Friday Favorites & MercyMe Christmas Album Giveaway

No way is it Friday! Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for the weekend, but I can't believe it's already here! We will be hanging out at home and making our very first turkey for our church Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday. Wish us luck!

Let's take a look back on this week's favorites:

 

My favorite part of this week was going to Indiana to celebrate my Grandpa Dan's 80th birthday! I wrote about his party here. My Grandpa has such a special place in my heart. He spent the last few months of his 79th year undergoing radiation for prostate cancer. His doctor tells him he should be fine now, but we still have him in our thoughts and prayers, and we are grateful for all of the time we get to spend with him. :)

 

A look back on old photos-- he was ADORABLE! (Still is.)

Nolan and Ephraim loved playing with the balloons long after the party was over :)

Hitting the road to Indiana meant that we got to stop at some of our favorite places that we don't have in our small town! On the list. . . Target, Panera, Starbucks.

Have you seen Target's Christmas section yet? I couldn't even begin to choose what to put on my wishlist since everything is so gorgeous!

And Panera and Starbucks are in several locations on the Ohio Turnpike. If you've ever been on the Ohio Turnpike, you know that you basically have no choice but to stop at their special rest stops. And they have Starbucks brewing right in between the door and the bathrooms :)

And once in Indiana, we got to visit our favorite cupcake store, Designer Desserts! I wrote all about that in Wednesday's post.  I tried Pink Champagne and Key Lime Pie, and they were both winners!

Yesterday, I shared two of our favorite food-related Thanksgiving traditions. One is making Norwegian lefse with my dad's side of the family on the day after Thanksgiving, using leftover mashed potatoes.

The other is a recipe for the best blackberry pie! My husband and his brothers go crazy over this pie, made by my mother-in-law, Alice. It's the most delicious fruit pie I've ever had.

 

Speaking of Norwegians, I caught an article this week. It's called, "The Norwegian Secret to Enjoying a Long Winter." (If this photo was my everyday view, I think I'd enjoy it too!) There are so many good points in this article. I love that Norwegians have a word, koselig, that means "a sense of coziness". They light candles and fires, sip hot drinks, and curl up under blankets. They spend time outside--skiing and admiring the beauty of the season. And Norwegians have close-knit communities with many social events to keep them busy. They say that it's a mindset change from enduring winter, to enjoying it. I for sure want to make this mindset change. . . we are definitely starting to get the chilly and gray weather!

I'm really excited to share MercyMe's new It's Christmas CD! I was able to listen to it this week, and it's fantastic! I haven't listened to any Christmas music yet this year, but this is making me want to decorate the Christmas tree and bake some sugar cookies!

The song, Newborn is a GORGEOUS upbeat mix of "Away in a Manger" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"

Some of their songs, like A Holly Jolly Christmas are in a blues style-- very jazzy. I loved their version of Joy (Joy to the World). There are so many good classics!

This CD is available at Pizza Ranch restaurants through the end of December! It has 4 exclusive songs that are only on the Pizza Ranch version. And Pizza Ranch is selling them for FIVE DOLLARS(!), so you can pick up a copy for gifts for your friends and family members! (There are 200 Pizza Ranch restaurants in the Midwest.)

Lead singer of MercyMe, Bart Millard, says, "Pizza Ranch is a fantastic restaurant with a great mission to glorify God. It's the perfect gift to give this Christmas season, and the perfect CD to get you in the Christmas spirit."

 Take a listen to their audio tracks that they just added to YouTube a couple of days ago!

Enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win a free copy of the album!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Do you follow our family on Instagram? @floralandfudge

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

Friday Favorites

Friday, it's great to see you! I've really enjoyed this week, especially the 70 degree weather for the past few days! It's been a dreamy November so far. This weekend, we have some big plans, and I can't wait for Steve to get home from work so we can get them started!

Here are the various favorites from the week!

My garden is officially done for the year, so I wanted to share the final count of our crops! We have a small city backyard, but these numbers make it seem like some huge co-op :)

We grew 3,294 raspberries!! Last year, I counted 2,500, so I was surprised how much more we got this year. I ate the raspberries like candy almost every day of the summer, and it was glorious. :)

In May, I started little blueberry bushes next to the fruitful raspberry bushes. Since it was their first year of producing, we only got 32 blueberries. They were delicious, though!

 

This was my first year growing corn, and they were knee-high by the Fourth of July, for sure!

Each corn stalk only produced one fully-developed ear, so we had 5 ears of corn. Next year, I'll have to plant plenty more!

My first packet of tomato seeds didn't grow, so I started these ones late. They didn't start turning red until September, but we were able to pick 293 cherry tomatoes! The frost hit before many of the green ones could turn red, but that's okay, because I had more tomatoes than I knew what to do with!

