Today…

Outside my window: it’s cool but calm with blue skies and a break from last week’s rain. It’s been just chilly enough for a light jacket or sweater but still good weather for getting outdoors while we still can.

This weekend we: took the kids apple picking. Every year I think, “this is the year we will love apple picking!” and then each year it mostly sucks. No offense to my otherwise perfect husband but I do kind of blame him for this. I think next year I may take the kids during the week without him and just surprise him with the good part at the end – homemade apple pie. To be fair though, we did seem to go late in the season (which seems impossible, didn’t fall just get here?) or something because there were nearly no apples. Add to this a very hilly orchard and wet grass and a cranky baby and well, it just wasn’t going to go well, was it? I think that post-stroller kids would make the whole thing a lot more enjoyable. Or maybe… maybe apple picking is never fun and I’m just delusional.

You know what is fun though?

Homemade apple pie. I’m pretty sure there is almost nothing better than a slice of homemade apple pie. Well almost homemade at least. I bought the pie crust. A nifty apple peeler corer slicer helped me prep the apples. But the rest? Yeah that was all me. I followed this recipe from allrecipes.com adding a bit of nutmeg for good measure and putting some butter and sugar on the crust before baking.

It was divine. I do sort of feel like those thin, thin slices that our apple prepper delivers were almost too thin, sometimes I like a good rustic chunk of apple, you know? But that little gadget made the whole thing so easy that I don’t think I could do without it now, so thin slices it is! I also am wanting to get my grandmother’s pie crust recipe because hers apple pie is still the best I’ve ever had and the crust I think is a big part of that, but the filling in this pie was just perfection. It’s a good’un.

We also: had this fun idea Saturday night to make homemade pizza (nothing new, I know) and then eat it picnic style in the living room so we could watch a movie with the kids before bed. We watched Monsters Inc which we’ve watched before with MM but he was a bit young and I don’t think he even remembered it but he loved it of course as did BB not that I think she understood a lick of it. I think mostly they just loved eating pizza in the living room on a blanket, but then, who wouldn’t?

I am reading: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins right now – you can insert “finally” into that statement if you like. Others might say, “Oh my god jealous!” and, seriously, I know right? I’m a little jealous of myself if that makes any sense whatsoever. And if you are asking, “What’s Mockingjay?” then you just need to run out and grab a copy of this book pronto. I’m not even exaggerating when I say this series is a must read.

Awesome Mom Moment worth mentioning: last week I decided to do a little coloring project with MM / teach him the four seasons, or at least try to. I cut a piece of printer paper into four rectangles and then drew a tree trunk on each of them. Then I wrote the name of the season on the top and explained to him how the weather changes in each season. We drew snow on the tree and ground for winter, flowers and berries for Spring with fluffy clouds in the sky, a big hot sun and green leaves for summer and of course colorful leaves with leaves on the ground and a pumpkin for good measure for the fall. He asked a lot of questions, too, which I thought was awesome.

I’ve got baking and holidays on the brain – if you do, too, you should check out these great links:

• This Ultimate Pantry Checklist from Simple Bites will get you ready for all your holiday baking!
• This donut muffin recipe from How To: Simplify looks so delicious I kind of want to swoon.
• Want to decorate a pumpkin but don’t feel like dealing with the mess of carving one? Check out these fun pumpkin decorating ideas at Ohdeedoh.
• I may not always act like a grownup but Joy the Baker has 5 ways to help me bake like one. Her dark chocolate brownies are soooo calling my name now.
• Like chips and salsa? Who doesn’t! Rebecca @ Cooking With My Kid has a great recipe for both homemade tortilla chips and the salsa and it actually looks relatively simple! I might have to try these soon.

One last picture to share before I go: this picture of little BB is just one of several awesome shots I got recently. You know I’ll be sharing the rest soon!