Happy Halloween!

Aaaaaaand, we're back!

After a three month hiatus there are about fifty billion things to blog about.  Instead of trying to continue chronologically and play catch-up, we're going to pick up right here in present time.  Of course there will be posts about past events -- the rest of our travels and adventures in Germany, summer back in Minnesota, both of us gaining employment, and (of course) the wedding -- I am giving myself permission to jump around in time. 

For now, we are settling into our new home in the south-western Twin Cities.  Today was the first day that both Mike and I could be home together for the entire day, so after sleeping in we enjoyed ourselves with a hearty brunch and prepared for the trick-or-treaters that we hoped would come to our door at dusk.

Here's the pumpkin we picked out earlier this week.

Mike did all of the knife work.

Pumpkin guts.  Mmmm...

Mike dressed up as a baker selling "hot cross buns" for Halloween at school.  He's carving the pumpkin in his costume (in case you were wondering why he's wearing that hat).

Meanwhile, I cleaned the guts off of the pumpkin seeds for toasting later.

The finished product!  Now presenting:  Mike's Jackal Lantern

It was an excellent jack-o-lantern and (as you will see below) even more excellent when lit up.  However, in the entire night, only two kids came and rang our doorbell.  As a result, we now have two giant bags of leftover candy, and I know there is about a pound of candy corn and butter cream pumpkins that I left behind at school.  So it is.  We still had an excellent first Halloween together in the states.