last weekend was our annual baldwin girls weekend in redwood falls.

my cousin sue has lived there and taught school there her

whole adult life! 

it just happened to be halloween weekend so we had to embrace our

halloweenishness.

(new word websters?)

nancy brought suzie this gorgeous fresh bouquet

made in a pumpkin, and witchy headbands for everyone.

anna is always willing to set my camera up for an automatic photos so 

we can all get in a frame.

there were about 24 to choose from. lol

our hostess always does a workout routine in the living room while the

rest of us sit around eating and watching her.

*whatev's.

my sis knows how much i love sea glass and she brought me this!

maddie brought us all these. : D

so have you jumped on the coloring bandwagon yet?

if not get with it people!!

adult coloring books are everywhere and being on the cutting edge 

of all that kind of stuff, sat. afternoon we sat around snacking (again),

talking smack and coloring.

cousin barb even belongs to a coloring club!

that's a club that just about anyone qualifies for. i like that.

see sue over there in her kitchen? she just quietly cooks for

us about the whole time we are there.

LOVE HER.

saturday we went to the scary haunted house in town. most of us had never

been to one and were were nervous,

giddy and pretty sure we'd need depends underwear. 

the community did an amazing job making an old

hotel into a very dark and scary place. there were

some sore throats that night from all the screaming.

  sue and her

nieces started making dinner for all of us before we left,

they were making home made noodles here.

sue got interrupted by the doorbell many times and rushed to greet

her students and give them treats.

how cute are these two?

 believe it or not sue taught their momma too!

anna brought this fab bottle of wine for herself, but graciously shared it.

we always have a million good laughs when we're together, but this year there

was a particular favorite funny.

it's not about cruelty to animals, but suz had a gold fish that was nearing it's final

flip flop, and it was in this bowl in the kitchen.

we of course had to have some fun with that.

sunday was all saints day, and we knew the end was near, so we moved him to the

table and laid hands on and wished goldie well.

(we were ready to ring the bell.)

he was still alive when we left, but sadly enough,

sue reported on monday morning he/she was gone.

(i suggested that in the future, she shouldn't hug her fish so hard, he appeared to have
a broken back).

i got the giggles twice driving home alone and once

in the middle of the night when i was awake and i laughed OUT LOUD thinking about some of

the funniest parts of our weekend. (like hiding all 125 of sue's beanie babies around

the house while she ran to church...she's found about 1/2 of them.)

it's just so good for your heart to spend time with family and

just be yourselves. warts and all.

thanks susan for another hilariously fun weekend!

xo, beth

 out takes~