Happy Halloween!!

Our fun day with Jodee and Kamree continued into evening with

our annual visit to our local Boo at the Zoo!

Jodee is ultra-organized as you may should know, and she kicked me into gear!

So once again, we invited ourselves along and put the idea in her head that she drive.  Yes!! We arrived at the zoo before it even opened.  So much better than my usual dawdling and getting there a bit later, resulting in longer lines and less candy.  Love it when a plan comes together!

It was  a perfect evening for the festivities, even though the temp seemed to be dropping with the daylight at a rapid rate.

 

At the last minute, Maddy thought about being a sock monkey -- where does she get these ideas??  Couldn't manage it this year, but we did see a sock monkey and
he willingly got his photo taken with the little pirate!

Also, saw this gorgeous daughter of a friend --

don't you LOVE her peacock costume!

 

One of Maddy's favorites is the Nestle bunny -- the Nestle bunny always give out a bottle of chocolate milk.  Wow - you'd think I deprived the girl the way she goes after the chocolate milk!  :)

 

It was getting into the very chilly temps by the time we finished (look, even the penguin has a scarf on!), so we headed over to our house to chow down on some chicken strips and Texas toast.  Muffy was more than thrilled to have some new friends to meet. 

Thanks again Jodee and Kamree for letting us tag along
on your Halloweekend adventures!

Halloweekend - Part 1

What a scary time we had on Sunday afternoon!!

 

 

 

 

My pirate girl and I  spent the afternoon trick-or-treating at the outdoor mall with my coworker, Jodee, and her most adorable little girl, Kamree!

 

First, the girls had to carve pumpkins -- ewww - I hate the mess, but it was made easier because Trader Joe's (we love you TJ) got all the goop out first!!  Maddy carved a Mickey Mouse head

on her pumpkin -- yes, she is stll Little Miss Disney!! :)

  Kamree did all kinds of carvings on hers - sweet!!

 

 

Then came more spookiness with trick or treating at the stores. 

Bonus - I even shopped a little!! :)

 

 

Maddy pointing out the Uggs -- keep dreaming sweetie!

 

We had a perfectly sunny chilly day and another bonus -- got to wear our Halloween costumes more than once. 

Yes, that's right -I wore a costume too -- I was a wizard sorceress! 

 Maddy helped me pick out my costume a couple weeks ago. 

Since she didn't pick an big old gray wig, thermal stockings and a walker,

I was thrilled! :)

 

 

 

So many shops had employees dressed up!

 

 

Frankenstein scared Kamree and she ran away from him and his assistant!

 

 

And we ended our trick or treating with a story at Barnes & Noble*

read by a scary witch!

 

Leaves are Falling!

Yes, it's that time of year -- the raking and bagging of leaves time!

Oh my word -- instead of a slow downward spiral, the leaves came down in waves

in only a day or two. 

On Monday, Maddy raked and I bagged up 6 bags

plus a huge trash can full of leaves!

We woke up Tuesday to find the  lawn covered again!

 

After school, Maddy got out her rake and went to work --
this time we bagged another 8 or 9 bags  --

plus I mowed up the remainder with the lawnmower in the dark!  

 Really, someone needs to invent headlights for lawnmowers!

Muffy wanted to help us, but she has a hate/hate relationship

with rakes, so had to stay in the backyard. 

More rain, wind and . . . you guessed it . . . more leaves!

 

Plus -- leaves from the neighbors' trees are now blowing over!

 

 

 

 Fall in Nebraska --

 

We love it!

 

Finally . . . The Elusive RB Float!

Remember at the beginning of summer

when I said one of the things on our
summer bucket list

was to ride our bicycles and get a root beer float?? 

 

 No, you don't remember??? 

Well, I do and it's been nagging at me for months -- yes, months!

 

Finally, last weekend, it was really warm -- as in up in the 80s again

and sticky and just plain hot.

We had gotten a bit used to the cooler temps of fall and

 didn't really want to go back to hot weather.

But, we decided to make the best of it and do some summery stuff.
First, we hit the zoo,
as I thought the zoo was still open. 

They had announced in our official local newspaper they would be open

 one more weekend -- but their definition of

weekend evidently means Saturday only and, so,

we were a day late and a dollar short.

 

I'm certain I've asked her other times, but I asked again

and this time she said,

 "yes, she'd love a root beer float!"  

 

And so, finally -- check that baby off the summer bucket list

 (though we didn't ride our bikes -- the nearby DQ had closed for the season too).

But we did hit a Sonic drive-thru!

 

And let me tell you . . .

 

She thoroughly enjoyed

 

her very first root beer float!

Painting A Pumpkin!

Maddy and I had a special fun day on Sunday! 

We had an opportunity to join in a Family Art Day sponsored by the

local hearing impaired school-age support group.

The group provides activities for various ages throughout the year.  

Since there are not very many students at Maddy's school with an impairment and hearing aid, the activities provide a chance for Maddy to see other students like her.

Anywhoooo -- it was a Family Art Day -- painting pumpkins! 

So much fun!!

 

The art teacher had a huge variety of pumpkin-art projects --

pumpkins with moustaches, pumpkins with spider webs and paints of all kinds.

Maddy decided to paint her pumpkin white and

 then do a stencil of a black horse! 

 

Turned out fabulous!!

Favorite Photo Friday- Holmes Lake

Fifth grade has been busy and sometimes hard, and I've been busy at work too -- all good, of course,

but I just knew that lately

Miss M has been loving some simple times hanging out together. 

Last weekend, we ran errands, worked at the church art sale together,

visited some open houses and

have been reading an American Girl mystery together. 

Besides the unspoken benefit of both she and I feeling connected

 and good,

my heart soared when she told me she had so much fun and 

each day was the best day ever! 

I love her so.

Earlier this week, we took a little venture out to a favorite location of mine,

near a lake where the light is simply lovely as the sun goes down.

Miss M was in a happy mood and we had so much fun getting a few photos. 

 I think these are some of my favorites and show her true smiles

 (not her forced ones that I often get)! 

Rain forecast here for the weekend  --

hitting the Redbox today and hoping for some movie fun!

Happy Weekend!!

 

Check out Lisa's blog for more Favorite Photos!

 

Fall -- What I Like About You!

What I like about fall --
 almost everything!

 

 

 

Fall has arrived and we are thrilled!! 

Such a perfect time of year and makes me totally forget

the next season we will be enjoying . . .

 

 

 

Maddy and I thought about visiting the pumpkin patch

last weekend, but ended up we didn't have time, so

we headed to a local nursery to look at their pumpkins! 
Don't you love the gnarly looking ones!

 

 

 

 

We couldn't wait til our visit to the pumpkin patch, so we bought a few. 

We also requested the nasty spray

so the devil squirrels
 that live around here would not chomp on and destroy

our pumpkins immediately. 

 

Sorry squirrels, it had to be done!!



Look -- a giant acorn/gourd/pumpkin!! 

 

Silly Mickey jumped into the gourd barrels!

 

 

Guess what else we like about fall?

 

Cool fall plants  --

seriously -- kale is this gorgeous?!!!
If I could kiss it, I would -- it is just
that pretty and makes me happy every time I see it!

 

 

 

And we also like . . .

 

Baking brownies, and
 

Running in the morning when it's really chilly and dark

(even though the cool weather makes it

hard to drag myself out of bed, but
must run due to eating said brownies), and

  

Wearing socks again, and

Digging out the fluffy robes,and

Sweaters, and

My new fave accessory --
infinity scarves!!
No more worries about how to tie it.

Yes, I am a trend setter!! ;)

What do you like about fall?