our little party

our little dinner party on saturday night was a smashing success! we had my family over for something we dubbed the "welcome, fall" party (aka a reason to clean the house and put up autumn decorations - i'm thinking about having welcome parties every season, if only to get the house clean).

i made beef stew, featuring lots of potatoes and carrots (we all favor the vegetables), in the crock pot. since i doubled the recipe, the crock pot was stuffed to the brim, and it wasn't ready when it was supposed be...oops! we were all starving, so we walked down to 2nd street for pre-dinner coffee & cupcakes. it turned out to be really fun, and i was proud of myself for not getting too bummed out on things not going exactly according to plan (it's good practice for the wedding!!).

for dessert, i served individual orange spiced pumpkin pies in mini graham cracker crusts. they were quite tasty and very cute.

here is a peek at our home and the fall decorations i put around the house:

pumpkins & candles on the steps leading up to our front door.

i put apples in a large glass vase to decorate the table. our dining room table is an expandable two-seater. we moved it into the living room to fit everyone and used the couch for seating.

this is where the table usually goes.

the photograph on the left is over a hundred years old. it's of an aunt and uncle on their wedding day in 1907.

i just put that little tiny elephant greeting card in a frame. i think she's so cute! you'll probably notice that i have a thing for elephants.

my pretty little persephone has found her home.

pie!

my momma...we didn't really take pictures of humans that night. i swear we had people over! :)

the only picture of me!