  

Our pumpkin vines were out of control! We ended up with five huge pumpkins. They all weighed between 15 and 20 pounds, and they are still adorning our mantel and our bay window :)

 

Out of everything, they are my very favorite to watch grow!

  

 

 

We ate tons of chocolate chip zucchini bread this past summer! We had 34 zucchini from three plants, and they grew for about 2 months.

Lastly, we had 807 green beans. I liked having the bush variety instead of the bean stalks like last year. (I found the bush variety easier to control and support than the bean stalks.)

We feel so blessed to have gotten so much almost-free produce from our backyard! I can't wait until May and starting all over again!

 

On Tuesday, I posted a "day in the life" of us! Did you catch it? I really really enjoyed reading other ladies' posts! It helped me feel more normal! :)

 

Tuesday afternoon, Nolan and I worked on this easy Indian Corn cereal activity. Isn't it cute? The extra cereal made for a good snack too :)

And yesterday, Astleigh and I did another Every Girl Link-Up where we shared our Thanksgiving decor. I don't have a whole lot of stuff to transition from fall decor to Christmas, but I really like having a little extra flair for this often passed-over holiday! Also, there are two free prints in this post.

I picked up a new dry shampoo this week at TJ Maxx, and I really like it! Batiste has more "oomph" in the spray than the other dry shampoos I've used. And the tropical coconut smell is quite nice! According to the label, it's a lot of people's favorite :)

For my last favorite, I am LOVING this song, "Air I Breathe" by Mat Kearney! I have been listening to Christian radio nonstop, and I am happy this song makes every countdown :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Do you follow our family on Instagram? @floralandfudge

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Friday Favorites

This weekend, I'm savoring the end of October--the red leaves hanging on to the trees, the last hour of sunlight at dinnertime before the time changes, and still being able to walk on sidewalks that will soon be covered in snow. For today's faves, I'm recapping the posts from the rest of the week, offering a new book giveaway, and sharing the fun photos from our pumpkin-carving family time last night! :)

I'm reminiscing about our trip to the pumpkin farm last weekend. It was exactly the experience that I was hoping for the boys to have! I posted those photos here.

 

How special is our time with friends! I need more playdates/ momdates in my life. We visited the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center, and our boys had a blast! Read more about that here.

 

Yesterday, Astleigh and I hosted another Every Girl link-up, and we shared outfits that can easily be taken from DAY to DATE. Mine was a simple white blouse and jeans look that was taken up a notch with accessories. I loved the sweater dresses and leggings that my friends posted about! The link-up is here.

 

Nolan had a lot of fun with his Candy Corn lesson! We painted with tempera paints and worked on some math activities with Candy Corn. He is a little sponge these days!

This week, I had the chance to review the new NIV Bible for Teen Girls! NIV and Zondervan have a soft spot in my heart because my grandpa is a retired translator for NIV. When I was growing up, he and my grandma spent summers in Europe working with the rest of the committee on different books of the Bible. 

This particular version is really perfect for girls ages 13-18. It's designed to help teen girls with their walks with God--finding His will for all areas of their lives. There are so many topics relateable for that age: friends, school, work, sports, dating, loss. I would have LOVED a Bible like this when I was in high school.

There are many, many daily readings and devos by Christian authors like Bethany Hamilton (Soul Surfer), Annie Downs, and Christine Caine.

The Bible literally highlights certain verses that are promises of God. The concordance is solid and helpful. And my favorite part? There are character profiles for the women of the Bible. And not just the women that most of us are familiar with. There is a page each on Joanna, Abigail, Apphia, Dorcus, Eunice, Huldah, Jochebed, Phoebe, Sapphira, Zipporah, etc. I am not a teenager, but I have a lot to learn from my new Bible :)

If you have a teen girl in your life, check out this version! Buy it here from Zondervan. (Or on Amazon in leather.) For a chance to win a copy, enter the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post!

Last night, we decided to carve one of the pumpkins that we grew in our yard this summer. Nolan has been hearing a lot about Jack 'O Lanterns, and he said that we just had to make one! He is very convincing. ;)

It turns out that Nolan is a little wary of sticking his hand in the pumpkin and getting messy. Ephraim, however, could have dug out seeds all night! He was such a good little helper!

 

 

Daddy did most of the carving, and then the boys posed by their first Jack 'O Lantern! Man alive, Daddy can make these boys laugh!

I hope ya'll have a wonderful Halloween weekend! We will be scrambling to get our costumes ready for tomorrow, and I'm so excited for fun with friends!

Linking up with Andrea, and Erika.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”