some halloween pics....

the goldfish costume was NOT a hit. but the fishbowl stroller turned out pretty well, even if we didn't take it anywhere.

last weekend we went up to carters mountain to pick apples. being as this is something everyone in va does, we had to climb up another mountain to get to the apple trees that still had apples. but damn were there a lot of apples. i think we ended up with 24lbs of apples. so so far i have made applesauce (and gave some to milkie), and plan on making these delicious looking mini-gingerbread upside-down cakes. eventually i'll make apple pie, more applesauce, applesauce cake...any other ideas? maybe apple dumplings? and carters mountain makes these incredible apple caramel cookies with chunks of apple and caramel chips that i may try to make. mmm. so thats this weekend. i also plan on making soup. mmmm. i'm hungry.

and in other news - i put in my two weeks. i've been hired at a company doing contract research work. i can't freaking wait. no more academia bullshit. i can actually leave work and not have to think about it. i can do things in my free time! i can take knitting classes and make quilts and embroider! and i'm getting quite the raise which is super super helpful. so i start that the week of Thanksgiving.

and speaking of Thanksgiving, jack and i will be cooking thanksgiving dinner this year for our families. so we'll see how that goes.

and merit is getting big - a big marshmallow face. too cute. her new thing is screaming. she's not much of a cryer but now when she wants to, she screams at the top of her lungs. who knew she even had it in her, she's been so quiet up until now? and she stares at the TV and computer. i think she needs some toys...