Trick or Treat 2009

L-R: Vincent as Skipperdee Turtle/Tortoise, Claudia as Junie B. Jones "Captain Field Day", Eloise as "Eloise" and Julianne as The Hare (Tortoise & the Hare)

Satisfied

Halloween Eve

On the night before Halloween, the scraping began. Four had fun making a mess on the kitchen floor. They watched, touched, and smelled the wonderful pumpkin insides: seeds, slimy stringy orange goo, and chunks of meaty pumpkin wall.

Perhaps a favorite holiday, but the magic really is the time and memories we are carving out.

"Sparkle and Smile"

Spider

The colder temperatures and bouts of snow have made getting ready for Halloween a little slow around here. We do however have plenty of leaves to create some lawn creatures and warm jackets to keep us toasty. Hope you are enjoying your Halloween preparations.

Wisconsin

The cheese state is full of all sorts of things we love... family, friends, fun, food, four seasons, etc. Luckily, on the way to a family wedding we got to experience a few of them.

Grandma's vintage toys!!

Bogs

Cranberries

and CHEESE CURDS!! (they were SOO squeaky)

Taste of winter

Might you be ready for a snowball?

Sun Kiss

Once upon a time, a young couple would drive for hours (around eight) to meet one another. They made cassette tapes for the other to listen to on the long car ride full of love songs. Each had special surprises waiting for the other. Some weekends it would be the warmer Missouri and sometimes to the colder northern Wisconsin. The two would spend the weekend together walking, talking and exploring new places. Fall was always my favorite time to travel. The Wisconsin air was crisp and cool which helped to make the good-byes a little more sober. Our favorite spot to say good-bye became a warm sun-filled spot by Mendota lake. The sunlight would cut right through the trees making our eyes glow. We used to call them "sun kisses"

Those glowing eyes are still there, they just reflect four amazing kids all having a ball raking the lawn on a crisp fall day in Minnesota.. still pretty romantic.

Little Rascals

Those big blue eyes look so innocent, but their minds are so curious and hands so busy. It is safe to assume that when there is silence in the house there is trouble. Even with half the house gated off, they find trouble.