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