I love to bake.  I do it a lot.  So I'm pretty excited when the holidays come along and I can bake my little heart out. 

Pies are one of my favorite things to bake.  I can sometimes see myself as Jenna from Waitress (minus the horrible home life and job), creating and baking pies all day.

Here are some of my favorite pies to make around the holidays:

I've made this apple pie in the past, but lately this recipe is my personal favorite and the clear winner around my house. 

I love this peppermint pie, but I think I'm the only one in my family that likes peppermint so it doesn't get made often.

This peanut butter fudge pie is always a favorite at family gatherings. 

For the past couple of years, instead of the peanut butter fudge pie, I've made a chocolate pie.  It's been a big hit with my family (except for Jason who only likes apple pie or cherry pie).  This year I'm going to attempt to make mini chocolate pies. 

I could probably skip the Thanksgiving meal and go straight for dessert.  But I won't. 

For a fun summer pie, try this one.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I spent most of today actually thinking it was Wednesday.  It's too early in the holiday season for me to already lose track of the days. 

Anyway...

Is anyone else really enjoying the new Instagram stories feature?  I love looking at everyone else's stories, and it's also a great way to show what we're up to on a particular day without being wordy.  Plus the post will disappear in 24 hours. 

Here are some of our recent stories:

We were in the backyard one afternoon, when out of nowhere a giant hot air balloon came sailing by, almost touching the tops of houses along the way.  Random.

Jason's been pretty busy with work lately, so Katherine and I have been trying to get out of the house while he catches up on sleep.

On this same outing, we stopped by Target where Christmas was in full swing already.

We filled our Operation Christmas Child shoebox last week.  It's one of our favorite Christmas traditions.

Katherine has a sweet friend at story time at the library.  They hang out every week.

Buying baking supplies in bulk because the baking season is upon us

In other news, I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I noticed that the Christmas menu was now available at Starbucks.  While others love the #PSL, I'm all about the Peppermint Mocha. 

Because this post has taken on a "holiday" theme, I'll let you in on my favorite competition show this time of year.  I've been obsessed with Holiday Baking Championship on the Food Network since it's first season a couple of years ago.  I'm probably a little too into this show.  I love to bake and watching others bake up crazy concoctions is entertainment for me.   

I'm loving that the long chunky sweaters are back this season.  My favorites are this one, this one, and this one (which I have a similar, bought resale for way, way less years ago).

So this post was on the random side today.  Hopefully I can get through the rest of the week, knowing what day it actually is.   

This election.  Yeesh.  Election depression is a real thing, you guys.  Who else is soooooooo ready for this to be over? 

Today I'm going to do what I normally do on Election Day.  First, I'll vote.  Then, I'll avoid all social media and news outlets until tomorrow morning.  No news, local or national.  No social media.  I will find out how the elections went tomorrow morning. 


I don't need a play-by-play or a political analyst.  I don't want to hear people on the losing side bicker and complain or the winning side celebrating.  I just can't handle the anxiousness and negativity of it all.  I've been doing this since the 2004 Presidential Election.  It's just what I do. 

So tonight, I've got a good book to read and Say Anything on the DVR.  I'm set. 

So get out there and vote! 

And then be nice. 

 

Here's another Halloween recap blog post to add to your weekly reading. 

This was our first Halloween in our new house, and we had heard from neighbors that our neighborhood (and the one a street over) went all out for this holiday.  They were right.  We had the best Halloween, trick or treating with Katherine and catching up with neighbors. 


Monday was also my birthday, so we started the day off with birthday lunch followed by birthday cupcakes. Luckily our local grocery store carries our favorite cupcakes from Jilly's. 


Later we headed out to the driveway to participate in Halloween festivities.  My parents came by for my birthday and to hold down the candy fort while we took Katherine trick or treating. 



Katherine did pretty well on the candy front, bringing home pounds of candy. She won't be coming down off her sugar high any time soon. 

Now I've got to go get my shorts out of the storage box in the basement because it's 82 degrees outside.  Happy November!