Happy 1st Halloween!

Here is Marek in his official Halloween costume that we got last year on clearance for $2.  I was fresh home from Norway and pregnant at the time.  He looks cute as a bug in it!  I worked Halloween which was OK.  I put him in his outfit for pictures that morning and he wore it over to his grandparents' house and otherwise napped and played throughout the day so I don't think he minded my absence. 

This was his more 'business casual' Halloween outfit he wore to daycare.  That pumpkin hat was a hand-me-down from my sister I'd knitted for her kids from this pattern.  His onesie is a hand-me-down from Dave's niece Becky and says "My First Halloween" on it.  She has two sons and generously gave us bags and bags of hand-me-downs in all sizes and seasons.  Thank goodness for hand-me-downs!  I swear all I do is sort through his clothes weeding out what is too small and going through the stash for things that will now fit and up and coming fit.  There are so many things that get thinned from the herd that he hasn't even worn!  For that reason, I am also a great believer in shopping at Saver's.

Speaking of Saver's, I picked up this coffee cup the last time I was in there.  I need another coffee cup like I need a hole in the head, but it has a kitchen witch on it!

My grandma had a witch figurine just like this attached to her kitchen clock and we'd look at it sitting around the table eating breakfast.  I wonder if one of my cousins have it now.

They are supposed to bring you luck and keep your pots from boiling over and are a lovely little bit of Scandinavian folklore.  I think of my grandma every time I use it.

And of course we are fully into fall weather and foliage.  Our crab apple tree lost all it's leaves literally overnight and now just has the fruit.  It almost looks like a gumdrop tree!

The apples are such pretty, almost fluorescent, shades of sherbet orange, fuchsia's and yellows.

We have these jewels decorating the vines along the fence.  In the summer, this trailing plant blooms purple flowers that later become these brilliant red berries.

This is baking weather and I'm loving it.  I keep the thermostat low and the upstairs and kitchen are so cozy warm and fragrant from the oven and it's results.  I got this set of 4 mini bread pans at HomeGoods and love them!  I like having some little sweet loaves in the freezer to eat with coffee when we have company.  When Marek is older, he is going to help me bake bread and he can make little Marek sized loaves in these.

Here is my little baker man helping his mother in the kitchen.  I put his high chair next to the counter and give him some measuring spoons and cups and talk to him while I work and he babbles back.  He does really well for long stretches of time with me in the kitchen. 

Fair season ended with the summer and I never reported on my big winners.  That humble little jar of dried mint leaves won the grand champion ribbon for food preservation at the Ramsey county fair.  I couldn't believe it!  It is practically a weed that I picked, washed, dried and threw in a jar and it beat out all the other canned food items.  My favorite part about exhibiting is reading the comments the judges write on your items.  Nothing I took to that fair had any comments except for this mint.  On the back of the tag, it said simply, "Perfection."  HA!  I'm looking forward to making tea with this someday but I read that mint dries up your breast milk so I'll leave it alone for a few more months. 

My knitting didn't win any major awards this year but I won the grand champion ribbon in needlework at the Washington county fair for Marek's baptism booties.  They hand out free yeast and yeast coupons at that fair so I'm all over that.

I have not really had any spare time since this little guy was born so I don't get to knit or sew or craft with reckless abandon like I could before he arrived.  I'm already making a list of things to take to the fair next year but I've resorted to scavenging.  Since I don't have time to make new things, I find things I made over the years but have never exhibited and I already found two things in my Halloween/Fall decorations that can go next year!  All I have to do is look at this boy and know he is so worth the work and exhaustion and no spare time.  He is so very precious.