Zada's Target list (with a lunch stop at Subway)

What a weekend!

Friday morning started with a bang, literally. I hit an eight-point buck on the way to a root canal appointment. Long story short, I was fine, the Armada was not, but I still made it to the appointment and we did not keep the deer. Now in retrospect, it might have been cool to hang the antlers in my sewing room, but so much for that thought.

Saturday we met up with my Auntie Kathy and my parents at the Anoka Halloween parade, all while having our basement sheetrock taped and mudded. The weather was entirely perfect for the parade and the kids were getting the hang of grabbing parade candy by the time we left.

Sunday my parents were still here and cousin Chrissie and her son Lucas stopped by to look at some slides my mom had brought of the good old days in 1960s Duluth. Todd and Naomi also drove down to do some quick repair on the Armada to make it road-ready for the drive to Duluth and Todd's place of business, an auto body shop.

All in all, we were quite busy and fortunate really. Thanks to all who made it special.

A moment's repose

It has been a busy couple of days here, preparing for Halloween and all of its various celebrations. This morning Zada had her class party and this afternoon Darby will have his private preschool party. All this means there has been extra baking (21 cookies for Zada's class, which in the end we couldn't pass out because they were homemade!), extra buying (26 pretzel snacks for Darby's class) and extra volunteering (I helped out with Zada's party this morning and watched her costume parade).

So after all my morning drop-offs and pick-ups I am enjoying a moment in my sunny office with a cup of coffee (yes, I am back to drinking coffee, just a bit though) and my first wave of holiday catalogs. As usual I don't know if I will actually buy anything, but it is a relaxing mental exercise to browse them and think about who would look cute in what.

Here are last year's spookiest looks:

Flower girls

We all had a swell time at a family wedding this weekend. Zada got to hang with her pal and second cousin, Abby (see below), and both of our kids got to show off their moves well into the night. It was fun to keep them out late, though decidedly less so the next morning. For those keeping score, we did miss 9 a.m. church but just squeaked into the 10:30 service.

Kids and pumpkins

From Troy and Zada's visit to Illinois in September; left to right, Eme, Zada, Ainsley and Bryson

Don't worry, be happy

Bags o' fun

Usually when I say "oh, I'll just whip that up," the project is doomed to fail, but not today. I just finished these little treat bags for the Halloween Phantom craze that is sweeping our neighborhood. We received treats on our doorstep last night and now we have 48 hours to pass out treats to two other houses. I figured this was a chance to use up some of my fabric stash and prove to myself that I can still sew, albeit a little too quickly at times. (If you remember how Cruella Deville drove in 101 Dalmatians you'd have the right image in mind).

At the corn maze

Think what you want, but I still dig these pumpkin hats and oddly enough, so do they.  

Married at Menards

You can tell when a couple has been married a while, say 11 years, for instance, because when the stars finally align to have a babysitter over, this couple will settle for an afternoon date, in this case a Sunday from 12:30 to 6. And this couple will spend their kid-free time mulling over which tile, stone or flooring to buy at Menards.

Here's to us.

Firsts

Zada has her first case of strep throat. Boo.

Fall fun bonanza

My parents came down for the Renaissance Festival this weekend, and while they attended that Troy, the kids and I headed over to a local corn maze with our neighbors. The next morning we all posse-ed up for the ride over to an apple orchard with the extended family. At this rate, next weekend we'll be eating pumpkin pie while doing a turkey trot through a big pile of leaves. I love fall, maybe a little too much. 

And we thought we had moved away from the big apple!

A surprising amount of patience and choreography was required for this shot 

More pictures from LAST weekend...

Cade (3), Nate and Ina after the ceremony

The Skinners (sorry Todd, this was the best face shot)

We didn't get this in time for Darby's shirt to be tucked in but I think we all cleaned up nicely.

Ditto here

Six of eight Skinner cousins and our spouses: (from left) Sarah and Brit,  Betsy and Troy, Nate and Ina, Amy and Greg, Naomi and Todd, Vicki and Robert. (I don't know what I'm doing with my arm either) 

Knitting and nesting

...the answer to the question, "What did you do this week instead of blogging?"

I cleaned some stuff, organized some stuff and knitted a pumpkin hat and some fingerless mittens. So there.

Here are some photos of our righteous time in Duluth last weekend:

Naomi and Todd

Cousins Sarah, Vicki and Naomi

Vicki's Robert, cousin Nate, Sarah's Brit and Amy's Greg

If you don't know these two, stop reading this!

Betsy and cousin Amy

Cousins Sarah and Amy (after their drinking contest, results are not yet final)

Cardinals plus cousin Cade

Ina and Nate

Vicki 

Robert and Vicki

Robert giving Troy a stern "put the camera away" look

Ina and Nate