My fall favorites

Its coming! Fall! I am so excited! Ok, now stop laughing at me. It really is my favorite. The cool breezes and warm sun work together to make magic. The rustle of the leaves falling from the trees and skidding across the pavement. The start of the holiday season. All of it. So, in celebration of the upcoming fall, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite fall things and activities.


First there is the apple season of course. I am a huge apple lover in general so the chance to go and pick my own is exciting. I haven't been the last few years because my kids have been too young. Well, one of them still is but I think D would enjoy going and picking some off the trees. Besides just the picking them though is the eating them. Apple pie is a big thing around here. I crave my mom's apple pie year round. Apple streusel, apple cider, apple... apples.


Then of course there are the pumpkins. Oh, the pumpkins. Pumpkin flavored things like lattes and cookies. My bestie made the best pumpkin cookies last fall. I wonder if I can talk her into making them again this year (*ahem*). The smell of pumpkin also really gets me. It can be fresh pumpkin or canned pumpkin or even fake pumpkin smells. I just can't get enough of it!


While we are on pumpkins, we always take a trip to a pumpkin farm too. We have done this since we got married. Last year we hit three of them, which was insane considering K was only 6 weeks old at Halloween so he was teeny when we did this. We have gone near and far to pumpkin patches. We take a million pictures and taste all the goodies. This year I have already planned out at least three of them and am considering a fourth. Lets just say every Saturday in October is already booked and possibly the Sundays too.


Oh, and the festivals. Oh, the festivals. There are always the "Taste of (insert city name)" festivals where you can go and pay .50 to a couple of dollars for a taste of local restaurant fare. Plus the corny fall festivals thrown by small non profits and/ or churches (T asked me once if it made me feel weird being at a churches fall festival when we didn't attend that (or any) churches. Nope. Not me. If you don't want me there, kick me out. That is what I thought.). All the cotton candy and popcorn you can stuff yourself with plus corny games and inflatable bounce houses? There goes the rest of my calendar.


Plus, there is Halloween. My most favorite holiday. It has been something I looked forward to since I was young. I just love all the decorations and spooky kookiness that surrounds it. You won't find me in any haunted houses though, I'm too chicken. This year we are going to carve our first family pumpkin. I am the only one in this family that has ever carved a pumpkin and that has gone on long enough. My poor husband needs to get on that wagon too. I am looking forward to trick or treating a lot this year too. Getting the boys all dressed up and taking them out to get into some fun. Last year, it rained on Halloween night. Lame! So we went to the town party and ended up buying our own candy and going home. This year, I am going, rain or not. At least to a few houses.


Of course Halloween is followed closely by Thanksgiving here in America too. Thanksgiving is my favorite food holiday for sure. I crave turkey year round but we really only eat it at Thanksgiving (that may make the vegetarians shudder but its true). That and the stuffing and the cranberry sauce that comes out of the can all can shaped. Its an all day eat fest at my Mom's house. After our third round of stuffing ourselves silly, we eat pie and have coffee while we sort through the Black Friday ads. We make our plans of action and hit the stores early. Sometimes we go at midnight, sometimes its in the wee hours of the morning but we always go and we never go on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is for stuffing ourselves silly and stuffing ourselves silly only.


We also always have sauerbraten and noodles at least once every fall. I am not sure how this tradition got started exactly but its one that I am adamant about. Its a meal that I crave as soon as the weather starts feeling crisp and the night start earlier. If you have never tried it, you should totally add it to your list and try it out. This recipe was the closest I could find to the one we make. Only take out the raisins and its made in the crockpot.


So now can you see why I am so excited? Fall = awesome sauce. What are some of your favorite fall traditions?