Catching up (?)

Recently, a mom at school said to me that she felt like she was finally starting to get a handle on September...just as she realized it is nearly the end of October.  Not the right time to point out (as someone else did to me) that Christmas is now exactly two months away!  What?  How does the year hit the speed track every September?  Do I get a free pass since I did an international move this year?  I finally feel the dust settling from the move as the kids settle into their school routines, and now it's holiday time!  Oh dear.  Moving on...

We've been enjoying Indian Summer in Pittsburgh this week.  After borderline wintry weather off and on for a few weeks, this week turned into a warm weather marvel.  Today, the anticipated high is in the 80s!  I'm enjoying the windows and doors being open all day, the dinners outside again, the playing in the yard for hours...because we know it will be gone again rather soon (and may not be back for months!).  Alas, Halloween night is predicted to be rather cold and wet.  Somehow I'm not sure the kids will care.

It's hard to get into the spirit of fall and decorating for Halloween when it feels like summer outside, but that doesn't mean we can't bake up some delicious fall flavors, right?  Two days ago, Stephanie and I wanted a donut treat and no suitable donut treats could be found in our usual spots.  Naturally, we had to bake our own!  I tried out this recipe for baked apple cider donuts.

 

 I have a mini-donut pan, so there was plenty of leftover batter to make a ton of mini-muffins too, which we also iced with the apple cider glaze.  I would offer you some, but we polished off the lot before bedtime that night!