Thanksgiving morning our older kiddos went to grandma’s home to play with cousins. Meri stuck around to help me bake pies. She was such a sweet little helper. She loved putting her hands right in the pie crust and said it was “boingy”. Like a little trampoline she bounced a few of those crusts a few times. 😉 Meri also loved rolling out her own little crusts and would pull small pieces off and say “Teeny!” It was so much fun to have her around making this delicious task even more yummy.

Started out by making lemon meringue. Jim Bob’s dad’s favorite. It also reminds me of Thanksgiving growing up when we traveled to Grandpa and Grandma Smith’s home. Aunt Lillian always made lemon meringue. Sometimes I would spend the afternoon playing with my cousin Emily at her place after the big meal was done. When I did – we always had leftover pie for dinner. That’s it – just lots of lemon pie. Good memories! The secret to the way Grandpa Pipes’ loved them is the graham cracker crust and putting in 1/2 cup of lemon juice instead of water in the first part of the pudding recipe. Gives it a tang that is irresistible.

The pumpkin recipe is the one straight out of the Better Homes & Garden cookbook. We made our own pumpkin puree though – from pumpkins grown in our garden this year. Yum! And because I always forget – 15 oz. of puree is 1 3/4 cups. 😉 This year I also tried the Carmel Pecan Pumpkin recipe the next page over. So glad we did – delicious!

And a few photos of the apple in the process. I was afraid the light would be completely gone by the time we finished those. Two regular and two dutch apple. Just a little side note. While finishing the dutch apple pies I realized I forgot the 2 T. flour per pie in the two that were already baking at Mom’s. I figured not a big deal – what difference would 2 T. of flour make? Just so you know – a big one. Those 2 pies tasted good – but were so soupy and made a mess when trying to dish up and eat. After they were drained it worked much better. Another reminder that little things make a big impact.

And the final product. So much goodness. The leftovers were divine too.