The Twilight Zone

I went to a store the other day--normally an extremely stressful situation that can leave one's mind, if left unchecked, entertaining dangerous thoughts that pose some serious threats to any unlucky souls found in the 10 foot radius of the maddening patron. This is almost always due to the fact that there are children in accompaniment.
On this day, however, there were no children, which would have been reward enough, but this was not the only radical change from the norm.
I found everything on my list on the first try, I scored some stuff that was lower than the advertised price, I didn't have to wait in line, I got a free sample of chocolate, people were nice to me, and I was in and out in less than 30 min.
This was miracle, ladies and gents, because I was at Walmart. It must have been backwards day.

Smell my feet

The last couple of weeks in October were pretty fun, but I'm glad they are over. Halloween is fun--not at all my favorite, but who's complaining about free candy? I like living at the end of a dark driveway on a busy road to deter trick-or-treaters--it means I don't have to buy candy, and we can go out and take chocolate from other people. However, I like that it is past and done, because that is one less holiday getting in the way of Christmas.
Here are the pictures to prove that we did something...

Carved pumpkins with Jace and Heather.

A little surprise visit from Elsie, who was on hiatus from her many travels. We actually got to enjoy a fall day, because Michigan took a break from trying to freeze us out. Elsie helped me confirm my suspicions that the shed out back may have been used to hide bodies. Okay, not really, but it is a little shady looking.

A pause in the pics to tell about the church party we went to. Of course I forgot my camera, but if I had not, I would have had a picture of Keturah playing the donut on a string game here. Classic.
We bribed the Crellins to come spend the 31st with us. We went down to an orchard that had a pretty sweet play area for the kids. Oh, and it was ridonkulously cold.

Matt and I tried out the zip line too. Fun for all ages.

The hay bale maze that made the whole trip.
(p.s. it is Matt's fault that Alex has half of a face)

The cold made the donuts and cider taste that much better.

Heather joined us for dinner, and then we scrambled to get the kids ready to go.
I had Keturah zipped inside my jacket with just her head sticking out at the top, and I think some woman thought it was my costume. "Hey there's a pregnant girl with a baby coming out!" Um...wrong end, lady. Other than that, the entertainment was Jenny trying to get her 2 year old to stop saying "smell my feet" at the door.

At home with all the Booty. (I can say that because there was a pirate among us.)

I forgot to get a real picture of Keturah in costume (excluding the lame one above), so that is why she is solo.

And to reward those that actually read this junk and stick to the end, my favorite little story:

Alex was trying to reference this fellow-

-and managed to name him something worse. "The Grand Raper"