There has been major party prep going on in the KERF house! We’ve been planning this party since before we moved here to be a nice fall escape, and I’m so glad we have great crisp weather for the occasion. And pumpkin beer!
First, we made dough. Really, really delicious gingerbread dough!! These would be Caitlin‘s famous Gingerbread Cookie Recipe a la Martha Stewart. The recipe was easy enough (although it called for chilled dough and I found the dough impossible to shape without letting it warm back up first) and I’m making the lemony Royal Icing glaze too!
After the dough went in the fridge to chill, we went for a run – to the farmer’s market! It’s 2 miles there and then we picked up our goods and walked home. 4.8 miles total, and a WONDERFUL way to get exercise. I enjoyed walking there almost more than I did biking! We ran with a lightweight nylon sack on our back with some lightweight cash in it and Matt carried it home. This meant we couldn’t buy much as the market though. And no photos!
Then it was time for dough shaping -
See that little dough ball pulled aside? That was my morning snack 
I love dough so much!
Pumpkins!
Plus a little extra sumpin’
Which was incorporated into lunch.
At 1:30 I realized I was starving and hadn’t even thought about lunch yet! Put together an arugula salad (fresh from the market – there was a big in it and lots of dirt to be washed out!) with avocado, olives and sun-dried tomatoes tossed in the Garlic Gold Lemon Vinaigrette.
Plus a yogurt (free with a coupon from BlogHer!) with a little granola
And my treat 
Then, we made chili, cleaned the house, set up tables, chose dishes.
Then we iced!
While I cleaned the bathroom, Matt got happy with the icing. Look at the cuteness he created!
Salad to prep! Veggies to chop!
{ 55 comments… read them below or add one }
The cookies look amazing! Love the ‘K’ and ‘M’ ones – so cute.
I’m loving this crisp fall weather too! Your cookies are adorable!
Those gingerbread cookies are so, so cute! I love that you made your initials too to enjoy with lunch. Have fun!!
Almost too cute to eat…well, almost. Have fun with the party!
Supercute cookies! I love the Eat one!
The cookies look yum! Have a great party!
What cute cookies! I saw some cutters when I was shopping the other day and it definitely made me consider doing some baking. Have a great afternoon!
Those gingerbreads are AMAZING!!!
How cute!
Sounds like you have a fun night planned! Enjoy your company!
I absolutely love olives on a salad! I like to add a little balsamic vinegar on top of it all and call it good. Your cookies are so cute!
So cute! Decorating cookies is a Thanksgiving family tradition. It’s so much fun with little kids.
That sounds like heaven in a cookie!! So festive, too!
Have a great time tonight.
your cookies are adorable….Hmm…gingerbread + chili..definitely sounds like fall has finally come to C-ville!!
love,
Cathy B. @ brightbakes
Looks like the beginnings of a great night!
I love the cookie marked “whee!” the most! This makes me have a serious craving for gingerbread cookies!
Those cookies are so cute. I like the whee one.
the cookies are adoable!!
oops, adorable:-)
Gingerbread cookies are my absolute favorite!! I love decorating gingerbread men every Christmas
Love your pumpkin ones!
The cookies look great! The gingerbread color defintely kicks it up a notch for fall. Have a great party tonight!
Oh no! I really shouldn’t have looked into your blog today.
I just talked myself out of making gingerbread yesterday – I LOVE gingerbread dough – and now you have me craving them (or, more precisely, the dough) again. I’ll try to postpone it for a few more weeks, but it’s going to be hard!
On another note, beautiful cookies. I love the pumpkin shape.
Those gingerbread cookies could not be any cuter!!!! Have fun tonight
I love when you make cookies! Sometimes, you eat SO clean that I wonder if you’re still normal. Just kidding, I would love to eat the way you do. You seem to have a real balance between indulging and intuitive eating. I never thought of eating gingerbread cookies outside of the Christmas season!
Love gingerbread cookies…they’re so cute shaped as pumpkins! The dough is fantastic as well…I make mine from a recipe in an old Betty Crocker cookbook that are egg free, so somehow that fact always leads me to eat too much dough!
Can’t wait to see how the party comes together!
I love that one of the cookies says beer! Ginger cookies are my favorite flavor – I just made some a couple days ago after reading your last cookie post!
I have to know where you get your spoons!
The cookies turned out so cute! I love the K and the M
Have fun tonight! We were going to dc this weekend but finn came down with an ear infection
Hehe love your dough snack. Have a great party, it all looks wonderful!
Heidi xo
i love the pumpkin shape! cute frosting job, too!
Gingerbread is probably one of the best ever cookies out there. Matt is so fun and creative!
Love the cookies so cute. The K in the yogurt is cute.
You are too darn cute with your little KM cookies! And the “beer” icing. lol
The cookies are so cute, you guys are so fun!
I love that there’s one that says “beer” on it!
Hope you have a fantastic party! The K cookie on the edge of the yogurt cup is super cute.
Love those cookies! I bet they are so good!
Oh my gosh. Adorable! Simply adorable. And I love dough too; gingerbread dough tops the list of my favorites!
The BEER pumpkin cookie makes me laugh.
haha love the cookies!
Love all the cookies! So cute!
Your gingerbread K sticking out of the yogurt container is the cutest thing ever! The cookies look delicious too
Those gingerbread cookies look great! Enjoy your party!
Cute cookie cutters!
Hi. I’ve seen those scales before, but forget what brand they are. Where did you get it? Thanks.
It’s Eat Smart Precision Pro
What a cool idea!! HouseCOOLING party! I lived in Williamsburg for the past 3 years…just moved to New Orleans…I would of SO done this idea up there …I’ll have to do it once it cools off here. What a WONDERFUL way to welcome/celebrate the cold weather! LOVE how you shaped your dough into pumpkin shapes! FESTIVE and FUN!!!
I love the “whee” cookie! I remember you like to say that on the blog and I think its so cute…do you say it in real life a lot too?!
I do
I *love* baking and gingerbread, but I always shy away from cookies I have to roll out. I much prefer the dollop-cookie-batter approach
oh gingerbread sounds soooooo good right about now!
Have funwith your dinner partay!
Cute cookies! I’ve been reading your blog for about three months now, and I need to thank you for something. There are two Great Harvest locations here in Wichita, KS that I have never really paid any attention to… until now! I’ll never go back to plain ol’ grocery store bread – hooray!
Aww – so cute! and love gingerbread….easily one of my favorite “holiday”/cold weather cookies!