A finished fence.

I forgot to take pictures of the fence before we left town last thursday. They finished it right as we were pulling out of the driveway. Unfortunately, we can't stain it white until the spring because the cedar needs to cure. So for now, it's au naturel, which I think looks kind of funny with the house, but that's just the way it'll have to be for now.

In order to preserve all the landscaping, it ended up kind of an odd shape and it isn't a very big yard to begin with. Years ago someone added an addition to connect the garage to the house, and that took away the backyard, so really we just have two side yards and the front. (That's okay with me, because I am grateful for an attached garage in the land of perpetual rain/snow. And it's less to mow).

Overall, I'm really pleased with the way it turned out and I'm thankful to have it up just in time for the snow.
So Skylar and I went to my parents for a long weekend and we spent Halloween at the Harvest Festival at Main Post Chapel on West Point. I have mixed feelings about Halloween, it isn't my favorite. We don't decorate, and I avoid taking Skylar places where she'll see scary things (which is pretty much everywhere this time of year).

But I do enjoy dressing her in various animal costumes, and it's a great excuse to eat candy. This might be the last year I can pick for her, I think next year she'll actually have an opinion about her costume. A week before Halloween she said "I no want to be a giraffe, I want to be a pirate!!" Um, no. I still get to dress you and you're going to be a giraffe because I said so. And we already took the tags off the costume. And next year I'll have a new little victim to dress up who won't be able to speak for themselves yet, and then you can be whatever you want. (Don't worry, I didn't actually say that out loud).

Last year she was a turtle, so this year she moved up the food chain. Skylar arrived on the scene with her Giraffe costume ready for a party and some treats.....I didn't get a very good shot of it, but my favorite part of this costume was the padded butt that made the tail stick out....
Please note the little boy dressed like a wiener in the background--best costume ever:

By the end of the night, Skylar had totaled about six pieces of candy in addition to what she scarfed down, and I intentionally left it all at my parents house because she had forgotten about it. So the candy is no more. Except for the 500 gumballs that Kristy and Andy mailed her from their trip to Las Vegas. She has NOT forgotten about those.