I {heart} November

I feel like in mid to late September everyone loves autumn.  

It's easy to love autumn when the stores are filled with back to school sales, the leaves are starting to be beyond brilliant, pumpkin spice drinks and doughnuts and hand soaps (guilty!) are everywhere, and you get to wear your favorite chunky scarf on the first crisp day of the season. There is sooo much to love about the first stirrings of fall.  It can make a person giddy.  

But fall waxes on.  And then it's November.  The nip in the air is replaced by cold winds. The formerly brilliant leaves are brown, or gone.  Pumpkin spice drinks are replaced with gingerbread lattes and candy cane cappuccinos :( And chunky scarves aren't just cute accessories anymore, but necessities for leaving the house.  

November tests one's love of autumn.  

I love autumn.  And I especially love November, in part because I feel a little sad for it.  It sort of gets lost in the hooplah that is that giant end of the year celebration - Hallow-istmas.  I love taking the deep, fulfilling breath of rest and gratitude that November offers before we become busy with keeping Advent and our preparations for celebrating Christmas.

I also love November because you don't always know what you're going to get.  We've been blessed with a mostly dry and gorgeous fall so far this year.  Last week we even had a few days in the 70s!  But those don't last.  And November shows its true nature in the flannel sheets, hot soups, mittens, and the first fires of the season.  

I love November because it often is the first month where we're inside more than we're outside.  We're gathering in.  We're drawing our children in from their play on chilly days, we're drawing our family close at Thanksgiving, we draw near around the fire, we gather in the heart of the home as the heart of the home.  Our house, which was more like a shell, a jumping off point for all the activity of summer, becomes more home-like - a warm, safe, sacred space for family life as the weather gets colder.  

Last year on the blog I celebrated November with a few special activities, and intend to do the same this year.  I have a few posts I've been saving up for Diabetes Awareness Month, I'm going to celebrate the "birthday" of my blog with a giveaway next week (!!), and I've got some opportunities for a little Ordinary Lovely Christmas shopping for you.  In fact, stop back here tomorrow for an opportunity to see (and maybe purchase!) a few things I have that are perfect for celebrating autumnal November!  

I hope you don't mind that I'm wrapping things up here by springing a photo dump on you from a late afternoon walk we all took last week on one of those rare gorgeous and deliciously warm November days.  This walk was so special to me because it's something we used to do a lot more frequently, but haven't done as much lately (homeschooling has been sapping a lot of the free time we used to have, but that might be another post for another time...)

Happy November!

Pumpkin Spice Almonds (a THM S Snack)

I've recently been spending a lot of time at my parents' home while our living room is out of commission due to repairs and improvements.  Each morning the kids and I stay home long enough to say hi to the work crew and make sure they have a full pot of coffee, and then we leave because you just don't try to homeschool around open ceilings , gooey spackle, and wet paint.  Obviously.  And the dust!  Oh. my. goodness.  Construction dust is like nothing I have ever encountered before.

Anyway, to avoid it all and to have a little bit of space for the big kids to work and the little kids to wreck play, we've been hanging at my mom and dad's.  It only took a few days, but I polished off their stash of amazing flavored almonds.  Wasabi and soy almonds?  Oh my!  

To make a short story long, while I was at the grocery store on a mission to replace the almonds I "borrowed" from my parents, I saw pumpkin spiced almonds, and I think I sang, "Come to me, my beauties!"  out loud.  Much to the embarrassment of my children.  

Of course, the pumpkin spice almonds in the grocery store were laden with sugar and corn syrup, but I knew I could create a tasty autumn-inspired snack on my own that would fit quite nicely with the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle.

They turned out well.  Very well.  

But I think you'll want to try them for yourself to confirm my assessment ;)   

Measure out two cups of roasted, unsalted almonds...

In a small bowl combine erythritol, Sugar Free Brown Sugar (from Gwen's Nest), THM Super Sweet Blend, a dash of sea salt, and pumpkin pie spice.  

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites, cold water, and a dash of vanilla until frothy...

...add the almonds, stir to coat, then added the spice mix, and stir to coat again :)

Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Bake at 250 degrees for 40 minutes, stirring half way through.  

Allow to cool and harden, then brake the almonds apart and store in an airtight tupperware or ziploc bag.   

Pumpkin Spice Almonds 

(a THM S Snack)

Ingredients

2 cups roasted, unsalted almonds

3 T. erythritol

3 T. Sugar Free Brown Sugar (from Gwen's Nest)

2 tsp. THM Super Sweet Blend

pinch of sea salt

1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 T. egg whites

1/2 T cold water

dash vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees and line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

In a small bowl, combine sweeteners, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.

In a medium-size bowl, beat egg whites, water, and vanilla until frothy.

Add nuts and stir to coat.  Add spice mixture and stir to coat.

Spread almonds on the cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees for 40 minutes.  Stir half way through.

Remove from oven and allow to cool and harden.  Break almonds apart by hand if necessary.  Store almonds once they are completely cooled.

Or enjoy a handful right away :)

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Autumn Party Place Cards (a craftiness show and tell)

In addition to making soup, I worked on another special little project to dress up the table at this year's soup party.  The kids and I combined forces to make these cute pumpkin place cards.  

what a happy little row!

by the end of the evening most of the name tags were off and the pumpkins had been converted by the boys into projectiles :)
(they ARE soft and squishy, and sort of beg to be tossed around!)

The pumpkins were made using this pattern from Planet June.