What a great Halloween we had tonight.  The weather was in the mid 50’s, so all the kids could wear their costumes without having big, heavy winter coats on.  And no yucky, runny noses!  Kelly dressed up as a bunny and Megan was a shopping queen with her friend Andra.  Andra was Paris Hilton and Megan was Nicole Ritchie…they even carried a small puppy along (that was my idea).  Kelly went trick or treating with a group of her girlfriends over in a nearby neighborhood.  So Nate travelled with those girls while Megan stayed in our neighborhood.  Both came home with full bags of candy which Nate & I will now sneak into when we have that “chocolate” craving.  They’ll never know.

Happy Halloween Everyone!   BOO~

Tonight we carved our pumpkins for Halloween.  I’m just amazed each year at how much I like our pumpkins.  I always end up saying, “these are our best pumpkins ever.”  And then the next year, I say it again.    This year Megan did most of her own pumpkin with just a little help from Dad of cutting off the top, the rest she did herself.  She scraped, scooped, designed, carved and cut all on her own.  Kelly also designed her own pumpkin but needed some help scooping and scraping.  It was a fun night and now everyone is all geared up for tomorrow nights festivities.

I haven’t seen Andy the squirrel out lately.  Maybe because it’s been a cold start to our week and he’s already under the ground eating his food that he stored in his cheeks!   Sunday we had blowing snow, Monday the high was only 40 degrees with a windchill, making it seem about 10 degrees.   Today we started the “warm-up” with 50 degrees.  But I was out at recess and it sure didn’t feel like 50 degrees to me.  The sun was shining (that was nice) but again…the wind was a bitter cold wind that went right down the jacket.  Tomorrow they’re saying 60 degrees.  Hmmm…we’ll just have to see.

I had quite a busy, yet productive weekend.  Let me tell you what I did…It all started out by scrapbooking on Friday night (that was fun).  Then on Saturday, I dropped Megan off at the rollerskating rink for a birthday party while Kelly & I ran over to the fabric store.  This is where everything started to go bad.  We stood in line for 25 minutes to get one yard of fleece!!  Then after we got the fleece cut, the lady gives me a receipt to take over to the cash registers.  Fine, until we get over there and see that the line wrapped around half of the store!  Luckily the six cashiers were pretty fast at their jobs and we only waited in that line for 10 minutes.  We then head over to Half-Price books to drop off a grocery bag of books and movies.  The lady tells us, it’ll be about a 20 minute wait and you can’t leave the store.  Aaah, okay…so we wait.  Finally we get our “offer” on our bag of goodies and she tells me that she can give me $3.00.  What!!  What a waste of time & gas that was.  We took our $3.00 and left.  By this time I’m getting really nervous because I still have to make this “made from scratch cake” that I have no idea how much time it’s going to take and it’s 1:00 when I get home and we’re leaving at 5:30 and my cake has to be refrigerated for at least 30 minutes to set the icing.  I’m nervous, but I get started as quickly as I can and it turned out beautiful with 15 minutes to spare.  Now, on to Sunday.   Today I had to taxi Kelly to Lifetime Fitness for a birthday party (she went rock climbing), Megan tells me that she needs a halloween costume, so we head off to the Burnsville Mall with no idea of what we’re looking for (how I love those shopping trips) but we managed to make up a “shopping queen” outfit at Ragstock.  Then we leave the mall and head over to Cub to do our grocery shopping for the week and best of all….I had to drive through a mild snowstorm in October!!!!  This is why I feel like a Weekend Warrior.  I think I’ll go read my book and call it a day.

Today I made this yummy-looking cake for dinner tonight at our friends, Tim & Terri Burns.  It’s called Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Cake.  I haven’t had a chance to taste it yet, but it sure looks and smells great.  I’ll have to let you know how it turns out.  Take a look!

Today was Election Day at Hidden Valley School.  Both Megan & Kelly ran for student council in their grades and the class president ( a sixth grader) will be announced tomorrow.  Unfortunately, for both girls, they were not chosen.  Both were disappointed, but they both have said that they will run again next year.  Now that’s the Solberg attitude we like to hear!    Given that they both tried their best, they earned a Banana Pudding Shake from Sonic after dinner.  Aaahhh, all is good again.

Another gorgeous fall day has come and gone.  Kelly & I took a nature walk around our little slice of heaven, we call Sunset Pond.  The colors aren’t as bright as they were a couple of weeks ago, but it’s still beautiful and just felt good to be outside today.  Nate went for a run around the pond and Megan accompanied him on her bike.  We love to take advantage of this path that is only one block from our house.  It’s one of the reason we chose to live here in Burnsville.  I hope you got out and enjoyed this day as well.  Tomorrow, it’s back to work after having a wonderful week off.

Today we took a long scenic drive down south to see the fall foliage in peak bloom.  We drove through the town of Lake City, which is along Lake Pepin.  On our way back we stopped in Red Wing at Memorial Park to take in the beautiful fall colors of Minnesota.  This park was way up on a bluff overlooking the town of Red Wing.   A spectacular view!   We would recommend this trip to anyone interested in a relaxing day of fun.

What a fun day we had today.  Terry (aka: Aunt Scary) and Daniel & Evan came over and we drove out to Mark & Peggy’s to pick out our pumpkins for Halloween.  We spent three hours just hanging around, picking out pumpkins, hay bales, corn shucks, and decorative displays for our yards while Mark took the kids out on his four wheeler.   Every now and then we would here them whizzing past out in the nearby field.  I’m not sure who was having more fun, Mark or the kids!  On the way home, we stopped at Abdullah Chocolate Factory and picked up homemade caramel apples.  We then headed  home and decorated the front of our house and enjoyed a couple of homemade pizzas, courtesy of Nate.  You can’t ask for a better fall day.

It’s that time of year again when the blue jays arrive in town.  Kelly & I spent the afternoon trying to photograph these pretty birds.  They are tough to get a shot of, because they are constantly moving and never seem to relax and enjoy their surroundings.  Must be nervous birds.  They love to eat our corn, but they’re such big birds, that they have a hard time finding a good position on the corn holder and are constantly flapping their wings in order to stay on.  We love being bird watchers.