A pleasant weekend

Talia and Hallie

Some of our favorite girlfriends: Shanda, Talia, Emily, Michelle, and Hallie

We had a pleasant weekend. We did lots of cleaning and baking and partying. Chris had the day off Friday because he worked late hours on Wednesday and Thursday for parent-teacher conference. So, on Friday we straightened the house and Chris watched Hallie for me when I went to my singing group. Friday evening, after Hallie went to bed we rented Evan Almighty. It was a cute movie. On Saturday morning we baked pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, brownies, and made caramel apples together! Chris was so sweet to help out even though I know he hates being in the kitchen. On Saturday night we went to a fun "Fall Festival." We all got to dress up. Hallie, of course, was Tinkerbell. Chris and I were Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter books. It was funny because the adults especially liked our costumes. It was like they were excited to boast their secret Harry Potter knowledge; they kept passing me and saying "Hi Hermione." It was fun. And Chris and I are so excited that our costumes collectively cost 51 cents! That's right-- two quarters and a penny. Since Chris and I both received our bachelor's degrees in 2005 and 2006, we both had black graduation robes. We found some great patches and had them color copied to make the robes look like they were standard-issued from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Then, I chopped some wands off the tree in the backyard and we were good to go. Chris already had a regal-looking tie. And I wore one of my Grandpa Skaggs' cool ties that really polished off the look. We get to wear our costumes one more time for a party at the Hickman's on Halloween night. We are so excited for one more excuse to celebrate one of our favorite holidays. Finally, on Sunday Chris' mom and brother Michael came over for a visit and a fun Halloween dinner. I made "feets of meat" (meat loaf), mashed potatoes, green beans with garlic, onion, and mushroooms sautee, and finally cheesy crescent ghosts. It was festive (and I'll admit-- a tad bit creepy to eat something that looked like a bloody foot stump).



Here is Hallie snacking on one of the pumpkin muffins. She loves them!