Tricks and Treats

October flew by in a flash and with the end of October comes Halloween.  In an effort to be different, I knit up some treats for some of the grandmunchkins.  There wasn't enough time to hit them all but several in the past have gotten something when others haven't so I think it's pretty fair.  A few in the IBK group in ravelry knit up a "Patch" in a fall swap and he was just too cute to resist.  So several found there way onto my needles and then in to two little girls' hands.  

                                           Patch number 1

 While I was on a toy splurge, I knit up the chicken and chicks from Spud and Chloe farm set for my Advent SP.  I think Susan B. Anderson is a genus.  This hen and her chicks were so fun to knit and the bottom of the hen is open so her chicks can scoot under her and keep warm.

                                                       Patch number 2

Did you know October is National Bat month?  It is!  So a granddaughter and grandson got a bat in lieu of a Patch.  The Audobon society brought bats into our granddaughter's classroom and she found them fascinating.  Who wouldn't?

And then it was time for tricks and treats!  We were so blessed this year that 8 of our 10 grandmunchkins knocked on our door for treats!  We had a biker chick, Freddy Kruger, a rock star, Dorothy, Elsa, Wolverine, Captain America, and "momas" (Thomas the Train)

The months of September and October are Advent swap knitting months.  I joined at the last minute not wanting to miss the fun.  There were several required knits, one being mice.  I knit the mice from Itty Bitty Nursery.  So cute and fun.  And I hated to send them away since they looked so cute in the teacup.

I got back into some cross stitch for the swap too.  I'm not thrilled with the finishing of the ornaments but very happy with the cross stitch.

One more bat off the needles since one of my swap partners loves bats!

And a  snowman cloth too.

The swap packages are in the mail so it's time to turn on the Christmas knitting.  Since the knitting is for children that don't read blogs I'll be sharing.

Happy Fall...already?

I've been told the first rule of blogging is not to apologize for absences.  So I won't.  I've noticed when I step away from the blog is when I'm emotionally in a bit of a tailspin or life is crazy busy or I'm tired of being on the computer.  This absence has all three qualifiers.  The downward emotional tailspin was caused by watching a few more pieces of my heart go to school each day.  Sure I still have 2 here but 7 are not.  I've been scrapbooking online 8 albums from our Disney trip as well as keeping up 8 day to day albums for 8 grandmunchkins.  Hence the overload on computer time.  The Disney albums are done and the 8 day to day albums are pretty much caught up and require a half hour a day or so to get pictures and comments in per event per album.  I am, however, now doing our church bulletin weekly and some weeks are a bit more work than others.  As for the crazy life.  Well, the pictures below explain that.  While I won't apologize for my absence, I'll apologize for the photo overload.  There are knitting projects, birthdays, fall activities, and life that happened over the last 2 and a half months.                          

 A few of my finished knitting projects.  They are on ravelry if you would like more details.

 While I knit and care for the home, my husband fishes.  Successfully!
And below are the pieces of my heart I'm lending to the schools each day.  I'm thankful their parents let me have them each day.  While I wish they were with their parents and lent to me, in this world that's not possible so I will hold out my hands and be thankful for each moment they are here.

There were 2 special birthdays.  Our sweet daughter and Great Grammie.

 A trip to the pumpkin patch was in order as the air cooled and the leaves changed.

 And on Halloween we were visited by a Princess, Tigger, 2 Ironmen, Steve, a Nerd, a Care Bear, and a witch.  Did I forget anyone?

 Happy Fall!  "A second spring where every leaf is a flower".

 Raking and gathering commences.  We have an art project in mind for those leaves.  Stay tuned.

A quick glimpse of the last few months.  I'll try not to stay away so long.

Boo!

Halloween was a little different this year.  It was on a Wednesday, which is our usual Discovery Bible Club night.  So!  Our church youth group put on a "trunk or treat" for our church and the community.  It was wonderful!  They received a lot of support from our church family in supplying treats, showing up with trunks of candy, and setting up games to play.  To quote my granddaughter, "It was so so so so so fun!"

 Even the littlest dressed up.  I know Halloween has some bad connotations and there are evil things that happen or are celebrated on this night, but to dress up in a costume (a good one) and get candy and play games are all the good parts of childhood. 

 Who doesn't love to see this?  A cute kid in a cute costume with a cute grin. 

 There was a fishing pond.  I remember that with fondness from my school carnivals many years ago.  Apparently my granddaughter takes after me.  She will have many fond memories of the fish pond because she spent a lot of time there!  To the point they recruited her to help behind the sheet after a bit.

 The artiste in the family spent some time at the pumpkin decorating station.  Love his pumpkin!

 Little Pooh, who also happened to be the youngest there, won the prize for being the cutest.  I'm sure the judges did NOT wrestle long over that decision.

 There were trunks of cars outside full of candy for the trunk or treaters.  However, there were too many cars to fit so some of the trick or treating was moved inside.  All in all, they made a haul!

 We didn't get have any trick or treaters this year since we were out helping at the church.  So I went along when they trick or treated at the local mall.  It was raining but that didn't stop the fun!