balls of dough in sugar until well coated and place on prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until cookies look cracked and set at the edges. The cookies will still be soft. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a 2-3 minutes after removing them from the oven, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  YUM!

Enjoy these cookies, and please, take time to enjoy this time of year and BE THANKFUL!!!!!!!!!!  Not looking forward, not looking back, just here today.

  I am thankful for this time of year, a warm home, for yummy fall goodies, thankful for my family and faith in a God who loves me and calls me by name, and thankful for you coming to see me each day!  🙂

“If you only had today, the things you said “Thank you” for yesterday, what would you have left?”

~T

P.S.  I have a VERY special treat for you tomorrow!  A guest is coming to see us for the next 3 days, and she is showing us the Art of Freezer Cooking!  Remember my Cousin, Cassie from Laugher and Lattes?  She was my very first guest post, so this will be the 2nd “Cousin Feature Post” here at 4 little Ferguson’s with another Cousin of mine, Christy! 

What can I say, I have COOL cousins!!!  🙂 

Julie, are you up next?!?!?!

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I Want S’More Bars

  Fall is here! Bringing with her, crisp air, crunchy leaves and jackets.

  When the Foodie in me thinks of Fall, I think of Apple Cider, Corn candy, Casseroles, Homemade Bread, Pumpkin everything: cookies, bars, cakes, cheesecakes, and last but not least…..

S’MORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  We host a Bonfire every October for our Sunday school class (50 of us last year!!!! Woah!) and I usually get my S’mores fix then. 

Or, sometimes I get a fix mid-winter, like January, during a very long ice storm that kept us holed up for DAYS, huddled next to the fire.  What better activity to pass time then to make some S’mores!!!!

  I am not a food trend kinda gal, but apparently S’mores stuffed cookies, bars, & pizzas were all the rage this summer. Huh! Who knew?

  Trendy or not, this recipe is perfect for those in-between S’mores cravings, when no bonfire or open fireplace is available to you……

from Chemically Inclined

2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 ½ cups flour
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
5 oz mini marshmallows
3 regular sized Hershey’s bars, broken into rectangles
16 graham crackers, broken into squares

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Break crackers into squares and place side by side in your pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon to combine. Set aside.

In your mixer, cream butter with white and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixer and combine.

Fold in the chocolate chips and marshmallows. Chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour to overnight. (cold is easier to work with)

Place tablespoons of dough on graham crackers, press until crackers are completely covered.

Bake for 5 minutes then remove from oven to press Hershey’s bar pieces on to the top.  Bake for 5 – 7 more minutes or until dough is beginning to turn golden brown at the edges.

Remove to a wire rack to cool. For clean cutting make sure cookies are completely cool and cut with a sharp knife.

  DIG IN! These are seriously AMAZING! The graham cracker base is a really nice touch, totally different from other S’mores recipes I have made in the past.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Coming MONDAY:  Photos from my first-ever, all by myself Wedding. 

{biting nails}

~T

This post linked to:

Hugs & Cookies

This Chick Cooks

 Full Plate Thursday

On the Menu Monday

Melt In Your Mouth Monday

Tuesday Talent Show